oh i know its been another long drought for our blog. not that there hasn’t been anything going on, but with the shoot in full swing its hard to find the time to do any posts. i wisened up and brought a couple of photos into work with me so i am throwing them up here on my lunch break. woot woot! i’ve got a bunch more from a camping trip we went on last weekend which i will get up here asap as well. in the meantime here are some snaps from around the way.
even though we’re working in namibia we still get australian public holidays because technically we’re just here temporarily. so thanks to the queen we had monday off – a rare opportunity to do some serious exploring before the shooting begins. it was tough to decide on where to go, given the vast array of options namibia offers, but in the end we decided to head north to an area called damaraland. originally it was just going to be the three of us but we recruited most of the vfx crew and it ended up being seven of us spread over two 4x4s!
animal sightings were few and far between – we saw some springbok, some ostriches and lots of goats, but that was about it. the road signs are just as good though!
we stayed both nights at camp xaragu. despite its very remote location it was one of the nicest campgrounds i have ever stayed in. the sites were roomy and comfortable, the toilets were sparkly clean, and every morning they would heat water for hot showers. they even had a pool!
on sunday we checked out twyfelfontein, which was listed as a world heritage site in 2007. the region is famous for its very old rock paintings which are estimated to be 2,000-6,000 years old! they are remarkably well preserved and the drawings are simple but very expressive. some of the paintings were used as maps to mark locations where water could be found. our ancestors even had a system of marking permanent vs. seasonal water sources!
it was a really hot day and poor nayou was exhausted after a late night around the campfire and all the excitement. lucky his bff bodie was around to help him out!
the visitor center was built out of flat rocks and rusty drumcans.
our next stop was to the organ pipe rocks. they are located in a small valley about 6km from twyfelfontein. the rocks were formed when magma was pushed up in columns and cooled in place. to be honest i found them to be a bit underwhelming, but the riverbed on which they are located was pretty. plus it gave dmo a chance to fly his quadcopter around 🙂
the last stop we made was at the living museum. this is a small area where some of the native damara people have set up a traditional village where you can see how the people live (or lived). i asked the our guide whether they lived there but she replied they live in a “modern village” about 2kms away. we’re all wondering whether they change into their western clothes to commute back and forth? anyway, we got to learn how to make fire, jewellery and the healing benefits of elephant dung. this was probably the highlight of our trip for me!
as we approached our campsite that evening we saw huge amounts of smoke covering the horizon. it turns out there was a bush fire in the region! we weren’t in danger which was lucky. instead we were treated to a gorgeous sunset.
looks like mordor:
on monday we wound our way home along the skeleton coast. this stretch of coast gets its name because it is really barren. just miles and miles of sand and rock as far as the eye can see.
the route took us through welwitschia valley, a small part of the already small region in which the welwitschia plant grows. these plants are a wonder of nature, living up to 1,000 years old (yes, one thousand)!
the plants are an ecosystem unto themselves:
we had the obligatory flat tire with accompanying shows of manliness:
and a nice stop at the beach for some afternoon tea (with obligatory getting-the-car-stuck-in-the-sand event):
all in all it was a great weekend. we got back dusty and tired but in the best way possible!
dmo shot some great footage with his gopro (mounted on the car) as well as with his quadcopter. i put all of our footage into a highlight reel if you’re interested!
for those of you not on facebook. jess and brenda did a home facial and bodie captured the magic. this photo proves that beauty can actually shine through a layer of spirulina!
the folder where i store all the photos i want to post on this blog has reached that critical threshold where i feel too overwhelmed to put them into any sort of context. but here are a set of recent-ish snaps. this first set is from the horse and camel farms about 20km outside of swakopmund. i have never been but my better halves have been a couple of times already and love it.
there are a bunch of other animals to check out as well.
the camel rides look super fun! check out brenda – a real bedouin!
brenda also took nayou to gymnastics class. he had a lot of fun, but unfortunately it made the bump on his forehead swell a little so we have skipped the last two sessions. thankfully he is almost all healed up so they will be going back soon!
one lazy saturday afternoon, bodie made scones so we headed off for afternoon tea at his place.
another beautiful building in swakopmund.
jess brought twister over which was cool.
