Advertisement
Published: April 29th 2009
Edit Blog Post
Transkei - Coffee Bay part 2
After our initial adventure turned out well and we had the most wonderful time, we set out for Mdumbi excited and optimistic. The drive started out well with only a couple wrong turns which were corrected by the fact Robin and I study isiZulu which is very close to Xhosa so we were able to communicate at least a little bit. Our last fatal wrong turn we knew was wrong right away but we didn’t think we would be able to back up and get back. The road was freshly cut, technically not even a road yet, just a tractor trail. I ended up walking ahead moving big rocks and sod for the low riding Renault. We knew we were in deep but had no where else to go, so we trudged on. We finally got to a creek crossing and then a huge hill. We kept asking if this was the right road and everyone agreed, I think they just wanted to see what we would do. Well the hill ended up being our demise, Robin tried and tried and couldn’t make it, so her and Ivy walked ahead and I stayed
behind with the growing mass of children. The area was incredible, seriously middle of nowhere, beautiful. I started making plans to camp right there on the creek, and then I heard a car coming. It was Ivy and Robin in the back of a bakkie (truck). Apparently these men were the ones building the road and you can imagine how shocked they were to see three women and a car stuck on the hill. We tried multiple times to get the car going, and then realized the clutch was shot, so we tried to tow it but still no luck. So we piled all of our camping gear out of the car and into the bakkie and they drove us into coffee bay.
From there we called the tow truck again and Mdumbi our next destination who agreed to come get us. Robin decided to wait for the tow truck and Ivy and I set off for Mdumbi. Long story short the tow truck broke but Robin was able to get some help from a pastor in a huge 4X4 and got the car out. The next day she was in Mthatha again and Ivy and I were in
Mdumbi hanging out on the beach. The beach was lovely, so nice, but unfortunately the backpackers was not. So we made a plan to meet Robin, who by now had enlisted Rotary help, in Coffee Bay and stay at a place called Bomvu. Bomvu was more of a stereotypical backpackers for European students on a gap year. But nevertheless we were happy to be all together and had a nice night at their full moon party. We camped that night since we figured we had carried all of the camping gear we may as well use it one night!
The next day, one week into our trip we were done, just done, ready to go home. Ivy and I set about trying anything a rental car, a bus, anyway to go home, and Robin decided to stay with Rotarians and see if her car would be fixed that week. Ivy and I finally got to the bus station and were met by a Rotarian that had a rental car company and said he would lend us his last backup car. He was very kind to us, and gave us the car for practically nothing. We finally were on our
way home! We decided not to go to the music festival Splashy Fen, we were just ready to be home. The car felt a bit odd but we figured it was because neither of us had driven a chico before. The ride home was a bit scary, it was getting dark, rainy, and foggy. We almost hit one cow but ended up making it back to Durban safely. The only problem was that as soon as we got back to Durban the rental cars clutch went out, I’m serious. I just didn’t know what to say anymore, what is wrong with us, we are cursed! So by 2 am the tow truck had gotten the poor chico out of the middle of the street and we were home.
All in all the trip was an adventure, the only problem is later on that week Robin gave up and came home and now 3 weeks later her car is still down in East London, about a 10 hour bus ride away. The clutch is a huge project to fix and apparently the first tow truck broke the sump and now the engine is partially seized. It may be fixed in
the next 2 weeks. I think it will be a bit before I am ready for another vacation, I need some time to recover from this one. But seriously it wasn’t our plan but we had some experiences and met people we otherwise would have not encountered. I love the Eastern Cape and the Transkei and will go back down again sometime.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.109s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 11; qc: 50; dbt: 0.055s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb