Hopetown to Potchefstrom

Good evening from a chilly (like 6°C at night chilly) South Africa! Once again it's been a hectic two weeks here so this is what's been happening...

Week 37 (Monday 13th - Sunday 19th) - Sedgefield to Hopetown

So on Monday we spent most of the day packing the trailers and bakkies with everything we would need for the next couple of weeks (also said bye to Scott since he's heading to Cape Town to see his friends for a while). Why were we packing? Because we were hitting the road! We left at 6am on Tuesday morning to reach Hopetown - a small town situated on the edge of the Great Karoo in the Northern Cape. It took us over 11 hours to get there driving up through the Western Cape and through a large part of the Karoo (a semi-desert region) where I spotted a lot of cacti and caught a glimpse of some springbok (national animal of SA).

We weren't actually staying in Hopetown but rather ~20km away on private land. So on Wednesday we started exploring this new area (OB hasn't ran any courses here before), starting with a small walk up a hill in search of some bushmen paintings. The views were spectacular and I absolutely fell in love with the place. After unsuccessfully locating the paintings we headed back down and to the river in search of a launching site for the raft. We also pitched a watch tent, cleaned the bakkie and created a spiders web for the upcoming course. Later that afternoon a few others went up the hill again and found the paintings, so the rest of us rushed up to see them. They were completely different to the ones we saw in Citrusdal - these ones were carved into rocks on the ground - but were absolutely amazing to see. Once you knew where to look more kept popping up and it was so cool to think that these people saw the animals they drew here where we were staying for the week.

Thursday was another day exploring. We took another walk to and along the river, even spotting some water monitor and snake tracks in the sand. We split up into two groups for the rest of the morning, some people going across the river in the raft in search of a good abseiling site, while the rest of us took a hike up to the main road - where the participants would be dropped off. We also created a limpopo swing, set up the other small activities for the course and filled out RAMs and LOPs (basically health and safety paperwork) for some of the activities we were going to be doing.

Friday morning we all (minus Talitha who was really ill) headed down to the river to raft across. The river we were paddling across was the Orange River - the longest river in South Africa. The paddle was really easy but then further downstream was some rapids so we just had to do a spot of white water rafting! Rhere were definitely some screams as our raft got turned around by the rapids. On the other side we all headed to check out the abseil site that the others had found the previous day. It's quite a small abseil maybe 7 or 8 meters high but the view of the river and land from it is amazing! Once we had crossed back over we started pitching the rest of the big watch tents. After a quick lunch Deon, Sanri and I drove out to the land owners house to pick up all the food for the groups. And also bottled water for us instructors to drink as the water from the taps (river water) seemed to be the cause of why so many people were not feeling 100%. Just before the sun set us three headed back out to the main road where we would meet the participants. This course was for the 'Father a Nation' programme which aims at tackling gender based violence here in SA. So all 85 participants were men who also only mainly spoke Afrikaans. Since it was dark by the time they had all walked down to base nothing else really happened that night.

The first full day of course was Saturday and I headed out early after breakfast with Emily to cross the river and set up the abseil. I love being abseil support and two groups did it that morning. However, when we went back over the river for lunch I was not feeling good at all. It seemed that I couldn't evade whatever the water had given most other people. So Talitha swapped in for me at the abs site while I mainly slept. I did help with water support on the raft though later that afternoon for a while.

Thankfully I was feeling much better on Sunday (though other instructors were not) so headed back across the river to set up the abseil again for the last two groups. The last group helped me carry all the bags down and by the time we re crossed the river it was time for lunch. Afterwards it was time for the closing circle before they all made the walk back up to the main road. Support stayed behind and we started clearing up - sorting through the abs gear, cleaning the water equipment and then taking down all the small activities. The groups had taken down the tents that morning so there was a lot less work for us to do. Once everything was packed back into the correct trailers and bakkies we all headed off in search of a shower (which were the coolest outdoor showers I've ever seen!). That night we debriefed around the fire pit before having a braai.

