Bali

Arriving in Bali was quite a shock after living in the mountains in New Zealand. Constant hassle immediately, 'Taxi, Taxi, Taxi', porters grabbed my bags and wouldn't let go (so you have to pay). Kuta is a crazy place, a maze of narrow windy streets where every building is a shop or accommodation or something and everybody trying to sell you something twenty-four-seven. Prices can be really cheap but you have to bargain for everything which takes a bit of getting used to so I got ripped of in my first few days - I guess some things you have to learn the hard way.
I got a lift on the back of a scooter into Depasar police station where I got a temporary motorcycle licence. It was quite amusing queuing with all the Balanis, it was chaos and took a while. Then when I had my license he gave me a lift with all my stuff to the new place I was staying and then I hired a bike for the week. I then joined the chaos on the roads heading off down to the infamous Uluwatu to surf. So picture me on a 125cc scooter, surfboard strapped to my side dodging in and out of traffic, beeping my horn as I go. The dual carriage ways are crazy. Here there are way more bikes than cars so they rule the road. Not that there are many rules, basically if your on a bike and something is in front of you that isn't going as fast as you want then you overtake or undertake it - no matter what. I found my way to Uluwatu about 20km away (getting back was a bit harder, once you get to the edge of Kuta its easy to get lost and not actually go into Kuta, I had to ask a billion people for directions and constantly turn around, beeping my horn). The surf was small but there was a wave so had my first tast of Balinese surf (I was quite cold actually, the waters warm but its often cloudy at this time of the year so the chill in a rash vest was quite bad). Leaving the sea the next day I started talking to this Brazilian guy called Renato and ended up hooking up with him an a place down there the next day. We both drove down with surfboards at our side and our huge backpacks on our back - more crazyness! Caught some great waves at Uluwatus but next up was a trip to Desert Point - Lombok. When its on, Deserts is rumored to be one of the best lefts in the world. It turned out to be quite an adventure. We hired a car and got the ferry to Lombok (paying police 60,000 for no license) Then drove towards our destination, Desert Point. We go half way and stay in a hotel for the night (it was midnight by now) The next morning we continued and the road became progressivley worse with big pot holes and in the end turned into a dirt track. We arrived and it was like something out of a surf movie from the sixty's - living on huts on the beach in front of amazing surf. The bamboo huts had chickens living under them and on them and water was hauled by bucket from a well, toilet a hole in the ground. Really living like the poor locals do (who would move out of their house to rent it to you). The surf was amazing the best I've ever seen. I surfed massive hollow waves above a very shallow reef - at low tide at the end of the ride it was breaking in only a few feet of water! It reached over double over head so we had some big waves and I caught the best waves of my life. On the final day however it turned into a bit of a nightmare for me. I'd had very mild diarrhea over the past few days but felt fine and was eating OK, on the last day I was very tired and by lunch not hungry, then I started to feel cold and that tell tale ache in the muscles - the fever was starting. We left early evening and drove for 1 1/2 hours down the dirt track - really really uncomfortable with the constant jarring, me feeling as I was. The Renato realised he had forgotten his surfboard so we had to go all the way back for it! When we finally got to the ferry 6 hours later I was bad and had gone from feeling cold to very hot and would break into sweats! While this was going on Rennato was getting more hassel from the police - no international drivers licience and the registration of the car appeared to have expired. We had to pay 300,000. They totally conned us since the registration was fine when we looked later, they had a copy and held it in front when they said to Renato it was expired - bastards). Anyway we did finally get on the ferry much to my relief and I then had to endure a 5 hour ferry journey with a fever sharing a very thin matteress out on open deck with Renato! On arriving at 5:30 am it was the final leg of the journey - 1 1/2 hours to Kuta - we were supposed to go to Ubud but I was to ill. We arrived in Kuta and I went straight to bed - that was definitely the hardest journey I've ever done. I spent the day in bed with fever and stomach cramps and continued to get worse, not better. By now I was quite worried so I went to the doctor. She thought it was a stomach infection getting into my blood and causing fever along with mild dehydration - I had a temperature of 39 which is quite high. So I now have antibiotics, antispasmodics and antipiuretics and received an injection for the fever. The drugs seemed to be doing their stuff and when Renato left to go home on Sunday I thought I was on the mend but I got worse again, had to go back to the doctors for more drugs and the long and short of it is that I've been ill for a week and just recovering now. Being ill without anyone to look after you in a foreign country is not much fun. I fly out for Thailand today and having been ill and stuck in Kuta for a week I'm glad to leave, its all gone a bit sour here. But I may never ever see waves as good as those at Desert Point ever again. I really felt that for a short while I lived the surfers dream :-)

