Housemartin Guest Lodge Oudtshoorn

... weird summer in SA this year! We stopped for lunch at Warmwaterberg Spa and a dip in the 43-degree natural hot springs, which were a bit disappointing after the hot springs in New Zealand.

In the afternoon we drove to Oudtshoorn, which is the ostrich capital of the world, due to all the ostrich farms here. Driving through the town we saw farm after farm of ostiches ...

... was pretty funny as well. Then we went and saw what they could use their feathers and eggs for, the egg incubator, and then we fed them! I of course found this humorous too. The way they ate the corn out of your hand was their head just comes over the fence and practically dives into your hand and you feel their beak hit your hand and they just grab all the corn.

Once we finished with the ostriches it was back to the ...

... that I would have enjoyed it more if my bindings have been tighter because at the end when I was hanging there and waiting for the guy to fetch me I felt like my legs were slipping from the padding. When he got there I was so relieved! He then attached the rope to my harness and up we went. I kind of liked the going up part, I was still dangling below a bridge but at least now I was with someone and felt like I was not going to fall. I got back up ...

... now only account for about 14% of the income on an ostrich farm.

We go outside and meet some ostriches, they are strange animals who look curious, but dumb. Their heads are not too big so I guess they don't have big brains.

Marianne gets to ride on one, which looks pretty scary and makes Eden scream.Then a flock of them gives Marianne a neck massage, by eating food over her shoulders, this also makes Eden scream. We get to stand on some eggs, and they hold ...

The Intercape turned out to be a Christian company, we asked the Lord for a safe journey and were treated to the film, 'A Pilgrim's Progress', the story of Hopeful and Christian's voyage to the Celestial City. Not really our thing but we enjoyed the eight hour drive which was actually very pleasant. The scenery of the Garden Route is sublime. Our Hostel, Backpacker's Paradise is just that, or at least is when compared to ...

... twice. The second time around I decided to get brave and go down the slide backward, headfirst. Not a good idea as I had to have Rachel help me down so I didn't crack my head open. They told us at the cave that about a year ago there was a woman that got stuck in a small crawlspace during the tour. She was stuck there for 12 hours! She was told to not go through, as she was too big, but she must be that type that goes shopping for a size 7 dress wearing a 36 to the store ...

... as tasty. Before arriving at our B&B called Aan De Brug we drove north of the town to the Cango caves, an impressive and very old set of caves containing stallegtites up to 500million years old. In past times the ancient San people resided within these very caves, although the cave paintings they left have now all but disappeared. After our trip to the caves we visited the Cango Wildlife Ranch ...

... I'll be back in Telford for a short while after I've stayed in London for a couple of days, so no doubt I'll be out at the weekend. I think a visit to Sheffield is in order too, especially once Rees gets back from Afghanistan, so I'll see most of you really soon anyway,

Vicki. x

For photo highlights of Wilderness and Oudtshoorn:
http://www.facebook.com/ album.php?aid=1567&l=44b6d&id=5 07899698

We left the coast temporarily again and headed inland to a place called Oudtshoorn. This area is thick with Afrikaan's. Not the greatest place for vegetarians, they love their meat here. Tons of Ostrich, crocidile and other game dishes. This place is kind of like the area of Graaf Reinet that we were in. Infact they call it the little Karoo or Klein Karoo. It is basically a continuation of that valley. This ...

... thing and then hopped off with all the grace one can when dismounting an ostrich and bounced back over to the waiting throng. Then it was O's turn, he climbed up and then was just let go! He managed to get a couple of feet before he fell off and narrowly missed landing in a pile of ostrich poo. Not quite so impressive as Ms. M but then funnier still was when S had a go and was thrown off pretty much straight away! Very very amusing. Before the ostrich farm though O, S ...