7am and the lads pick me up. They’ve had instructions from Wouter and gathered together the necessary tools so we head off to Gosa. Gosa was a farm up until very recently. The story is that the paddock there is going to be used to hold buffalo calves

We wouldn’t want to cheat a cheetah out of his lunch so we meet to get meat at 7am. Blesbok is on the menu again and to get a pot shot we brave the pot holes all the way to Verwater. To give the game a fighting chance, we leave Pat and Ross at the cruiser and Barry and I go off on foot ( and knee and stomach) to find the herd.

We’re on the airstrip by 7am and without the heat-haze get to appreciate what an extensive area of tarmac it is. Our task seems a little daunting and has to be completed before the gliders get started. We’re minutes into it when another bakkie ( or ‘buckies’ as poms call them!) loaded with troops arrives on the scene. Gus sent the cavalry!

After our sojourn on the runway, I skive off leaving the lads with a crappy job. The cruiser has to go in to the workshop to have a leaf spring replaced and while they wait for it, the lads are to clear up all the remaining debris from the site the “wire mountain” was removed from. In the meantime, Louise, Jack and I ready ourselves and go to Motse Lodge, having been invited to lunch by the Oppenheimers.

Tswalu is going to be hosting a big gliding convention over the next fortnight. In preparation for this, the lads and I have to remove all the airstrip lighting on the Southern half of the runway. (Apparently the wing-tips of the gliders might take them out otherwise.) They pick me up at 7am and we head off.

The lads and I are all psyched up for a full-on day. There’s a gate in the North part of the reserve needs replacing along with about 30m of fence either side. It’s a serious fence, with serious strainers, to retain serious animals and prevent serious loss if they escape and/or get killed on the road. Sounds like a job for the Serious Squad. Except half of them don’t turn up.

Here we are in March already and to celebrate, we decide to have a Spring Clean.( We make our own fun out here in the bush! ) Actually the truth is that Theresa returns home today and we are flitting rooms and having a good old tidy before she gets back. It all seems to take rather a long time.