The Store

I waited out the New Zealand winter working as front of house in a restaurant in a spectacular location right next to the pacific ocean. The place was called Kekerengu and is in the middle of nowhere, I had to drive 70km to Blenheim to do my shopping. When I arrived it was absolutely freezing and it being New Zealand the staff house had no heating except a crap stove but it being a staff house there was no fuel - I slept in thermals in my sleeping bag with a duvet and two blankets and was still cold. I swear my room was designed as a fridge. I soon moved to a different staff house and got to foraging in the woods for wood - the daily chaw of dragging fallen pones back and cutting them up with a bow saw. Working in the store was a bit of a throw back since my very first job was in a restaurant! It could be fairly outrageous at times the staff hassle at the Store. The majority of the waiting staff employed are travelers and often don't have English as their first language (I was living and working with mostly South Americans) and they only stay a short while so the permenent staff are sick to the teeth of training new staff. I had to deal with raging chefs regularly - chefs have a tendency to act like 6 year old boys. It was tough at times, I worked really hard for 12 weeks - pruning on my days off. About the only exciting thing I did was a day skiing with one of the chefs, Rich. We went up to Rainbow Skifields for a day. It was 10 years since I'd last snow boarded but by the end of the day I'd reached the standard I was before. Rich on the other hand had never been before and hiss attitude was to go as fast as possible in a straight line until he fell off, much to the amusement of anybody watching. I drove him home shaking and white with pain in his ankle! Anyway, after 12 weeks hard graft and a long cold winter in New Zealand I was more than ready to leave for Bali - sunshine and fantastic surf!

South Again to Blenheim and the Vinyards

After giving up on IT work I headed back to Raglan (after a quick trip to Piha where I surfed some very big and heavy waves on a beach break) to meet up with Ash and Liz. They had only a week or so left in New Zealand and were spending it chilling at Raglan and surfing. Ash and I score some amazing waves and had a surf I won't forget at indicators. Looking down on the breaks from the hill above is awsome, you can see the waves lining up and breaking for miles. I then said goodbye to Ash and Liz, I was sorry to see them go but glad it wasn't me going back, not yet anyway. I traveled back south to Taurmanui to visit Chris and Steve. The have an amazing small holding on the edge of town and are living the lives that a lot of people dreamed of and possibly moved to Cornwall for, out of the rat race. They fed me up and sent me off laden with Fijoa's and Fijoa jam (fijoas are definitely my favourite fruit) and I went back to the Blenheim in the South Island to work in the vineyards again. Pruning turned out to be very hard work and very, very bad for my arms. The vines need to be pruned (using loppers), stripped (ripping the pruned branches out) and trimmed (with secateurs). Pruning quickly requires quite a bit of skill which takes time to develop and using the secateurs to trim is painful. The work causes everyone agony on the first week as tendons swell etc getting used to the work. But even once your used to it it is really hard on the body. I was waking up with numb fingers and on the third week after a really hard day I woke at 5 am with numbness, tingling and pain and couldn't get back to sleep. So that, I thought, was enough of that. I rang up a restaurant, The Store, which I knew tended to employ travelers as staff and provided live in staff accommodation and got lucky, I got a job. While pruning I stayed in the Grapevine backpackers and made some good friends and was sorry to leave, but not sorry to stop pruning.

Goodbyes and looking for work

So I had to say goodbye to Rachael, she had her trip to finish and I had completely run out of money so had to find work. We said a tearfull good bye at the airport and both wait for the day when we can meet again, hopefully to do the last bit of travelling together in Aisa. I've been going for interviews for computer work but finally decided against it, its the last thing in the world I wan't to do and I've not come half way round the world to start again. I've seen some improvement in my arms and I don't want to undo the slow, months of recovery only to find myself back exactly where I as before. I waiting to hear for the result of an interview fo a position as a Geotechnician and if there is no joy there then I'm off south again to prune grape vines. Its been a fairly tough week faced with the reality of every one leaving (Franks passed through and gone on to Hong Kong) and having no money in a foreign country the other side of the world from home. I have done one fun thing and that was head down to Raglan for the weekend (New Zealands most famous surfing area with a series of left-hand point breaks). I was blessed with a 3m swell so had some doulble overhead waves - supurb.

