Wilderess was a great opportunity to chill out a bit after the madness of Cape Town. Spent all day on Tues (22nd) on Baz bus and didnt get there until gone 5. The weather has changed and it seems a lot cooler here. Wilderness is lovely, very picturesque with houses surrounding a lagoon, it reminded me a bit of the Lake District.

We stayed at the Fairy Knowe backpackers and treated ourselves to a double room instead of a dorm. Am sooo looking forward to a proper bed and not being woken up in the morning. After dumping the bags we took a walk into town which we were told would take about 20 minutes... well he lied! It was at least double that. There weren't any shops really in Wilderness and as we had no food we stopped at the local pub for a couple of beers and something to eat, by the time we had finished it was quite dark, but they didnt have taxi's so we had to walk. It was fine walking as it was a safe area but it was pitch black and our hostel was off the beaten track a bit and we couldnt see a thing... sorry Maddie, i should have taken the head torch - i've learnt now!! Anyway, luckily this couple who were staying there drove by in their car and kindly gave us a lift.

Next day we decided to head off to the national park, on the way there we walked down this old railway track and there was this baby owl just sat there right next to us. It let us get pretty close and we got some good pics of it, but as i tried to walk past it it hissed at me... at this point i remembered the random fact Lillies 5 year old friend Halle had said the other week about owls "Owls can kill ya dont you know!", at which point (like a fairy) i proper legged it! Once we reached the national park we rented a canoe. We canoed for about 45 minutes and then moored them up on a sand bank and set off looking for a hiking trail we'd been told about which took you up to the waterfalls. It took us another 45 mins to get to the waterfall and there were a few hairy moments when we got a bit near to the edge and had to traverse som water pipes and other random obstacles. On the way back when we reached where we had left the canoes the tide had come in and they had drifted off downstream! Luckily some guys working in the water had seen them and tied them up, as it would have been a long swim back!

On the walk back we saw the owl again, i didnt want to aggrevate it so i kept my distance! Got back to the hostel and went for a shower when the power went out. Apparently this is very common in S.Africa, it had happened in the middle of the day when we were in Cape town. Its something to do with saving energy as there isnt enough electricity for the country. We couldnt see a thing so I scuttled around for my head torch and we headed to the kitchen were trained chef dawn managed to rustle up the culinary delight of omlette, 3 minute noodles and potatoes... hmmm, yes well! We washed it down with the gorgeous bottle of wine we bought at one of the winerys the other day.

2 south african students we met invited us to sit around the bonfire they had made, but it started to rain and then all of a sudden it winged it down! We took refuge in the bar which was this giant wooden teepee like structure in the garden. The power was still off so one of the guys lit a bunch of candles and we sat on the sofas with our wine. The little Daschund dog that lived there came and sat on Dawn for the rest of the evening. The power came on later and they put on Eric Clapton live CD which was nice and chilled and we sat there listening to the rain with a nice glass of wine or 2. Just a shame Dawn wasnt some gorgeous man really, but other than that it was pretty much perfect!

Cant upload any pics on these south african computers but promise to ASAP.

Speak soon guys - Hannah xxx