accidents and surprises

Last weekend something amazing happened. Trevor and I discovered a little piece of heaven that is only an hour away from Kim! I feel a little stupid about having only just discovered it ... we've lived here eight months and only now have we explored the glory that is Lily Dale Rest Camp. The whole adventure kind of happened on accident too; earlier in the week, Hooter (a former Kimtern) called us and asked if he could visit. Starved for visitors we eagerly agreed. Hooter was driving up to Kim from Cape Town and asked if we could meet at Lily Dale on Saturday morning. 

I have no idea what this is... but we saw an entire herd on the way to
the park.

All we knew about Lily Dale was that Hooter loved it, it was located in Mokola National Park and that it was about 90 kilometers from Kim. Full of excitement, we hopped in the Tazz and left the city limits behind us. Everything was going great until we were about 4 km from the Lily Dale Reception; we got a flat tire. And this wasn't just any flat tire... it was our second flat tire. So there we were on a gravel and dirt road in the middle of a National Park with the only option for help 4 km in front of us. So we gritted our teeth and drove 4 more kilometers on the gravel and dirt covered road. We arrived at reception and our tire was literally shredded to bits... Oops.

But we decided not to worry about the tire and enjoy the day. We found Hooter and quickly headed down to the Reit River to hang out. It was wonderful! There were pools to swim in, rocks to climb on and animals to gawk at. And best of all Hooter had brought four surprises with him - Rebecca, Kelly, Laura and Alice, four of the girls that work for GRS in Cape Town decided to come visit too!

Panoramic of the Reit River.

Trevor and I were beyond happy! All of a sudden we had four more people to play with! We went swimming, we went exploring and we - well let me just show you:

Bo and Kelly napping...

Laura napping in the shade...

Alice napping on top of a sunny rock...

- we went napping! Those Cape Town girls are quite a riot to hang out with! I had a really good time. It was nice to just get out of Kimberley and relax with good friends, good food and beautiful scenery. 

Me! Not sleeping!

Hooter also taught us how to fly fish!

Hoots in the middle of the River.

I enjoyed fly fishing. It is a bit more active than regular fishing because you are consistently recasting and moving your line around in order to mimic a real fly. I saw tons of trout jumping in the pools but wasn't able to catch any (which is probably a good thing - it allowed me to perfect my cast and not have to worry about what I would've done had I gotten a bite). 

It was a perfect day. Everyone present was content to actively wile about and enjoy each others' company. And I was so happy that a bunch of the Cape Town crew decided to surprise us. in fact, I was so overwhelmed with friends that I didn't even have a chance to take in my geologic surroundings! But that's okay - I'm sure I'll be going back soon enough. 

One more shot of the River.

(P.S. Back at reception we managed to fix one of our flat tires and drive back to Kim without much ado.)