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Published: January 15th 2008
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Knysna Bay....
Gloomy isn't it?? Caught the Baz Bus from Wilderness and travelled on up the Garden Route to Knysna. Not an awful lot to say about Knysna as a place...had it been sunny it might have been a pleasant enough stop over but it rained pretty much as soon as I got there and just didnt stop....and Knysna does not have all that much to do...especially when it rains!!
The hostel I stayed in (Island Vibe Knysna) was the sister hostel to the infamous Island Vibe Hostel in Jefferys Bay which, as everyone I met told me, was an awesome non stop party hostel right on the beach...but Jefferys Bay was still along way up the coast...and Island Vibe Knysna does not compare.....I think it was just a case of using the famous name to make a rubbish hostel attract more guests!! It wasnt that bad but it was very quiet and the rain put a dampener (see what I did there - very clever) on everything! I think it just depends on the crowd they have in more than anything - because the Barman Marin told me that the previous evening they had a massive party with everyone ending up in the pool
at 5am.....but on the night I arrived the only other English speaking person was a very stoned Dutch guy who turned out to be incredibly dull.....early night!!
On Wednesday (21st Nov) I was up early and thankful to see the weather had broken because I was booked in to do my "Awesome Foursome" - Canoeing - Quad Biking - Abseiling and Rap Jumping. Unfortunately it was still too Windy to do the Canoeing, which was on a sheltered sea bay but was still getting hammered by heavy waves because of the wind....so I was forced into doing the "Thrilling Threesome" instead!! And I got longer on the Quad Bikes as result...so I was more than happy to miss out on the canoeing!! It was just me and the instructor guy who was on his own very powerful quad...so we ended up lapping this off road track pretty quick, with some of the bling corners leading into tree branches that would take you clean off the bike if you didnt duck in time!! Almost came off a couple of times but managed to make it through the session without killing myself...which I though quite lucky for me really..especially when the
guy told me that this was their most dangerous activity and that people quite often roll these heavy quads on top of themselves and suffer some quite serious broken bones etc!!
We then walked down to the Cliffs - the Knysna Heads - to do the abseiling. The view over the edge was so scary - 80 metres vertically down to the crashing waves and rocks below!! Think it was billed as the highest abseil in South Africa! The first few steps over the edge were so scary but after that I managed to get myself into a good position and actually managed quite well...was a huge (but enjoyable) rush to be suspended over the edge of such a huge cliff with the power of the ocean crashing below me! The walk back up the stone steps cut into the cliff face was really hard...and the wind was starting to pick up......
I got myself harnessed in to do my "Rap Jump" which for those of you who don't know is basically abseiling in reverse....you face downwards and effectively walk (or run) down the cliff facing the bottom....which as you would imagine is a huge rush! The first
few steps, lowering yourself over the edge until you are in a horizontal face down "walking' position is ridiculously scary and the strangest sensation to get used to...you cant really move your feet because you just dont know where you will go if you do!? It's really strange!
And to make matters - EXTREMELY - more dangerous - the weather changed from being quite a calm day into effectively an apocalyptic storm the likes of which I havent seen before of since. The wind was blowing hurricane force directly at the cliff face from the ocean, driving the heavy rain directly into my face and sending me sprawling accross the cliff face, unable to hold on or find my feet....I turned into little more than a very large conker on a string...suspended 80 metres over the now furiously crashing waves....the sense of impending doom was overpowering I can tell you...and to be honest there were a few moments when I just looked down, hung on for dear life and froze...at times there was little else I could do!! My elbows, knees and shins were taking a battering on the rock face and the ever helpful lady at the top
The view of the edge...
would you be up for running down that?? was saying in a patronising tone...
"You need to get down now, the weather is too dangerous for us to be up here...hurry up...just find your feet and run down"
Hold on - its dangerous for you to be up here? What about me? I'm the one dangling 80 metres above the sea and rocks scrabbling around to find grip on a now soaking cliff face, blinded by the rain...and what advice does she have? Run down! Thanks very much!! Well I guess you can guess by my writing this that I did in fact not die on the cliff face that day...I eventually did manage to get myself into the right walking position despite the elements and the pretty much ran down the cliff face, ignoring all the knocks and scrapes I sustained doing so...just very keen to get to the bottom and relative safety!! I even managed to burn my face a bit on the metal ring that the rope goes through in my haste to get unclipped, get to the top again and give the idiot woman some of my own brand of "helpful advice"!!
An interesting day...a great rush but scary as hell...so
I decided to calm my nerves by going on a brewery tour with Martin the bar man and a few others...they claimed their beer was the purest in the world with absolutely no additives...and therfore..."will not give you a hangover'...or so they claim. Myself and Martin tested that theory in the bar that evening and let me tell you that it's Bulls**t...I felt terrible the next day!
Got up late (and with hangover) on Thursday (22nd Nov) and decided it was time to treat myself to brunch with some english papers to catch up on the sport...and of course world events..haha. I had the day to waste anyway as the Baz Bus wasnt coming till 5pm and the waether...rather predictably by now was raining...now with added lightning and thunder for a bit of fun! Quite happy to leave...Knysna is pretty boring!!
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