Nature's Valley

Storms River seemed to be mostly for adrenaline junkies, so I left everyone behind for a quiet night in the Hiker's Haven. The 5km stretch of beach at Nature's Valley is absolutely stunning. There was hardly a soul on the beach. I did some short hikes along the Blue Rocks on the coast to the Salt River mouth and back. Also went up to the view point near the end of the famous Otter Trail.

Storm River

I stayed one night at the Tube 'N' Axe so I can watch Jon, Paul, and Lisa jump from the highest Bungee in the world from the Blouklans River Bridge (216m). I did the bridge walk out there to the jump point and cheered them on. The walk itself was pretty cool. You walked along these grated flooring that you can see right through to where you could plunge to your death should you fall.

Hogsback - East London - Port Elizabeth

Baz stayed in Cintsa to do his own thing, and I went with Jon to Hogsback - the misty mountains said to have inspired the writing of The Lord of the Rings. Same was also said of Drakensburg but no one seems sure. Anyhow, a good day was spent here hiking with Jon through the forest to the five waterfalls - Swallow's Tail, Bridal Falls, Madonna and Child, Kettle Spout, and 39 Steps. We stayed in a hostel called Away with the Fairies. Very charming place, with the 3 Hogsback mountains in the background.

On the last day, we left Hogsback in the morning and arrived in Sugarshack in East London for a pick up by the BazBus in the evening. I spent the day roaming around East London and playing pool in the hostel. In the evening, we were dropped off at Base Camp in Port Elizabeth for the night before we moved on to Storms River.

Cintsa and Transkei Tour

A few of us who met in Coffee Bay - me, Baz, Jon, Yildez, and Belinda - also ended up together in Cintsa. We all stayed at the Buccaneers. The hostel was situated near the beach with a fantastic view of the river and bay. I spent most of the time relaxing on the beach or at the hostel. Also got some canoeing in with some people on the second day up the river. I ended up on a boat with another guy, but neither of us could row properly and we zig zagged up the river. The boat must've been f***ed up. We got a good arm exercise from it anyhow since we probably covered twice the distance of others. There is also a lady who runs a reflexology spa up the hill from the hostel. I booked myself in for an hour of full body massage - ahhhhh.

By the third day there, Baz, Jon, and I were the only ones left from the original group, and we booked ourselves on the one day Transkei tour. The tour took us through remote parts of the Transkei area - waterfalls for cliff diving, Work for Water project, shipwrecked beach, etc. There was a bit of 4x4 experience involved to get to some of the spots too. It was a beautiful tour, tho a bit pricey.

Coffee Bay and Hole in the Wall

Couple nights were spent here in the Coffee Shack. The hostel here had a good vibe at night, with killer pool competition each day. Everyone can play for free, so some nights you get up to 40 people playing. You can have 2 or 3 lives and everyone takes turn trying to pot a ball. If you miss or foul, you lose a life. Last man alive wins a free night of accomodation. Baz (Barrie), won the second night. Beware of the Buffalo Rules in the bar too. Rule #1: You must drink with your left hand. Rule #2: Do not put your drink on the pool table. If you break a rule, you have to down your drink. I'm not very strong with alcohol, but I got caught and had to chug a nearly full bottle of Smirnoff Spin (after I've already had a few) down a tube. I was playing really shitty after that at pool, and almost got 7-balled (losing with 7 balls on the table). The rule there is that you have to run around the pool table with your top off (or pants down for guys) if you get 7 balled. Fortunately I managed to sink a ball before I lost.

Baz, Belinda, and I did the 6 hour hike (there and back) to the Hole in the Wall. The hike took us up and over several hills along the seaside. We passed a variety of scenary - another very beautiful hike.

This is where Baz and I met Jon, from UK. He is also travelling alone, near the end of his year long trip through Australia/NZ and Asia.

Durban

Durban was a mandatory stop over on the BazBus. I didn't particularly care to stay here long but since the BazBus didn't run on Fridays down to Port Elizabeth, I had to stay here a day longer than I wanted.

I met Baz, from UK, here. Baz is travelling alone as well for an undetermined amount of time and just flew into Durban. We stayed at the Traveller's International Lodge which was overrun by local school children on a tour here. We moved onto the Banana Backpackers in the city center the next day. It was close to the beach, but it's still early spring here and not really that warm. We watched the surfers do their things and that's about it. One of the nights we went to a free art show in the City Hall about a 5 minute walk from the hostel. We were told to leave all of our valuables behind because there's a good chance we could get mugged. Nevermind trying to walk back the 5 minutes to the hostel after dark. Even with a group of 10, we had to cab it back (via a pub).

Lesotho

Lesotho is actually not part of South Africa, but a country surrounded entirely by it. It's a non-developed country near Drakensburg. The backpackers I stayed at took me on a one day tour of the country to see local schools, bushman painting, township, Sangoma, volleyball game with the Lesotho Defense Force, and local beer and food tasting.