martinbo
Staff member
I admit it. My wife rolled her eyes when I said that I had an opportunity to meet up with an internet buddy after a 3 hour drive to one of our favourite parts of the world. Clearly, my crazy obsession had just reached a new level. The setting for this long-mooted get-together was the picturesque Free State town of Clarens, some 12km outside of the fabulous Golden Gate Highlands National Park.
So why Clarens? Well, Clarens is about 40km from Human's (his first name is Naas for those who didn't know) home town of Bethlehem and is a favourite haunt for many eastern Free Staters. Clarens is a charming little place, full of fine places to eat, lovely art galleries and a generally happy and relaxed atmosphere.
So the date & time was set at the last minute (actually, it was a last minute decision on my part to get away) contact details confirmed for the final time and we were good to go for Saturday lunch. I was chuffed to get to meet Naas as it's not often that true petrolheads get the chance to meet in person rather than interact on a forum.
Then, with a clear tinge of disappointment the news came from an unnecessarily apologetic Mr Human: The X6M had been booked for, of all things, a wedding! You can imagine how it is; in a small, close-knit community cars like an X6M are a) rare and b) make for rather fancy bridal entourage conveyance. And so, it was the missus' X1 xDrive 23d that was entrusted with making the trip. I bet Naas' wife rolled her eyes too!
Me? I wasn't phased - in fact I had no intention of doing any driving that day anyway and the X6M would've distracted from what ended up being a 9 hour solid "kuier" (translated as visit in Afrikaans) with great conversation with wonderful, salt-of-the-Earth people. So rapt in discussion were we that we hardly had a moment for the obligatory photo shoot and by the time we managed to address the formalities it was dusk. As a result the pictures aren't great but for those of you who care - here they are:
The lads:
Germany's finest compact SUV meets Japan's:
It's starting to get darker (and colder!) time to go inside!
The lads (One more time for old times' sake):
All in all it was a terrific get-together and I'm really chuffed to realise a friendship from within this fantastic community. Stand by for the next installment where Naas and Martin meet up again at the Johannesburg International Auto Show later this year. To our other JHB/SA members: c'mon - don't be shy, let's have a little GCF RSA Chapter meet at JIAS!
To Naas and wife Lani, thanks very much for making the meeting happen. And to my lovely ladies - thanks for being so tolerant of your car mad dad/husband.
Regards,
Martin
So why Clarens? Well, Clarens is about 40km from Human's (his first name is Naas for those who didn't know) home town of Bethlehem and is a favourite haunt for many eastern Free Staters. Clarens is a charming little place, full of fine places to eat, lovely art galleries and a generally happy and relaxed atmosphere.
So the date & time was set at the last minute (actually, it was a last minute decision on my part to get away) contact details confirmed for the final time and we were good to go for Saturday lunch. I was chuffed to get to meet Naas as it's not often that true petrolheads get the chance to meet in person rather than interact on a forum.
Then, with a clear tinge of disappointment the news came from an unnecessarily apologetic Mr Human: The X6M had been booked for, of all things, a wedding! You can imagine how it is; in a small, close-knit community cars like an X6M are a) rare and b) make for rather fancy bridal entourage conveyance. And so, it was the missus' X1 xDrive 23d that was entrusted with making the trip. I bet Naas' wife rolled her eyes too!
Me? I wasn't phased - in fact I had no intention of doing any driving that day anyway and the X6M would've distracted from what ended up being a 9 hour solid "kuier" (translated as visit in Afrikaans) with great conversation with wonderful, salt-of-the-Earth people. So rapt in discussion were we that we hardly had a moment for the obligatory photo shoot and by the time we managed to address the formalities it was dusk. As a result the pictures aren't great but for those of you who care - here they are:
The lads:
Germany's finest compact SUV meets Japan's:
It's starting to get darker (and colder!) time to go inside!
The lads (One more time for old times' sake):
All in all it was a terrific get-together and I'm really chuffed to realise a friendship from within this fantastic community. Stand by for the next installment where Naas and Martin meet up again at the Johannesburg International Auto Show later this year. To our other JHB/SA members: c'mon - don't be shy, let's have a little GCF RSA Chapter meet at JIAS!
To Naas and wife Lani, thanks very much for making the meeting happen. And to my lovely ladies - thanks for being so tolerant of your car mad dad/husband.
Regards,
Martin
An example for all of us members here 
Will keep you guys posted.
