Put Foot Rally: making it to Rehoboth

Posted on 25 June 2011

Day 2: 23 June

Namibia – Lake Oanob Resort, Rehoboth

How incredible is social media? In our so-called “˜fancy pants’ VW Amarok we have an inverter that charges the iPhone, the iPad and the MacBook Pro. We’re linked to Twitter on all three. We have a hotspot in the car! We “˜re able to follow the other teams and keep our friends and family up to date with all our adventures.

About 15 km outside a little town called Rehoboth (about an hour from Windhoek) we see a tweet from @Put_Foot_Rally saying that five teams have pulled into the Lake Oanob Resort in Rehoboth – come for a party! Yes please. We hook a u-ey and pulled into the campsite at umm “¦ 21h00 or 22h00. We weren’t sure. Some devices said 21h00, others said 22h00. We didn’t know there was an hour’s time difference in Namibia.

So, we got to know our other Put Foot Rally teams members rather intimately – a little ice breaker, thanks to Matt from Bobs for Good, had us sharing our mother’s maiden names, a body part none of them had seen and then eating leaves of a tree he had given some scientific name. There was a mielie spraying competition, there was charcoal, boerewors rolls served with potato smeared with butternut. Fun times.

We set up camp rather late and realized that our stretchers were too long for our tents. We were tired, it didn’t matter. The only thing that kept us awake was the frost that was slowly forming on our tent and creeping onto our sleeping bags. I’m still not sure if my toes will function normally again. I gave up my incessant wiggling as it was making no difference. I couldn’t feel them no matter how many layers of socks I put on. I couldn’t decide whether it was more traumatic to put my arms out of the sleeping bag and grab some more clothes or lie there trying desperately not to shiver. Eventually I stuffed all the clothes I could grab into my sleeping bag. Nothing helped – I succumbed to the fact that I was going to remain cold, feeling like an enormous shivering red worm in my sleeping bag.

Our lemon and herb chicken might have been a better bet, food-wise, and the room at Canon Lodge was certainly warmer but nothing compares to the comraderie between rally participants and the fun and laughter that was shared.

Tune of the day: Mason Jennings’ Butterfly

Enter our Bobs for Good Foundation competition by donating money for shoes that we’re dropping off on the Put Foot Rally and stand the chance of winning a three night stay in Livingstone.

Follow our trip on twitter @Evan_Haussmann @christiefynn @going_homeless @Put_Foot_Rally or search on Twitter for hashtag #putfootrally to see all the tweets from the rally teams.

The Getaway team would like to thank:

4×4 Mega World for their fully kitted out VW Amarok

K-Way – the official gear partner to the Getaway team on the Put Foot challenge

MapStudio for their Southern and East Africa map






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