Well as I did not have a lot of time yesterday on the internet to get my blog up to date and plus the fact as usual it would not let me put on all the pics I wanted to put on and so today you get the last part of my journey...lucky you!
Leaving Cape Town in our hired car Matt and I first arrive in Mossel Bay where it is quite nice, not stunning, but it was great to stay overnight on a train 'Santos Express' converted in to a backpackers. That was a novelty...that would wear off quite quickly but one night was great! In the morning we got our car packed and as we were distracted by one of those guys who tells you he watched your car so wants some money, I left the keys for matt just by the rim of the boot and as I walked away...he shut the boot! We could see them just as the boot shuts and eventually after much agitation and ideas we got a coat hanger (works every time!) and scooped out the keys...thank goodness! And so from there to Knysna which everyone says is so beautiful, well it is nice, a bit touristy but quite pretty at parts especially the Knysna heads, lovely view up there on the mountains, however at one point to try to get to a path we actually trespassed and saw a sign saying 'Hannibal knows you are here, beware!' - so decided after 15 minutes just to leave it! An interesting fact about the Knysna backpackers we stayed in they had just been broken in to the week before! We were told there was a couple staying in one of the rooms and the woman woke to see some guy putting on her jacket and packing her things, she asked him what he thought he was doing and he said 'I am stealing your stuff'. Gotta love that. Well she confronted him and then he pulled a knife and left. They didn't catch him. We felt we would be fine, I was here to protect Matt! ha ha.
From Knysna to 'Port Elizabeth' where we got a bit lost in the city centre driving around but found our way to a nice backpackers outside the city by the beach. Then next day drive to 'Tsisikamma mountains' we stopped in 'Natures Valley' which is very pretty, mountains, beaches, trees, isolated, lovely...however we had no cash and you need cash as they don't accept credit cards and no ATMS in this place so we had to move on to the next place - 'Stormsriver'. We stayed at a place called the 'Tube n Axe' which was alright and drove around to see the worlds biggest bunjee jump at bloukrans bridge. We also walked to see this lovely 800 year old massive tree in the 'bush' I love walking in the trees, but I do miss my old walking partner Richard though.
then to the start of the coastline called the 'Wild Coast' - East London and particularly we stayed at 'Cinsta West' at the 'Buchaneers backpackers' which is supposedly the best in SA. It was gorgeous and the views from the bkpkrs were idyllic as you could see the beach and the sea and the mountains - I took some lovely sunrise photos here, they are on the blog. A very gorgeous place. I am just sick of the football being on everywhere and thats 90% social life here at the min, every night one game after another plus highlights! I am reading even more than usual!
From Cinsta to 'Coffee Bay' and particularly the 'Coffee Shack' which has some of the nicest bathrooms I have seen! They have all this mosaic tiles and bits of mirror and sinks are big stones and the showers have mosaic tiles on the floor of sun over water, its gorgeous. I also loved the drive here from the main coastal road it is 100 km to coffee bay and it is a lovely drive although a bit rough in places and you are afraid to drive in to people as local people walk on the road and sometimes in the middle of it! It is really pretty to see their homes though, little round huts in bright colours usually a minty green colour and a chocolate brown roof. You could eat them! They were set on hill after hill and hills above hills, it was lovely. That evening we went to one of the little communities were we tried some of their food and drinks and they danced for us and we danced with them, it was nice. Then we came back and had some soup and sat around the fire - I love a fire at a backpackers! I fell in love with a little puppy that one couple had, it was gorgeous, I cuddled it all night! It didn't want to go back to its owners - mum you need to get a dog! So that night in the bkpkrs trying to get some sleep as about a 7 hour drive to Durban the next day this couple come in and start whispering all night him trying to get her to do something and her saying 'no stop it' so this went on for a while and I asked them to be quiet. Then eventually I lost my temper I was so tired and cranky I told them to shut up or else I was not adverse to giving someone a punch in the face to get some sleep tonight! Well it worked, they shut up and one of them left! Maybe not the best thing for me to do, but sometimes the Glasgow comes out in me when I am annoyed! In the morning I made as much noise as possible as I prepared to leave, especially with the plastic bags, they make such a noise when you are trying to sleep! I told him I hoped I wasn't bothering him!
