Day 145-154

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NAM 24th April 3rd March 2007, Namibia

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Day 145 24/4. Bush camp,south of border, Namibia
17°39.46'S 15°54.00'E. Miles today 198, Total Miles 13674
ring Namibia picnic spot"Come on, stop wasting my time, hurry up and give me your passports. In fact, I am not sure if you can enter Namibia, as the people in the hut at the gate may have already gone home!" That was our welcome at the Namibian immigration. "That's ok" I replied, "I'll sleep anywhere. In fact, can I sleep at your house?" "Of course you can my dear, it is not an offence you know!" Well, it turns out we didn't take her up on her kind offer of hospitality, as the folk in the "hut" were still there and they let us through. Fastest border crossing we have ever done. Seems to be the trick to arrive when they are about to close. Only small problem was that we needed to buy the obligatory road tax for foreign vehicles and those people had in fact gone home. So we have to bush camp somewhere nearby and pop back tomorrow. By now, it was dark, so we headed down a side-track towards a waypoint we had buried somewhere. This took us to a cornfield next to a village, which apart from the ant's nest we seemed to have disturbed, was just fine. Working our way through the last of our emergency food (food was too expensive in Angola, so we had to use up our tins) I cracked open a tin of M and S Chilli con carne and cooked some rice. Halfway, through my third mouthful, Rob starts digging his pocket and says" So, now that we've made it into Namibia, will you marry me?" (and with that produces a beautiful diamond ring) Oh, my word, I nearly choked on a kidney bean but naturally, I said yes! Very unique setting with no one to tell, apart from the ants and some drunk man shouting and running around the village. Whoa, how cool is this?
Day 146 25/4. Municiple campsite, Tsumeb, Namibia
19°15.59'S 17°42.63'E. Miles today 264, Total Miles13938
tourist tvI'm still smiling, no, in fact, I'm beaming. Spent the morning on Tourist TV again with the local villagers watching me make breakfast before heading off into the town of Oshakati to pick up some money and food. Huge culture shock, as we stepped into Pick n Pay (like Tescos) We seriously had to control ourselves. Needless to say, monstrous amounts of sausage were purchased. A quick detour back to the border to collect our obligatory road tax. Glad we did actually, as we met some folk who were fined for not having it. Made our way to Tsumeb and thought we'd check out the campsite. Oh my word, beautifully kept green grass, shade, hot and clean showers, braai (BBQ) pit for each site. How could we stay anywhere else? Cooked up a storm of meat and sausage, hoping to keep some for lunch tomorrow. No chance, we ate it all. Our tummies ache as we flop into bed but we are both still smiling!
Day 147 26/4. Bush camp, between Otjiwarongo and Okahandja, Namibia
21°00.36'S 16°47.01'E. Miles today 147, Total 14085
sausageA long wonder round town to use the internet and after yet another fantastic hot shower, we were back on the beautiful road towards Windhoek. (Oh yes, another quick stop at the supermarket for more sausage.) Most of the day spent driving. Rob was not allowed to complain once about being bored. Stopped for the night down a side road for another bushcamp and made a yummy braai. More meat. Yeah!!!!
Day 148 27/4. Cardboard Box Backpackers, Windhoek, Namibia
22°33.76'S 17°04.53'E. Miles today 131, Total 14216
cardboardArrived in Windhoek early, so investigated getting our new passports (These ones are full already! Told you they were stamp happy here in Africa. ) The VERY Afrikaans lady said "No problem", and she took them straight away but they would take 5-10 days to process. Drove around town to various 4x4 shops and discovered countless shopping malls, with everything I could possibly want. Rob's looking nervous! Set up camp at the Cardboard Box Backpackers (a great place, 10min walk from town for €5 each a night) and headed off to a bar/restaurant Rob has dreaming of since the start of our trip. It's a meat feast haven called Joe's Beerhouse. Delicious zebra and rump steaks were scoffed along with a lot of beer. We were blessed with some great company in the form of two very entertaining mine workers. (One Namibian, who spent the entire evening telling Rob he was crazy to have driven from England - in a Land Rover - and even crazier for marrying me and one Australian, who, thankfully was slightly more proud of us!) Sadly, we cannot remember their names. Sorry, too much beer!
Day 149 - 154 28/4 - 3/5. Cardboard Box Backpackers, Windhoek, Namibia
22°33.76'S 17°04.53'E. Miles today 16, Total 14232
Not going to bore you with the details but have spent the past few days waiting for our passports and eating and drinking ourselves into oblivion. The option of sleep is a bit hit and miss here at the Cardboard Box (huge parties every night) but still a great place with a pool, bar, washing machines, free tea and pancakes every morning, telly, internet and super friendly people.
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