Did sea kayaking at Hermanus, saw the whales up close, that was rather cool. Though now part of me wishes I'd saved the money for a safari!! Anyway, there we go, you live and you learn I guess. Either way I'm doing a safari.
We got dropped off in Swellendam for 2 nights so we could do some more hiking. Swellendam Backpackers Lodge is really cool, very chilled out place. There was furniture all out on the lawn to lie around on, hammocks and a big fireplace, really nice. We stayed in a little Wendy house, no electricity or anything, we had a gas lamp, very Olde Worlde. I also tried millipap, or 'pap' as the locals call it, a maize flour used as the base to most cheap meals...after Alice's description: 'Honestly Louise it actually tastes of NOTHING...even water has a taste, pap tastes like nothing...' I was a little apprehensive. But it was kinda like rice pudding mixed with porridge, or tofu, or something, it's a base...I piled loads of sugar on and smiled sweetly. It was alright you know; I could see myself eating it for breakfast. When I'm 80.
Friday, November 28, 2008
Monday, November 24, 2008
Cape Town and Hermanus
Whoah, where do I even start? Suddenly seem to have gone back into America-mode (I keep saying 'totally' and 'sweeeet' and 'ser-weeeet!' every five seconds, full of buzz although I'm not really getting much sleep...it's awesome though :) I think it's hanging out with the Australians that does it.
So, long flight, some pretty cool cloud formations and a lightening storm, although I missed the sunrise as I have finally managed to get some sleep! The first 3 days we spent with Tom, another university friend who happened to be in SA at the same time as us. Cape Town is a vibrant city, good backpacking scene, with some excellent scenery. It hosts Table Mountain, which is absolutely beautiful. We climbed it in the midday heat (36 degrees and no wind, I ran out of water half way up - go figure) but we managed it and sat there to watch the sunset and night lights before heading back down on the cable car. Made friends with 'Taxi Tim' who "offer us a very good price, no problem" - and actually follows through on this offer instead of trying to charge us double for everything because we're tourists.
I'm living off 300 rand a day, which is about 20 pounds - this is a pretty good budget if you're settled in one place but not so good if you want to move about (i.e. with a car). John and I have teamed up with a couple of lasses (Shauna and Niku) to drive down to Hermanus (which is where we are now). There's plenty to do here so long as you've got the money - shark cage diving and paragliding are the big budget breakers that everyone seems to want to do. Wandering along the coast today we saw whales flipping about in the ocean, about 50m from the cliffs. Not so easy to take pictures of unfortunately - you have to be pre-emptive. So I ended up with a lot of photos with nothing in them :) but it's all good.
I have gotten ahead of myself. Where else have we been in Cape Town? Camps Bay. Beautiful white sand, lots of tourists - nobody in the ocean. We wonder why. Five minutes later, with John screeching away from the sea (It's cooooold!!) we understood. 'Bone ache freezing' is about where I can describe it. I showed the lads how it's done with a 3 minute swim, couldn't breathe it was so cold, but I thought, "heck, I've come all this way to South Africa, it's my first foreign beach for years, I'm going to swim goddamit!!!!" And so I did. I think many years of swimming in Sheringham have certainly trained me well for cold water (go Tanya and Roxanne yeaah!).
There was a Tibetan Teahouse in Simonstown where I had the most awesome noodle soup and a vegan chocolate cake (which, yeah, didn't taste like chocolate, but, you know, imagination is everything). The carrot cake was better. Our purpose in Simonstown was PENGUIN HUNTING. Not the literal, harpoon wielding kind of course. We paid 30R to get into the Boulders Bay nature reserve only to end up trapped by barriers about 15m away from the penguins. Unimpressed, we wandered further along the walkway (might I mention the FREE bit) to encounter a real up-close penguin experience at a deserted beach. We got pretty darn close, it was nice to see them so clearly (although they were rather smelly).
