Day 10

Our ability to be on time for our pick up sadly, was quite short lived, and today it was Zander's turn to wait an extra 5-10 minutes for us while we minced about, but as always was very patient and chill while we got it all together for another day at the Barn. On the way down he asked if I had found my e-cigarette that I'd lost the day we went to Addo. Coincidentally, the very moment I was telling him that no, I hadn't, and was a bit gutted about it, I was getting out of his truck to open a gate and noticed it half sticking out from under my passenger seat. Wahey! Result!

Once there, a quick check on the waterhole as always, and again we're all very pleased how it's really starting to come along. There were even kudu, monkey and heron footprints around the edge, so I think we can now classify it as a small, but proper waterhole!

Gerhard arrived not long after, and seemed pleased with the work done on both the waterhole and the Barn. As we had by this point almost run out of cement, and had run out of the wood sealer, he was there to personally go and get everything on our list of required supplies himself, so we could carry on getting it all done. He also promised a visit that day from a neighhour of Kuzuko, called Rob, who would come and take a look at the waterhole and give us a more informed opinion of where the waterline would eventually reach. Then at least we could really look at the viability of some sort of island that we would like to include as a feature, as well as a safe nesting place for birdlife.

Joseph was down to help again, and clearly unimpressed with some of mine and Max's cementing proceeded to hammer out what we had done the day before and then refill the gaps himself. Even though his cementing skills are good but not perfect, they are still way better than ours, so we left him to it!

Kuzuko's Maintenance Manager, Tinny also came down to have a good look at the crack on the front of the building and decided that the best plan would be to remove more plaster in order to secure the two sides with industrial sized staples. Then cement it all and plaster over again. That way, it should prevent, or at least limit, any more growth of the crack. We're all pretty confident that this is the best way forward. It'll be great to see the Barn minus that huge crack, and the sooner the better, especially as almost all of the interior ones have been filled by now.

As we were short on supplies until they arrived later that day, we spent some of the morning making do where we could, tidying up in and around the Barn, as well as taking some time on watching those quite silly but fascinating local ostriches.

Ines and Kira took a break and wandered off a bit further down the road to see what they could see (but hopefully not the loose rhino..). About 10 minutes later Kira came running back and told us they had spotted the giraffes again, so me and Max invited Joseph to come and take a look with us. By the time we had got there the giraffes were already starting to run away. It's amazing how fast they can move while making it look so effortless! Luckily the girls had already taken some pics before we got there.

Around the back of the Barn, the guttering and piping still needs replacing if we want to capture more rainwater to fill the watertank, and that meant doing battle with many of the fearsome South African Acacia thorn bushes that were totally in the way. While they tore at my skin, my leather gloves and hacksaw proved to be a stronger match. The bath I had later was sweet revenge for my destruction in the day though, as my arms burned where they had valiantly defended themselves from me and my mighty saw.

Some serious thornage

Then some serious pwnage

Max, Eliminator of The Crack, carried on cementing the outside cracks around the window frames after Ines and Kira had finished wirebrushing them first.

Watch your back, cracks, it's Max

Niiice

In SA, there's always time for dancing

After a quick lunch of chicken and chips at home, we met Gerhard already back at the Barn with all of our requested supplies. Yay! Well, almost all of them, apart from some like the wood sealer that won't arrive until Wednesday, but enough to get us back up to speed, at least. Included were all the panes of glass for the windows which we can't wait to put in as that will make a big difference visually, but until the frames have been fully wire-brushed and varnished they will have to stay in the wrapping for now.

Great...more cement..

Glass!

Loadsa putty!

As promised, Gerhard's neighbour and friend, Rob, a classicly charismatic South African man who certainly knows his onions when it comes to the african bush, set up his theodolite and worked out where the expected water level of the waterhole would be. Wellington did the Man Standing With A Big Ruler part, while Rob adjusted and calculated. He was delighted to see just how much water was being naturally pumped from the underground spring and said that to an african farmer the spring was like finding gold. He also entertained us recounting a kudu poo spitting competition in a nearby town, where people take a ball of kudu poo and spit it as far as they can. Apparently, the winner was someone who managed to spit one over 15 metres! I hope the prize was worth it...

Over there, I said, and everyone agreed

You gonna get surveyed

He's got a theodolite, and he's not afraid to use it

His estimation, taking into account of the output of the spring and the size of the waterhole, would be approximately 10,000 hours before it was completely full. That's around one whole year! Of course it will depend on other unknown factors, such as rainfall - or lack of it, and how much the land will absorb over time. He's one of those people that understands the bush and can read it like a book, so we are happy to take his word on it. That said, we all agree that it is already a fully functioning waterhole now, so the long period before it's completely full isn't a problem, other than when it is full, there should be a small island for birds to nest in without fear of snakes getting to them.

After talking about his love for South Africa and it's environment, which was as clear as the newly arrived glass panes in the Barn, we thanked him for coming and said our goodbyes. We all really hope that we will get to meet up with him again before we leave, and get to hear more of his words of wisdom and stories of the african bush.

Then it was back to work again, and here we are removing an unwanted buried waterpipe in true South African style, from an area next to the Barn that we hope will eventually become a botanical garden.

As we want to put some nice (and educational) steps up to the Barn entrance, and after much debate between us whether to do it now or leave it till later, it meant getting the digger to tear up the slope in front of the Barn. We're all a bit concerned that taking it away may weaken the foundations of the right hand side front wall, but we decided to go for it now rather than later, and just hope that the Barn hasn't collapsed by morning!

No going back now...

Oh Lordy. What have we done...?!

As well as digging up the slope, Wellington and Joseph also got busy opening the big crack even more, both inside and out, ready for the industrial stapling. It's going to look a lot worse before it looks better!

Dat crack..

So, another busy day over as the light fades and an african sun sets as return back home with the always cheerful Romeo at the helm.

After some dinner I went to reception to update the blog, the first opportunity I'd had in several days. Thanks to a terrible connection that night, and a mouse (computer mouse!) as skittish as a kudu smelling a lion, it took hours. Though I wanted to catch up completely I finally gave up around 3:45am, and went home more tired than a tired thing and collapsed into a deep, but unfortunately very short sleep. Hope you blog followers appreciate it! ;)

I still haven't completely caught up as you can tell, I've still got 3 days to go yet, but it's now 1:43am on Thursday and I need some sleep!

Till next time!