Going to the Drive-in

This weekend I experienced something I never thought I'd ever see again - a drive-in movie theatre!

Apparently this is one of the last ones in Australia. It is just like the ones we had back in the seventies and eighties, (when I was a child), with the bumps and the speaker-poles, and the big screen. This is "the movies" the way I first experienced it. In Windhoek we didn't go to the cinema until I was about 15. We always went to the drive-in, as a family.

I can remember my grandfather packing a picnic basket, coffee flask and whatever else he thought we needed. He had a whole box that fitted into the back of his old Volkswagen Variant station wagon. We would all get into the station wagon, and go to the movies. Funny how these things come back to you. I remember there was a lot of Afrikaans films back then, and I also remember when Superman came out, and we watched it there on the big screen in 1979.

This drive-in is much similar to that, the only difference being the fact that they transmit the sound on an FM radio channel, and no-one uses the speakers anymore.

The movie started at 21h00, but we already parked at 19h30. There is a great atmosphere, families everywhere sitting and chatting and having a great time. Everyone has chairs, blankets and food, and all the larger vehicles are parked with their backs to the screen, so that the kids can lie there and watch the movie. Our kids were in the Holden's boot...

We watched two movies, and by the time we started driving home it was 00:30. I must admit that I missed some parts of the second movie...

What a great experience. I never knew these things still existed. It was great giving my children the opportunity to also experience this. The last time I went to a drive-in, must have been somewhere around 1989.