johannesburg to cape town in 7 days

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The bus turned up and was totally empty! We were the only people on it for a little while, but we picked up 2 more passangers in the Drakensberg mountains on the way to Durban, 2 guys from Holland, Bart and Kinsing. We chatted on the way. We stayed in a place called Hippo Hide and arrived just before sunset. The 4 of us had booked in the same hostel, so we walked together to the supermarket and cooked dinner together since it made it cheaper. We went to sleep after watching a bunch of big bang theory episodes together. Next morning we had brekky together early and took the bazbus together at 6.30am. We got off the bus at a tiny village called Chintsa on the coast, beautiful place! Buccaneers backpackers has the best view of the beach. We stayed in a budget double room which was in a little cottage, but no one else was staying in the other rooms so we had the view all to ourselves that evening. We arrived at 5 so it was too late to go and buy groceries so we signed up for the 3 course Saturday night meal they were offering. It was great! Soup then a mix of many different things for the main course including a yummy lamb stew then chocolate mousse, icecream and custard for dessert! We chatted to everyone else eating before signing up for surfing the next morning and having a drink in the bar. Unfortunately there had been a storm all day which had knocked down powerlines so it was all by candlelight that evening. The bar was cozy and warm with a fire and lots of candles, plus 4 dogs running around seeking attention.
Next morning we got up and had the free Sunday morning brekky that they have there, fruit, toast (one toaster plugged into a generator) and lots of boiled eggs with tomato salsa etc. Then at 10am we met Warren our surfing instructor. We got our wetsuits and headed down to the beach and grabbed the boards on the way down. The waves were pretty messy coz of the strong wind, but it was fun. Since I can already surf ok, Warren just kept giving me tips which was excellent and he put most of his attention into Dario who eventually got to stand a few times. After a few hours (and getting pretty cold) we headed back for lunch. Unfortunately there was still no power so the only options we had for lunch were sandwiches and salads. After lunch we went down by ourselves to surf again since all day board rental is included in the surf cost. It was getting colder though so we didn’t last long, even in the wetsuits. By the time we got back to the backpackers we couldn’t feel our fingers and toes! Luckily the power had returned and we had hot showers, got changed and sat in front of the tv with another aussie and watched Shutter Island (nothing else was on) since the rest of the people were in the bar watching formula 1. Then the bazbus came (over an hour late… apparently a truck crash up the highway had delayed traffic) and off we went to Port Elizabeth. On the way we stopped for dinner at a diner place in Port Alfred and someone yelled ´Dario!´at us and it turned out to be Bart and Kinsing who had been waiting for bazbus all day since all the activites they had planned were cancelled due to bad weather  We ate some good burgers then piled in and headed to port Elizabeth.
We arrived at 11pm and collapsed into bed in the dorm, one other guy was in the dorm and I felt sorry for him. Next morning we had to get up at 6am, have a very bad brekky (we had muesli but no milk so had it with water) and the bazbus picked us up again and we headed to Plettenberg Bay. The Dutch boys got off before us this time. We arrived at 11.30am ish and checked into our dorm room at Albergo for Backpackers. The receptionist told us that there were only a few things we could do that afternoon but all included an expensive taxi ride. We said bugger that and went to Radical Raptors, 7km out of town via the taxi-minibus terminal nearby that only go when full. As luck would have it a communal taxi was leavinright then in the direction we were heading, so we got in and only paid about $6 for the ride, instead of the $70 the receptionist had said. The only problem was there was only one seat left in the little hatchback, so I sat on Dario´s lap a bit hunched over, but it worked 
I had called the Raptor place before we left just to check they were open since the brochure says they aren’t on Mondays, but it was a school holiday. When we arrived the same lady welcomed us and said it would be better to wait until just before one to go in (they have a free flight show at 1) so we had lunch at the restaurant there, amazing home made lamb pies!! Finally we paid the entry (the lady gave us a discount coz she said we were ripped off with the taxi) and saw some of the birds there. All are birds of prey that have been rescued, orphaned or were donated by people who had handraised them and couldn’t handle them anymore, in any case none of the birds on display were releasable back into the wild. They had all been trained since they came in, to educate the public. At 1 the show started, there were bench seats in front of an open space where the presenter was and we each had a thick leather gardening glove. Each bird he brought out one at a time was different. First was Roxy the Rock Kestrel, small but fast and each of us who wanted it could stick up our arm and the presenter would put meat on it and the bird would land there and eat it. Very cool!! There was also a barn owl, a spotted eagle owl, a kite, a hawk and another bird called Georgie who wouldn’t shutup (apparently she was raised in a house then donated, and that was just her communicating with us) who was a bigger type of Kestrel ( I think!). We got to hold all of them!!
