Blog (Page 11)

Jet Ski Disasters - 27th - 29nd August 2010

It was another epic outdoor weekend although it did start with a little drinking on Friday evening. Robyn (O) was celebrating her birthday so we met up with her, and a few mates, at Waxy o Connors for dinner and a couple of drinks. Sharon and I had already eaten so we just threw down a few beers before making an early exit. Saturday morning was going to be a 4am'er for me.

The next morning Nick picked me up at 5am, with the jet-ski, and we headed down to Blue Lagoon to try and bash a few Garrick. We dropped the ski on the beach, parked the car, and were ready to go. Thankfully we’d been given a 4-stroke ski and were looking forward to some smoke free fishing. But sadly things didn't go quite as expected…

The shore break was huge and we knew the launch was going to be tough. But this wasn't the initial problem; We first needed to lift/drag the ski into deep enough water to float it. This proved to be tougher than expected and by the time we reached the water's edge, 10 meters away, I was covered in sweat and my muscles we bulging like those of the Hulk.

Anyway, we were now ready for the tough bit. The plan...wait for a gap in the shore break, quickly push the ski into deeper water, accelerate through the break, and bash some Garrick. The execution...there was no real gap, we dragged our tongues getting the ski into deeper water, there was no acceleration, and the waves bashed us. FAIL! Rolling a jet ski in the surf is never fun, especially since I fell on the beach side and had unpleasant thoughts of the ski washing on to me.

Thankfully nobody was hurt and all that we lost was my cheap pair of sunglasses and a bit of pride. Trust our luck that there were millions of fishermen on the beach, who I'm sure had a good laugh at us.

We righted the ski, attached a second bigger pair of balls, and tried again. This time we were successful and made it out. Sadly this was not the end of it. Shortly after getting out to sea the warning lights all lit up and the ski went into crawl mode. Apparently the engine was overheating, but after opening the engine bay and feeling it, it didn't feel hot at all. Could it be a faulty sensor? Impossible to tell...

We decided it wasn't worth the risk and headed back for the beach. This brought about a whole new set of problems. With the ski in crawl mode we didn't have enough power to stay ahead of the waves during the landing. This would undoubtedly result in another FAIL! We bobbed around at sea, just behind backline, waiting for the engine to cool. After what seemed like ages the warning light was still showing and we had to make a plan. Nick decided to disconnect the warning light thereby bypassing the ski's crawl mode. Although this is normally a kak idea, we only had to make it the 50 meters to the beach, so we figured the engine would be okay for the short period.

The landing went well and soon we were on the beach and putting the ski back on its trailer. Sadly we'd been on the beach for just over an hour and, other than working out our muscles, had achieved nothing.

At this point a mate of Nick's arrived with his ski and we chilled on the beach watching him do some wave jumping.

We then headed back to the workshop to try and sort out the ski. After a short inspection Nick worked out that the thermostat was stuck. He took it out, gave it a quick clean, and put the ski back together. Instead of wasting the ski we opted to pick up Sharon and headed to Inanada dam for a bit of fun (and to test the repair).

Sharon had never been on a jet ski and was highly excited. We got to the dam at around 10am and spent a couple of hours stuffing around on the water. We did head out to try and do some Bass bashing, but we quickly realised that it wasn't worth it considering the tackle we had with us. Damn you Otter!

From there it was back home for a quick shower before heading to a local German beer fest for a couple of beers and a late lunch.

The beer fest was far less exciting than expected. They only had one beer, Bavaria, and basically nothing else. Having said that, lunch was great, but it bloody well should be a R55 a plate. We piled the plates high with meat and enjoyed a short afternoon in the sun and a couple of draughts. And then we headed back home and got ready for Sunday’s big race…

Sharon and I got to Howick at around 8am on Sunday morning. Much like Saturday morning, Sunday morning also started with a FAIL. My helmet had decided to fall to pieces at some point since our last ride. It was certainly fixable, but not in the one hour I had, especially without any glue. Eventually I had to grin and bear it and buy a new helmet from a shop which had set up a small stall.

