Dec 13h, to Pofadder

Daily activities December 2006
All Dec Photos

All Dec Photos
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Pofadder, the center of nowhere.

It's time to depart for Pofadder, but first, it's goodbye to a lovely manageress, Delida Nugent and her family. She has three lovely daughters, all well behaved and very friendly and an added attraction to the place. Soon they will have wireless network up and running. Great. Highly recommended. Details on the net.

	To the left, lovely Delida Nugent, in charge of the guest house. A job she started Dec 1st. And she copes. In addition, she has three daughters and husband Russel to look after. She's great. Delida and her oldest daughter Berdina to the left and Monique to the right.
	Cate, the youngest one with her weasel Squeaky. Monique, the girl in the middle with her parrot. It's a green ringed parrot named Schrek.
	All three daughters, Berdina in the back, Cate in front to the left and Monique. Close up of beautiful Berdina. Delidas kids were all very well behaved and a pleasure for the guests to have around.
	Martin enjoyed the stay at Greenfield Gardens, since it hat a 4 hole switch so that Martin could use two computers at one go. Then it was time to say farewell. But as Arnold says, I'll be back.

After the hugs and nice words of farewell, it's time Martin headed for Pofadder. Se the route below:

If you want to see the big picture, have a look at this map.

	To the left, parking the New South African way. Big bus in the middle of a busy main street in Upington. To hell with all the others. To the right, Martin's trusty .45 ACP is getting rusty after to much body contact with Martin. Needs to dry out in the door from time to time. Note the rust specs on the hammer and safety catch. More reasons why guns are better then women? The .45 cannot be bargained with or reasoned with, and it doesn't feel any pity, remorse of fear and it will not stop.
	Lovely hair at a petrol attendant at Kakamas. See map above. More and more churchyards are cropping up across the country side in SA due to the uncontrolled spread of AIDS/HIV. The sad thing about it is that the blacks doesn't believe in it and don't take it seriously enough. The life expectancy of SA citizens are dropping all the time. Latest figures was 51 year for women and 48 years for men.
	Six feet under where we all end up if you are not smart and get cremated. It speeds up the decaying process with some 200 years. Why lie there for 200 years and be a food source for all kinds of creepy-crawlies? The endless stretches of straight line roads in SA is getting boring. Particular around Upington.
	Then a little help from your friend in the form of a beer really is nice. Pofadder, here we come.
	The municipal buildings wasn't much, but a friendly old lady did help Martin with a map and pointed out the only landmark in town, the old stone church. The busy streets of Pofadder.
	The fanciest shop in town, a China shop. The stone church.
	Behind it was a more modern day church. The entrance to the stone church. It was kind of nice.
	And the second landmark, the Schalwyk memorial park. Nice it was too. In the background, you see the SA flag flying over the cop shop.
	Pofadder even has a tourist information bureau, but it was closed. The abattoir is a necessity and Pofadder has one.
	This is a modern day church. And the old and the new church are actually the biggest buildings in Pofadder. Martin in front of the church. After driving through town, which took two minutes, you have the welcome sign on the other end of the town. Here welcoming Martin.
	In SA, only cop shops are flying the SA flag as seen here. The sign to Bitterfontein. I surely couldn't taste well with a name like that. And the sign for the hotel where Martin stayed.
	Vortrekker monument. Every city in SA have one. This one was erected in 1938, 100 years after the first Vortrekkers arrived at this Godforsaken place in nowhere. Details about the monument. Read it, but it is in Afrikaans. Not for the light hearted of us.
	Typical housing around town. Martin's rental outside the main attraction in town, the Hotel.
	Every hotel had its offsales, at least in the olden, pre New SA. And a lovely, dirty pool that one of the colourd chaps enjoyed. His name was Spekky or Specky? Depends which language you prefer, English or Afrikaans.
	The pool was dirty as hell. No cleaning equipment was present. Take a dip on your own risk. Martin frying in the sun, and even at 1600 in the afternoon, it was scorching. Martin got a nice tan in the hour he was lying there drinking his beer. Reminds Martin about the song, Mad Dogs and Englishmen, a song about Englishmen being out in the sun in the middle of the day.
	Martin's room was equipped with a nice mosquito net, a first for Martin in all his travel. He didn't need it, since there were no mosquitoes. Where should they come from? Nowhere? The dining room was neat and clean and the food OK. Martin had a 500 gram pork spare rib, far too much food.
	At night the swimming pool is covered by a trampoline. Why is unclear. The busy streets of Pofadder at night. Lots of people outside.
	Nice tree. Any ideas what it's called? If so, mail Martin. Across the street opposite the hotel, you find these nicely looked after cactuses. The survive because they are regularly watered the municipality.
	David, a paramedic from Cape Town with the Audi team doing high speed test between Upington and Pofadder. Some 200 professionals, technichians and support staff. What do they do with their new Audis here out in nowhere? Only to test cars under extreme heat circumstances, David thinks. In the evening, Martin had a nice chat in German to some of the blokes from Bayern in Germany. This is where Martin met his namesake, Martin from München. Martin, yours truly really got his German going with a little help from some Black label beer.
	Another German, Markus. None of the Germans really wanted to tell what they were doing. But some 100 km from Pofadder, a sign said that testing high speed cars was taking place. So all the permits were in order.