Weekend paddling down the Breede River

[GI Jane]

So last weekend the Hoppy family organized a trip down the Breede River with friends.... Some of us met up at the Wimpy in Paarl and we met up with the rest at Du Toits kloof lodge, and then drove to our destination just outside of Worcester on a farm.... We left our vehicles at the campsite and were transported a couple Km up the road to the start of our river trip...

After the briefing we jumped into our canoes and started paddling down the river. There were 10 canoes, 2 people per canoe and the trail leader with his faithful labrador Sokkies, who spent most of the time standing up front the canoe barking orders at us and the other half of the time diving rocks out of the river....

There were a number of Savannah stops

We had a couple of white water encounters on the way...

Please notice how much work the men were doing at this stage... typical

There were a number of close encounters with trees on the banks of the river when the water was flowing quite swiftly

Then we came to a tricky section in the river, there was a pretty rapid section but towards the end of it there was a fallen tree in the middle of the river so you had to guide your canoe carefully to avoid the tree...

[GI Jane]

This was how you were supposed to go around the tree stump obstacle...

This was how not to go around the tree stump obstacle...

The young ones did very well through that section, in fact, all the way..

Mr and Mrs Hoppy were brave enough to carry their cameras all the way and take photo's the were times they were floating in the river holding their cameras just above it.... dedicated camera woman no 1 and camera man no 2...

We have quite a number of rapid water areas..

But there was always time for one of these

particularly after the hard work....

As the sun started to set we paddled to the area were the campsite was and made our way over a short stretch of sand to rest and enjoy a great meal supplied by the organizers... We had mattresses under the stars which was great, except that the entire mosquito community decided to join us.... I know I fell asleep at some time to the sound of the others slapping a mosquito to death somewhere on their bodies.... Tabard cream definitely works better than the spray... I used the cream and got some sleep don't think the others did, so they emerged bruised and bloody from their encounter with the mosquito's.

[GI Jane]

So the next morning after some sleep.... the organizers prepared and supplied a scrumptious breakfast and we were off down to the river for our last excursion.

The river and the mountains surrounding us were beautiful and fortunately with no wind, the day before we had to battle against some heavy winds on the open sections... quite demanding...

We had some narrower sections were there were overhanging trees, really picturesque..

Then the nappy run... Life jackets are put on through the legs and fastened life a nappy. We went trekked to a narrow tributary of the river that was flowing quite rapidly and holding on tightly to the shrubs on the side of the river we linked our feet under the arms of the person in front to form a chain and we were swept down the river like a long snake..

The faithful lead labrador led the way

and we followed

and then the paddle to our pick up stop and transport back to our vehicles...

And so a wonderful weekend with a group of fun loving friends came to an end.....

Thanks Mr and Mrs Hoppy and all of those that contributed to a great weekend of fun in the sun....

[Hoppy]

Think we must organise a Hilux Club rowing weekend

[CasKru]

Think we must organise a Hilux Club rowing weekend

As long as it's not a Hilux drowning weekend.


Looks like you had heaps of fun

[OOOOMS]

Daai lyk darm na vet pret

[ThysdJ]

Think we must organise a Hilux Club rowing weekend

Ek het nie low-range nie, so ek kan nie teen die rapid oproei nie... maar ek sal ook nie sink as die skuit omval nie... ingeboude life-jacket!!

[Niel]

Vet pret maar ek sou dink die G&T's sou help vir die mozzies

[Mud Dog]

Looks and sounds like an awesome outing! Thanks for sharing!!