the highlight of last week was when brenda and nayou spent half a day on a living desert tour. the more time we spend here, the more we are learning that the barren landscape around us is actually teeming with all kinds of life, living within an very complex ecosystem. tommy was a great guide, engaging the kids and adults alike with his decades of experience in the desert.
yes, that is a scorpion. look at the size of that thing! way bigger than the mexican ones. at least we’re not finding them in our house (yet?).
i really really really want to see a chameleon. they are just so cute! this one is a baby. they remain a dark colour in the mornings while they heat up, and then go off and do whatever chameleons do.
the sunsets are glorious as always.
i’ll leave you with a shot of nayou taken at a sundowner in the desert on saturday. if all the world leaders had this photo as their background on their computers i bet there would be world peace 😛
this is where i spend most of my days in swakopmund. its a bit like a toy store for big kids! my desk is the one in the corner with the plant on it.
we went on our first african road trip this weekend, up to the omaruru game lodge. brenda and i had been hunting around for places to check out that are relatively close by, and this place was recommended to us by the lady who runs our favourite cafe. the lodge is located about 2.5 hours drive north east of swakopmund.
it was good to be back on the road again! the landscape became greener as we headed inland, although its still very dry by non-namibian standards. we spotted a couple of wild ostrich and springbok along the way which whetted our appetites for the promise of more to come.
you don’t see signs like this very often!
we had booked online on friday night and headed up there without getting a confirmation or anything. a bit risky, but that’s how we roll. the ladies at reception were very german and none too pleased that we had showed up all willy-nilly. they huffed and puffed a little but eventually gave us the keys to our place. we had asked for a “self-catering bungalow” which is just a small hut with a kitchenette. the hut sits in a cluster of five others, all of which are built around a small swimming pool.
once we were settled in, the three of us went to sit by the pool and hang out. there were three other families already there and it didn’t take long before they invited us over. actually i think the first words they said to us was “would you like something to drink?”. foolishly we accepted and then our weekend away took on an unexpected twist. from those fateful words the group took it upon themselves to make sure we always had a drink in our hands, right up to the time we left the next day. they also were very generous with their food, even though we had to refuse most of it (it was all meat!).
it turns out that one of the guys is the son of the lady who runs the lodge, and we had the good fortune of going on a free game drive with them. brenda and my first drunken safari! it was a really fun drive, and we saw tons of animals. many of the animals have been raised on the lodge grounds and are very comfortable around humans. the elephants came so close you could reach out and touch them!
check out this huge termite mound. our guide told us it was about twenty years old.
our animal sightings continued into the night. the more expensive rooms at the lodge are built around a waterhole, and at dusk they put our grass for the animals to eat. the coolest part of the evening was seeing the rhinos. they are pretty spectacular beasts!
for the rest of the evening we hung out with our new friends and then passed out cold. thanks to nayou we were up early enough the next morning to go see the cheetah and leopards being fed. the guide didn’t have very kind words to say about the cheetah but i thought he was really cute. the leopard was awesome too. i’m glad there was a tall fence between us – his teeth are bad ass! both animals got to feast on some tasty giraffe meat for breakfast. mmm.
after the feedings it was time to pack up, hang out and head on home. we arrived back in swakopmund tired and happy. which is just about the best way to feel on a sunday evening!
here is a video tour of our apartment in swakopmund. i’m not sure if its because most of the housing here is built with the vacation in mind, but every place has tons of bedrooms and bathrooms. ours is no exception with no less than four bedrooms and three bathrooms. not that i’m complaining – we converted one of the rooms to a dedicated yoga space and its awesome! what a luxury. it still puts a grin on my face every time i get on my mat 🙂
we’re located in the eastern side of the building opposite the georg ludwig kindergarten. its the dark blue building that looks like an upside down C. the production offices where i work are located on the corner of hendrik witbooi and daniel tjongarero streets, just one block down. and if you zoom about a bit you can see we’re really close to the beach!
check out this black eye!
we’re not sure exactly what happened – brenda was at the park with nayou but didn’t see the moment of impact – but from what nayou has said, he crashed or fell into this tree that is planted in the middle of swakopmund’s playground. i guess there was a knob or a branch or something that banged him pretty hard. he was understandably upset for the first few hours, but since then he has been his normal chipper self. we were worried about the bruising because of his haemophilia but it looks like its all good. just to be safe, we started him on a course of tranexamic acid to make sure that things don’t get worse. yowza!