One thing about us is that we, up to this point, have always loved the idea of snow. We road-tripped around the whole country, sure that if we landed in the right place at the right time, we would get to experience this particular weather phenomenon. However, despite being in the right place, our timing was always off, and we would get all the cold and frost, but the snow would wait for us to leave before falling on the very place we had just left.
We even tried booking a cottage at Klondyke Cherry Farm 2 years ago in the hopes snow would materialise but, it was nothing but clear blue sky for the 2 days we were there. I was so disappointed, that I didn’t even bother blogging about it even though it was the first and last time we tried traveling with the (then) kittens who were so traumatised, we never tried it again.
This year, I happened to have annual leave I needed to use up around the time of Anton’s 50th birthday so when I discovered snow was expected over my extended weekend, I came up with a harebrained plan. Since every accommodation spot in Ceres had been fully booked for ages, and Anton runs a camping rental company (https://urbantentrental.co.za/) I asked the family whether they would like to go camping in the hopes it would snow.
We had sn(NO) idea what we were letting ourselves in for.
After making the necessary arrangements, we set off after church in a car packed with blankets, camping equipment, and food. It was so full, that Z1 had to climb onto the top of our top box and sit on it like it was a suitcase so we could close it. I should have taken a picture, but it was pouring with rain, and it was the least of my concerns.
We drove through such terrible weather on Sunday, 7 July, it should have been an omen of things to come, and I should have just turned the car around, but we pressed onward. Once we arrived at Klondyke Cherry Farm, the boys set up the tents while the girls sheltered in the car. It was super cold but not raining yet. Anton and Z1 just about managed to set up our accommodation for the night when what we thought was hail started to fall. They climbed back into the car, and, after some discussion, we concluded that it wasn’t hail but sleet.
In less than an hour, it started snowing and the excitement was palpable. We were FINALLY getting to experience snow!
After dashing around like children, we sort of started realising that this snow meant business and it was turning into a bit of a blizzard. We tried to enjoy as much of it as possible but honestly, we were not appropriately prepared with this level of cold and started preparing to take shelter in our beds. It was only 6 pm but what else could we do?
We briefly considered making supper but even that felt like too much trouble and besides, we had snacked on so much padkos on the way there, that no one felt hungry. We got the kids settled in their sleeping bags, blankets, beanies, and layers of clothing before we tried to do the same but quickly realised that our lack of sleeping bags meant we would be far too cold to get through the night. Anton and I had a thick blanket each and thought that our layers of clothing would be sufficient, but we were very wrong.
After trying a few sleeping configurations, including me trying to sleep in the car, we eventually pooled our resources, moved the kids into 1 tent with the camping stretches and a heater, and then tried keeping each other warm on our mattresses with 2 blankets and a comforter. That worked for a while until we started hearing gunshot-like snaps, followed by a ground-shaking thud. The snow was weighing so heavily on the pine tree branches that they were snapping and falling to the ground. The pine trees that we had set up our tents under!
Every single snap felt like our tree would be next, so we anxiously waited for a tree limb to come crashing down on our tent.
Part 2 coming soon…
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