On July 25th Lindie Erasmus returned from South Korea after two years. Her plan was to come to CapeTown first, because her dad lives here now, and obviously also because Gerdus and I live here.
Her flight was scheduled to land in Cape Town at 11:15 am. Before she left Korea I told her that I will also meet her at the airport. I had never met her dad before that day, so I figured I will just meet him there and introduce myself. Her flight came in via Johannesburg and I walked into the domestic arrivals hall at 11:13 and started looking for her dad. To my surprise he was nowhere in sight. There weren't a lot of people there so I was sure I wasn't being retarded. With no way of contacting him, except for Facebook, I went online and saw that he had posted some stuff just 9 minutes earlier. I sent him a message and asked him where he was, but with no success.
My brain started working overtime. Maybe he was waiting at international arrivals and didn't know that she flew in via Johannesburg. Maybe he was running late. Maybe he had car trouble. Maybe he had the time wrong, but I know Lindie gave him the correct time. And the one I feared the most was, maybe he forgot his daughter was coming home after two years.
Approximately 30 minutes after her flight had landed I saw her in the back of the hallway leading to the arrivals hall. I had no idea what was I going to say. Maybe: Your dad forgot you are coming home, but welcome back!! So I just welcomed her and told her that I had no idea where her dad was. We walked to international arrivals to see if he was waiting there, but no luck. Like good old Murphy at his best, Lindie's Korean cellphone with her dad's number on decided to pass on to less technological pastures as soon as it entered the borders of South Africa. After waiting outside the terminal building for a few minutes we decided that we are just going to go. I knew her dad lives in Bellville, so we would just go there and send him a smoke signal or something.
While driving we did some thinking, made some phone calls and finally got his number. I phoned him to tell him that I had Lindie with me and that we were on our way to his house. I think it goes without saying that it was quite an awkward conversation. He had gotten confused with the time she was going to land in Cape Town because of all the delays she had in Korea and Hong Kong caused by the typhoon. So we got his address and headed there to wait for him.
That weekend two of Lindie's friends, Morne and Selmari, came from George to visit for the weekend and we decided to take the camper, drive down the coast and find a place to spend the night. I think it is safe to say that we didn't plan anything, at all. We just loaded our bags, stopped at the gas station to get some petrol and then we hit the road.
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| Road trip!!! (Photo taken by Gerdus) |
We headed past Gordon's Bay and found a place to stop and have a barbecue for lunch. After that we drove on and found an awesome camping spot right next to the beach where we stayed for the night. The bags of awesome Woolworths food that Selmari brought was consumed entirely. We ate like freaking yetties! Nom, nom, nom!
The Sunday morning we started heading back and made a stop for lunch at the Spur in the Strand, which wasn't such a great idea. We couldn't complain about the service, because there wasn't any. Poor Gerdus, Morne and Selmari probably got the worst Surf 'n Turfs in history. Not happy campers.
Being not so happily filled with food we are on the road again. We had one concern, however, and that was that we were not sure how much petrol we had left. The gas needle of the camper was all over the place and after a few rough calculations Gerdus and I reckoned that there is a small chance that we might actually make it back to Bellville, if we drive half the speed limit. There would be gas stations somewhere on the way there so it wouldn't be too big a train smash if we ran out of petrol. As we were leaving Somerset West we drove past a gas station on the national road and probably 5km further the camper gave a few chokes and then kept going again, for about 5 seconds, and then it died. I pulled over to the side of the road and then it was time to make a plan. We had an empty 3 or 4 liter bottle and a machete and all decided against phoning Lindie's dad. Gerdus and Morne volunteered to walk back to the gas station to get some gas. What we didn't realise at that moment was that we ran out of petrol right next to Khayelitsha, the biggest township in Cape Town, and probably the most dangerous place as well. And to make it worse, the sun was setting fast. I only saw the Khayelitsha sign when Gerdus and Morne were well on their way to the gas station and they phoned us seconds after I saw the sign to tell us that they were on their way back. A guy driving toward Somerset West stopped on the other side of the road to tell them that they were crazy to walk next to the road in the area, especially when it's getting dark. He offered to take the bottle and go buy some petrol.
At the exact same time that Gerdus and Morne made it back to the camper a Volvo V50, with steam bubbling from the bonnet, stopped a few meters behind us. The steam soon turned into smoke, accompanied by a few sparks falling from under the engine. At this point the family occupying the car, Mr Husband and Mrs Wife, little baby and the dog, evacuated the car. They were barely out of the car when the entire engine bay burst into flames. Just as the inferno began our hero arrived with the petrol. Fearing that the Volvo might decide to explode Gerdus immediately started pouring the petrol into the petrol tank while Morne and I pulled the camper forward, out of harm's way.
While this whole fiasco was taking place at least two police cars drove past us and not one stopped to offer help. Good to know who we shouldn't call in case of an emergency. With a little petrol in the tank again we weren't really sure whether we should get going and leave the family stranded next to Khayelitsha in the dark or stay with them so we could get robbed and murdered together. Helping us make our decision was an ambulance and another car that came to the rescue. As soon as they stopped we took off and by that time the interior of the Volvo was already burning as well.
Knowing more or less how much petrol we had at that time Gerdus and I started doing the math again, and this time we were pretty sure that we would just make it back to Bellville. Finally in Bellville on our way to the house we passed a gas station again, but being so close at that point we just kept going. After reaching the house the camper died again in the driveway. There was just enough fumes left in the tank to get it back into the yard. Needless to say, it was probably the most random and eventful weekend we've had in a long time.
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| Just before the real fireworks began. It's the only photo we have. I made a video of the whole fiasco that I still need to get from Lindie. As soon as I do I will upload it. |
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