NOT Camping & Proudly SA

Last weekend was eventful. The most important activity, according to Steph, was going to see Madagascar 2. So, having covered that, we'll move onto the rest.

Darrell and the boys set off bright and early on Friday morning for a day's 4x4ing, to be followed by an overnight camp in the desert with the 4x4 club. On the Saturday morning, they were going to head straight into Dubai to spend the day watching the rugby 7s.

They had fun during their long day of dune bashing and were just heading towards their designated camping spot when....the Landy decided that enough was enough and it was going no further. It emphasised this by spitting furiously and refusing obstinately to use its engine any further. And you can't argue with a determined landy! The big Toyota Landcruiser (I can see what Darrell's going to be getting next) managed to pull the Landy across the desert sands, with no help from its engine, to a little road right next to that place in the middle of nowhere. I got a call from Darrell, but we decided that as it was getting dark, I don't have SATNAV and I don't DO desert driving, I would not fetch them. They would sit tight and wait for the Landrover recovery truck instead. During this period of waiting, they were approached by a local man, very concerned about their plight. He invited them all back to his dwelling for coffee and dates. Sadly, in the chaos Darrell forgot to take the camera along, but he took this photo with his phone (so, Blackberry apologises for the quality). Darrell says there were about a dozen falcons tethered in this family's yard, they use them for hunting - not just for show!

To cut a very long story short, my men were eventually trucked back to Mussafah (a short drive from AD) and I piled a sleeping Steph into the car and rescued them from there. Much more convenient for me! And I must point out, that my little runaround car that fits into most parking bays, managed to take all the camping gear that had been filling up the Landy...

On Saturday, after Darrell spent some time talking to the Landrover company and discussing how useless their vehicles are, the boys disappeared again - to the Rugby 7s. This was a fantastic fun event, with lots planned to keep the kids happy (face painting, jumping castles) and the Dads (rugby, beer) and all the South Africans (SA won! We are very proudly South African. Of course, if the UK had won, we would have been proudly Brit!).

They eventually got home very late - but since they had taken my little car, they made it safely back, all the way from Dubai....