After the mad rush to get DBP airworthy again for our trip, it was a relief when we finally got ourselves airbourne off 03 for Elands Camp on Sat morning. We rolled just before 7am having packed all our gear on Gavin's (our ground crew) bakkie.
Stef (PAX) and I lead our gaggle via Aeropark towards Rhenosterkop. Smooth as silk up there with a healthy 20knt tailwind at 6200 ft.
With Rhenosterkop on our port wing, the valleys and ridges of the Wilgeriver valley began to emerge out of the haze....and with it a bit of rock n roll from the mechanical turbulence...but nothing serious. We could hear the Witbank boys overhead the dam....followed shortly by Bumblebee (Andries) from Secunda....but we were unfortunately about 10-15 minutes away still, so we could not add to our formation this time around.
Whilst they carried on to destination, we climbed up to 6800 where it was a bit smoother and pretty much stayed there till we were overhead Loskop and turning NW for the final 25NM towards Elands Camp.
From there we gradually decended as the landscape dropped off below us, flying over a few small koppies and many pivot fields of every shade of green imaginable.... With Stef getting a bit cold in the back, it was nice to hear all the "traffic" ahead on finals for 04 Elands. I had a very full bladder too and was in desperate need of purging my fuel tank!
Andries called overhead at the same time us us.....now I was confused! I could not see him....and he was 10-15 minutes ahead of us over Loskop....now how can he possibly be here same time??....and more importantly....where the hell is he?
I called him up..."CSZ....I don't have you visual....are you over the "right" Elands Camp?"
Turns out he was about 1000ft above us
....and had found a bit of a headwind there allowing us to catch up. All good....we joined circuit behind and all had our shot at the little landing competition that Oom Paul had arranged....a few were pretty close....rumour has it one PIC missed the mark by over 50m? Not sure who.... 
So we taxied in and parked and as usual were greeted by Oom Paul and Jimmy (pronounced GEEE MEEE). Oom Polla gave us the usual arrival speech...
"Guys, this is a Bush Camp....not a game lodge....julle manne moet maar net julle self uitsorteer en geniet....ons is ge organise met kos....geniet julself"
After a lekker braai brekkie, Oom Polla took us for an excursion to a nearby Buffalo farm. Now I had my doubts....if you recall the last trip we did....he took us on a "game drive" that took 3 hours and we didn't see f@ckall!
I must say, this was very interesting and is was quite an eyeopener to stand a few feet from a very pissed off bull with balls bigger than my head!
The owner of that farm has got a very organised set up and it was amazing to learn just how much goes into the breeding of these animals. Thanks so much for arranging that for us Oom. There were a few trikers who managed to resist the strong urge to drink an ice cold beer....(I was not one of them!
)....and these sober trike nuts took off after 4pm for a nice afternoon flight up to Arabie Dam and back. Stef took Gavin (ground crew) up for a flip which he really enjoyed. Those left back at camp just relaxed under the tree and enjoyed a nice cold sundowner or two. Aircraft safely back and tied up for the night those thirsty pilots got what they had been waiting for.
We enjoyed a great evening in good company around the fire.....daar is min mense wat soveel k@k kan praat as n klomp NPL'ers onder die sterre in die bos.
....Ek is bly daar was nie vroumense nie....ek het baie geleer van "pille drink" wat ek nie van geweet het nie!! Up early and back home direct due to the anticipated headwind forecast by our trusty Windguru. Slowed us down to about 35knts GS at times but no problems, an uneventful flight back, all safe and sound.
I really enjoyed the weekend chaps, and thanks to all that made it.