The South Island in three weeks

Frank and I spent three weeks traveling with Rachael and her friends in a whistle stop tour of the south island. We had such a great time, Frank and I cruising in our beast and the girls racing around in their modern, automatic hire car. We cruised up throught the Nelson lakes area and then down the West coast. We stopped briefly for a look at the bizare pankake rocks and stayed in Hokitika where the pub was shut up before eleven on a satarday night! Our first major highlight was Franz Joseph glacier. We took a day tour of the glacier which was cool, no in fact it was freezing by the end. Great fun squeezing through crevaces but far to much standing around for me, I was cold and grupmy by the end. I also had a go at ice climbing on an indoor ice wall which was great. I beasted all they had to offer, overhangs and all. Its a lot easier than climbing and I picked up the technique straight away. I even managed the seven point wall - climbing with one ice axe and one free hand, counting one point for each swing of the axe (regardless of wether it stays in or not). I did it in seven first time which I'm told was fairly impressive first go (apparently some guy has managed to do it in 2). Next we raced on to Queenstown since Emma had serious tooth ache and need a dentist badly. Queenstown is a fun, tourist town and the adrenaline activity capital of New Zealand. We got drunk, as you do. We wanted to do the Routburn track (a famous walk through fjiordland) but it was all booked up, camping and all! So we went on down for a boat cruise in the Milford sound (actually a fjiord not a sound). This was awsome whith 2km high mountains towering straight out of the water. The next day we went for a day walk since we couldn't do the Routeburn. We were attempting to reach a saddle with great views of the Milford but as we got higher and higher, the way got steeper and steeper and the terrain turned into bare rock which was slippy as we were basically walking in a cloud. We reached a lake after climbing the last bit pulling on fixed wires. The next section was really steep smooth rock you had to haul yourself up with wires. Jen and Emms turned back as this was turning out to be way more serious then we thought and had almost become mountaineering. Rach, Frank and I carried on up the wires (where a fall would have killed us) and we too eventually turned back as visability got poorer and poorer. As we made our way down we saw that Jen and Emms had got lost and were on completely the wrong side of the river. After a bit of a river crossing we all made it back safely. So rather than an easy day hike for the girls who had not done any walking in New Zealand yet, Frank and I had taken them on the most serious walk we'd done! We left Milford for Te Anue where we were intending to go horse riding but ended up tandem cycling. Next was back to Queenstown for all the crazy activities they offer: bungy jumping, skydiving, canyon swinging. I did Nevis, the biggest bungy in New Zealand at 134m. With a cable car ride out to the platform suspended by wires over a massive canyon, this was pretty intense. Rach and Emms did a tandem bungy and their video was hilarious with Rachael clearly terrified and Emma looking vacant as she simply mentally removed her self from what was going on. There was no jumping invloved, they both just rolled off the platform! Next we passed through Wanaka where I took Rachael to a climbing wall, first bit I'd done for probably over a year, unfortunately I still don't think is a good idea for my body :-( Next stop was Mount Cook, the highest peak in New Zealand. We were so luck with the weather and our hike gave us great views and loads of photo opportunities (so you end up with fifty where one or two would have done). Next Christchurch - big city, boring, don't go there. We said goodbye to Frank who was off to travel with another friend and headed on up to Kaikoura. Kaikoura is the whale watching capital of New Zealand, so the girls went whale watching, but I passed on that having seen them before. Kaikoura is an amazing place, a big flat peninsula which great surf all over and a back drop of stunning snow capped mountains. Then we raced up for our final activity which was a day walking and kyaking On the Able Tasman coast, all great fun. So that was an account of our tour of the south island. Everyone was off to do different things now and Rachael andI planned to do three weeks kiwi picking before she left to finish here trip, so we headed back up north.