So much happens here, I can't believe I've only been away a week, it feels like a very long time ago. It's almost as cheap to eat out as to eat in which has made for some fun dining experiences...Tom nearly burnt his tongue off with a 'mild' Thai curry (in his defence, my eyes were watering too). To celebrate John's birthday we all went to Spurs, which is -supposedly- an American restaurant, although I would argue that monkey gland sauce probably wouldn't be much of a hit over there...I suggested that we give John a little birthday meal surprise and Tamara helpfully suggested a Holland tradition of a 'super birthday cocktail'...cocktails being out, we settled for birthday ice cream, complete with sparklers. They danced and clapped and chanted and sang the most awesome birthday tune ever. Imagine the words to 'I don't know but I've been told' (' - somebody is getting old', tee hee) with a hot African beat and the manager dancing around on the table...unforgettable.
There was one of those cars that children pretend to drive - you know, the ones where you pay money and it moves around and flashes its lights with a happy tune? Repeating his Sheringham antics, John -almost- managed to get into the car and survived a whole ride (although the machine tried to fall over every time he moved). Hilarious.
....argh! The computer just crashed and I thought I had lost this entire post! Luckily, Google are awesome and saved me from ultimate blogging doom :) muahahaha I heart Google :) gonna publish now before it dies again!
So, long flight, some pretty cool cloud formations and a lightening storm, although I missed the sunrise as I have finally managed to get some sleep! The first 3 days we spent with Tom, another university friend who happened to be in SA at the same time as us. Cape Town is a vibrant city, good backpacking scene, with some excellent scenery. It hosts Table Mountain, which is absolutely beautiful. We climbed it in the midday heat (36 degrees and no wind, I ran out of water half way up - go figure) but we managed it and sat there to watch the sunset and night lights before heading back down on the cable car. Made friends with 'Taxi Tim' who "offer us a very good price, no problem" - and actually follows through on this offer instead of trying to charge us double for everything because we're tourists.
I'm living off 300 rand a day, which is about 20 pounds - this is a pretty good budget if you're settled in one place but not so good if you want to move about (i.e. with a car). John and I have teamed up with a couple of lasses (Shauna and Niku) to drive down to Hermanus (which is where we are now). There's plenty to do here so long as you've got the money - shark cage diving and paragliding are the big budget breakers that everyone seems to want to do. Wandering along the coast today we saw whales flipping about in the ocean, about 50m from the cliffs. Not so easy to take pictures of unfortunately - you have to be pre-emptive. So I ended up with a lot of photos with nothing in them :) but it's all good.
I have gotten ahead of myself. Where else have we been in Cape Town? Camps Bay. Beautiful white sand, lots of tourists - nobody in the ocean. We wonder why. Five minutes later, with John screeching away from the sea (It's cooooold!!) we understood. 'Bone ache freezing' is about where I can describe it. I showed the lads how it's done with a 3 minute swim, couldn't breathe it was so cold, but I thought, "heck, I've come all this way to South Africa, it's my first foreign beach for years, I'm going to swim goddamit!!!!" And so I did. I think many years of swimming in Sheringham have certainly trained me well for cold water (go Tanya and Roxanne yeaah!).
There was a Tibetan Teahouse in Simonstown where I had the most awesome noodle soup and a vegan chocolate cake (which, yeah, didn't taste like chocolate, but, you know, imagination is everything). The carrot cake was better. Our purpose in Simonstown was PENGUIN HUNTING. Not the literal, harpoon wielding kind of course. We paid 30R to get into the Boulders Bay nature reserve only to end up trapped by barriers about 15m away from the penguins. Unimpressed, we wandered further along the walkway (might I mention the FREE bit) to encounter a real up-close penguin experience at a deserted beach. We got pretty darn close, it was nice to see them so clearly (although they were rather smelly).
