The Garden Route

I am sorry for the delay between post but as I said earlier since I left CT I have had little or no access to internet.

To put you up to date ... I left to Hermanus where I did the shark Cage diving (can scratch that from my lists of things to do before I am 30)... it was absolutely amazing... for 4h I was Jacques Costeau exploring the great misteries of the oceans greatest predator... there were loads of sharks coming for a piece of 73kg of prime portuguese beef ... the water was freezing and of course that the wetsuit that I took had a huge hole in it so not only was trying to focous so that none of my precious limbs were outside of the cage, but also trying not to freeze... it is wonderful because although i was cold, my lips were purple and I couldn t stop shivering I wanted to stay in the cage as long as I could and went back several time...this meant that actually it turned out to be quite cheap as the ratio money paid vs. time spent in the cage significantly increased.

The biggest shark that came was 4,5m which although is not a huge one (they can grow up to 8m) it was pretty impressive specially when you focoused on its souless eyes and multiple rows of teeth.... one of the occasions the shark was following the bait and it didn t turn in time to avoid hiting the cage... with its fins inside the cage I could of touched it but I chickened out perhaps it was the cold that prevented me from my arm obeying my brain... t be honest now looking back I think it was the latter one :D

S chose to stay on the boat she didn t want to go diving with the overgrown fish because of a mix of fear of both the shark and hypothermia... that proved to be the less of both evils as by staying on the boat not only did she get sick but, to make it more interesting another person who also was staying on the boat got sick and vomited on her ... not close to her, not around her... ON HER :D also the day before the dive she found out that the guy that took her card for a few min (couldn t be more than 2m) had somehow tried to present his girlfriend/wife with 4000eur worth of jewelery fortunately everything turned out to be ok as the transaction didn t go through.... I told her a holiday with me would be something she would remember for a long time ...

When we were back at the hostel we met a german guy Frieder who was also heading the same direction as we where going so, he joined us in our trip... we rented a car (a little Hyunday Atos which we call Fat Cat because the 2nd day we had it the crazy german almost ran over a very fat cat which was impossible not be be seen) as between three people it turned out to be cheaper than to take the bus... by having a car we can also buy food in supermarkets and take it with us... and food prepared by Chef Filipe and Frieder is for sure better than eating out... specially after 4years in Edi eating Tesco Value produce I now hold a Phd in Pasta ...

Frieder is a really cool german, great guy and the best.... he s got a plan and a guide book which is more than I have... he actually brough a map from germany and as done proper research and he wants to do more or less the same things as I do so it turned out to be perfect... also having another person travelling with me and S has prevented that we kill each other as we are used to different types of travelling...

All those that have had the pleasure of being driven by me know that I am not the most attentive driver so there is an extra element of adventure being brough to the trip....the first time that I saw a baboon on the side of the road I was staring at it whilst almost running over five other baboons that were crossing the road in front of me which caused everyone to have a heart attack (jst in case you are wondering iI didn t hit any)... also on a few occasion I have missed some very poorly signaled stop signs and, on some occasions I have the tendancy to drive on the left... despite all these minor incidents I always lock the doors... we might crash but I tell you we will not be car jacked...... safety first... the other driver Frieder isn t much better.... whilst driving at night, we chose to ignore my directions (which have a 50% chance of being correct) and managed to drive us straight into the middle of a gang (or if you prefer a gathering of 15 dodgy individuals looking at us like we were fillet mignon ready to be devoured)... luckily nothing happened as he accelerated and whilst we were passing nxt to them I put on my meanest look..

The next day we kept going to Outshoorn where we did a beautiful pass (Swartberg Pass) downhill on mountaine bike.... the scenery was completely breathtaking and it got us in the mood to continue to do the 54km we had to do that day (which unfortunately weren t all downhill).... that same day we went to the Kango caves where 4years of poor tesco value eating took its tool as I had to pass through some very narrow passing and, I not always managed to pass them in the most gracious manner... the day ended with a visit to an ostrich farm were we got to hear the history of the industry and, of course the highlight of the visit... ostrich riding.... (I have the video but can t upload it cause it would take too long...but it is worth waiting to see it once I get back)...

I though that my only financial excess in this trip would be the great white shark cage diving but then I heard about the worlds biggest commercial bungy jump... from a bridge into a gorge free falling 216m.... it was quite pricey (specially because I also bought the DVD of the jump) but, I was told that during the rebound you go up and it is like jumping again from the 2nd highest bungy in the world so technically I got two jumps for the price of one so, I went for it.... the atmosphere under the brige whilst preparing for the big jump was like everything else in Africa... very chilled out, everyone is laughting and having a good time.... in sum not the kind of staff you want when they are strapping you to a rope and literally throwing you off a brigde... yes throwing you.... as I was walking towards the edge like a poor sailor walking the plank I told them to wait wait wait and I would jump in my own time but, they jst pushed me anyway... I have never screamed so much in my entire life.... all I kept thinking was of my dream (when I was taking malaria pills in SE Asia on of the side effects is very realistic dreams... everyone has the dream when they are free falling and wake up before they hit the ground... well I actually hit it) and that 1/25m people that bungy have their eye balls popping out... fortunatelly everything was fine and obviously I made it :D

The trip continued along the garden route until Storms River where we did some amazing hikking rock hoping along the coast.. this is the famous Otter Trail which takes about 5 days and it is always along the cost which allows you to see beautiful landscape but also whales and dolphins (we didn t get to see the whales per say but we did see it spray ... twice)

The computer is again really slow so I will try and upload some more pictures when I can find a quicker connection...

I am going to Safari for a couple of days and after to Swazi to drop off S... I will try to post again as soon as I can... Hope all is well

Cheerios