Grape picking for Montana in Blenheim

Ash Liz, Frank and I headed into the South island where we were to get work grape picking. After arranging work for Montana (check it out in supermarkets in the UK) and accomodation we had a weekend trip to Kaikoura and Chritchurch. Ash and I scored great waves at Kaikoura we all saw seals a the colony. A night in Christchurch was uneventfull - its a big stinking city. For a short stint, grape picking was good fun. I got to work in a vinyard (and I love wine), the weather was great (no work if it rains) and the money good for New Zealand. Work was on peice work, ie you got payed per the vine that you cleared the fruit from. This gave you incentive as you worked to pick faster and faster as you could count off the money as you went. It also created all sorts of tactics in josseling for position to get the bays which were quickest to clear. We earnt up to $150 in a 7 hour day which is good money for NZ. Hand picking is only done for the most expensive wines and Champagnes now, the rest is picked by machine. Soon Rachael, Jen arrived and it was off to travel again, but not after another wine tour on bikes mind.

Wellington

After our river journey we sped down to Wellington, the capital of New Zealand. This was a culture shock after five days in the wilderness, I can tell you. Wellington had a fun, laid back feel to it for a city, we got drunk, as you do. I met met up with Rachael who had been travelling in South America and we got back together, which was a dream come true. We arranged to travel the South Island together after I had done a couple of weeks grape picking, so thats where I headed next.

Whanganui River Journey

We met Ash and Liz at Taumarunui for our five day, 150km river journey down the Whanganui, through its grade 2 rapids on two man canadian canoes to Papriki. We packed all our food, tents, clothing etc into waterproof barrels, strapped them into the canoes and off we went. We soon got the hang of the canoes - power at the front and steering at the rear. We were straight into rapids which were easy but great fun. Each day we travelled futher and futher from civilisation, the Whanganui gets as remote as you can in the North Island. The journey was truely amazing, we camped when we could, collected driftwood during the day and cooked on open fires at night. The river got more and more impressive as the days went by, winding its way through steep canyons. We paddled for about 6 hours a day stopping for lunch only top be chased back onto the saftey of the river by angry wasps every time. The weather was gorgeous every day. One one night a few days in we stayed at one of the DOC back country huts, but this was a mistake, having spent days seeing no-one we were suddenly confronted with loads of people, some who had canoed in and others arriving by jet boat. Needless to say the atmosphere was out of sync with our wilderness experience and after a restless night thanks to snorers we decided to camp for the rest of the trip. This ment spending 10 hours paddling the next day to reach the camp site past the hut we were supposed to stay in, but it was all worth it. The final day was made exciting by tackling the biggest rapids on the river. With our days of expereince we handled them like pros, however mine and Franks canoe almost sunk, (they are open top). Tired but thouroghly stoked at completing such a journey we finally reached the end after five days and were taken back to our cars. If you ever come to New Zealand, this is a must do.

Tongariro National Park

After Taupo Frank and I left for the Tongairio National park again, our aim: to climb the other two peaks, Ruapehu and Tongariro. First up was Mt Ruapehu, the highest peak on the North island at around 2700m. In winter Ruapehu's lower slopes form one of the north islands ski resorts but when we climbed there was very little snow, just some left in the valleys and snow at the top. This walk was slighlty more challenging than the others in the sense that it was not a marked track. It was advised you had a map, but we figured we'd be ok with the rough diagram we had. About two thirds of the way up we were walking up a snow path which was getting steeper and steeper and we didn't fell to confident, it was getting slippy! So we decided to det off as soon as posible so rather than following it all the way up we came off at the side. At this point we weren't to sure where the path went (should have followed the snow) but we could see the ridge leading to the top if we went straight up and after our experience clilmbing scree slopes on Ngarahue we figured we'd be ok, so off we set, straight up. As we got nearer and nearer the top the terrain became steeper and steeper an looser an looser. It wasn't gravel scree like on Ngauruhoe but there were large lumps of rock loose. We didn't feel very secure but made it to saftey, I think I'll stick to the route next time. We had fantastic views at the top and wandered around snow and the crater lake. Once we'd had enough we made our way down and ended up running and bolder hopping most of the way. The following day Frank and I decided to start at the other end of the Tongariro drossing and walk the other half we did't do before, climbing Mt Tongariro and Ngauruhoe and back. We'd set ourselves quiet a mamouth mission. We walked hard and enjoyed all the craters and volcanic landscape. The weather was not great and we were very exposed at the top. There was 70km hour winds and low visibilty so we got beaten back on our attempt to climb Mt Tongariro. Also Ngauruhoe was in a cloud so we didn't do that one either but we at least saw the rest of the crossing. Wicked, next stop Whanganui with Ash and Liz.