So much happens here, I can't believe I've only been away a week, it feels like a very long time ago. It's almost as cheap to eat out as to eat in which has made for some fun dining experiences...Tom nearly burnt his tongue off with a 'mild' Thai curry (in his defence, my eyes were watering too). To celebrate John's birthday we all went to Spurs, which is -supposedly- an American restaurant, although I would argue that monkey gland sauce probably wouldn't be much of a hit over there...I suggested that we give John a little birthday meal surprise and Tamara helpfully suggested a Holland tradition of a 'super birthday cocktail'...cocktails being out, we settled for birthday ice cream, complete with sparklers. They danced and clapped and chanted and sang the most awesome birthday tune ever. Imagine the words to 'I don't know but I've been told' (' - somebody is getting old', tee hee) with a hot African beat and the manager dancing around on the table...unforgettable.
There was one of those cars that children pretend to drive - you know, the ones where you pay money and it moves around and flashes its lights with a happy tune? Repeating his Sheringham antics, John -almost- managed to get into the car and survived a whole ride (although the machine tried to fall over every time he moved). Hilarious.
....argh! The computer just crashed and I thought I had lost this entire post! Luckily, Google are awesome and saved me from ultimate blogging doom :) muahahaha I heart Google :) gonna publish now before it dies again!
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Flight Itinerary
So, I head to London tomorrow to spend a little while with some close friends before flying to South Africa on Monday evening. I'd like to say I'm feeling excited, but I have to say at the moment apprehensive would be a better term.
It seems like such a mammoth task. I went into this thinking 'oh yeah, travel round the world for a year, it'll be great'...as my lighthearted and incredibly impulsive mindset quietly tramples its frivolous way over logic and fear. This, by the way, is the only reason I ever do anything that people might perceive as bravery. I think the enormity of it all is scaring me at the moment...here's to hoping that the oxygen depleted atmosphere of the flight sends me hypoxia induced state of light-headed lightheartedness once more.
Some people have been asking about my flight itinerary, so I thought I'd provide a vague picture of where I intend to be, and when, and what I should be doing:
Hope that's of some use!
I actually did manage to fit everything in my bag (just!), and it comes to a respectable 15kg (compare this with the 24kg bag I took to America for 8 weeks). Unfortunately, I seem to have lost a lot of the strength in my arms since the glandular fever, so it feels just as heavy as the previous bag. Hopefully once my strength gets back up to normal this pack should feel relatively light.
After chatting with John, we now plan to go trekking in a variety of places and as such, I decided to add a sleeping bag to my equipment list. This caused quite a lot of trouble in the packing department but I think I have a system that works now (i.e. squishing it down to a third of its normal size in a Snugpack, courtesy of Brigg Outdoors, and sticking on top of my pack).
Andy (the charming fellow at Brigg Outdoors) told me he used to teach jungle survival courses, which had me squealing with delight like a 12 year old at an Sugababes concert. He seemed a little taken aback by my reaction; nevertheless, he provided me with some very interesting and resourceful tips (who thought that toilet activities and cling film could be united in a productive manner?). His comments indicate that resourcefulness, imagination, and a definite lack of squeamishness are going to be useful on this trip.
It seems like such a mammoth task. I went into this thinking 'oh yeah, travel round the world for a year, it'll be great'...as my lighthearted and incredibly impulsive mindset quietly tramples its frivolous way over logic and fear. This, by the way, is the only reason I ever do anything that people might perceive as bravery. I think the enormity of it all is scaring me at the moment...here's to hoping that the oxygen depleted atmosphere of the flight sends me hypoxia induced state of light-headed lightheartedness once more.