The race itself was fantastic although I think Sharon took a little strain. It was far longer and harder than the 17kms we'd done a few weeks back. And this combined with the fact that we'd done very little riding since then, and had instead been away eating and drinking, certainly didn't help things all that much.

We took just under two hours to complete the 25km route and by the time we crossed the finish line we were completely covered in dirt. This however didn't stop us from doing our weekly shop on the way home. It’s funny to watch people out the corner of your eye as you walk, covered in mud, through a busy supermarket.

By the time we got home we were starving. And after a quick wash of the bikes and an even quicker shower we were perched on the couch scoffing down a Kauai smoothie and wrap. Boy had we earned it!

South African Advertising - 26th August 2010

A pamphlet I was handed at the Umlanga off-ramp

Friends Overkill - 20th - 22nd August 2010

With my sister leaving for the UK on the 24th August, my old man decided to head to Durban for the weekend to say cheers. He arrived at 2pm on Friday afternoon and was picked up from the new airport by Kerry. I met them at my place after work and we all (including Carla and Dave) headed to La Piazza for dinner.

We were treated to a free glass of sherry on arrival (stuff all you restaurants who only give us stale bread) and soon dinner was on the table. I opted for one of the specials - a lamb and mint pizza. And although I only chose it to try something different I was sold. It rocked! Everyone else seemed to enjoy their food and before we knew it dinner was over and we were in the bar playing pool.

In amongst a few Rascals (a shot which tastes exactly like the old Rascal sweets - am I giving away my age? Yes...I'm almost 30) Sharon and I took on my dad and sister. After handing them a severe butt-kicking we turned our attention to Carla and Dave. I started strong sinking 5 balls from the break. Sharon and I then managed to completely balls it (he he he) and somehow walked away with a loss. I'm pretty sure my dad fell asleep on the counter as we took around 200 shots to sink the black. Damn you Rascals...damn you...

When we got home my dad insisted we watch an episode of Friends. This of course saw him fast asleep on the couch while Sharon and I watched through one eye.

Saturday morning was very relaxed. Sharon had headed to work and dad was feeling a tad tender from the night before. He spent half the morning in bed before I managed to get him up and out for a walk around the complex. Then we watched more Friends until Sharon arrived home with a fantastic lunch which we scoffed down before heading to squash.

Kerry and my dad watched while Sharon and I played a couple of games. And then it was up to the Twisted Lemon to watch the Bok’s game. A much improved Springboks managed to lead the All Blacks for 75 minutes before allowing them to score 2 tries in the last 5 minutes to take it. Sadly the first of these was off a blatantly forward pass (damn you ref) and I'm sure this moral crushing was what led to the second. Anyway, the Boks went down yet again and then it was off home to watch the Sharks take on Western Province.

We opted to watch this game at the local pub (again) so as to be in walking distance of the house. The game was also accompanied by both more pizza and more belt loosening.

With my dad being a Province supporter there was a lot of pressure on the game. He took some flack in the pub, especially since the Sharks came out well on top. Go Sharks! At least one of my teams won.

By this stage Kerry had headed home and we all went back to my place. Dad again insisted on watching Friends while having another glass of wine. This time, believe it or not, he made it through the first one awake. This saw him requesting a second episode. Sharon cunning called it quits at this stage and headed for bed. I on the other hand obliged and ended up trying to listen over the strange sounds coming out of my sleeping father.

Kerry arrived back at my place on Sunday morning with some croissants and the newspapers. I saw newspapers since, not knowing which one to buy, she bought ALL of them. Paper mache enthusiasts around the world wouldn't have known what to do with that large amount of paper.

Anyway, after breakfast my dad, Sharon and I headed out for a walk through the nature reserve. I opted for the path less traveled which was either a good or bad decision depending on who you listen to. Clearly the back path hasn't received much attention since the storm of 2009. We found ourselves clambering up and down steep hills on a barely visible track. We crouched under fallen trees and crossed bridges which were un-completed. Sharon must've taken in the region of 20 minutes to cross the one bridge, and I wish I could describe to you how it looked, but you simply had to be there.

Once back we had our second shower of the morning before heading to the airport via a street-side Cafe (Cafe Java) in Umhlanga. We shared a platter for two between four (we needed to counteract all the pizza and had had a huge breakfast). The food was great as was the vibe, although I'm sure the staff weren't all that pleased with us. We must've looked like real misers having brought our own wine and then sharing food for two between four.

After lunch we dropped my old man off at the airport. We all headed inside since neither Sharon nor I had seen the new airport. It really is world class, complete with a wine bar. Sadly for the wine bar, they served us an off bottle of their own wine. FAIL!

Dad then headed for the gate and the rest of us headed home to end the weekend with some washing and relaxation...Aaaagh…

Charleston - 12th - 16th August 2010

Click here for the Charleston trip report...

Afriski And Oxbow Lodge - 6th - 9th August 2010

Click here for the Afriski trip report...

Captain Debauchery - 30th July - 1st August 2010

Instead of the usual sporty weekend, this weekend seemed to be dominated by Captain Debauchery.

It all started on Friday, which was Sharon's 30th. On the way home I stopped off at Woolworths and picked up a huge bunch of flowers (my dad and Cassia had sent me money and asked to get her flowers as well as a gift). When I walked through the door carrying the flowers Sharon's face instantly lit up. She loved the flowers, but did seem somewhat disappointed that they weren't from me...oops, bad start. Luckily the night got better from there.

After a quick suit-up we headed over to my mom's place for dinner. She had prepared us a fantastic meal starting with Carpaccio, followed by roast fillet with pepper sauce, roast potatoes and an assortment of vegetables. And then there was the pudding...chocolate Malva pudding. WOW! Although I think I can only handle something that sweet once a year.

It was at this point that my sister elected to give me a shirt she'd been given at a fan park. It was a BRIGHT yellow Savannah golf shirt with a silhouette of a tree on the front. I'm not sure if this was serious or a joke, but I called her bluff, pulled off my smart shirt, and wore the attention seeker for the rest of the evening...

From dinner if was off to the Keg where we met some mates for a few drinks. A very lucky Sharon was given a pile of gifts which included ski gloves, a scarf and a drinking system for mountain biking. So now she's all kitted for the next few week's activities.

At around 10pm Nick sprouted a vagina so Tarryn and him headed home. And then the party really got going...

The rest of us headed over to Franki's were Captain Debauchery reared his ugly head and soon the tequilas were flowing. The next hour was spent dwarf hunting after one of the people in our party reported that there was a dwarf in the crowd with huge hair. Sadly, even with my tracking skills, I was unable to sneak a peek at this rare sighting.

Western showed some good dedication at this point by cancelling his morning run and hitting another tequila. We also lost Graham and Robyn, but this was not going to slow us down...it was time for some drunken pool at On Cue. I can't say I remember much of the few pool games other than I sunk very few balls, Sharon was on fire, and we were still playing when the bar closed...but having not gone out in months we still hadn't had enough.

Bring on Lazy Lizards...the dodgiest of all pubs/holes. While standing at the bar we met a young guy claiming to be a part owner. Now I'm not sure if he was serious or not, but he paid for all our drinks for the rest of the evening and organised us a hookah (the smoking kind, not the good kind). Eventually we crawled out at around 4am and headed home for a few slices of toast and bed.

Sadly we were up at 7am and spent the majority of the morning on the couch watching old episodes of Friends. Damn you Captain Debauchery! Why do you always ruin the next day?

By lunch time things were picking up and after a quick McDonalds visit we were back on top form. We bought a bladder for Sharon's drinking system and then headed into Eston to register for the Illovo/Eston race. It was far easier than expected and I managed to get moved into Sharon's batch without any hassles. So all was sorted and a big up to ROAG for their efficiency.

