Dan's Adventure

As the tent shakes I can hear JP cheerfully calling “Good morning, good morning”. Its 5.30am and still pitch black, but that doesn’t matter as we’re heading off to see the sunrise from the top of dune 45, the world’s most photographed dune. Everyone is on time and we’re on the truck waiting for the campsite gates to open at 6. Forty five minutes later we arrive at the foot of dune 45, the sky is brightening but the sun still hasn’t risen. We’re first to arrive so the dune is empty. Myself and Marc lead the way, creating the footprints for everyone else to follow. Walking in someone else’s footprints makes climbing sand dunes so much easier as you don’t slide anywhere near as much. Running at the start turned out to be a big mistake as we were huffing and puffing by the time we got half way up. Eventually we made it, took a seat and enjoyed witnessing dune the changing colours on both sides as the sun rose. From dune 45 you can see both sunrise and sunset, which I guess is why its the most photographed dune. There are no others blocking the view and from the top you can see so many more all around. Its by no means the highest, but the walk up is still a challenge when you haven’t eaten any breakfast yet.

After taking lots of pictures from the top, we started to race down the dune. Running most of the way, overtaking people on the sides of it, slipping and falling as we went. Waiting for us at the bottom was champagne and omelettes, cooked 20 at a time inside freezer bags in a pan of water, sounds like a strange way to cook them, but it worked. If you have visions of champagne glasses you couldn’t be more wrong, metal camping cups are how its served on an overlanding tour!