Having picked up Big Bertha from Zarate Port and spent four days or so getting her ready for travel again, we were ready to start exploring South America. We have arrived in winter and so we shall go north to warmer climes and then head south to Ushuaia, at the southern tip of South America for later in the year. […]
Shipping our home on wheels is always a traumatic experience, especially on the long unaccompanied crossings. And this time it was no different. We were told in January that ships normally ply our route from Durban to Argentina monthly, and we planned our return to the UK for Easter accordingly. However, for a variety of reasons, the ship we planned […]
We arrived in Buenos Aries, Argentina, a week ahead of Big Bertha and stayed in a hotel in the centre so that we could explore this renowned city. Initial impressions are that it feels a lot like Paris – European architecture, cafés on every corner and pavements covered in dog s**t. The monetary system takes some getting used to: there […]
We are very lucky to have Raquel as a friend. A Londoner, Raquel moved to Béziers in 2003 to give the Mediterranean lifestyle a try and hasn’t left. With time on our hands, whilst Big Bertha waited for a ship to transport her to Argentina, we accepted Raquel’s invitation to stay in her flat in the heart of Béziers, for […]
All good plans……. Having said goodbye to Big Bertha in Durban back in March we were expecting to meet her again in Zarate, Argentina, in early May. Unfortunately, the shipping companies have had different ideas. Big Bertha, because of her size, needs to be transported by a RoRo ship (Roll On, Roll Off). These are normally used to transport new […]
We get asked all the time about the statistics behind our journey. When we started, we made a budgetary estimate as to how much our adventure would cost us and this has been pretty much on target. Budding adventurers may find this very useful in formulating their own plans. These stats do not include our ‘background’ costs such as storing […]
David’s Perspective We planned to stay two years, then Covid happened and we finally left 3½ years after arriving in Namibia in August 2019. In that time we have visited eleven countries and have driven 62,434 kilometres. Its very difficult to nominate ‘the best’ country, as each has different positives and negatives. However, if pushed, my favourite would be South […]
Leaving the baking hot Kgalagadi Transfrontier National Park behind, we made our way to Durban, where we readied Big Bertha for shipping to South America. On the way we visited Kimberly, home of the ‘Big Hole’ – a huge diamond mine, our friends Johan and Lyn, Terry (our champion mechanic) and the Drakensburg mountains. Here we are with Johan and […]
Perhaps not the prettiest of waterfalls, but certainly one of the most powerful we have seen, Augrabies Falls was almost at full flow when we visited. Eastern South Africa had experienced very high rainfall (unusually high, locals said) during February and a number of sluice gates on the Orange River had been opened to try to prevent flooding in the […]
On the way across from the West Coast to the Kgalagadi National Park we camped for a night at the Kalahari Trails Meerkat Sanctuary. Aside from a very nice welcome from Richard, a fellow Brit making his home in South Africa, we were treated to some fun encounters with their resident mob (yes, that’s the correct term) of meerkats. We were first […]