Regina Bridge and Tommy who gave us a lift to the local shop...

I am up before the sun. Starting to pack up and getting ready to leave again. We can see Regina's silo's in the far distance. A welcome sight because our fresh water is finished. Still in the far distance but at least we can see them and knows that Regina's bridge can't be too far. Through a couple of small rapids and around an island about 7km further down we came to the bridge. A small low bridge across the river was a welcomed sight. A dirt road connecting Regina/Klerksdorp in the North West Province and Bothaville in the Freestate Province. A stretch of about 50 - 70km with farms between the towns. The river is very shallow underneath the bridge and we can easily find a spot against some rocks. Huge was my amazement when a white bakkie stopped on the bridge within minutes after we got there. A man climbed out the bakkie introducing himself as Tommy a farm owner just up the road. He immediately starting helping us by phoning some of the people in the district next to the river to find out where we can get provisions. Finding out that we'll have to go into Regina which is hardly a town he offered to take us the 5 km with his bakkie.

Liani stayed by the canoes and the dogs while I went to the shop with Tommy. As we drive up the dirt road towards the shop Tommy tells me more about Regina and the people of the very very small town. A small shop stocking beer by quarts and small bottles of liquor, onions, toffees and a few months old naartjies. No water, no bread no nothing more just that. With Tommy still telling me about the town I bought a beer and the last 2 colddrinks. Its a sad, sad, sad very sad story Tommy tells me, the owner of the shop has a farm about 150 ha big, he used to be one of the better farmers in the area. But someday something must have happened and this guy decided to give himself over to uselessness....It was hard not to start laughing about the way he told this story because to him it is a very serious matter of the heart....He carried on telling me about this farmer who only moves from sun spot to sun spot around his house. Not caring about anything any more. His wife had to start the shop for them to survive. He himself Tommy has offered more than once to help them but they didn't want his help, but that was not the worst, he heard one day that the farmer's wife has to aske a black man to drive her to town to buy stock for the shop and that the farmer was too busy giving himself to uselessness to even care about his wife. I couldn't help myself and started giggling, I absolutely love my Country and all of its diversity.

I asked Tommy about his farming and he told me that bought the farm in 1993 after he sold his share in a big transport business. Him and his wife looks after their grandson who is now thirteen and in highschool. His face lit up while telling me about his grandson. Its the last quarter of the school year and they are busy with exams. The boy don't really like the hostel that much and now Grandma and Grandpa decided to drive him to school everyday fo rthe rest of the remaining school term. I told him that whaaaaa, the boy is lucky to have grandparents like the two of them but with a yank of his head my direction and a face lit up with love, excitement and enthusiasm told me that no, they are lucky to have him. So beautiful.

Back on my canoe, I told Liani about my encounter with Regina's shop people and Tommy while we had our beer. The malty ice cold fluid burnt my throat all the way to my stomach. Sitting against one of the pillars of the bridge we observed the area while chatting away and sharing our beer. Not really what we needed but what there was.

Tommy told us about a place we can go camp for the night where there will be showers and electricity a little further downstream. We started paddling towards the place and stopped at a spot where we thought he told us to stop. A hang ladder was hanging from the side on which I could climb up on the bank and looked if it was indeed the place where he has sent us to. A pump house and a patch of grass. I called out a couple of times before I climbed back down into my canoe again. Liani already went down past me and down a small but strong rocky rapid when an answer from the top of the bank came back. Jannes Coetzee invited us to come up to their farmhouse he heard us calling and came to see if it was us. He and his dad was at the owner of the place Tommy called when he met us on the bridge and they heard about us and our journey to Bloemhof dam. They have already made a room ready for us at their house not far from the river. We asked him if they had dogs and whether they would be fine with Dante and Katryn. No told us, they have dogs but they'll be fine. Leaving our canoes on the banks at the pumphouse we drove up to their house. Dante and Katryn at the back and we in the front. On arrival at their house we realised that their dogs are huge. They have 2 of the biggest Boerbull dogs that I have ever seen, 2 Spanials and a labrador. The dogs growling through the bakkie window made us realise that this was not the best idea. Dante and Katryn have been on the canoe for most of their day and they wanted to run around and get rid of the excess energy but they can't.

We went into the house seperating the big dogs and Dante and Katryn. Jannes poured us an ice cold coke and started telling us about his life and the farm. His mom Elize started a guest house on the farm not so long ago. Being close to Potchefstroom for the Aardklop arts festival and Bothaville for the Nampo Farming expo they get a lot of people who come and stay in the guesthouse. With a quad bike track of 10km and fishing facilities they also cater for other people who wants to come and explore the area.

Later we went back to the pumphouse grass patch to sleep there where Dante and Katryn can run around freely. A lovely spot of dens grass and shade underneath trees where we could pitch our tent and sit at a table to catch up on our typing.

There are so many confusing stuff in my life at this moment that swallowed my thoughts for minutes on end while I sat and watched the sun set over the river. It is so beautiful here with a peaceful calm falling over all of us. The daytime animals chirping and scurrying their last for the day and the night time animals start to awaken and tackle their bit of the day. My mind calming with my surroundings and I slowly realise that all I can do amidst a crazy time in my life is to pray and send love to each and every person out there. The truth will always reveal its self and everyone tries their best just to better themselves.

All in all it was another lovely day with great things that happened for the good. To only see the bad will only make matters worst and I'll end up sending energy to negativity. I have to stay focused on my own personal goals. I fell a sleep later to the sound of the frogs in the Hyasynths.