How BIG is the WORLD?

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

3 – 8 AUGUST 2011

PRETORIA and OPPIKOPPI

After deciding on a whim to attend the festival, Oppikoppi, to get back to Pretoria I take a very quick one hour flight up to OR Tambo airport and make my way on the new Gautrain route to all the way to Pretoria. I make my way over to Bill and Jill’s home where they have kindly agreed to put me up before catching the convoy to the Oppikoppi festival tomorrow.

How big is everything here at the Voortrekker monument

This afternoon Will took me out to visit the Voortrekker Monument, perched on the top of a hill above Pretoria set in a 250 ha reserve. It was built over 7 years from 1938, apparently designed to last a thousand years and when you see it you can well imagine it will. It commemorates the Battle of Blood River when 500 Boers defeated 12,000 Zulus (did they have guns and cannons perhaps?) but the view from this massive edifice was amazing and included a bird’s eye view of both Fort Schanskop and Pretoria’s Union Buildings which we visited later. We admired a tapestry that apparently has more than three million stitches (who counted?), and a monumental marble relief along all four interior walls depicting the ‘Great Trek’ which was when Dutch and German pioneers travelled by ox-wagon over the Drakensberg mountains, determined lot they were, to northern parts of South Africa to get away from the British.

Will and I

There are four forts in all around here, three of which were built by a german firm and the fourth by a French firm, all built around 1896 to guard against attacks during the Anglo-Boer war but due to later disarmaments, they were invaded by the British in 1900 without a shot being fired. According to the info, during ‘British occupation, the forts were the property of the Crown and thoroughly manned and armed’. Of course!

Surrounded by beautiful gardens with memorials, tributes and statues aplenty, Pretoria’s (and South Africa’s) Union Buildings’ cornerstone was laid in 1901 and completed in 1913 to symbolise the authority of the state. This was the site for the inauguration of South Africa’s first democratically elected head of state, former President Nelson Mandela. However due to fears of violence from upset folk at that time it is now no longer possible to visit the grounds within.

Big, isn't it? I reckon this will last a thousand years

I am booked travel to Oppikoppi tomorrow on The Oppikoppi Convoy that I found via the festival’s facebook page and I have no idea what to expect other than the festival sounded like fun and the convoy will get me there and back. I figured it might be an interesting way to spend a few days waiting for Sue and Davina (who have been on tour in South Africa) to arrive in Capetown where we will meet up.

Bill and Jill spoil me with a lovely dinner, comfy bed and hearty breaky, along with fruit and tinned food to supplement the nibbles I have for the weekend. Don’t want to fade away or anything severe like that. Bethany kindly drives me out to the Pretoria Uni where the convoy bus awaits. The luggage trailer is already overloaded so the rest of the bags are hoisted in with us. Only a few folk know each other so I don’t really feel the odd one out except for my AGE!

On the convoy and Estelle is excited!

But I am welcomed, offered drinks and peruse the festivals programme with more advice from my new friend, Estelle. After a few hours we arrive at the festival site out past Northam via many cigarette stops, grog buy ups etc. The guys find a great site for us to camp that was really close to the entrance, but far enough from the road that we weren’t showered in dust from passing foot traffic. The weekend followed with blazing sun during the day and very chilly evenings, listening to music, walking between stages and generally switching off altogether! Bethany had marked some recommendations and my new campsite friends talked about a few others that they were planning to see. I heard about a band called Fuckoffpolisiecar, one of South Africa’s first rock bands to sing in the local language, Afrikaans. As the band was not playing this year, there was a film being shown documenting the band members, their rise in popularity and accordingly the resistance they encountered from some parts of South Africa’s less liberal communities. To sum up Oppikoppi, all I can really say is there only one rule at Oppikoppi is NO GLASS: that means that any plastic container is filled to the brim with wines/beer/spirits and carried in without a problem.

I think this container had beer

Obviously no bag searches cause sheeshas/hookahs were very abundant and a little like our Meredith Festival in Victoria, couches are an option and one group brought along a bunk bed from which to watch the music. Distances were close between the stages except for the trance stage which was either a bit of a walk around the hill or a steep trek straight up the hill which I tackled a couple of times only in daylight.

Hold that rope to help get up and down the hill

I saw 2 separate falls – one bloke coming down fell and rolled right into a thornbush – ouch. The second was coming up too fast, tripped and noseplanted, balancing on his face for several seconds before falling to the ground!! But thanks to the effective painkilling features of copious amounts of alcohol both righted themselves quickly and were on their merry way!

FACT: Pretoria has a one of a kind Correctional Service Museum, portraying “the development of the penal system, displaying the hobbies of prisoners and illegal items manufactured by them”. Riveting stuff but I was happy to give it a miss.