Clarens Weekend

I am actually writing this a month or two after the trip, but I guess it is still worth mentioning.

So we also went snow hunting just like a lot of Gautengers. We heard over the news it has snowed in a lot of places in the country and decided to go look for snow. I saw on a website that it has snowed in Clarens and decided that is where we will go for the weekend.

I have firstly never seen snow, and secondly have never been in Clarens. What a nice surprise on both accounts. The snow was great. Even though it was very few and far apart. And Clarens the little town was awesome. The beauty of the place with all the mountains was amazing. And the little town itself with the restaurants and friendly people really makes it a great retreat.

(My First Snow encounter.....ever)

We discovered a lovely little pub/resturant in Clarens. What a nice place. The Roter Hahn.

It is a German Pub with the nicest food I have ever tasted. We ended up there for Dinner, Breakfast and lunch the next day. Really nice little German place.

Cheers!!!!!

New Flash!!!

I finally decided it is time to get a proper flash for my Camera. I have to admit the photography has taken a back seat to everything else that has been going. Actually not even a back seat, more like gone in the boot of the car and in the corner right at the back.... Out if mind.

And what better way to get back into the swing of things than to buy a new gadget and get shooting again.

This is the one I decided on as Canon's flashes are just way too expensive for me. And the Yongnuo is very well priced and have 80% of the features. The YN-468

I ordered it from across the ocean, and hope it arrives soon.

The reviews on it seems very good.

Moving Residence

1st of July 2011 was moving day, and the Saturday the 2nd was the same, moving the last bits and pieces out of the old flat.

I cant believe it. After 2 years of trying to sell the place it finally sold. Now I am renting for a bit, before I get a new place of my own.

Pics of the new place will follow, but here is one of the move so long.

Hennops Offroad Trail

We went to the Hennops Offroad trail on the 25th of April to have a bit of an outing over the very long weekend in South Africa. It was 11 days long if you took the 26th, 28th and 29th off. You would have had 11 day holiday with all the Public holidays and weekends. I was unfortunately only able to get the 28th and 29th off. But it was very long as well.

In the Picture above is me deflating the tires to 1.5 BAR pressure to make it grip more. I got a funky pump for my birthday with inflates them again very quick. And the two animals behind Rusty are Zonkies. They are a mix of Zebra's and Donkeys. hehehe

I really enjoyed the Hennops Trail because they had 3 different choices in difficulty for a lot of the obstacles. We really had to get out of the car a lot and walk to see which one is the best. Not too easy and not so bad that Rusty gets hurt. It is after all my work car as well.

Have not updated my blog in a while. I will be making time in this week to update you on the Hennops Offroad trail and a few other things happening.

LA Sport 4X4 Training

Myself and 3 of my fellow photographer friends went for 4X4 driver training as a gift to Kevin one of the members for his birthday. We have a little photography club "Kiekie Club". We have a lot of fun going on outings to places to take photo's and to just have a fun time.

Last weekend was one of those times. We went to LA Sports in Pretoria for the training as it is "Association of All wheel drive Clubs in South Africa" Certified. And we had loads of fun.

First we were tought the theory with a nice little book that explains all aspects of 4X4 in detail. It

also have lots of color pictures in to illustrate what they are talking about. That took about 2 hours, and then it was off to the fun part. Driving!!

All of the coarse was done in 4X4 Low range.

We encountered all types of obstacles, including Axle twisters, Rocks, Huge up and down hills, water, and sand. And we were taught to navigate as well as drive.

We really covered a lot of aspects. We did not do any recovery though. Although that is in the next, more advanced coarse.

But before I do that one I first need to get a bit more gear.

I cant wait for our next trip. With the little tricks we learned I am sure we will do a lot better.

But back to work for now, to pay for all the gear and Diesel.

Lovers Rock Campsite - Magaliesburg

Went to camp this weekend to at least do the camping thing before winter is here. It was great!!!

Myself the girlfriend and a colleague from work with his Girlfriend went camping. As we both drive Korando's we wanted to do a bit of 4X4 with the camping.

Saturday

Left Pretoria around 8:30 and got to our campsite while it was still early. Got the tents up and then went for a drive up the Magaliesburg mountain. It was a nice drive, although not too much in terms of 4X4 action. We did however leave the trail a bit to creep up the mountain. As this would seem to be the best 4X4 stuff we would see on this trail.

While on the drive we saw a huge rainstorm that looked like it passed over our Campsite. And guess what? It did. When we got back we discovered that the tent was left open, and everything was under water. . . . . The Culprit . . . . Must have been me. Ooooops.

I thought I closed the tent, but returned to the tent so often before we left for the trail that I must have left it open the last time I was in there. Well, the result was one very upset Girlfriend and no dry clothes for the rest of the weekend.

After a few drinks in the tent with the rain still going strong we had more courage to dry the place out. All and all we managed to get everything inside relatively dry and slept fairly dry as well.

The following picture pretty much sums up our campsite

Sunday

Woke up and made breakfast. Then packed up the tent and got going. We went to Goblins Cove, which is a lovely little place with lots of Goblins, Fairy's and friendly waiters. :)

After a nice a good look around and a Cocktail it was time to get to the 4X4 trail on a game farm.

To be honest the trail was not very challenging and we drive all over trying to find a difficult section, but to no avail. It was fun however driving up the mountain and on our way out it started raining heavily again. Making for a bit of mud on our way out.

But great fun was had by all. They had a swimming hole so at least one could cool off halfway through the track.

From there we drove home. The rain decided to keep going strong all the way back. We all arrived safe at home.

It was a great weekend, and all had great fun. Although it was suppose to be the last camp before the winter. I think it will be one of the first. hehehe Now that the tent is dry and all the camping equipment is out of the cupboard and the cobwebs off, I think we will use it a few times more before the equipment see the inside of the dusty cupboard again for the winter.

