Day 7 (3/9)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DEAREST DAD! XXX
Long trip of 565Km's of highway style dirt road - average speed 90 -100 kph.
Very remote/austere vista but has beauty nonetheless.  Initially (1st 350km's), scenery is much like Mata Mata with yellowish grasses sweeping across to rich red dunes and small thorn bushes dotted around.  

The thorn bushes are much more advanced in their 'blooming' cycle than those in Kgalagadi.For the last stretch the scenery is more reminiscent of the lowveld sans riverine. Arrived at Gobabis around 3ish.  Went to Spares Link (Johan Human = owner; mechanic = Elvis).  They immediately started working on the aircon.  Had leak in one of the pipes where the constant shaking had worn it away - infamous corrugation strikes back!!!  Also, bull bar had sheared 2 of it's back bolts.  They repaired all in 2 hours for an unbudgeted cost of N$907 (ouch - but worth it!!) We need the aircon to retain any degree of sanity in this heat.
Also, spent N$300 on a starter card with 300mb data.  Doesn't work - our modem is definitely SA locked and the generic dashboard failed to work.  Will go to Windhoek tomorrow and see if they can sort it out.
Yeah - up to date again!