No sooner had we finished work than it was the 3rd of December and after packing (at 2am in the morning) it was time to head to Manzini where we were to be picked up and taken White-Water Rafting for the day, a must do while in Swaziland! This was a fun day all round. I saw my first wild crocodile as we cruised down the river (all be it small crocodile...), experienced a completely different part of this very diverse country and managed to somehow end up going down a rapid, without the raft. Rather dangerous and I did have a few bruises to tell for the tale, but exciting nonetheless!
Then it was time to jump on a kombi (which had gone up in price by E20 because of a 14% tax that's been put on EVERYTHING here) and head into South Africa where our first port of call was to be the town of Hluhluwe. As we soon found out, there isn't really much to this place and after spending a couple of days out in the middle of the bush we decided to head onto Durban. A hitch hike to Richard's Bay (which was an exciting experience) and then a kombi and soon enough we were there! We spent a few days on the beach and then it was time to head on the Baz Bus, which over the course of the next 2 weeks was to take us all the way to Cape Town, with many stops along the way of course. The Baz Bus is basically a bus (obviously) that travels along the coast of SA picking up and dropping off travellers at many backpackers in different places. It was a really good way to travel as it meant we weren't having to haul our huge rucksacks on public transport and finding out own way to our accomadation.
Anyway, out first stop on the Baz Bus was the coastal village of Coffee Bay. We arrived to pouring rain and pretty dire weather in general but that didn't dampen our moods, as we arrived at the Coffee Shack (where we were to be staying) to an amazing atmosphere! This place had an amazing vibe all the time. The bar was always busy, with a free pool table attracting many vibrant competitions. During the day we were taken on hikes to caves and the famous “Hole in the Wall” by members of the local Xhosa community and one evening we spent time in a local home, learning their traditional dancing, eating the traditional food and trying the local beer (didn't actually taste too bad!) In the evenings it was time to chill in the bar, play a game (or two) of pool and sit and chat with everyone! In the bar they had this crazy rule that, if you drank with your right hand, you then had to down whatever drink it was you had. This made for some pretty funny chants of “Buffalo”, which was the word used to point out someone breaking the rule. We then went on to adopt this rule for the rest of the holidays. And even though it did rain most evening (and we were camping our way down the coast!), nobody let it affect their time there!
It was then time to jump back on the Baz Bus and head to Cinsta, another coastal village. Here we were staying at the Buccaneers Backpackers, which is said to be one of the best in South Africa! After a walk across the river in the pitch black to find somewhere to eat on our first night, we spent much of our days lazing around the campsite playing cards and eating egg mayo sandwiches, with a few trips to the beach. In the afternoons it was time to take full advantage of the Buccaneers free activity and play volleyball with FREE WINE! One rule as a backpacker; always take advantage of free things! We're on a budget... Highlight of Cinsta, though, has to be the FREE meal we had cooked for us by an actual Italian chef. In Coffee Bay we met an Italian couple, Diseppe and Ely, who ended up coming to Cinsta at the same time as us and offered to make us a meal. RESULT!
Next up on our travels was a short stop over in Port Elizabeth. I should mention that in order for all 4 of us to be able to get there on the day we wanted to, Robyn, Michael and Martin got a lift from someone who had been staying at the backpackers earlier in the day and I was left (with ALL the bags) to get the Baz Bus, which didn't get me into PE until 1am! It was all good though, as they had fishfinger sandwiches waiting for me on my arrival. Delicious! It was in PE that we met 6 other Project Trust volunteers from the north of SA. Beth, Laura, Ellie, Sarah, Fiona and Rhianna. After meeting them and spending some time all together (during which time we managed to fit 9 people in a 5 seater taxi. Project trust record perhaps?), the 4 of us changed our plans so as we could spend some time in Jeffery's Bay as a 10!
Jeffery's Bay is a very surfer orientated town. The backpackers we stayed at was probably one of the best out of our whole travels, Ubuntu. I mean, they had free wifi! So as you can probably tell, everyone was taking full advantage of it during our time there. On our first afternoon/evening there a few of us headed out to watch some football and have a few drinks. This was the day I got my my cuff pierced on a whim and ended up in an Afrikan's hospital because my foot got cut by glass while we were out at a club. Not good, and it left me with a numb and then painful foot and R900 medical bill. The rest of my time there was pleasant though, with a visit to the beach, an (awful) attempt at surfing and a browse round the Billabong Factory Outlet Store.
The 10 of us all the headed to The Crags where we were to stay for one night so that those of us who wanted to do The World's Highest Bungee Jump could. Not me though. The thought of falling through the sky upside down still makes me want to be sick and after just paying a R900 medical bill, I wasn't really in financial situation to be paying for it either. Instead, Ellie, Rhianna and I sat in the bar and watched on as the other 7 very bravely jumped off a bridge 216m high! We had a hilarious time watching each of them bungee from a screen in the bar and attempt to take very distant photos of each of them. I think it's fair to say we made a right scene every time on of our guys popped up on the screen and I am very proud of each of them for doing it, even though I was extremely nervous for all of them. Nothing compared to Ellie though, who I think was more nervous for them than they actually were for themselves! That evening was spent chilling and playing a few drinking games before it was time for us to head our separate ways for a couple of nights before we would all meet again in Cape Town.
The next day was our last day on our Baz Bus ticket so it was time to head to our final destination...CAPE TOWN!!! The 6 girls were all going to spend a couple of days in Plettenburg Bay before joining us. It was a long stretch to get there with 12 hours spent travelling but eventually, at around 10pm, we came in over Table Mountain and could see the whole city lit up below us!
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