Sadly there's no rest for the wicked, so after getting all our kit ready for the race the following day we were back in the car and on our way to Nick and Tazz's place for their birthdays/house warming. Nick had organised a keg of Hansa so we were all set for a party and I quickly hit a few draughts to take the edge off from the previous night. Then I joined the crowd around braai and cooked our cow over a raging fire *manly grunt*.

We chilled for a while longer, had a few more beers, and then got justice for them leaving early the night before by sneaking out early ourselves. Well, that’s my excuse anyway...the truth is we were f#$%ing tired and had a race the next morning.

We pulled into Eston at around 9am on Sunday morning, took a few pre-race photos, and then headed for the start. Luckily we were there early since our 10:15 start became a 10am start. We were riding the 18km route which headed through Tala Game Reserve (please mind the Rhino). Things started badly when just 1km into the race a kid came off right in front of me. Thankfully I managed to avoid him, but amongst the chaos I lost Sharon.

Unfortunately we hadn't come up with a strategy for this situation. I got off my bike and waited, thinking she might have gotten caught up in the chaos as well. After a while I realised this wasn't the case and sprinted off down the road hoping to catch her (and also hoping I wasn't leaving her in my dust). Luckily I found her a short distance up the road, off her bike, waiting for me.

Since we were unseeded we had started right at the back, and after that little incident we were even further back. This proved a problem from hill number one. The people around us were clearly of the opinion that you ride down hills and push up hills. And over and above that, you don't push on the side of the track, instead you cunningly form large bunches so that the people wanting to ride the hills can't get past you and beat you. Grrr! So for most of the race we ended up getting cramped in on every uphill. But besides that it was a great race though the park and we eventually got into more space and had a better second half.

Coming down the last hill a young girl in front of us came off her bike. Sharon's motherly instinct kicked in so we stopped to check she was all right. She looked winded so Sharon told her to put her arms above her head to help her breath. Being in a slightly shocked, slightly emotional state, she though Sharon was asked for a hug so they stood there hugging on the side of the road. Aaaah! The manly sport of mountain biking...complete with hugs.

All in all it was a good first race for Sharon. We rode a time a 1:39, but I'm sure we could've done well under a 1:30 without all the chaos on route and with a slightly better seeding.

And then if was off home where Sharon spent the rest of the day working while I cleaned the bikes and sorted out any admin around the house. All in all a good, albeit slightly debaucherous, weekend. But hey, you need one every now and then. Same time next year?

Friday Fun - 30th July 2010

It's Sharon's 30th...time to get fried...

Mama Mia, Here We Go Agian - 23rd - 25th July 2010

It was a rather epic weekend that left me needing a Monday at work to wind down...

Friday evening got off to a good start with a mini fail. Sharon and I headed to the local pub to watch the Sharks game. When we arrived we were surprised to find that the best 2 seats in the house were still available. After quickly grabbing them I managed to sneak the remote from behind the bar. Result! I was on top of the world...and then it happened...I flipped through the channels (twice) only to discover that the Sharks game wasn't being televised. WTF?! Anyway, we chilled at the bar, ate pizza, drank beer and watched the Stormer's game, so it wasn't all bad.

Saturday morning started with the usual trip to the poefta's market...only this time, to de-gay the event, we decided to ride there on our bikes. This meant no shopping, but we grabbed a muffin for later and then chilled with some coffee and pancakes before heading home. Oh, and the lady sitting next to us at coffee had a tiny black pig in her top...AWESOME! And that’s not a metaphor.

As soon as we got home it was into the car and off to Briggsy's place to watch the wrestling. Robyn and G put out an awesome spread of samoosas (cooked by chef Wazzy), cheesy poofs, cheese and biscuits, etc for us to snack on during the game. Graham tells me it was actually a Tri-Nations rugby game, but I'm not sure I believe him. With all the people being sent off for dangerous play it must've been wrestling. Or maybe it was a new version of Marco-Polo called "Blind mans reffing".

