Omaramba - Feb 2011
Hi All, (Oh great followers of ONE... :-D)
A week have passed since returning from our first camping weekend for 2011 and the return was a joyous one! Sunday evening we basked in the glory of the joy of the weekend, having had some much deserved rest (and I use this term lightly) with great family time.
Let’s start at the beginning, the last blog was ended with the planning for the menu for the weekend. The menu outlay was done with simplicity in mind and least amount of effort required for preparation.
Friday Evening:
Hot dogs for the kids and Boerewors (sausage) Rolls for the Grownups
Saturday:
Rusks for the early morning feeding,
Pita Bread Breakfast (Scrambled eggs, bacon and what not) at about 10am which kept the lunch hunger at bay
Fruits and Snacks for the rest
With chips/crisps here and there Evening: Braai Meats, Braai Sandwiches, Corn on the Cob and Fresh mixed Salad
Sunday:
Rusks and Cookies for the early morning hunger
Breakfast Burgers for Brunch.
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We left with great fanfare on Friday Afternoon after picking up all the kids from school with the caravan in tow, this filled the kids with great excitement, which in turn made the 73km trip feel like a 730km trip due to the anticipation.
About 1.5km before the campsite there is a basic convenience “center” with a garage for fuel, the accompanying shop, there is also a butchery, a bottle store and one or two other shops.
Upon our arrival at Omaramba which is situated “across” the road from the Buffelspoort Dam we were able to quickly enter, seeing the access road to the main gate is approximately 200m. In all honesty my first impression of the campsite was that it was past it’s glory years, I am happy to say that my first impressions were way off the mark.
Due to the resort being quite large and this being a normal weekend the resort seemed empty, however we found our campsite with little effort, due to the resort being very rich in trees we had a bit of challenge to maneuver the Caravan into the campsite but thanks to my husband’s logical thought process, good driving skills and clever survival techniques we were able to back the caravan into the campsite without it running away....
Once all the basics were setup we were able to explore the layout of the resort. Here is my summary:
Pro’s:
Basic roads are paved
Rich in Trees
Well maintained Jungle Gym for kids
3 Beautiful swimming pools of which 2 are warm the one a kiddies pool which is about approximately 70 - 80cm deep
Well Stocked Camp Shop from Cool drink to Ice to Meat and all other “small” items (toothbrushes, toothpaste) that may have been left / forgotten at home
All campsites have built / constructed fireplaces
Good Cellphone Reception
Ablution Facilities are clean and well cared for
Con’s
Ablution Facilities not ALL open if campsite is not full (we landed up camping ½ way between the two ablution facilities
Rich in Trees
A lot of cars driving back and forth
Good Cellphone Reception :-)
Not all the campsites have Braai Grids
We had "great fun" on Saturday afternoon when we had a cloud burst, only then we understood the value of statistics. The BIG things we learned was... camping on a stand with 90% red soil results in 150% MUD :-) Having a spare umbrella 99% of the time is not good enough because you will get caught the 1% time you don’t have it. AND having 4 kids in a caravan, under the age of 6 during a cloud burst with extra loud thunder strikes makes for a good entertainment to all BUT those inside the caravan.
Friends came with and it was a good relaxing time for visiting with each other without the duties of house work or maintenance calling. The kids had a good time as they could share their fun. For the first round of camping for this was great fun and a good relaxing weekend was had.
Until next time.
To borrow a great saying from Mr. Zandberg Jansen....
“Nag ou Grote”