Till next time.

Groenkloof 4X4 Nature Trail

Went to Groenkloof Nature Reserve today, and it was Awesome!!!!

Rusty is really capable of a lot more than I thought. The trail is really difficult for a beginner like me. At a few places the trail really gets the adrenalin pumping. Luckily you don't need to drive over and through all the obstacles. There are side roads you can take if you do not want to do an obstacle.

The very first obstacle was a long water trench with a few big boulders at the end just to make it more difficult.

Then there was another water put with sharp turns. The 4X4 low range really helped through most of the trail. I think without it you would really hurt the clutch a bit.

The rest of the trail was basically narrow rocky roads up the mountain. With sharp turns just to make it difficult.

All and all a great day out. Now I just need to go on a 4X4 coarse to learn lots more. I see I am in desperate need to know better ways of tackling a coarse like this.

Rusty!!

Well Folks after lots of phone calls and test drives, I have finally found my new wheels.

I got the 2.9 TD Ssangyong Korando. And his name is Rusty. hehehe

We also went on our first road trip to Tabazimbi the first weekend that I had him. Rusty did an excellent job of getting us there and back. The fuel consumption was also decent. Got 10.5 Km /Litre. But that includes the first 100 km's in city driving, and a bit of 4X4 driving. Although it was not that awsome, it is still pretty good in 4X4 terms. I believe I should get 11Km/Litre if I drive long distance.

I hope to go to Groenkloof Nature reserve on Sunday for a bit of real 4X4 action. Aparently the coarse is decent in Offroad terms. With lots of big and small obstacles. Well, only one way to find out.

Rusy here we go!!!!

Update on Swimming

O, and just an update on the swimming front. We decided not to swim the Midmar this year as we are way too unfit. But decided that next year they will see us there.

Still swimming here and there, but the serious training has gone. We are however planning to swim another 1000m event before the year is over.

Car Hunting again!!

It has been 5 years since I last felt the need to buy a vehicle. My current car is a real beauty and I love it. A 91 Honda Ballande 160i DOHC. I bought it for only 23K, but the car performs like a bat out of hell.

I will really be sad to let this car go. But as they say, out with the old, and in with the new.

I am in the market for an SUV. I am looking at the Ssangyong Korando 290 TD. After speaking to my colleague at work who has one. And shopping around and looking at the prices, I have decided to hunt down a 2007 model. They are in my price range, and by far one of the best value for money SUV's. Although it has a face only a mother could love.

I took one for a test drive yesterday, and boy an I excited.

Well, back to the classifieds!!

Samsung Galaxy Tablet

So I got handed the Samsung Galaxy Tablet last week. Also a really nice piece of kit. I really like it. Although compared to the Apple IPad I think it is a bit lacking.

The Touch screen is not as good as the IPad, and it is a bit slower in performance than the IPad.

I really like the fact that it is smaller than the IPad, and that one can use it as a phone.

I am not sure how much cheaper it is than the IPad, but if it is quite a bit cheaper, I would take it instead of the IPad.

The Android Operating system is really nice. And the fact that you can link the apps you download to your GMail account. So you have then even if you get another phone.

All in all a nice Tablet.

Roode 1000m Swim

Last weekend I competed in the Pretoria News Roode 1000m swim at the Bronkhorstspruit dam......

Hang on, let me start at the beginning. . . . . .

I have been training for roughly the last 3 months to compete in the Midmar mile race on 12th February 2011. This is my exercise goal for the year. So after all the training and thinking I am ready for the race, myself and my girlfriend decided that a few races before the big one can only do us good. So we entered the Roode 1000m swim at Bronkhorstspruit.

Boy, can I tell you that is was one tough race. My first event I have done ever. Not just in swimming, but in anything (running included) So I am glad I have that under my belt now.

Anyway.....

The race went OK for my first one. But I am no where near ready for the Midmar mile I realised with a shock.

Looking at the coarse we had to swim from the bank was very intimidating. At least I managed to finish the race and came in 116th place of 171 official competitors. With a time of 25:41 minutes. This is roughly the time it takes me to do it in the swimming pool at Hillcrest, with the only difference being that I swam almost 90% of the race on my back. Because with all the waves in the dam I took huge gulps of water every time I tried to breath swimming freestyle. I was exhausted after the race. But then, I guess that is how one gets better at anything. By actually doing it.

Results can be seen here: www.roode1000swim.com/t78-event-4-provisional

So all in all I think it was a good event for me. Myself and the missus plan on doing a 1200m race this coming weekend, and then deciding if we should compete in the Midmar mile. Giving the huge distance to travel for the event we would rather give it a skip until next year if we do not feel ready after the 1200m race.

I will definitely do a blog entry on that race too.

Now, back to the swimming pool to train. . . . .

IPad Continued

Wow. The more I play with the IPad the more I like it.

Although I did manage to screw up the internet and network settings after just a few hours of play. hehehe

Luckily Google and a colleague named Quintin came to the rescue and I am now happily surfing again.

Truly great device. Although I still wont be able to justify myself buying one. But after saying that I have to also state that I was told our unit is purchasing another 5 to keep among ourselves for testing and user support. As well as a few Android phones.

I am in the market for a new phone as mine's screen has a huge crack in it. I am looking at the Blackberry Torch. I just hope it stands up to my harsh ways. I am a bit scared of making the Blackberry's touch screen suffer the same fate.

But then again. I have to learn to play nice!!

First Post

Well I thought about starting a blog for a long time. So here goes.

I guess this is my first Blog entry.

Got handed an Ipad at work to play around with. It is a pretty amazing toy. And the ease of use is just amazing.

I really love it.

Although I cant think of a single reason I would want to own one.