IN SEARCH OF A Perfect Venue
GERRIT, the owner of the Cederberg Oasis, a proverbial oasis set next to the Matjies River, sneaked a peek at our steed through the window. The new Hyundai Venue was the only car in the lot.
“Is it a front-wheel-drive car?” We confirmed that the crossover is indeed only front-wheel driven.
Gerrit paused for a moment, then answered: “Then I wouldn’t advise you take the road to Wupperthal. It’s more suited to higher clearance vehicles, like bakkies and 4×4s.”
It was late in the afternoon and we still had some way to go to Wupperthal. If the road did turn out to be the boss of the Hyundai, as Gerrit expected it would, we were certainly not keen on attempting to extract ourselves from a mountain, in the dead of night.
We made the call to take the main gravel road to Clanwilliam, a hot dinner and warm bed. A much better prospect than spending the night in a Venue on the side of a mountain, without any provisions.
Not that this gravel road, as main as it may be, was all plain sailing. We soon came across an abandoned German SUV, two of its run-flat tyres completely destroyed. We purposefully aimed the Hyundai’s wheels around the bigger rocks. On this section we discovered the presence of the standard traction and stability control system.
A few rocks required some deft steering which in turn caused the tail to step out ever so gently. This happened in a very calm, predictable manner. Those rear wheels sent a fax through to the tiller, notifying the driver of
