An eccentric old lady and Ostriches

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We stopped in P.E. for just a night; with us only be there for a matter of ours before heading off to Jeffreys Bay. Although the hostel in P.E. was more like someones house. In fact it belonged to this lovely, but eccentric old lady who was delighted to have a Scot living under her roof, as she proclaimed that she was Irish (despite having a very thick SA accent) she gave the three of us the best room to sleep in (despite her having already told another group they could sleep there) and even cooked us breakfast first thing in the morning (which is not normally included in the price). Despite her having only known us for less than an hour, she told us in great detail of herself and her family (such as - she was attending court later that day to hear her sons appeal against his custodial sentence for beating up his wife!). Before we departed she commented that it was nice meeting "decent, handsome young boys".

After a short journey on the bus we arrived in the surfing town of Jeffreys Bay, and to another lovely hostel - Ubuntu. The hostel is run by a couple of surfer dudes who were very friendly and, as you would expect, chilled young men. During our time there , the three of us attempted to surf. I was keen to get lessons from a professional, but Alex dismissed such a notion and claimed that he'd had about 2 surfing lessons not long ago, and could teach me and Nathan (who had both never even touched a surf board before) what he had been taught. Needless to say the majority of our 'lesson' was spent falling of the boards and getting smacked by waves; nevertheless it was still great fun. We departed after two enjoyable nights in 'J-bay', I was going to Knysna but my North American chums were heading straight to Cape Town. It was rather sad saying farewell to the guys, we had basically been living out of each others pockets for the last week and had became good pals, but the blow was cusioned by the fact that I would be meeting up with a certain Mr Rowan in Knysna.

The town of Knysna was lovely, although the hostel which me and Stuart stayed at was definetly the worst so far of my trip. The beds just didn't seem clean, and dont get me started on the state of the shower! Nevertheless myself, Stu and big Seth ( a friend of Stuarts from uni who was from Knysna) made sure we had a great time regardless. Me and Stu went out that night wearing our kilts, and had a great night. Although, and I never thought i'd say this, the two of us actually had to exit the local nightclub on the sly because of several guys who were determined to buy us drinks, and were not taking no for answer. So we snuck off before anymore drinks were bought for us!

After bidding farewell to Stu, who I would be meeting up with in Cape Town, I travelled towards the town of Oudtsoorn, which is a bit of an Afrikaans stronghold. At the hostel, due to a mix up with my booking I got to sleep in my first double bed for weeks, which was glorious! Again the hostel was excellent, with all the staff friendly and chatty. During my stay there I befriended a frumpy, but friendly Dutch girl called Romy. As both of us were loan travellers, we decided to do 30k bike trip together. Prior to the commencement of our journey, the hostel dropped us off at the local caves. These caves are about a mile deep, and our tour guide made us have to squeeze through some very small gaps and cracks. During the cycle back to our hostel we stopped at the local ostrich farm. I was dubious to begin with, but the visit was certainly worthwhile - I got to sit on one, be 'kissed' by one and even got to eat one! During the cycle back to the hostel, I got to see the real Garden route, the one which people rave about - some of the countryside we passed was absolutely bueatiful. That night I sat round the camp fire with a cider in hand, content with what had been an enjoyable day.

The next day I bid farewell to Romy and left for Hermanus where a meeting with jaws awaited me.......

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