We arrived at the campsite at about 15h00 and set out camp. It was very rainy and wet. We decided that seeing that there is only a few hours of daylight left, we will settle in at our campsite before we begin with the evening meal. The next day we’re going to get up very early, have breakfast and leave to see the snow. It was fairly cold at the campsite. We gave the children sandwiches to eat and set about starting the fire for the potjiekos. The children set about exploring the campsite Some of them went to collect dennebolle for the fire, which of course very wet. Some of the children wanted to play on the trampoline the evening, but was disappointed as it was closed . We chatted with each other and got to know each other well during those first hours of the camp. Lots of jokes and plain good old-fashioned socialising went on and we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. We went to bed at about 2am. The women slept in the caravan and the men in the tent, with the exception of Bruce and Ashton who both slept with their respective mothers. We also had two small boys with us (Ethan and Garrith) who also slept in the caravan. At about 5am Ann suddenly jumped up and shouted that she was wet.? She pulled Ethan who was sleeping on the top bed, out. By then he was soaking wet though he still didn’t realise he was sleeping in a pool of water. The caravan was leaking on the side where he was sleeping. Ann only became aware of it after swallowing a few drops in her sleep . We quickly undressed the little boy, dried him off and dressed him in clean dry clothes after which he was put to sleep beside Rene and Jo-anne. It was quite funny for us.

The next morning we all slept late because of the previous night’s excursions. We only got up at about 09h30 and then it was a flurry to get breakfast ready for all the adults and children. We were 8 adults and 13 children! It was still raining and cold. I hoped that it would snow during the night seeing that it was so cold , but it only continued to rain in one continuos drizzle. We hoped that there would still be snow left for us to see, but secretly I doubted it. It rained non-stop from the time we got there and I thought that surely all the snow would have melted by now. Never the less we kept up a brave front . The children were very excited about seeing the snow. Arnold told us that we were supposed to leave the campsite at 2 pm if we still want to go snow seeking. We prepared lunch before going up to the Matroosberg Nature reserve to see the snow. We set about starting a fire for the braai. I must say that the fire was a sorry affair as the wood that they had for the fire was very very wet and refused to burn. Also once the wood had burned, it simply refused to give us coals. It was not a very successful braai and the men struggled with the fire until well after 1pm. We eventually got all the meat braaied and everybody was fed. Then we set about breaking- up camp. Arnold made the comment that he thinks it is not nice camping out for only one night and that he thought next time it should be done over a long weekend. He said " we hardly set up camp know we must brake it down again. I agree with him and it is a lot of work for only one night’s camp. Arnold got all of us on camera, some in very compromising positions and clothes.