we're all packed up at our campsite here in howick sun's out beautiful day here in howick
and um now it's time we're gonna head through to petermaritzburg so just an update on the situation
last night i chatted to bryce from vagabond
um we're going to go visit him they are going to help fix the situation to stabilize a bracket
so we can actually get that done and dusted today before we go through for the special surprise
some of you may know some of you won't but it's going to be really really cool i can't wait to
show you guys something i'm quite excited about and it's going to be the heart of our next kind
of three-week adventure but anyways it's time to go let's get going petermaritzberg awaits
okay so we've arrived at safarico 4x4 gratefully gratefully craig here is waiting for me they
already under the vehicle trying to see if they can sort something out there and get
that all sorted and that's actually really cool they've got a really nice little showroom here
a little fitment center in petermaritzburg that's really awesome but that's something i love about
you know the 4x4 industry in south africa is you can find a 4x4 shop anywhere in the country and
we have arrived at vagabond so i'm about to meet up with bryce and this is the surprise
right over there we're going to be towing a little teardrop caravan for the next couple weeks
and i am pumped it's my first time so i'm really keen to see how it's all gonna go
what we're doing right now pulling the awning off of the hilux and that awning is actually going
onto the rogue the way the rogue is set up it's gonna be really nice to have a 270 degree awning
going all the way around the kitchen area and the actual main entrance i can't wait to show you guys
the setup it's something that i've been planning with bryce for the past couple months and i'm
super stoked to finally be testing this out so they're just making the final tweaks to the rogue
just setting up the little kitchen you know putting everything on we got the transplant
the awning from my vehicle onto the caravan itself and then we're pretty much good to go
we're heading through to a campsite called hermits wood in the drakensberg
so we've got quite a long drive ahead of us we've got a lot of exploring to still do today
but it's going to be really cool once we get to the campsite then we'll settle down
and then i'll give you a proper walk around the whole caravan and we'll have a good look at it
anyways guys we've got a long way to go so we're going to get going
and we are super hungry and in need of a brunch so we'll see you guys on the road
it is really nerve-wracking this is my first time ever towing a trailer and these
roads are so narrow and windy i am absolutely crapping myself right now
but i am hoping that by the end of this trip i'm going to be a confident tower
but for now i think this first trip to the drakensberg is going to be quite nerve-wracking
but the trailer seems really stable and it's a nice wide axle so i think it's going to
track the vehicle really really comfortably i don't think it's going to be too bad at all so
anyways i better focus on my driving okay so we've just made it to underberg we are
finally in the drakensberg we're just resupplying now that we've got the caravan and we actually
haven't been to the shops in a couple days so it's gonna be good to get some supplies stock up get
some beers some things like that we've booked in at hermits wood for the next like four days
so we're there for a while so we're gonna get a nice nice stock up we're gonna cook
some beautiful meals um hoping to do a bit of hiking a bit of mountain biking stuff like that
get this caravan all set up and use it as our base camp for the next week so i'm super stoked
to really get to see it work and see if the idea i had in mind is actually going to work out but
i think this combo looks so so cool let me know what you guys think in the comments down below
the drakensberg is a really beautiful place to start out
exploring in south africa because you really get a sense of wow this place is spectacular
and if you've never been to the drakensberg you're really missing out it really is a fantastic place
feels like you're in another country and then you realize this is all right here at home
so it's a real privilege to have this accessible to us even with lockdowns and all the travel
restrictions everything like that right now it's really really a beautiful spot
we've arrived at hermits wood it's incredibly beautiful so i think for now we're going to get
set up get ourselves sorted and we'll catch up with you guys a little bit later we're here for a
good amount of time so i will show you everything tomorrow morning or maybe a bit later this evening
it really sucks being a beginner the downhill was so nice and so much fun but the uphill not so much
we thought we would make a little cycle mission down to the main resort but
let me show you the scenery around here it's incredible
gonna make some good coffee with this later
the mountain man andy himself in the three degree water
feel alive if you don't get on the bike and you don't go out and you don't do it and you
don't struggle you'll never get to that feeling where you are owning it and you're in control
i don't know about you guys but tired of being a victim of own body really sucks
sometimes it's good to struggle this gives you a bit of a wake-up call
what a beautiful thing to come home to
let's do an inspection make sure nothing's been damaged by the baboons and shower up have a chill
lovely shady spot yeah main suite guest bedroom
recreational area
i once got advice from a friend he said to me there's nothing better after a long cycle