And so to Durban, it was a long drive I drove the first half and was so tired after a while I started to speed up a bit, and I think I got a ticket along the way. More money! Yeah so it was a long drive, there are diversions through towns and sometimes it is so confusing as there is a lack of signs in some places. And so after about 5 hours I was up the wall and told Matt we need to stop somewhere soon. I eventually convinced him! We stopped in Port Sheppstone at the 'spot backpackers' which I ended up loving and wish I could stay there until I left SA. It has a fire outside, it is by the beach, the place was quiet, the kitchen was big, it had a tv room and everyone there was 'maturer' and relaxed and lovely to talk to. In the morning we had breakfast overlooking the beach and the sea, we could actually see Whales in the distant horizon coming out of the water, it was majestic.
On to Durban, it only took an hour to get there. We stayed in a big house called 'Home backpackers' it was nice and big, people were nice too and helpful. We walked around and bought some food and the next day went in to Durban for a look around. Poor Matt had his heart set on 'Whale watching' but they didn't seem to do it in big old Durban and as it was quite nice but not what we really wanted we decided to move on to the 'Drakensburg Mountains'. And so walked around Durban the beach and the city and it is nice enough, just not what we were looking for.
We drove to central Drakensburg to to Inkosanna lodge which is very pretty, again isolated and had a dorm to ourselves, big kitchen, heated rooms. BUT no fire outside, although they did have one inside! It was lovely and it was beautiful views, I just now wish we stayed somewhere else for a night for a change. We walked around, saw some zebra outside a hotel - very cool! Checked out the local shops as they had lots of lovely little arty bits and original stuff, and I have no money, repeat to self...you can't buy anymore...Yeah so it was nice and the bakery had lovely bread, and we went for a gorgeous walk to see a couple of nice waterfalls, problem is when you see the worlds biggest...Victoria Falls in Livingstone...then you are a bit spoiled! But I still appreciate the beauty of them! In the afternoon we went horseriding which was fun as we had a bit of a canter and really got going fast at some points, however one girl in our group started crying as her horse was a bit of a rogue and then another girl was on a horse who's head was rolling a bit and seemed to be spewing something and another horse had the runs and then one of the girls fell off her horse when it was doing a bit of a speed thing because other horses where and it was not paying any attention to her. It was a shame...shame for the horses because I don't think they are that well taken care of, and a shame for the girl as she got a bit of a shock (apart from that she was fine) and then a shame fo the rest of us selfish people as we didn't get to go fast again!!!
From Drakensburg we have now come back to Johannesburg, Matt has done the tours I have already done and I have sat by the fire and read a lot and used there free email when it works and when the power doesn't just switch off which it does a lot, I have already lost this once before! We are staying in a place called 'Gemini' I don't recommend it I wouldn't recommend 'Ritz' either which is the first place I got to when I arrived in SA. But I think its prob the best of a bad bunch. Its just that a group of 'young lads' were here and the dorm is by the tv room where they were drinking and watching...ofcourse football really loudly and I had a headache from driving for 5 hours and wanted to sleep and they just annoyed me! Its cold in SA at the moment as well, its there winter, during the day its quite warm but at night I sleep in my sleeping bag and use a duvet! I am also unhappy about this place as our food is constantly stolen from the fridge. The 'lads' lost 2 penknives, one girl lost her milk and we have had our milk, cheese and ham taken from the fridge and its not a lot but when you are trying to save money and use what you have it is a pain in the rear end! What I DO like though is that it has a lovely big fire and free internet access and I got the owner to agree to a discount for taking us to the airport, so what should be 7 quid is now 3 quid fifty!
Well thats my journeys, finished.
Syv