Anyway, the wrestling finished but there was no time to breath, and we were straight back into the car and off to squash. Nothing much to report from squash other than I didn't get hit in the face with a racket this week. We grabbed a few beers afterwards and then it was off to event number 73 of the weekend, The Spare Keys gig at Western's place.

We pulled in at 7:30 thinking we were half an hour late, when in fact we were half an hour early (blind). Guess I should learn to read invites from now on. We did the whole drink and be merry thing until 9pm when the band kicked into action. It was going well until they played Mama Mia by Abba. Western claimed it was manly since they were performing the Perez version, but I didn’t buy it.

Sunday started with another ride on the bikes through the valley. The plan was to do a breakfast run, but instead we stopped at my mom's place to show her Sharon's new wheels. I guess it was still a breakfast run since we were treated to egg, sausage, croissants, etc. Mmmmmm...

Then it was back home for a quick shower before we picked up my mom and headed to the Barnyard to watch "Super Troupers". This posed a mini dilemma since it involved a lot of Abba songs, which I had been severely mocking less than 12 hours before, but since I didn't buy the tickets I'm hoping to get away on a technicality here.

The show itself was actually quite good and consisted of only Abba and BeeGees songs. Two things really made it worth it...the first was all the snacks that the various people brought. And the second was the really tall, really hot girl who was kind enough to do lots of spins, thus showing off her black panties. Woohoo!

NB: For anyone out there who plans to go to the Barnyard, do NOT order cake from the cafe directly outside. Without looking at the price I ordered 2 coffees and 2 slices of cake. The bill...R90! WTF?!

All in all a very busy, but very good weekend with the following lessons learned...

REAL MEN DON'T

• ...get a doggy bag
• ...sing along to Abba
• ...drink Rose wines
• ...order salads

Parents Party Too - Some Random Time

WOW, I never knew my dad was Magnum PI.

And this just goes to show that parents party too...oh, and that kids will eventually get a chance to embarrass their parents just like they did to us when we were young...

Mountain Mania - 16th - 18th July 2010

My weekend started with the now regular trip to the farmer's market. We had our usual wonder around followed by breakfast and coffee, and then headed over to my mom's house to watch the rugby. She wasn't there so we took over and spent the next couple of hours watching SA getting thrashed by the All Blacks in pink. Why in pink? Well clearly my mom's TV is in some serious need of attention, and everything has a pink hue to it for about 2 hours after turning it on.

After a disappointing game of rugby the weekend really started to improve. We headed for the bike shop to buy Sharon her birthday present - a mountain bike. *Oooh, aaah*. After a long chat to those in the know we walked out with the shiny new bike, strapped it to the car, and headed home very excited. Sadly however there was no time to ride it (other than a few laps of the parking lot of course), as we got straight back into the car and headed to the squash club.

Squash was good but it’s all really about the beer, so after a couple of games we headed for the Lemon to watch the Sharks game. I must admit, I wasn't expecting much after last week’s loss to the Griquas, but I was to be pleasantly surprised. It must've been since Sharon was wearing her Sharks kit, because we absolutely dominated the Bulls. In fact, even after scoring 5 tries, we could've had another 2 or 3. All in all a great game of rugby for once.

Sunday was the exciting day though as we put our bikes onto the car and headed for Giba Gorge. Sharon was noticeably nervous having not ridden a bike in 10 years, but I was confident she'd be fine. After a quick tire pump, and a couple of high fives, we got onto the bikes and headed into the bush. It was hard to tell if Sharon was enjoying it because the first 3kms were all uphill. Soon however we were at the top and she was yelling with joy (or fear) as we shot back down the single track. We did a little more exploring until we'd clocked up 10kms. After that we called it a day, sat down for some lunch and then headed home to relax.