Wolf Wanderings and Other Sunny Shenanigans, with Intrepid Adventures on the Horizon.

Sometimes, when there aren’t any courses running, I get leave given to me by Outward Bound without a choice. And when glorious weather coincides with this enforced downtime, it would be morally wrong of me not to take advantage of these virtuous circumstances. Which is why I’ve spent the last ten days (rather wisely, in my opinion) riding horses, taking trips to the beach and walking a pair of dogs whose appearances and idiosyncrasies liken them so much to a couple of wolves that I will from here on out be referring to them as such.

            Said horses and wolves belong to a friend of mine named Andrea, who also lives in Sedgefield. Her bartending six days a week doesn’t leave her much time to walk her exceptionally energetic wolf pack, Jealous and Cheyenne, or exercise her two recently acquired rescue horses, Jinx and Mercury; so I naturally offered up my services while I’m around with no work to do. Because riding and dog walks on the beach in the sun we’ve been having are so taxing…  

            Last weekend me and Zoe even ventured to George for the night with a friend of ours, a trainee pilot named Skye, and a good and drunken time was had by all, in spite of it not being our original intention to wake up to find ourselves inexplicably still in George the next morning. Then I got to watch Everton beat Fulham on a hangover, which was a nice recovery after our terrible show at Sunderland the week before.

            These blissfully sun-lilted days are soon to come to an end though, as Saturday is a work day and on Sunday we’re back on the road, this time to Potchefstroom as the first leg of our epic pilgrimage up to the Outward Bound base in Lapalala, Limpopo province. It’s as far north as Outward Bound goes in South Africa and sits at the very top of the country, and the base is known for its proximity to wild game like lion, cheetah and hyena… without fences. So life will literally be on the wild side. So the next month looks something like: Bloemfontein – Potchefstroom – Lapalala – Potchefstroom.

Then Zoe, Lucy and I have collectively taken 18 days leave and are attempting to plan the following road trip for that time:

Botswana – Johannesburg – Swaziland – Umtata to visit friends volunteering at various projects.

If we manage to pull it off it’ll be a miracle and small hiccups are to be expected, but as long as we get to see who we want to see and get back to work in one piece I’ll consider it a successful venture.

 So, adventurous times ahead along with a foreseeable lack of blogging opportunities as I’ll be busy running for my life from wild animals as part of the usual nine-to-five/ bussing it around the continent, but I’m looking forward to getting back on the road with my Outward Bound family; our drives are always a laugh and when it’s all over it’ll be an experience to travel outside of South Africa!

 

If you need me, for the next two months I can be found at Intrepid Explorers R Us.