Us stopping to admire the views across the river.

Me, Talitha and Aphiwe in Hopetown.

Testing our new limpopo swing.

Collecting drinking water before we all became ill.

The view from the top of the abseil ft. The rapids we rafted down.

A participant from Shirley's group abseiling.

The view from the bushmen paintings hill.

Top of the hill.

Bushmen carving's.

Our fire the first night (they increased in size each night).

An elephant carving.

Me and Talitha's room for the week.

Our room from the outside.

Fire pit and monkey viewing spot.

Another view of the base.

Road trip in the bakkie!

The 'why do we need to drive all the way back' pose.

Week 38 (Monday 20th - Sunday 26th) - Hopetown to Potchefstroom

So on Monday most of the staff left at 5am to drive back down to Sedgefield. Me, Talitha, Joe, Aphiwe and Nthabiseng however left just after 8am as we were going to be driving further north to another OB base near Potchefstroom. We stopped off at the popcorn factory (the land around Hopetown is all corn) and bought some popcorn before beginning our drive. We drove across the Northern Cape and into the Freestate then started driving up. The journey took ~8 hours and we were all very glad to get to our base in Venterskroon - which is actually in the North West province (we did three provinces in a day!).

Tuesday we spent the day unpacking and I got to see the base properly in day light for the first time and it's great! I really love being up north. That afternoon we headed into Potchefstroom to go shopping for the course and on the drive back we saw two giraffes!! It was INCREDIBLE to see them and I'm still not over it. Thursday we took a walk up to the campsites away from base and also up the trail we'd be walking with our group. We put in an approach line at the top of a dried up waterfall for the groups safety. Saturday was prep for the course. Me and Talitha are getting to co-instruct (under the supervision of an actual instructor) which is super exciting so we threw ourselves into planning out our course. We also went back to Potchefstroom to buy some more food and other stuff we'd need for the next week. Today (Sunday) the group was meant to arrive but now they're not coming till tomorrow (hopefully!!) so it's not been a very busy day.

 The pool is so much colder than it looks.

 More of the base here.

 The river for rafting (our side is the North West province, the other side is the Freestate).

 Modelling the father a nation the shirt.

 We love new tshirts!

 Our room before we get into our tent.

 One of the giraffes!!!!!

 Top of the waterfall.

And another at the top.

I'm really looking forward to instructing this course and once it's finished we're straight onto supporting another 'Father a Nation' course here. It's going to be a busy week!

Hope you enjoyed the pictures!

Rachel :)

The week of LOC'S

Good evening from South Africa! We've all been super busy the past week so there is SO much to cover. I suggest making yourself comfy because this is going to be a long blog...

This week has been all about LOC reassessments. For those who don't know, LOC stands for 'level of competency' and when an instructor begins their training they have to pass all of the LOCs before being able to instruct groups (and get the job!). There's a LOC for every activity we run here and also a bunch of othere LOC'S. Emily has been redesigning the whole LOC layout and requirements so it was very different to what we did when we arrived here at OB those many months ago...

So on Monday we started with the expedition LOC. This involved us going around in small groups to different stations where we'd be assessed on everything to do with an expedition. This included camp craft, pitching tents, map work, correct packing of rucksacks and much more! We were also assessed on mental health and were given different scenarios to act out and resolve. After lunch it was the land fitness LOC. In under an hour we had to complete the 5km loop hike up round the hill while carrying a 14kg rucksack, then do 20 push ups, 30 sit ups and carry someone on our back for 30 metres. The sun also decided to come out properly for the first time in days when we started the hike. Fair to say there was lots of tired people lying on the ground by the flagpole afterwards. The day still wasn't done yet as we still needed to do the search and rescue LOC. This involved us splitting into two groups and having to act out a real life scenario. So we had to get all the gear we'd need and head out in search of our casualty. Our groups casualty had a fractured leg so we patched it up as best we could and made am improvised stretcher (we were not allowed to use the actual stretchers kept on base) with sticks, rope and the sleeping bag from the search and rescue pack. After a busy day me and Talitha decided to go for a quick swim and quick it was... the water was COLD.

