Sunday, February 19, 2012

An Afternoon On The Lake

We went fishing on the Fanie Botha dam (lake) yesterday afternoon. It turned out to be one of those truly amazing,exciting,fun filled outings when you least expect it to be...not least because we took Minki for her first ever ride on a boat! At first I was a bit weary of taking her out because there are hippos and crocs and it is a HUGE, DEEP lake! Cules and I discussed it and we decided that seeing as it was Saturday there would be such a lot of commotion on the waters that the nasties would be hiding away in the furthest corners of the lake and that on arriving there we could first ask about sightings before we let  our feisty baby loose on the waters! How right he turned out to be! (About the late afternoon activities on the Lake!)
I took a zillion pictures so please forgive me for posting quite a lot of pics!


Are you ready to go on your first boat ride Minki??


 

Duh!!





Right from the start there was lots of activity happening as we approached Jetty 3 to launch our little boat.

Churning waters and splashing  waves had me thinking that it was almost like having arrived at the sea!






As we were launching,these kiddies being towed on a tube came by at a moderate speed...
It was a different story with a load of teenagers a little while later..they had to hang on for dear life and were being tossed all over the place!
I didn't capture any pics of that, as I had to hold onto Minki who was trying to jump overboard to go and join in the fun and holding onto the boat for dear life as their waves just about capsized our boat!






This guy on his jet ski was doing some pretty impressive moves to say the least!
There where quite a few of those on the lake...

Then we saw this...

It was a jaw-dropping moment for Minki and I as neither of us have ever seen these para glider thingies...









It really was a wow moment....









Coming in to land.....





This is the moment where I would go ass over heels....

If that was me ...




He made a perfect landing and it looked so easy...




His crew was with him and hurrying to get the canopy out the water in no time before the wind could blow it over the guy in the water.
You could see these guys knew exactly what they were doing and had been doing this for a long time..

We passed a very grand housing complex where a lot of the houses have their very own jetty....





Ponies grazing in their yard...





The life!
Lawns running onto the edge of the lake,your own jetty..





We then made our way over to the twin bridges to find a quiet fishing spot...





Passing under them...





By then Minki had found her favourite place on the boat...





She was trying to spin her head around 360 degrees like an owl..

Trying to take in everything going on around her...








Another jet ski comes whizzing by..





I bet she was wishing to go for a ride on that thing!

Maybe next time when we have a life jacket for you Minki!!




Going back past the smart housing complex ,Cules saw people he knows making their way down to the shore to launch their boat and we landed for a bit of natter and a beer...






Minki took a dip in the water...









I dared them for a dice to the other side of the lake and they said they will give us a day head start....






These engines looked huge to me until I saw the other boat's engine..





The engine is almost bigger than the boat!!





Launching their boats from their back garden...






They were going catfish fishing and would be sleeping on their boats for the night..





Cules got his beer...




Passing another complex on our way back..




These people had no fear of crocs!





The later it got the busier it was on the shores.




Jetty 3 where we always launch 





Still people where coming in for a quick spin on the waters





It looked like the fishing really got going at this late hour too...






We decided we were thirsty again so stopped over at the clubhouse for a cocktail before going on a last spin to the other side of the lake..





This guy caught a decent sized "kurper" We have many of those in the ponds on our farm but rarely bigger than the length of my hand,so this was a giant!





This little girl was absolutely smitten with Minki...





Off course we got a little engine trouble when we were on the far side of the lake with no one around and it getting dark quickly and we had no screwdriver on board...McGyver broke the point of this knife and voila we had a screwdriver and got going again in no time!





The most stunning sunset over the lake!






Loading up and getting ready to go home after another fun day out!





The first time I saw how a jet ski is loaded...so easy!


The End!





9 comments:

  1. What beautiful river shots. Sounds like a perfect day.

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  2. What a great day you had and oh how I love that sunset:)

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  3. Thank you so much for taking us along. I love it ALL. So exciting to see where you live and what you do. Some really nice photos here Liesl.

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  4. minki is so cute! yes, i'd suggest a life jacket for her next time! seems like a really busy lake!

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  5. I am really not sure that I would be brave enough to go in water where there is even a mild possibility of crocs or hippos. When we lived at Raffingora on the Hunyani in Zim, I saw what crocs were capable of !!! For all that it looks like you all had a good day. Diane

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  6. That looks like a wonderful day...such fun for all of you, the weather looks heavenly1 Minki is the cutesest dog ever..just darling! :D

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  7. Looks like a wonderful day out and Minki certainly seems at home on the water!

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  8. That is a busy lake. Looks like Minki had fun.

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  9. Such beautifgul shots. I miss these kind of days so much. Just like the men in my family..always seeming to be hanging over a bakkie having a chat with a beer in hand! My boys will love the pics of Minki!

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