On Track

Hey Friends and family,

Well as Clauds has already mentioned we are back… eight days of dealing with the Nigerian Immigration and the thought of updating the blog was rather depressing.

We are currently sitting at Mile 8 beach in Limbe with a stretch of black volcanic beach in front of us, a palm trees for shade and a few fishermen pulling in their catch for the day, I spent a few hours this morning snorkelling around the rocks, the ocean is incredibly clear so you get a totally different feeling under water with the black base… get jealous!! The area we are currently in gets the second highest rainfall in the world being over 10 000 mm per year, crazy however we have lucked out and have only had one downpour and have had superb weather otherwise.

Mount Cameroon was spectacular but hell on the quads, the scenery was like nothing we have ever seen before with old and new lava flows and craters… thanks to Shaun for the biltong and great steaks from SA we finished off the last two steaks last evening over a lekker braai and they were scrumptious (don’t think we will have meat like that for the next few months). Before I forget I better add that Clauds also got stung by a bee up on the mountain but this in comparison to all the other disastrous episodes seems incredibly mild… my wife is an absolute trooper and never looses her GO attitude.

When we finished Mount C the six of us piled into Mo and headed to a little beach resort at mile 11 called Seme Beach Hotel, it was great to have warm water and a clean bed for two days, we ate burgers at the restaurant and had a romantic dinner once everyone left of chicken and chips (surprise surprise for Africa) which was great. The hotel had a very cool spring flowing through the grounds which had fresh water trout and bass (I think), so I put on the goggles and did a few laps (I could swim for about 90m in one direction and check out the fish which was awesome).

Yesterday the 16^th we packed up and started driving further West to see what we could see, the road ended at a lagoon in a small town called Sanje so we packed a picnic lunch and caught the little Pirogue (makoro) over to the beach side (the guy working the boat had to have been the most defined muscular guy I have seen before, think I should take up running a little ferry for a few months after this trip to cut off the beer gut that seems to be developing). The beach was not great as it was steep but we found a palm tree facing the lagoon and mountain and had an enjoyable afternoon, its rough here in Africa… we then hopped back into the car with two locals and drove them to thier village while we tried to find some fresh food and a place to sleep for the evening, we arrived at mile 8, a little gem of a spot with no one else around so I think we will spend a day or two here while Clauds burns heal.

Mo has been great with almost no problems, however for the past few days I have been trying to dry out the passenger floor, there is pooling of water which has been baffling me, I thought it was condensation of the a/c unit, then I thought the rains were leaking somehow through the new roof carrier on her top, but this morning after much investigation I discovered that it is the a/c unit. Right by the center consol, under the dash by Clauds feet, water was dripping from the a/c unit, I unscrewed a few bolts and opened up the plastic container slightly and collected around half a litre of water, so in total I think I have collected around 1 litre… Dad, Ed someone please call a mechanic and let me know if the a/c filters are blocked or if this is normal, perhaps with the slow 4x4 and the a/c being on with the exhaust pipe right there this tends to happen (I don’t think it is right though).

So either than that life is sweet and its time to take a goef in the ovean, cheers from the J’s!!