Lake Waikaremoana and Taupo

Its been non-stop since my last blog entry. Frank and I left Gisborne for Lake Waikaremonana for a four day hike. This was fantastic, we had to carry all provisions and tens etc for the four days. We camped the first night in a super camp site next to the lake. Here we left our car and were taken by boat to the start of the walk. You really are entering the wilderness in a way you can't in England sice the nearest road or anything is where we left the car. The walk has various huts and spots designated for camping. There is only rainwater, pit loos, no electric and dorm accomodation but after hard days tramping these huts are like heaven. The walk took us most of the way around a huge lake, Waikaremoana and we had fantastic weather for the whole four days. The first day was all up hill, rising up a big escarpment towering over 600 meters over the lake - the views were amazing. Well worth the effort. The walking was so hard carrying our heavy bags up such steep and uneven terrain that about 7km took us about 5 hours! We spent considerable time discussing what we wouldn't take with us next time. The first night we stayed in a hut and we were very glad of the mattress bunks. The next day was down off the bluff and down to lake level, we camped this night and had the site to ourselves which was great. We lit a small fire and were visited by possums in the night. We also had an afternoon day hike (since we got there early, rising at 6, bed at dark) to a nearby waterfalls. I could try to describe how amazing all the forrest and lake is, how many different types of fern grow and the crystal clear mountain lake water with the sun glittering off it, but its much better to look at the photos (comming soon). Day three took us futher round the lake, our bags getting lighter now but our feet sorer. We arrived at the next hut where we were supposed to camp but the hut was so enticing with plenty of space and no sigh of a warden so hey, it would be rude not to eh? The next day we completed the walk and were picked up by the water taxi and taken back to civilisation. I am now hooked on tramping and intend to do loads, it seems the best way to see New Zealand. The walk around the lake was one of the 10 great walks on New Zealand and our canoing trip next will be another (despite it not being a walk). After Lake Waikaremoana Frank and I headed to Lake Taupo where we met Liz. (Ash had to stay and wait in Gisborne for the car to be fixed). We found a free (yes, free!) campsite right next to a massive river you can swim in with a thermal river 2km upstream if you fancy a hot soak. We climbed Ngauruhoe (Mount Doom in the Lord of the rings). This was about 6 hour round trip and the best bit (apart from reaching the top and the views that provided) was running down the screes of Mount Ngauruhoe. It to a very strenuous one and a half hours to climb it and an extremly exciting 10 minites to run (slide) down! I absolutely hooned it down and it to every ounce of by balance to remain upright. We're also going back to do the Tongariro crossing (the start of which we did to climb Mount Doom) which is virtually a pilgramage for Kiwis - 17km 7-8hr walk throught the volcanic mountains. Today we climbed another peak up through forrest in thick mist, it was something straight out of Tolkien. Basically its been amazing and shows no sigh of changing. On saturday they have an Iron man race and oh my god - 4km swim, 180km bike ride 42km run - are thes guys real? Thats enough blabbering for now.

First Week in New Zealand

Well I made it safe and sound to New Zealand, although when I arrived in Auckland my board had been lost in transit, it turned up a day later. I had a day in Auckland sorting out phones and banks and stuff and then jumped on a bus to Gisborne to catch up with Ash, Liz and Frank. Went for a surf with Ash the following morning, solid three foot off shore, barreling waves, great fun, that is until I snapped my board! I think a witch doctor must have cursed that board. I dinged it at Jefferies and had a nightmare getting it fixed, then the nose was damaged when it was loaded onto a bus, then I dinged the tail again at long beach, next it was lost in transit and finally snapped in Wainui, it was only 5 weeks old, dou! Oh well, I've bought another now (not new this time), I'm just not thinking about the cost, arghhh. Also went twos up on a styling 1984 Toyota Corona, $NZ850 (works out at less than 150 quid each). The cars and absolute beauty, you'll have to wait for the photos. Now I'm over my jet lag (thats not much fun) the next adventure is a four day hike around lake Waikaremoana with Frank. Perhaps I'll have forgotten about my surfboard after that?

