After breakfast this morning, we pack up the truck and head off. On our way, we make a brief stop in Aus to pick up some supplies and carry on south. Lunch is on the side of the road next to the train tracks. As we are eating, a passenger train goes by and all the passengers wave to us and we wave back.
We arrive at the Hobas campsite near Fish River Canyon around 1:30 PM and set up camp. Once we are ready, we head out to go spend the afternoon at Fish River Canyon. We drive along a dirt road to the Hikers' Viewpoint, which is at the start of the trail you can take to walk through the canyon.
Fish River Canyon is claimed to be the second largest canyon in the world, but in actual fact it is not. But it makes up for this in stunning beauty. The canyon is formed by the Fish River, which has dug out a gorge that is 160 km in length, up to 27 km in width and 550 meters deep. The early San had a legend that twisting Snake River Canyon was gouged out by a frantically withering snake that was being hunted.
In actual fact, the canyon is actually two canyons in one, both formed quite differently. The first was the result of earth movements, which then formed a water course for the Snake River to pass through and to further gouge out the canyon.
We spend the afternoon at the view point, taking in the sights as we enjoy some cheese, crackers and wine. It is a wonderful afternoon. The colors and shadows of the canyon kept shifting and changing as the sun slowly sank in the sky. After a few casks of wine were drunk, the party started to pick up and we were all quite happy as we left.
On the drive back, we passed another truck that had stopped to have dinner at another viewpoint - we decided to moon them as we drove by. We finally arrived back at the campsite after dark, but dinner was waiting for us. As Jacqui was not feeling to well, we went to bed soon after dinner, but we could still hear the sounds of the party going on around the campfire.