Tuesday morning we did forms, course paperwork and report writing LOC'S. This may be one of the less exciting things we do here at OB but knowing how to do these properly is important (and also makes management's jobs much more easier). I loved Tuesday afternoon. We did all the water activity LOC'S - kayaking, canoeing, rafting and raft building. Like yesterday we spilt into groups and went round stations. There was a raft building one where we had to run the activity as we would to a group, I'm glad I remembered all my knots! We also had to do the same for the rafting and then the final station was just some questions about the weather and other safety measures. We then hit the water! We started by taking out the canoes and showing the correct paddle strokes and then done some rescues with people in them and then empty ones. We then got to go out in the raft paddling for a bit before capsizing it. After turning it back the correct way (remember it's about 14ft long!) we had to get back on with no help from others. As you can imagine some people took delight in pushing people back in multiple times! We also had to get onto the whaler with no help twice as part of a LOC. After we got the raft back to shore we swapped it for a kayak and paddled out and showed that we could do braces and rolls. For the rolls we had to do 5 including a bomb roll (where you start with the paddle behind your back) so I chose to do a 180° and then three 360° rolls. I'm thought the water wasn't too cold (definitely warmer than the previous day) but many others disagreed. That night if you walked into the kitchen you would see a bunch of people huddled round mugs of hot chocolate or coffee.

Wednesday morning we covered all the philosophy LOC'S. This included the history of Outward Bound international and South Africa, the core values, mission statement, the five pillars of OB and our approach. It might seem boring to some but I think it's definitely some of the most important things to know as an instructor. We also covered some 'systems and procedures' LOC'S - living on base, DP duties and vehicles and trailers. After lunch we did the water fitness and rescue LOC'S. For the fitness one we had to do a 2km run within 15 minutes, 30 push ups (my enemy all week), 30 sit ups, swim 200 metres within 8 minutes without a life jacket (I got just under 4 mins 30 secs), swim under the whaler to the other side and then tread for 15 minutes, with elbows out the water for 5 minutes. To make the treading more bearable we had a water polo ball so we were throwing that around too. For the water rescue LOC the main focus was saving an unconscious and conscious victim from the water. We had to wear a sailing jacket and trousers while we did this to mimic a situation of if we were wearing normal clothes such as a jumper and trousers, when we suddenly had to rescue someone. It definitely made swimming harder! After work we all headed into town so that everyone (excluding us Europeans) could vote (properly and also not) in the election.

It was the abseiling, rock climbing and high ropes LOC'S on Thursday. I was paired with Zanza and we started at the jacobs ladder where I did the gear and safety briefing before climbing up as Zanza belayed me. I also had to pretend to be absolutely petrified of heights and being lowered back down so that Zanza had to climb up using the cows tail and talk me through it all/offer reassurance. For abseiling and rock climbing we had to demonstrate the correct set up (with one of us blindfolded) and all of the safety procedures. For the abseiling we also had to demonstrate the emergency release and z-drag. We also spent the last part of the day doing the group dynamics LOC'S. This involved us all running the briefings for spiders web (where some instructors happily took on the role of being the naughty participants), limpopo swing, tetrus tyres and berlin wall. We even found time between it all to cover the community service and solo LOC'S. Another really busy day.

Friday was as busy as all the other days. We had a staff meeting in the morning and then a talk about the financial side of OBSA from Deon  (the main guy in charge here). The instructors spent the rest of the day going through their pods laying everything out (so Nthabi could check everything) and fixing things that were broken. Me, Scott and Talitha got a watch tent out and cleaned it as we'll be using it next week, packed the trailer for the rubbish run and then separated two buckets. This was much harder than it sounds - we tried every trick in the book including using washing-up liquid. In the end they came apart when we used the volley ball court poles. After an extremely busy week we had a braai that night which was good. We even baked a cake and some brownies!

