South Africa 09/10 Roadtrip - The last leg

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So News Years day was a pretty unexciting day, we were all hugely hungover, leaving the boys and embarking on an 8 hour drive.

The countryside changed again and we soon encountered huge forests and hills, and as per usual, stunning views. Otherwise the drive was pretty non consequential. We drove other the bridge where Nat and Duncan were later going to Bungy off - the Bloukans Bridge. It was ridiculously high off the ground, and sent my tummy lurching at the thought of throwing myself off it for fun...Not for me!

We arrived at our hostel, after driving around Plettenbergbai for ages trying to find out where the place was. It was a funny looking place, rather run down. We then found out that we were in fact camping one night and sleeping in the hostel the following. So the hostel owner walks us around the back, and tell us we can camp anywhere along here. He was pointing to a space with about 3 bogs, poles and wires everywhere and the start of a skip....nice!

Fortunately we eventually found a spot, and set up camp and then headed into town for some supper. It took us about an hour and a half to find anywhere to eat, and then an hour at the restaurant to get food. All the restaurants were booked up or full, and one even had a broken oven. This is when we started to realise the trouble of attempting to eat in a 10.

The following day was Nat' birthday!!! Finally 21 like the rest of us! As a birthday treat to herself , Nat and Duncan went off to Bungy and Gussy and I went along for the ride as we had never seen it before and everyone else had. When we got there we saw gordies brother and girlfriend also tehre about to jump, so Gussy and I were official photographers. Fortunately in teh cafe they had a TV screen where you could watch everyone jump, so we got to see it all happening. Nat looked pretty terrified but did a really good jump, way better than a lot of the other girls!!!Duncan was one of the last people to jump and has he bounced up for the third time he was shaking his fists and screaming - absolutely loving it!! When they came back up they were both still in complete ectasy. Nat couldn't remember her jump at all, but Duncan was telling us all about soaring through the air. He has now sworn that everywhere he goes, when there is a possibility to bungy, he will.

Us four then went for lunch, and then to teh beach to find the others. Unfortunately we could not find them, and after walking up an ddown the beach we decided we should instead catch up on tehrays and sun bathe. The sea was full of jelly fish and otehr sacry fish so swimming wasn't really an option. Instead we lay down and went to sleep.

When we got back the others were there and we had a present giving ceremony for Nat. We gave he a travel hammock and a photo album. That night we all decided to hit the town, so after supper we went to a club called VIP.

While on the way to the club (30 minute walk from the centre of town - not as close as we had thought!!) we met Nic (from Kruger) and his girlfriend! They then shuttled us to VIP, and we all went in!

We all had a great night, especially Nat who was made to dance on a stage for her birthday!!

The following day we left Starling Backpackers, and headed on to Cape Town. The drive was very long, and for the first couple of hours, most of us were asleep. Fortunately we woke up for the best bits. Driving along route 62, through constantly changing landscapes. It became more desert like, and we could see Ostriches roaming around, some in farms and some free. We drove past Ronnie's Sex Shop, a pub restaurant, where everyone who stops for some food or drink signs the wall. We signed just under the window by the girls loo, ' Bristol SA roadtrip 09/10'.

We drove on through ghost towns, and past wineries. The mountains came into view, with a shelf of cloud drifting over them. The cars became a lot quieter as we edged towards Cape Town as we all knew that this was the last stop and we all knew that it would be rather hectic.

Eventually we made it, and drove endlessly around the ring road trying to find the right part of Long Street where our hostel was. We stayed and Penthouse on Long street, which was really nice and chilled. We all went out for supper that night, and had the same problem as we had in Plett, and had massive trouble trying to find someone who would take 10 people. Eventually a Chinese restaurant let us in. I can't remember what it was called but it was awful. It was about five minutes from the hostel, by the market. The food was pretty unspectacular, and everything was late, so half our food went cold. We decided that they did not deserve our tip so didn't give them one. As we we walking up the street away from the restaurant, we suddenly heard Ollie yell behind us that the waiter was coming. We all legged it, but unfortunately he caught up with Ollie and Eddie and they were made to pay!

The next day Ollie, Tom and Eddie went shark cage diving. Hugo went with his parents to the cricket. Duncan, Gussy, Meals, Emily, Nat and I drove around the penninsula. We first went to Hout Bay where we had snouk and chips for breakfast. It was a nice little town, but very windy and cold. We then drove to Fish Hoek, stopping on route to take photos. We didn't go into Fish Hoek as the nicest bit was very far from the road. We did stop at a view point though, and looked and took photos of the stunning views.

We then drove through Simon's Town on our way to Cape Point. When we got to the gates of teh Cape POint nature reserve, we discovered that it was 70 rands each to get in, so we decided that we'd rather spend the money on something else.

We went down to boulders beach and watched the penguins. It was amazing because there were loads of them, and they didn't seem to mind the gawking tourists, I suppose they were used to them. Emily was disappointed as she remembered that last time she went she was allowed onto the beach with them, and get really close to them. This time we were unable to as we had to stay on a walkway.

After Simon's town, we drove back into town via Camps Bay and Clifton - the wealthy parts of town. We stopped and the V&A waterfront for an ice-cream, and to book a restaurant for supper. When we got back we met up with teh others, who were seriously burnt! But had had an incredible time, and all admitted that it was seriously terrifying. Ollie got particularly scared as teh tide was so strong that his arm kept floating out of the cage.

We then went to the market, while Ollie, Eddie and Tom went to Camps Bay for a drink. Supper that night was really nice. We went to a steak restaurant which was seriously delicious. After that we went back to Long street and went to a bar/club. I can't remember the name but it was really cool and really popular!!! Unfortunately some of us weren't feeling too crazy so went back at 1. However the others stayed until closing, and Duncan, Tom and Ollie the decided to watch the sun rise on the roof of the hostel.

The next day was seriously hectic, as we had to organise the trailer, which had to be taken to a family friend of Duncan's just outside the centre. Unfortunately this took a rather long time, so we didn't have long at the the beach at Camps Bay before we had to leave for the airport.

The next couple of days were too dull to tell you about. They consisted of long hours on planes and in airports, worried that we would be stuck in Doha, due to the snow in England.

We all made it home safe and sound, all thoroughly miserable to be back in England, although the snow was pretty cool! None of us wanted to go back to university and leave Africa. However fear not some of us have already planned to go back so the next few months won't be too awful!

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