Well, I haven't been near the internet for over a week now and I have just a quick 5 minutes so I thought I'd write a quick post to let everyone know I am still alive!
Well I've been in Cintsa for a week now and it has just been one big party with the occasional bit of exercise. Went on a bike ride yesterday morning to visit a Xhosa village, I meant to have a quite night the day before. Well that didn't happen and after far too many shots later we staggered back across the beach at 2.30 am! Getting up at 8am to go on a bike ride was not easy. Needless to say two minutes in I fell off my bike and gave myself some cool new grazes that I think will give me some new scars to add to the collection. So the lesson for the day was not to go bike riding when still drunk from the night before!
Anyway my internet time is just about to run out so I'll say goodbye for now and promise to post a more in depth description of my time in Cintsa at a later date.
Thursday, 30 September 2010
Wednesday, 22 September 2010
3 weeks in
Well I've been traveling for three weeks now, my old way of life feels like a lifetime away now. I've been in PE for a couple of days now, we went to see a seal show yesterday at the oceanarium, they are very clever animals and are equally able to respond to hand and voice signals. I hadn't realised they were such intelligent creatures.
We went and had a walk around the town today, I must say that PE is my least favourite place I've been so far. It's full of 60's high rise blocks and a very industrial port town. Although when the sun comes out and you look at the lovely sandy beaches and water it still looks quite nice.
Of to Chintsa tomorrow, about 5 hours up the coast. Jenny's friend has a beach house there and she has very kindly offered it to her to use. Chintsa looks like a very nice quiet beach town with sandy beaches, so a great place to chill. In the the description in the guide book the say there is now an ATM in the town!
After spending a few days there we going to head for Hogsback in the mountains, which is rumored to be the inspiration for Lord of the rings. So I'm hoping to see some lovely countryside and do some walking and cycling.
We went and had a walk around the town today, I must say that PE is my least favourite place I've been so far. It's full of 60's high rise blocks and a very industrial port town. Although when the sun comes out and you look at the lovely sandy beaches and water it still looks quite nice.
Of to Chintsa tomorrow, about 5 hours up the coast. Jenny's friend has a beach house there and she has very kindly offered it to her to use. Chintsa looks like a very nice quiet beach town with sandy beaches, so a great place to chill. In the the description in the guide book the say there is now an ATM in the town!
After spending a few days there we going to head for Hogsback in the mountains, which is rumored to be the inspiration for Lord of the rings. So I'm hoping to see some lovely countryside and do some walking and cycling.
Sunday, 19 September 2010
By the beach, well not quite......
.... as it's dark, overcast and very windy so inside instead! I'm currently in Jeffery's bay, the spot to come surfing in the whole of South Africa. But it is far too windy to surf, or walk on the beach even. So as you can imagine in a surf town when you can't surf, well there really isn't much more to do! Well there is drinking of course, but as I didn't go to bed until 3 this morning it think it is best to wait a few more hours before I start again! Well I do have the Liverpool vs Man Utd match to watch in an hour or so.
So what have I been up to the past few days I hear you ask. Well not a huge amount, just working my way up the cost through sleepy beach towns. I went zip lining through the treetops of Tsitikamma forest yesterday. It was fun and there were good views, but it wasn't enough of an adrenaline rush for me. I'm much more looking forward to bungee jumping off Sydney harbor bridge!
Friday I went up to a local township with one of the staff members of the hostel. For those of you who don't know what a township is, it's basically slums that were set up for black people during apartheid. That's probably a very simplistic and only partially accurate description, so you're probably better to Google it for a better description. Anyway back to the story. We went to the local community centre as they had opened it up for the evening to the teenager so they had somewhere else to hang out other than the streets. They were playing cards, dominoes, and singing and dancing. I played a few games of dominoes, and even won one! I struck me when I was there that this just wouldn't happen in England. The children would just be playing computer games or on the internet. I just shows you don't actually need that much to have fun, and they did seem to be laughing an awful lot more than any kid on a computer game.
Well I'm off to Port Elizabeth tomorrow for a few days, hopefully finally get to learn to dive there. Although with the current weather that may not be possible, I may have to wait until Zululand. I'll try not to leave it quite so long between posts next time.
So what have I been up to the past few days I hear you ask. Well not a huge amount, just working my way up the cost through sleepy beach towns. I went zip lining through the treetops of Tsitikamma forest yesterday. It was fun and there were good views, but it wasn't enough of an adrenaline rush for me. I'm much more looking forward to bungee jumping off Sydney harbor bridge!
Friday I went up to a local township with one of the staff members of the hostel. For those of you who don't know what a township is, it's basically slums that were set up for black people during apartheid. That's probably a very simplistic and only partially accurate description, so you're probably better to Google it for a better description. Anyway back to the story. We went to the local community centre as they had opened it up for the evening to the teenager so they had somewhere else to hang out other than the streets. They were playing cards, dominoes, and singing and dancing. I played a few games of dominoes, and even won one! I struck me when I was there that this just wouldn't happen in England. The children would just be playing computer games or on the internet. I just shows you don't actually need that much to have fun, and they did seem to be laughing an awful lot more than any kid on a computer game.
Well I'm off to Port Elizabeth tomorrow for a few days, hopefully finally get to learn to dive there. Although with the current weather that may not be possible, I may have to wait until Zululand. I'll try not to leave it quite so long between posts next time.
Wednesday, 15 September 2010
Tuesday, 14 September 2010
12 days in and it feels like an awful lot longer
Well I'm now on my twelfth day of travelling through South Africa sitting in an internet cafe in Knysna. I can't quite believe that it has only been going for twelve days as it feels more like months. I've done so much and met so many new and wonderful people. I am currently winding my way up the coast on my way to Mozambique, we are down to two of us now as Jeff headed back to Cape Town to get a flight to Germany a couple of days ago. Off to Pletenberg tomorrow and intend to spend a few days there to learn to dive, then I'll be ready to dive in Mozambique when I get there. I've heard it is fantastic diving there and can't wait.
So the plan for the next couple of weeks, yes that's right I do have a vague sort of plan for once, is to head up the coast via Pletenberg, PE, Durban, Swaziland, and then into Mozambique. Well I still have no idea where I'm going to go once I reach Mozambique, so I am still roughly sticking to my plan of no plans!
Well it's been a nice few relaxing days in a few sleepy towns but I think I have now built my energy reserves again after all the partying in Cape Town and ready to go again!
So the plan for the next couple of weeks, yes that's right I do have a vague sort of plan for once, is to head up the coast via Pletenberg, PE, Durban, Swaziland, and then into Mozambique. Well I still have no idea where I'm going to go once I reach Mozambique, so I am still roughly sticking to my plan of no plans!
Well it's been a nice few relaxing days in a few sleepy towns but I think I have now built my energy reserves again after all the partying in Cape Town and ready to go again!
Monday, 13 September 2010
Sunday, 12 September 2010
Off to Wilderness
Quite literally, I'm off to a place called Wilderness today, this is my next step on the way up the garden route. The garden route, for those of you who don't know, runs from Cape Town, east along the coast up to Mozambique. From what I know of wilderness, which isn't much, it is just a cool and chilled out place where everyone just relaxes. Which is just what I need after all the late nights and bottles of wine over the past week and a half.
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