Some people have been asking about my flight itinerary, so I thought I'd provide a vague picture of where I intend to be, and when, and what I should be doing:
| Date | Transport + Location | Activity |
| 17/11/2008 | Flight | |
| U.K - Cape Town, South Africa | Sightseeing | |
| 01/12/2008 | Flight | |
| C.T, S.Af - Delhi, India | Sightseeing | |
| Travelling overland | ||
| 12/12/2008 | (overland) | |
| Kathmandu, Nepal | Sightseeing | |
| 14/12/2008 | Nepal Placement | Volunteering |
| Days off | ||
| 16/02/2009 | End of Nepal Placement | Sightseeing |
| 26/02/2009 | Flight | |
| K., N. - Bangkok, Thailand | Sightseeing | |
| 02/03/2009 | Start of Thailand Placement | Volunteering |
| Days off | ||
| 26/04/2009 | End of Thailand Placement | Sightseeing |
| Travelling overland | ||
| 20/05/2009 | Flight | |
| Singapore - Sydney, Australia | Working | |
| Days off | ||
| Sightseeing | ||
| 30/08/2009 | Flight | |
| S., A. - Auckland, New Zealand | Sightseeing | |
| 25/09/2009 | Flight | |
| N.Z - Santiago, Chile | Sightseeing | |
| Travelling overland | ||
| Volunteering (5 weeks) | ||
| Days off | ||
| 15/11/2009 | Flight | |
| Lima, Peru - U.K |
Hope that's of some use!
I actually did manage to fit everything in my bag (just!), and it comes to a respectable 15kg (compare this with the 24kg bag I took to America for 8 weeks). Unfortunately, I seem to have lost a lot of the strength in my arms since the glandular fever, so it feels just as heavy as the previous bag. Hopefully once my strength gets back up to normal this pack should feel relatively light.
After chatting with John, we now plan to go trekking in a variety of places and as such, I decided to add a sleeping bag to my equipment list. This caused quite a lot of trouble in the packing department but I think I have a system that works now (i.e. squishing it down to a third of its normal size in a Snugpack, courtesy of Brigg Outdoors, and sticking on top of my pack).
Andy (the charming fellow at Brigg Outdoors) told me he used to teach jungle survival courses, which had me squealing with delight like a 12 year old at an Sugababes concert. He seemed a little taken aback by my reaction; nevertheless, he provided me with some very interesting and resourceful tips (who thought that toilet activities and cling film could be united in a productive manner?). His comments indicate that resourcefulness, imagination, and a definite lack of squeamishness are going to be useful on this trip.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Equipment List
My equipment list is now as follows:
Medical
Toiletries
Other
Clothing |
| underwear + socks (thick and normal) |
| waterproof socks |
| long sleeved shirt |
| microfleece |
| combats |
| trousers |
| sarong |
| bandana |
| swimming costume |
| bikinis |
| shorts |
| t shirts |
| vests |
| security pouch |
| gloves |
| hat |
| tights |
| light rain jacket |
| watch |
| waterproof sandals |
| trainers |
| pumps |
| ear plugs + eye mask |
| sunglasses |
| glasses |
Medical
| first aid kit |
| medical kit |
| antibiotics |
| diarrhoea tablets |
| paracetemol |
| vitamins |
| water purifying tablets |
| mosquito net |
| soap + box? |
| antibacterial wipes |
| mosi-guard |
| DEET repellent |
| hand sanitiser |
| tissue |
Toiletries
makeup |
| shampoo |
| conditioner |
| towels |
| hairbrush |
| sun screen |
| lip balm |
| face wipes |
| deodorant |
| witch hazel |
| tiger balm |
| nail file |
| nail clippers |
Other
sewing kit | ||||||
| torch | ||||||
| duct tape | ||||||
| swiss army | ||||||
| elastic bands | ||||||
| umbrella | ||||||
| adaptor plugs | ||||||
| phone + charger + earphones | ||||||
| camera + charger | ||||||
| camera transfer lead | ||||||
| safety pins | ||||||
| rubber door stop | ||||||
| plate + cutlery? | ||||||
detergent?
I've got a 45L + 8 Berghaus Verden rucksack to stick all this in. It's never going to fit. Not in a million years. I'm still going to try though. |
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