Leaving Potch was hot hot. I took time out from riding to stop in at a bike pub about 100ks from Potch, but the noise from the music box put me off and i was on the road again. As it was so hot the towns between Potch and Kimberly had no real interest for me. Arriving in Kimberly i headed straight to the local B/P,GreatBatch Guesthouse and Backpackers. I fully recomend this place, has secure parking, swimming pool, pool table, bar, i could go on but its best to just go visit.

The Lady owner was fantastic could not do enough for me(not because of me its just shes great to all guests). I was taken on a comprehesive tour of the old building that serves as the Guest house , kitchen, dinning, bar etc. The backpacker section is out back and with own showers and toilets.

I stayed several days in Kimberly enjoying the towns sites, such as the big hole, a museum and the general feel of the place.

At the b/p i was to meet others and it came to a nite of playing pool. That nite i could do no wrong, i just kept winning. The words i heard where 'bloody australians, good at all sports'. To be honest im not into sports or being competative, but it was a great nite of drink, pool and laughter.

One of the guys i meet, Peter, and i got on well and he had so much knowledge of Africa. Peter is from Holland but has lived, toured and ran tours of Africa for 20 years. He was of great help sujesting routes to take and places to stay. I can not thank him enough.

It turned out that Peter was heading to Upington as i was. It was organised that i would meet up with him there and go over the map again to note some more places for me to visit.

On the way to Upington i took a side route to Douglas and Griekwasted, some where on the road i stopped to take photos of all the birds nests that have been built on the power/telephone poles along the roads. After a few photos i figured id ride off the made road over to the poles to get a better look. Well that was it for a while, as soon as i stopped at one of the poles my bike sunk to the axels. I struggled for some time to ride it out, with no luck. After unpacking the bike and have had it fall over i was able to get it back to the bitument. I was rather hot and puffed and felt rather silly.That nite i camped with Peter at Upington. We chatted about the road ahead and i decided that it would be good to move on to Namibia for a look. Peter was going to spend a few weeks in Solitaire in Namibia, so we made plans for me to meet him there later on.

At Upington i found the local bike shop, that was a Suzuki dealer. I popped into ask if i could do an oil change there. The guys where great, one of them does all the service work at his home so of we went to his place. At the guys place he brought out the container for the old oil, a funnel, rag and the new oil. It was just great, after a bit of a chat and some photos we went back to the shop and i was only charged for the 2.33 litres my bike holds, fantastic stuff.

I headed out to cross my first border in Africa. Its was all rather simple if a little confussing. No trouble other than the Namibian side wanted to know where i was staying. As i had no idea i wrote on the sheet 'The local pub' this was not good so i looked in my map book and picked a town any town. There where funny glances behind the counter.

In Namibia i stopped at Karasburg Pub, see said id go to the local. At the pub i must have been a bit happy, lonely, comfortable or all of those as i didnt leave that pub till 10am the next day and R333 lighter in cash.

With a bit of a sore head i rode on to Canon Roadhouse.