Afterwards I had a nice chat to the presenter and then Dario and I had to hitchhike back to town, it ended up being the same communal taxi that stopped to pick us up! That afternoon we bought some groceries and decided to make fried rice and then Braai some chicken that evening. Once I started making the rice we were inundated with American students who were studying in SA for 1 month and were currently on a tour together so there was a massive amount of people and noise all of a sudden in the kitchen. That night we joined them around the Braai and fire to cook our dinner and had a chat over some beers.
Next morning we decided to sleep in (until 8am) then just did a lazy morning of brekky and packing again. We checked out and went for a walk to the beach and watched the surfers on massive waves for a while before heading back to take the bazbus onward to Hermanus. We had loads of rice left over so had that for lunch (then I washed the bowls etc in the sink in the mcdonalds we had stopped at). At the maccas that we stopped at in George, 4 more people got on (there were about 5 of us already on), 3 aussies and a new Zealander, unfortunately the younger 3 (the older one was a mother of on of the younger) were annoyingly loud and silly the whole time, but hey, they were having fun!
We got dropped off at the Bot River Hotel to be picked up by a shuttle to be taken to Hermanus. We arrived at our hostel, Zoete Inval, and got settled in, there were only 3 other people in the whole place! The receptionist was lovely and built up a fire in the library room they have and we warmed up a bit and went to bed. Next morning we got a note under the door saying that our shark diving company had called and said it was cancelled  But an hour later they called back saying its on again and they were coming to pick us up! Yay!
They picked us up and off we went to Gansabaai, a small town about 40km away where all the shark dive companies leave from. We got to the head office of our company and had a really nice brekky with all the other people going on the boat and had a look at their boa constrictor who lives in the tv cabinet and watched some dvds on sharks while we ate. We paid and got a waterproof jacket each and headed down to the dock. There was a guy documenting the whole thing which was fun, did a few little interviews. The boat ride out was wet as it had just started raining and we all got soaked! But luckily all the dry bags were in the cabin. The boat wasn’t huge but it was big enough for the 17 passengers doing the dive to fit with the 4 crew. We arrived 20 mins later at Geyser island where lots of cape fur seals live and a good hunting ground for the sharks. We anchored and waited while the crew threw chum into the water to attract sharks, then put the cage into the water and secured it to the side of the boat while we all got into wetsuits with hoods and booties. The wind was terrible but the wetsuits were very thick luckily. Finally after an hour of waiting the sharks arrived! I was one of the first into the cage with a snorkel mask and a weight belt over my shoulder. We had to put our knees on a yellow bar and hold on to the top of the cage near the boat (there was grey foam on the front part of the cage with exploratory tooth marks made by a few sharks… hence not holding onto the front of the cage). Once the spotter on top of the boat saw the shark coming for the tuna head they had on the end of a rope in front of the cage he would say 'DOWN to the left' or to the right and we would then sink to the bottom of the cage and hold on to the yellow bar our knees were on earlier, the reason for this is the yellow bar is inside the cage, not part of the outer protection so even if the shark bites the cage out fingers are safe. After seeing a lot of the sharks we got out (maybe 10 mins later) to swap with 7 other people on the boat, Dario got in with the second lot. Then after everyone had had a go, we got to get in a second time which was awesome!!!
We got changed into dry clothes and headed back to the shore. The way back was very bumpy since the wind had picked up. Finally we arrived back and there was hot veggie sou0p with freshly baked scones and bread waiting for us at the office. The camera man showed us his video of the whole day (after 10 mins of editing) and unfortunately the price was too much for us, but it was a good video! After lots of umming and ahhing over whether or not to buy a few souvenirs we loaded back into the bus and got taken back to Hermanus to have hot showers and sort out dinner. We walked down to the town of Hermanus and looked at the shore line. It is voted the top spot in the world for land based whale watching since they love coming into the sandy bay, but we didn’t see any. We got back to the hostel in time to just miss a down pour! Then Bart and Kinsing turned up at the hostel and we hung out with them for a while and went to bed early.
Next morning the other 2 boys were supposed to be going shark diving but they were cancelled due to the storm that was raging outside. After brekky however the storm lifted a bit and the hostel owner drove us to New Harbour, 5 mins drive away and we walked back to town along the coastal path they have there. There were lots of cool things to see, lots of birds and some massive waves hitting the rocks. The boys found a tidal pool that is open for swimming, but they just stood on the edge and watched the waves, I wasn’t that stupid  then a massive wave hit the edge of the pool forcing a small but very fast wave along the pool and I yelled at them to move, they were too slow and their feet all got soaked!! So funny!!
We arrived at Hermanus town just as it started raining heavily and ran into a restaurant and had a great lunch together, followed by gelato  Then wandered back to the hostel to get the bazbus again to Cape Town. The owner of the hostel dropped us at the pickup point, a very old bar in a nearby town that was next to the highway. We randomly met a woman there who had a daughter who lives in Sydney so had a long conversation before the bus turned up.

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