Day 8 cont’d and day 9.

Well we continued on our way to Swakopmund with things getting more and more deserty. ( I think I may have said that before!) We finally reached our hotel, again, tired hot and thirsty! A lovely hotel with wonderful beds, spacious room and bathroom with a shower that had hot water. The view from our room was great and the cold Benguela current that runs down this coast certainly made it a bit chilly. We sat and watched a beautiful sunset, had a fine dinner and then went to bed.

We woke to our first experience of fog. We couldn’t see anything and it looked like it had been raining as everything on the veranda was wet. We had a brilliant breakfast and Dean (the SL owner) and I decided to take our cars to the local Merc agents to have them looked at. I was still concerned with the overheating and starting issues and Dean needed his exhaust checked, number plate and valance trim put back. We made contact with Margie’s cousin, Kallie, who lives in Swakopmund and he kindly came and collected us and we followed him to the Merc dealership where we left our cars. He then took us back to our hotel where Jill and some of the ladies were having peddies and whatnot as their mother’s day treat and we waited for them to finish. Then headed off to a local restaurant to test the Namibian craft beer, which passed the test with flying colours. As we were finishing lunch the Merc dealership phoned to say our cars were ready, so Dean and I set off in the hotel shuttle to collect the cars. when we arrived there it was typical Merc service – shocking. They had found nothing wrong with my car so they washed it, they put Dean’s bits and pieces back and washed his car and charged us both R 160!! Disgruntled, we set off to a private garage we came into contact with earlier in the day and the owner there, a Merc “expert” listened to our story and made contact with an auto electrician he was sure would be able to fix my car. We drove it to his workshop and left it there overnight. Back to the hotel where the rest of the group had started trickling in. Reports of shocking roads, broken shock absorbers, overheating cars, oil pump breakdowns, brake failure, and alternator woes were the top topics of conversation. We were so pleased we’d made the decision we had. Shower, supper and to bed.