Return to Cape Town

From Stellanbosch I returned to Cape Town for the last few weeks. I had two nights 5* luxury accommodation staying with Barry and Mina, very nice. I hired a car for a week and did all the things I'd not done in my first visit - the whole of the cape peninsular, Kirstenbosch Botanical gardens and climbing table mountain. (I raced up in under an hour, mostly in bare feet and with no jumper incase the conditions changed at the top - a well planned mission). Mostly I drove around surfing, I surfed some of the biggest, heaviest waves yet at Outer Kom and saw the biggest waves I have ever seen - awesome. Driving around was good but it can be tricky navigating 4 lanes of traffic while trying to read a map. And thats it for South Africa, I'll definitely be back in winter to surf. Best leave for the plane, next stop New Zealand. (Wish I'd got some New Zealand dollars!)

Mossel Bay and Stellenbosch

After nearly two weeks at Jefferies I reluctantly decided it was time to move on. I had such a relaxing time and was in the habit of getting up at 5:30am to go surfing (my god, I've become an early riser!). On my last day I was treated by shoulder high, offshore surf and I had an hour of super tubes all to myself, no-one else in the sea! That is almost unheard of, I count myself very lucky. So I left Jefferies, my poor hands and feet needed a break from being battered on the reef, time to let the cuts heal. I was heading for Mossel Bay, right at the other end of the Garden Route. Mossel Bay is another well known surfing spot, unfortunately the surf was pretty poor while I was there, but I had some fun waves. Theres not a lot else to do at Mossel Bay so I continued on to Stellenbosch in the heart of South Africas wine region. Stellenbosch is a fantastic place, its the oldest town in South Africa and the buildings are beautiful, the place has an almost mediterranean feel to it. I was intending to do an organised wine tour but it was not running on the day I wanted to do it so I got a map showing where the vinyards are, hired a bike and with directions of a good route to do, I cycled off to sample some classy reds. This was so much better then an organised tour, I used the money I saved to buy wine, hehehe. I got more and more drunk as the day wore on, none of this spitting for me, gulp it down all the way. So I stumbled back later into stumble inn (where I'm staying) with two flat tires! They have these things here called devil thorns, they are basically like a caltrop, leathal, they'll go right through your sandals! Stellenbosch is a student town with a great night life (you can safely walk around at night, first place yet! Although having just said that the guy I went out with was jumped by three guys on the way home but he managed to run off), so after a short lie down to recover from my wine tasting I went out and got absolutely smashed, I thought it would be rude not to. Its the equivalent to freshers week here so town was buzzing. Today however, has been fairly painful. I leave tonight for Green Point, Cape Town. Stellenbosch is great but I want to surf. I guess I'll have to get my board fixed, again.

Durban to Jefferys Bay

From the Northern Drakensburg I took the Intercape bus to Durban, staying in Ansteys Beach Backpackers. I went into Durban for the day with Dim (who I'd met in the Drakensburg) which was great, a very lively city. Durban centre dosn't have many white people in, mainly black and coloured with a lot of Asians. We went to the indian markets which had stalls with arts and crafts from all over Africa. I bought a surfboard in Durban - a Spider board like my last one. Went surfing as soon as I got back but it was crap, sods law. Durban was the safest place yet, no razor whire around the backpackers, infact the doors were left unlocked! Left the next day for Umzumbe, just down the coast, this is a surfing spot but just my luck, no surf so I moved on into the Transkei. This is the wild coast of south africa, very rural with little development. I stayed at Bomvu in Coffe Bay for three nights. Coffe bay is great, a beach with surf (but not while I was there :-( ) and not much else, unspoilt. But no surf made Benny Boy restless so I moved on to Buccaneers in Chinsta, another great unspoilt place but to enjoy these to the fullest you need to be with others, so I moved on in my search for surf (but not after a ride on an elephant which I won in a killer pool competition). After an overnight stay in Port Elizabeth I arrived in Jefferies Bay, reported to be one of the best waves in the world. It was flat. So I waited. And waited. Oh I was bored - no drinking now, I'd been spending to much money. On the forth day I was up at 6 and in the sea for 1 and a half times overhead surf - fantastic, well worth the wait! Spent the whole day surfing, getting in and out through the reef is quite a challenge, especially when you dont know where the channels are, oh well, have to cope with a few cuts and bruises. Also managed to ding my board, what can you do? No surf today but theres more on its way. I think I'll hang around a little longer...

