25/2/11

Up early to pack and tidy and we left for Port Elizabeth to say goodbye and move on from Marylou, Simon, Mike and Heidi. On the way to the airport had lovely 'tramezzinis' (toasted bread with mince, cheese and tomato in mine!).

At the airport, said our goodbyes but managed to extend the hire of the people carrier so me and Jack could get to Cape Town faster. Ohhhh right. So down came the windows, on came the music and off came the shirts.

We ploughed through some kilometres including a stop off at Tsitsikamma where we had previously done the world's biggest, 216-metre bungy jump two years ago with James Griffin. Glad we weren't doing it again, for the price and for the huge drop from the bridge down into the valley! From there, I took over the wheel illegally (I missed driving so much for the last three months), coasting where possible to retain fuel!

Went through a toll gate and saw the ridiculous baboon population on the side of the roads and made our way through Plettenburg Bay (secnic with its seaside valley and lagoon) and to Knysna. I drove to the 'Heads' where the sea meets thge lagoon (I think) and the the big headlands stick out. It was cool to see with the formations, the lagoon and all the mussels plaqued all over the rocks. However, when going for a quick dip, the mussels were sharp and made for a turbulent and painful walk in and out of the water!

We then visited the harbour with its big gateway and lots of shops and restaurants on the ground and first floor overlooking the magnificent lagoon. There were a couple of waterways linking to the lagoon which reached a fork and there were lots of houses among this area that had boats on their doorstep!

As we drove out we passed Island Vibe which I quickly investigated (sister accommodation to awesome place we stayed in J Bay) but we decided to move on.

I had a bit of a nap as we passed through George where the weather became a lot mistier and there was rain (had been sunny up until this point). Heading away from the coast up the hills towards Oudtshoorn we hit more mist and rain but it is unbelievable at how the climate changes in such a small distance.

At 6.30pm in Oudtshoorn the weather was hot and we witnessed a picturesque sunset dropping below the mountains in the distance.

We checked in to Paradise Bacpackers and it really was one of the best ones yet. In fact Oudtshoorn is probably one of my favourite places yet (I'll explain more why). After food and a clean up we watched the Super 15 with the Bulls beating the Cheetahs in an epic game of rugby. We got chatting with the local guys and the woman and her daughter staying in our dorm and decided to head out with these local guys. We, or more so I, polished off a bottle of Olof Bergh brandy and headed to town following a short powercut, open fire, playing pool and discussing South African politics.

We went to a couple of bars where it wasn't up to too much but we enjoyed, drinks, dancing, chatting to more locals and Jack chatting rugby. Crammed eight people in a car on the way home.