then a couple beers and it is past 10 o'clock so these are going in right now ah
i feel amazing after that little shower though this is what dedication looks like brass is driven
all the way from hillcrest up into the mountains to deliver a table what a legend
how's it going okay so now that bryce has delivered our
little table we can move the weeba here and we now finally have our little kitchen set up let
me show you it's super cute there's no other way to really put it so we've actually got the
bushtech table here we've got the weber lives there and this is the whole back of the caravan
now the microwave only works if you're plugged into shore power there is a little dinky fridge
over here not sure how many liters the little basin with a a bit of water linked to the pump
and a tank and a little chopping chopping station yeah it's in a much better height than at most
tables it's actually really nice having a whole area just dedicated to cooking and cleaning and
storing stuff um you know with the back of the bakkie everything is super versatile so you're
constantly changing your setups if you need to get something from your fridge you got to move things
around if you need to get something from you know your drawers you need to move things around so
there's a lot of moving stuff around whereas with this setup it's actually quite pleasant we've got
the little weaver set to the side there we've got our little basin a little area to cut some
veggies and things and we've set up another table to be able to kind of put our users a
drying rack or put knives and forks and bits and bobs and all sorts of things like that
it's going to take us a bit of time to get used to this kind of caravan lifestyle i'm
gonna you know go out on a limb here and say van life you know with a with a little
a little thing there um but yeah this is really rad such a nice base camp for us
to kind of explore from i think tomorrow we're going to go for a nice walk if i can get some
good editing done today have a beautiful walk in the drakensberg and we can actually show you guys
how insane this place really is so we've been briefed by a local camper that there's gonna
be potentially a thunderstorm tonight we can feel the winds picked up we've actually
packed the awning away and tonight might be uh i might be very grateful for having the caravan
and i think andy's gonna be really grateful for having a four season mountaineering tent
because yeah the landscape around you is incredibly beautiful
but it's born from hard weather that's just how it goes in preparation for the upcoming storm
we decided to get out the little spot here and what's nice is the
mattress is actually divided into three sections so you can actually change how it stacks up
you can have quite a high couch mode i've actually gone for a bit of a lazy couch
um so i'll show you now what i've done is essentially i've got the two pieces at the
bottom and then one as a backrest so let me show you quick that'll give me some space to kind of
get in there and actually sit work on the computer a little bit on my lap and yeah wait out the storm
who knows it's really getting windy i'm really glad i put the awning down but it's beautiful
so here we are waiting for a storm to come through we've had a little bit of hail
we've had a little bit of drizzle we've hear the thunder in the distance i'm busy working on some
videos at the moment and it's really nice i feel really kind of isolated from outside
which is good when the going gets tough but i think something that also really suits this
caravan well is the fact that you can properly get out of the elements get out of the rain the wind
everything so for that i'm extremely grateful to have this right now so i can really focus on some
work that i need to do i've got the jackery here it's all charged up i could work all night long
and yeah that's sounds like the rain is starting to intensify a little bit i might have to close
these little windows soon but check oh there's a little mesh on here so you can actually keep these
windows open at night to get some good ventilation there's actually a ceiling fan as well but yeah so
far so good what i'm gonna do is i've decided you know it's it's a bit it's a really new um kind of
topic for me and it would be very unfair for me to just talk about it on the first day of using it so
what i'm going to do is i'm actually going to do this kind of walk around as i'm figuring things
out about the van you know over the week then what i'll do is we'll i'll actually use the caravan for
the next couple weeks couple of episodes you'll see it around and then at the end of this whole
trip i will do a complete review and tell you what i think some things that i think could maybe be
improved and stuff like that you know and so far so good it's really been a positive experience so
i can't wait to see what the next couple weeks hold for this entire adventure i think it's going
to be fantastic but for now i'm going to sit out this rain and hail storm in this beautiful
comfortable environment and yeah it looks like andy is loving his little tent out there
so he's also got a beautiful view of the whole storm happening right in front of us so
he's loving it he's a mountain man you know so he enjoys being out in the elements and experiencing
it all so i think both of us are equally as happy right now anyway so i think i'm gonna see you
guys tomorrow morning and see maybe tomorrow is gonna be a beautiful day to go for a walk
i just wanted to thank my awesome patreon members for the continued support
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in the description anyways i'll catch you guys next week sunday
cheers
you