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Time to report back on the whole oppikoppi experience. Where to start?

I took of Friday and Monday, Tuesday was a public holiday. Rotherick cancelled on the Thursday...
So it is official, only Celeste actually decided to go to oppikoppi, I probably need some more friends! In the end it turned out Dirk (cousin) needed a lift, and I had some space left... Last minute Elisma (cousin, Dirk's sister) phoned me to hear if I could also give Liezl a lift... The more the merrier! The poor old bakkie was really packed! We did some last minute shopping at makro liquor department, spar and the butchery.


So we set course for Northam, driving first to Brits and then heading to Thabazimbi... Turning off to Northam. We were a bit behind schedule but we should make it before sundown... If it wasn't for the accident just before Brits, we lost another half an hour and then I knew, we would not make it in time. On the way I get this sms (text message)...


Stop dringend! (Dirk)
I pulled off the road, turns out they have already started drinking some red wine, and nature was calling, load and clear. Funny incident ;) Ten minutes later we were on the road again. We got there just as the sun was setting. Elisma forgot to give Dirk his ticket so we phoned and waited for Elisma to get there. Luckily they started walking earlier, so they were close to the gate and got there within 10 minutes. One important thing was forgotten though... The ticket. A true blonde moment. So we left Dirk there at the entrance and entered with our own tickets. Liezl also bought a ticket off some other people that had an extra for R200. We quickly drove to the camp. There was still enough light to drive without lights. We fetched Dirk at the gate, by now darkness cloaked the dusty world... And we managed to get lost! Driving up and down the streets, "No it is that way, turn around..." "no that way!", scraaatch!!! Eish, I managed to scratch the canopy against a street name pole.
My dad wasn't impressed !!! After 15 minutes of driving up and down we eventually managed to find the camp. It was really dark now, and we still had to pitch our tent, the situation I tried to avoid. Oh well, we have to make the best of the situation. So I got my torch and managed to find a open spot between the bushes.


I put down the ground mat and then turned the bakkie in the direction switched on the headlights, 15 minutes later the tent was up and we were getting comfortable, ate some of the cold meats we brought along. We made a campfire and fried some marshmallows... That night we decided to turn in early.


The next day we were rudely awaken by people playing their music very loud, yelling and last but not least the sun! The sun makes sure you get up. We got drinks mixed and set out to watch some bands. It was hot and energy levels were low, sitting in the shade watching some bands perform...

Walking back from the toilets I ran into Quintin, and old high school buddy. He had an pizza and was eager to share, so we ate some pizza, later that afternoon we made another drink round, walking back to the camp to fill up. We went back to Quintin's camp too, there were a couple of very drunk people! South Africa was playing Australia and we were going to listen to the game on the radio... Well so I thought! I can also remembering holding the umbrella for Bells (Belinda), I took my shirt off at some stage... I remember walking back to the stages behind Celeste, Fokof( Celeste's pet name for Neil) and Amy... I remember Celeste and Amy being tied to each other with a plastic line. Lying in front of the stage... I think I went to the toilets at some stage. I must have realized that I am cold. Remember being at the camp. I remember following Gerda and Natani back to the stages, watching "The Parletones" (a band I would recommend), enjoying the bands. Bit later I ran into Elisma, Dirk and Liezl. I was beginning to click back into focus, watched another band and then tried to find Celeste, tried for about and hour, I was so tired I could hardly keep my eyes open. I decided the camp might be a good option, but alas I got there and there was nobody, I dozed off. At 3 in the morning I woke up, luckily Celeste was back... The next morning wasn't very good...

I was a bit freaked out, I do not make a habit of partying that hard! I decided that the rest of the weekend I would take it easy. I was teased a bit, apparently I was so gone I had trouble remembering my name...Cannot remember if there is any truth to that.
That morning we braaied and had a proper breakfast, Organized our drinks and set off to watch some bands. At some stage Celeste told me, wait here, I will be right back, going to the toilets... I waited about half an hour... She simply buggered off and it really pissed me off. She met Quintin and Fokof(Neil) on the way and just never bothered to call me... Later they arrived again back at the camp. So I followed them, drinking at their camp... This time I was "watching it", no partying with Bells! Talked to Tinis the base player from a band, he had his guitar and played some tunes, that was cool. Just before the Karen Zoid show Celeste went on one of her missions again, got lost and I had a tough time finding her. Karen Zoid had an excellent show, after that Valliant was up and his show sounded very watered down against Karen. I found Celeste again but my patience was running out. We had a bit of an talk, we had some problems before oppikoppi, we weren't gelling too well. Seems like she snapped back into reality because she was a lot better afterwards.
Monday morning was a lot better than the previous.

FoKoF Polisiekar was playing on the DJ stage doing an acoustic version of some of their songs. So that morning we got ready fairly early and went down to the stages. Once again it was already hot and energy levels were fairly low.


We sat in the shade and listened to polisiekar. I also finally remembered my camera, so I was taking a couple of photos. (The will be posted on this blog, they came out crap since someone adjusted the exposure to least...Probably me taking a photo of the sunset). After that Scarletbox was playing but we were hungry and we decided to rather go back and get some food. We ended up missing "scarlet box" and the band after...(also something well known, just cannot remember). That night Prime Circle performed, their usual excellent show. Chris Camelion from Boo (unfortunately they split up) also played at the acoustic stage, I thought he is pretty damn talented, playing his afrikaans and some of the old boo songs.

After that was The Narrow, and they certainly perfected their act to a fine art, they were awesome, probably the best act of the whole oppikoppi. I took a whole bunch of photos. The sound very professional and are probably ready for international fame. Polisiekar played at the main stage and we missioned back there, their show... Its good but puking on the stage was a bit much, none the less it was something to see, the show that is. Celeste really tried to consume all the liquior she brought along, she was gone, pulling her beany over her face and simply going where I steered her. It was funny, well at least she dropped the attitude.


Tuesday when we woke up people were packing all around us. Packing and leaving. So we made some coffee, and slowly started packing too. Gerda requested the members of polisiekar to sign her (arm) and she was covered with the writing of a black marker.




On the way back Celeste was very quiet, could not quite figure what the problem was. We stopped at the Wimpy in Brits and ate a burger. We got home around 3... Exhausted and dusty and thankful to be back in civilization.

I still have to organise these pictures... but for now I need some sleep.