About Us
Then...
... and now
Eduard & Carla
Our story begins somewhere in the year 1997.
It could not have been long after we started dating, that the travel bug bit. Our first holiday together was to Knysna, in November 1997. Our first travel car, was a yellow VW CITI golf.
We stayed at the Knysna Hotel with some timeshare vouchers from Eduard’s dad. Sadly the hotel does not exist anymore, it was demolished soon after our stay.
We thought this was the best accommodation ever! We had so much fun in those five days. And so our travels begin… Looking back at the photo album I made of that first holiday, it reads on the last page: “the end… of the BEGINNING! And how true those words were – we never stopped travelling since.
Our first selfie, long before it was even considered a word or that cellphones would be able to take photos one day.
A picture says a thousand words.
My first camera, bought in 1997 or 1998, was a mini Olympus. I loved that little camera. It was before the days of digital, so going to the pharmacy to develop the rolls of film, was always very exciting and sometimes quite disappointing.
My second camera, bought in 2004 and also my first digital, was a Canon PowerShot. It had a rotating back screen, which was very exhilarating. I also managed to get my hands on a zoom lens for this camera. I made Eduard walk across the whole town of Dubai to find the Canon shop where I could buy this lens.
The first big road trip.
In September 1999 we had our first 19 day long road trip planned through South Africa. Eduard had a new car by then, a red VW Chico. We started in Springfontein, headed up to Sun City at the Lost City. Saw Pilanesberg. From there, we went on to explore the Hoedspruit area. This included the Blyde River, Bourke’s Luck, Mac Mac Falls, Pelgrims Rest and Kruger National Park, just to mention a few. We ventured through Swaziland to St Lucia, down to Port Edward and then to Port Alfred. We ended the trip in Tsitsikamma.
Travelling by car, was not enough.
I’ve always been a bakkie type of girl. So, not surprisingly, my first car, bought in 1999, was a cream Nissan 1400 bakkie. I loved that bakkie. It never did any road trips or holidays, but it was our weekend car. Sadly, it was stolen in 2001. Since those bakkies were high in demand when it came to stolen vehicles, I never wanted a car that had a high theft priority again. But with all negatives in life, there comes a positive along the way. We soon realised that a car was not sufficient enough to take us on those off the beaten tracks, that was so alluring. So my search began and I bought my first 4×4 vehicle, a white 1983 Suzuki SJ 410 in 2001.
This vehicle opened a whole new world of travelling to us.
We had a lot of fun with this little jeep, but sometimes, just a bit too much.
This was in the days before driving on the beach was prohibited. So you can image how exciting this was for us.
We did not wait long and in 2002 we took our first off the beaten track camping trip. I grew up as a happy camper, so I sort of had an idea of what we needed to survive. The main objective was that we wanted to go as remote possible. At the end the West Coast and Namaqua Coast won hands down and so we started a week long journey on our way to the Orange River with some river rafting thrown into the mix.
How we managed to fit all that stuff into the jeep, still blows my mind. We had two large Coleman cooler boxes that took up a huge amount of space. Today, we still have a his and a hers – two 40 litre Engen fridges.
My dad attached two jerrycan holders onto the sides of the jeep. To this day, I still do not know how the sides of the jeep managed to hold the weight of those filled up jerry cans. But petrol we had.
Time to start playing in the big leagues.
Somewhere in 2003/2004 we decided it was time for an upgrade. The jeep was getting old, rusty and just too small. Travelling locally was not enough anymore. The wild African continent was calling. So I sold my little jeep and Eduard bought a white 2.2 Toyota Hilux. There was a few challenges to overcome, like the canopy that came off on our first 4×4 trip. Who pop rivets a canopy to a bakkie? Then the big boy needed some big toys. Cooler boxes were a thing of the past, it was a fridge/freezer now. With this, came a battery system, recovery gear, gazebos, GPS, all sorts of gadgets, etc., etc… Because why, we had more space. Most of this stuff, was mostly a waste of time and money.
The Toyota kitted with the very basics, we started planning our first overlanding trip. This trip was special, because it was our pre honeymoon trip, 20 days before our wedding.
On 30 April 2005, we headed up to the Caprivi in Namibia. We crossed over to Botswana, where we stayed in Kazungula and from there headed out to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. We went back to Botswana, explored Chobe, Savuti and Moremi.
As a treat, we flew into the Delta to Chiefs Island to Odd Balls camp. Without anyone knowing that it was our pre honeymoon, we got upgraded to the honeymoon suite.
From here we started making our way back to SA. Crossing the border into SA we made a serious wrong turn heading into the wrong direction and ending in Kuruman, instead of Augrabies, as the plan were. Reading a map and a GPS, were not our strong point then.
This trip was what a traveller’s dreams are made of. We had our first river crossing over the Kwai River – almost ended in a disaster.
Our first close up encounter of a wild animal at Savuti. Our first sighting of wild dogs and lions, buffalo, elephant by the hundreds and so much more.
June 17th, 2005 – the big day.
We travelled together for eight years and finally got married on 17 June 2005 in Malmesbury at the Department of Home Affairs.
Our two night honeymoon was spent at Spier on the Friday night and in a mountain hut at Warm Bokkeveld the Saturday.
Long story short.
In 2007, we upgraded to a white 2.7 Toyota Hilux. Not only were the vehicle and upgrade, but our camping gear and tent also. Gaining more experience with each and every travel, we had this vehicle kitted to our specific needs. By now had a his and hers fridge, which was non negotiable. Solar panels came into play, battery systems were tested. But with long travels, comfort and packing space were still an issue.
In 2015, our dream travel vehicle became a reality – the Toyota Double Cab V8 Land Cruiser. She was kitted and fitted. Our holiday home on wheels were ready. Travelling with comfort and all the packing space a girl could need. Ironically, as the travel years are going by, we have started to lose all the extras. These days we travel light, still with luxury and comfort in mind, but just with a little less.
This was just a short introduction as to how we started out with our travelling adventures. We have many stories to share. May our travel blog bring you some entertainment and also inspire you to start travelling. We all have a story to tell.