Lesotho and the Northern Drakensburg

After finishing the trip in the Vic falls I got a lift back to Joburgh with a different overland truck - straight through, 20 hours! Stayed in a backpackers in the suburbs - its like being in (a very nice and friendly) prison. The backpackers is secured by a massive 1500volt fence! Also you are completely reliant on lifts from the owners, cant walk anywhere, cant use public transport, can't really go into the centre on foot if your white... so I got out of there as soon as I could. I was planning on going to Swaziland but that meant waiting another few days so I opted for the next bus out which went to the Drakensburg and I'm so glad I did. Stayed at the amphitheater backpackers and did a day trip into Lesotho which was great, its very high at 2000m (the country with the highest low point in the world) and very poor. Saw ancient san rock art, visited a traditional healer and drunk the local beer, ugh. Next day was a hike up the Sentinel Peak and walk across the top of the Amphitheater. We hiked for 3 hours and reached 3000 meters and the view and scale of the cliffs is unexplainable. I sat with my legs dangling of cliffs 1 kilometer high (now thats exciting) with the full drop to the valleys some 2km. The waterfall at amphitheater is the second highest in the world (multidrop). Check my photos, although they completely fail to capture the scale of the cliffs, I have never seen anything like it. Also saw a baboon scale one of the cliffs - outrageous. If you ever visit south africa then you must do the Northern Drakensburgh.

Africa Overland

Ok, so I've just been on the most amazing trip of my life, lets see if I count recount some of the fun I've had and maybe inspire some of you to do a similar trip. My trip took me on a 5000km journey from the spleandours of Cape Town, up through the deserts of Namibia and the deltas of Botswana to the Victoria falls of Zimbabwe, one of the seven natural wonders of the world.

Day one was Cape Town, a night in a lodge to meet my other fellow travellers. We had people from all over the world and it turned out in the end that we were very lucky, we got on , had great fun and I've made friends I'll keep forever.

Day two was a journey up to Lamberts bay, mostly just driving through the East coast of South Africa. Our camp site was surrounded by razor wire, get used to this in southern africa. It didn't look like it did that much good since you could see where people had used a matteress to get in over it any way. The most secure places to stay in have 1500 volt electric fences to keep people out! We went ot a great outdoor restraunt specialising in seafood, R100 eat all you want.

Day three was the final stage in South Africa upto Orange River, the boarder with Namibia. Swimming in the river followed with drinking in the bar. Had a laugh getting to know another group doing an overland tour with a different company which were doing a very similar tour and we would bump into throughout the rest of the trip.

Day four was a short drive to Fish river canyon, the second biggest canyon in the world after the Grand Canyon. On the way stopped at Ai-Ais, which translates to Ow-ow. Water comes out of thermal springs at 60+ degrees C. The swimming pool was as hot as a bath which is not what you need when the temperature is 40+ degrees! The canyon was impressive, but so was the dangerous scorpion I was confronted with in the bowl of the sink when attempting to brush my teeth. Not to mention the two inch long armoured cricket or gekos eating insects in the loo.

Day five was a hot and long drive up to Sessriem. Here we camped out and the next day got up at 5am and drove into Sossusflay. We walked up Dune 45 for sunrise. They have the biggest dunes in the world here reaching up to 350 metres. The sand is this great orangey red colour due to all the iron contained in the sand which rusts and the dunes do not move as the wind blows from one direction for half a year and the other the second half, so all they do is get bigger. It was absolutely exhausting climbing the dune but the view was well worth it. Running down after was a lot quicker! After sunrise we went right in to the flay and were taken on a bushman walk. The guide had grown up in Namibia and learnt all about the desert from the remenants of the true bush men, the San. These people lead a harsh life of pure survival in the desert - so harsh that they were known to leave young children behind when a hunter made a kill and the group had to make the long walk over the dunes to reach the meat - thoes that could not keep up were left behind, better the mother survives to have more children!! The highlight of the walk was the dead valley. This is a section of the flay that had been completely sealed off from the river that occours once every ten years, by a dune completely crossing its path. There is a great flat area with a white, broken limestone sand floor with dead trees standing there for 600 to 900 years - not enough moisture for them to rot. This place was striking, very eerie. Watch the film The Cell, there are scenes shot there. We had to be out by 10am since it gets to hot after that, the air can reach 50 and the sand 80! For me this was one of the highlights of the trip, one of the things I said I wanted to do was see the deserts of Namibia and I was not dissapointed. Namibia has such an incredible landscape.

