Searching for adrenaline
Trip Start
Nov 07, 2005
1
68
75
Trip End
Nov 04, 2006
Swakopmund,
Namibia
Saturday, October 7, 2006
Welcome to Swakopmund, sponsored by Namibia Breweries, the sign read as a town emerged before us in the middle of the desert. It was weird to be driving through nothingness for ages and then to stumble across this bustling town; there's something not quite right about it, as I wasn't prepared for it.
We were all excited about the next 4 days, not just because we were let loose to do what we pleased, but mainly because we got to sleep in beds. Real beds.
After settling in and going shopping we all piled into an Italian restaurant for dinner, famous for its 2kg of ribs that the boys had all been eager to try. I went for 'baby' ribs which ended up being 1kg, and managed to chew my way through about three quarters of it.
Moving into the bar above the hotel for drinks, us girls ended up being bought shots by a 'secret admirer' at the bar. I still have no idea who it was but they were free drinks.
It was quite a late night, and at 9.30am the next morning most of us went sandboarding with severe hangovers (except me). I opted for the stand up sandboarding, partly because the thought of going face first on my belly scared the crap out of me and partly because i thought it might be a learning experience in case I wanted to try snowboarding later. I was actually quite good, if I do say so myself.
I wasn't too good, however, at climbing back up the dune after I'd reached the bottom, and only made a few runs before I was totally exhausted.
In the afternoon half of us had plucked up enough courage to jump out of planes. Zoe was probably the most scared and was chosen to go first, but judging by her screams of delight when her parachute neared the ground, she was having the time of her life.
Everyone loved skydiving and no one died, but Damon did lose his camera mid skydive as it fell off from round his neck and shattered into a million and one pieces over the desert. But then we had been told specifically not to take them with us when falling 200km/h through the air.
Ruth, Kiri, Bart and I attempted to get ready to go out that night but after our pasta took 2 hours to cook we were too tired.
Saturday was my biggest adrenaline day as I hit the shops and all the girls ended up buying the same dress I'd already bought in Jo'burg in July - but they got it for half the price! One of the owners of a shop frequented by almost all the girls several times was seen out later on buying champagne all around.
On the way back we found a rogue shopping trolley, so to add to the adrenaline, Ruth jumped in and Kiri pushed her around, thne we thought we'd better stop due to the weird looks we were starting to get.
I decided I'd complete the big 3 adrenaline activities joined most of the group to go quadbiking in the afternoon. Despite a shaky start, I gained confidence and loved it, although I didn't go nearly as fast as the boys. I stayed in the slow group, any faster and I was convinced I would roll my bike over and die. Ribo soon realised he'd been a bit ambitious by getting a manual bike and was stuck behind me, at the back of the slow group.
After a very long wait in the restaurant for dinner, where Brent got incresingly annoyed that I'd ordered a starter and he hadn't, we eventually got our cold main courses, reminding us that we were still in Africa and you can't expect what you would at home. A few of us made it to the bar, but most decided to save it for our last night. It was Saturday night and the bar was buzzing, but mostly with arrogant South Africans and Namibians who were really rude to us. One guy approached me and said: "If you were an inch taller I'd marry you."
I told him, not very politely, where to go. Emma was having a conversation with a guy who thought Real Madrid was a football team from Portugal and so she turned to another guy and asked him if he knew where they were from. Not understanding her accent (neither did we usually understand theirs) he replied that he already had a girlfriend. Later on, he asked her if all Scottish girls had big thighs, at which point we decided it was time to leave.
I went home whilst still relatively sober. Bart, sadly, did not, and the next morning looked like he'd aged 10 years, could hardly move and generally looked pretty unhappy with life. Perhaps those shots of jagermeister hadn't been such a good idea in hindsight.
Sundau was spent as sundays should be - doing nothing. Jules & Morgs announced they'd got engaged the previous night so we had yet more reason to celebrate.
All the girls visited Salon de Zoe to get their hair straightened, as did Luke (whose hair is normally corkscrew curly) and he later looked like a bit of a scarecrow.
We went back to the Italian restaurant and I had the best steak of my life in the form of a slab of rare springbok.
Back in the bar (again) we were on the shots and a night of sleaze (Bart's new favourite phrase) ensued, followed by a morning where I think I experienced the first hangover of my life. after a big brekkie and lots and lots of extra sugary tea, I spent most of the truck journey asleep on the floor, occasionally sipping my powerade.
Adrenaline overload.
