There's a dam in my tent!

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January 1981

Not long after my trip to the Drakensberg I met Paul and my holiday dreams were replaced by dreams of a wedding. I was so happy because I was gaining a wonderful friend, husband and travel companion all in one! We wanted to go somewhere special on our honeymoon. Money was tight as usual and most of our savings went into the wedding, but we scraped together some money to spend on our holiday. We chose to camp at a holiday resort in Plettenberg Bay, a small upmarket coastal holiday destination. Paul had been there every year for his annual holiday for most of his life and had fond memories of it and he wanted to share it with me. We wanted to make it a worthwhile trip so we went for a few weeks. This was my first real camping trip as I had never really camped for such a long period before. We didn't have much, but Paul had collected a few pieces of camping equipment and the rest we loaned from his parents. We packed our VW beetle to the brim with what little we had and hit the road to our honeymoon and future as a newly married couple.
We spent the days swimming, walking around and Paul fishing. We took a trip to Knysna and browsed around the shops looking at all the curios and wooden furniture and ornaments from the Knysna forest, and we walked along the paths of the Knysna forest and looking at the spectacular views towards the sea. At Plettenberg Bay we walked along the Robberg peninsula and went swimming at different beaches.
One day we went to Storms River mouth where there is an underwater snorkelling trail amongst the rocks and Paul wanted to show it to me. He has spent most of his life with his head underwater and I had never snorkelled before, but he was prepared to teach me and I was game to try. By the time we got there, the sea was not very cooperative and the waves were crashing over the rocks repetitively. With Paul's reassurance that it would be fine, in we plunged. Perhaps Paul was already tired of his new wife, and wanted to drown me, as I was gulping in sea water and frantically kicking and paddling, while trying to stay afloat. Paul was instructing me and giving me tips on how to snorkel. He was thoroughly enjoying himself like a fish underwater while I was purely trying to survive! Eventually, after encouraging me and having swallowed half the sea, I slowly started getting the hang of it and managed to see a bit of the life underwater which is quite remarkable and colourful.

A few days before the end of our honeymoon I woke up in the morning and felt the corner of our sleeping bag was wet. As we stood up water came rushing in onto our groundsheet. It had been raining heavily throughout the night, but we were high and dry or so we thought. Our groundsheet was separate to our tent and as the water was damming up, our groundsheet managed to float on top of the water with us on our mattresses. The minute we stood up the sides of the groundsheet gave in and the water flowed in under our bedding. Everything as sopping wet and saturated! It was still raining on and off and we couldn't dry anything. What were we to do? Luckily the owner of the caravan park took pity on us and let us use a caravan for free for the remaining few days of our holiday. What luxury! Our little tent could fit in the side tent of the caravan so we could dry it and most of our belongings to a degree and we had a dry bed to sleep in! We were very comfortable for those last few days.

Once we listened to some news on the radio, we heard that one of the Karoo towns north west of Plettenberg Bay, Laingsburg, was flooded and more than 100 lives were lost, which was very sad news to hear. Paul and I were very fortunate that the only problem we had was that most of our possessions were wet and that could be rectified fairly quickly. All too soon it was time to head back to reality & work.



For those that are interested the following link gives a good account with photographs of a terrible disaster in this small Karoo town.

http://www.keepandshare.com/doc/2546907/the-laingsburg-disaster-sawdis-pdf-january-25-2011-8-41-am-5-2-meg?da=y

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Photos

Plettenberg Bay
Rocks at Keurbooms River Mouth

Plettenberg Bay
Our beetle and tent surrounded by water

Plettenberg Bay
Destruction after the rain

Plettenberg Bay
Our tent and sleeping bags drying in the side tent of the caravan

Plettenberg Bay
Puddles and dams everywhere

Plettenberg Bay
Cooking on the ground of our tent - we had no table

Plettenberg Bay
Cooking in luxury in the caravan

Plettenberg Bay
Paul mopping up - notice the water at his feet