Day seven was a long drive to Swakupmound and two nights in lodge, much appreciated after all that camping. In swakupmound I got very drunk both nights and threw myself out of a plane at 10000 feet - he,he,he. Got the video to prove it and all.

Day 9 was a long drive Etosha National Park in the north of Namibia. We had two days and three game drives here and saw Lions (with cubs), Rhino, Wilderbeest, Hartebeest, Gemsbok, Giraffe, Impala, Warthog, Zebra, Elephant, Jackal, Hyena, Springbok, Springbok and more Springbok. I could bore you for ages about all the animals but to be honest nature documentary is gonna do a lot better than me!

On day 11 we moved on to the Waterberg Plateau National Park. Here we took a short (but very hot and sweaty) hike from our camp site up to the plateau. Impressive views, see my photos. Also we were pleased with clean showers and oh my god, grass to pitch our tents on!

Day 12 we moved on through Wintock, the capital of Namibia where we dropped someone off and picked up four others for the next stage of the trip through Botswana. We left Windhoek for Gobabis where we decided to cook rather than go out to a resteraunt. For the whole trip the majority of our meals were prepared by our guide Morgi. All meals were prepared out of the truck and over camp fires and we were amazed at the meals he would concoct, anyone would have thought he had a complete kitchen with staff on hand. We all got fat. When we cooked we discovered how hard it is cooking for 18 people over camp fires. We did a good job, tasted great, only didn't eat until 10! Still it was great fun and everybody got drunk.

Day 13 and into Botswana. Slightly less barbed wire, less white people, less hassle in the towns. More mud huts, but maybe with a sattelite dish or a mercades parked out side! Donkeys and elephants to contend with on the road, lazy disinterested service from the Botswanese (however I liked it here, layed back, less hassel). We camped at Maun, gateway to the Okavango Delta. For me this bit of the trip was a complete unknown, I had no idea I was going to be in otswana before I left home and had never heard of the okovango delta. It turned out to be one of the best bits of the trip. The delta is formed by the okovango river which is the only river in the world which does not reach the sea, it just gets soaked up into the sands of the kalahari desert of central botswana. I was extrvegant here and took a scenic flight in a small plane over the delta which was well worth it. I felt like I was in a nature documentary, flying over elephants and hippos and buffalo and more.

Days 14 and 15 were one of the highlights of the trip, a tast of real africa. We were taken into the delta by mokoros, small dug out canoes. I have far to much to say about this than I can say here but basically we drove for 2 hours in a 4x4 where we were met by local villagers and then us and all our stuff were loaded into mokoros and polled into the delta. We made a camp - and this is in the wild here, no fences! We were taken on walking safaris where we got to within 50m of elephants! We went swimming in the delta and could hear hippos snorting 800m away. I had a go at polling a mokoro and I think that may be next proffesion! We went to the hippo pool on mokoros - a bit nerve racking. The days we were in the delta was christmas day and boxing day, Morgi cooked us two turkeys over a camp fire! We could hear lions roaring at night, had torential rain, lightening, thunder like it was the end of the world and sun to dry out the next day! This was great, a real adventure, ask me about this and I'll tell you more over a beer!

The next eventfull day was when we reached Chobe National Parkhaving passed through Nata. We went on a river cruise and saw heards of elephant, hippo, crocodiles and more. It was incredible, dramatic thunderous skys, wildlife real close, check the photos!

On day 18 we reached the Victoria falls where we would spend the last few days of our trip. I went rafting on the best river in the world for rafting, it was so good but I am definatley coming back in september when you can do the whole river and vitually all the rapids are grade five and above! The falls were impressive, check my photos. However money in Zimbabwe is a nightmare. There currency is constatly devaluing so people want foreign currency. This creates a black market where you can change your money for up to 10 times the official rate. This should make Zimbabwe a really cheap country however since every one knows you change your currency on the black market they change their prices accordingly (in vic falls any way, I expect things would be better out side of this purely tourist town), this means you could theoretically end up paying $60 for a pizza!

Not a great end to the trip in some ways but hey, it was new years eve so all was soon forgotten! This was a trip of a life time made all the better by the guides and friends I travelled with. I will never forget this trip. If you go to southern africa, do smething similar!