On Saturday us three helped out at Deons daughters 8th birthday party. We ran some games, did the limpopo swing and did some swimming with them. As a thanks we got lunch (another braai), cake (which was delicious) and a party bag (reliving my childhood). We also went for a swim afterwards. I definitely caught up on some much needed rest last night for sure! Yesterday after doing my washing, we took a walk into Sedgefield and had lunch there.

Our LOC filled week was also filled with spiders - Scott rescued a huge one from Shirley's room and when we were cleaning out the wood shed (we also somehow fitted in maintenance this week as well!) we saw a black widow and genuinely the BIGGEST spider I've seen. I don't know what type of spider it was exactly but it's something like a huntsman or baboon spider. I recommend not searching those up on Google if you don't like spiders!

The photos I have for this week is us doing the water rescues and me and Zanza doing the rock climbing set up.

I hope you've enjoyed this update. I apologise for the length of it but I didn't want to leave anything out! I'm looking forward to another crazy busy week here in SA and I'm excited to share it with you all next Sunday.

Rachel :)

Just keep swimming

Good evening from South Africa! Here's the latest from the past two weeks.

Week 33 (Monday 22nd April - Sunday 28th April)

The weather at the start of the week was quite bad but I still managed to get a swim in on Tuesday once the rain had cleared. On Wednesday the weather was better so me and Scott headed into Sedgefield for lunch then afterwards went for a swim. Thursday and Friday we swam too and also went to a local small cafe. We headed to the market on Saturday morning. I love the market here with all the stalls and local produce. And on Sunday... you've guessed it - we did more swimming. The water is becoming colder and colder as the days pass and winter gets closer.

Week 34 (Monday 29th April - Sunday 5th May)

So this week we started working again. Monday morning was a bit different than usual as a photographer came and took pictures of us all doing some of the activities! She was taking photos for the new brochure OB is getting made so we did the Jacobs Ladder, Trapeze and Spiders Web. We also started safety checks that lasted the whole of Tuesday as well. Wednesday and Thursday we spent doing maintenance around base. Maintenance here can really range of anything but this week I fixed new whistles to the PFD'S (life jackets), cleared the cut down tree, laminated some signs, swept stairs and loaded the trailer for the rubbish run.  While helping fix the railing for Berlin Wall, me, Scott and Sicelo were looking for a good bit of wood in one of the many piles of logs on base. After just warning us to be careful of snakes, Sicelo runs - faster than I've seen anyone run before - all the way up to the kitchen. Why? Because he spotted a puff adder. It's the most common venomous snake in SA and this one was huge! Monday - Thursday we got to finish work at 4pm so we could go and practice swimming (more or why we've been swimming so much in Sundays blog).

Friday was 'bark chip day'. We spent the whole day loading the gear trailer and bakkie's with bark chips before driving back to base to offload them. The bark chips were to replace the worn ones at the high ropes activities and the group dynamics. And we also replaced the ones on the paths outside the office and the kitchen. On the drive back to base I spotted a baboon and at base we had a rare visitor - a monkey!

As usual, on Saturday morning me and Scott headed to the market. The walk was made much more enjoyable due to how cold it was! It was also raining a bit which was even better. I've loved the cold weather we've been having here. At the market I bought some yoghurt and oranges (they are SO big). Talitha also arrived back today after spending two weeks back home so it was nice to see her again and catch up. Sunday, we went swimming for a short while (the water was very cold, even after swimming for a while). I got timed doing the 200 meter swim (we have to do it for our water fitness LOC) and did it in 4 minutes 24 seconds - well under the 8 minute cut off time so I'm very happy. We also cooked dinner - chicken stew and rice. 

The next few weeks are going to be very full on so I'm aiming to return to a blog each week because there is going to be so much to cover. This week we are all updating our LOC'S (level of competencies) then next week we're going to be hitting the road. I'll be spending over 3 weeks away from home here at 'base' traveling to different bases for courses!

I don't have many photos from the past two weeks so here's a picture of the puff adder we saw.

Rachel :)