HOGSBACK!!! Bring on LOTR!
Trip Start
Apr 13, 2005
1
33
40
Trip End
Feb 09, 2006
Hogsback,
South Africa
Sunday, January 8, 2006
Up early this next day to get the shuttlebus to Hogsback (Place of inspiration for JR Tolken for LOTR). Arrived there and had met 1a the lads from there before.. acutrally the last time I'd been to Sugarshack in East London had met him. Think that was last November or so. Had been supposed to go to Hogsback that time but got sick and couldn't do fukall :-/ So eventually made it. A Scottish guy (Stewie) runs the bar / restaurant side of the backpackers (called 'Away with the Fairies'). Hes a qualified chef and food is fukn top notch!! Beautiful presentation and more importantly taste is amazing!! Neway. Got there and 1st night turned into a party.. ended up with only about 4 or 5 of us left at end of night.. Had been chatting to a girl Nicky from Johannesburg for gud part of the night and ended up swapping numbers and that and now am gonna meet her in JoBurg before I fly outa there to Australia!! Lukn forward to that.
01. View over enda the Drakensberg Mtns
. shes sound! Neway. Paul, the guy id met in sugarshack that worked in bkpackers in Hogsback had a visa problem he needed to sort out.. So ended up working there for about a week and a bit. Got free food and accommodation and $ on drinks I sold while working the bar! Was class. Id buzz off for the day and just work evenings / nights. Think I acturally might just prefer it to Stormsriver thinking about it now. Is sooooo beautiful!! I'll try put up some picts soon!!
The day after I arrived there (10th Jan), I went for a hike up Tor Domme. Took about an hr or so to get to the top. 1st I walked to the 39 steps waterfall... nice but not much of a challenging walk. After that went up Tor Domme. Fukn hell. It reminded me of Killi by the end.. maybe that's just coz I aint as fit as I was thou before I left :-/ Neway. Got to top and had lovely views.. when the mist wasn't in the way! Started making my way back by a different path, but map was a handdrawn one and not to clear... so half walked and half ran back down on the track I was on.. didn't wanna get stuck up there in the dark!!
Eventually got to the right road thou (Was morealess on right path, it just took longer than someone stayn in the backpackers had told me it would so that's why I was bit apprehensive about it!) Neway get back.
02. 59 Steps Waterfall
. and that night get convinced to work there for a little while!! Glad I did thou..!Over the next few days I went for a mth bike cycle with a girl Karen that'd been stayn there too. Went to the Madonna & Child waterfall. Was beautiful. Forgot my camera thou so had to mission back another day to get picts... but that's another story completely.. .read on for it!
I think the day before I went for the cycle I went to this place called the Eco Shrine (think website is www.ecoshrine.co.za ) Is beautiful. This woman done this kinda thing - u'll just have to look at picts to understand coz I cant explain it v well! Neway, it's got murals on 1 side and pictures on the other.. and amazing views of the Hogs (the 3 main mountains in the area - acutrally they're the end of the Drakensberg Mountains to be precise!) Kewl lady too.
Neway. Over the course of the next few days had some colourful characters staying in the backpackers there... There was this lad that Stewie christened "Captian Birdseye" (from the ad's for Fishfingers) he was aka "Captian Pugwash". Mad aul fella. Himself and this Korean dude had gone on a hike to the 3 waterfalls in the immediate area (I managed to get to alla them eventually myself.. thou that's parta the story about the re-walk to Madonna & Child waterfall thats mentioned earlier!) They were bit mad. Well capt Pugwash was! Brought a 5 litre carton of red wine with them (yeah they come that big here and are cheap... well bout 50 rand or so I think?! Which is less than a tenner :o) Neway, they got trolleyed. Surprise surprise! Later the Korean bloke goes to bed but pugwash stays up
03. Further down the 59 Steps...!
. Claims he's sumhow Irish. Theres an Irish couple stayn in the bkpakers as well.. So by enda night its Stewie, Pugwash, the irish couple and me. Get pugwash even more hammered (if that's possible) even thou him and Korean had been drinkn more wine in pub in village before coming back to bkpakers.. and MORE wine when they were making a braai at the bakpakers!! Neway. Oh yea, almost forgot.. there was a great bita banter going on coz the irish couple walked across pugwash and Korean dude skinny dippin in onea the pools at 1a the waterfalls!! Lol! Neway.. Main thing is the NEXT day he decides he aint gettn so drunk. But they have sum drinks, but were also drinkn in village earlier. Apparently he told (lets call him Jim coz sicka typin 'korean guy'!) Jim that he was to get him from the bar by 12pm if he wasn't in bed already.. but Jim was fuked I think so naturally we kept servin Pugwash as we didn't know!.. Wot happens only he gets drunk. Surpise surprise. Lol, but bad thing is he goes back to dorm hes stayin in and causes havoc. Starts hittin jim with his walking stick saying he was to come get him at 12 that now he was drunk and it was Jims fault. Then he falls asleep but talks in sleep and snores REALLY loudly. So wakes up whole dorm. Theres 5 germans stayn there. 4 of them get sicka it and go to lounge and sleep on couches. The last one is REALLY pissed wit pugwash and goes over and is like, 'SHUT UP OLD MAN
04. Local drawings..
! U made all my friends have to got sleep in lounge coz ur so loud' Mayhem ensues! Pugwash seys 'U cant talk to me like that, im old I could have a heart condition!' To cut a long story short this goes on for about 2 hrs before pugwash leaves (at german guys bidding sorta) lol.. So next night pugwash stays away from the bar! Well away from it!! Was entertaining - am sure not for the ppl in the dorm - and things like that don't happen all that often.. but neway. We'd a gud laff at it after!! Ok so away from the pugwash and jim goings on - it rained quite heavily a few days before I left Hogsback. Id gone to the 'Swallowtail waterfall' onea the days and swam in a rockpool there. After hopping onto bank and chilling out reading etc ran into a lady that was stayin in hostel. I walked back parta the track and suddenly it starts... Drip. Drip. DRIP.
Rain. Suddenly the heavens open. Its fukn pouring! The lady was coming back down the path so we make way back to bkpakers together. Couldn't have gotten more wet if I'd walked into a river in all my clothes! Was quite funny really. 20 mins after getting back it was sunny again. Got clothes dried no prob and that. Next day or day after I decided to walk to the big tree and other 2 main waterfalls (Madonna and child and the other one - think its called 'bridgetail falls' r sumthn) So get to big tree.. It was big alrite! Thou not as big as the one in stormsriver! Neway. Off to next waterfall and run into 4 (different!) germans doing the waterfalls walk as well. When go to cross river to bridgetail falls the fukn river is swollen and waaaay bigger than normal. So we mission for aaaages to get across. Eventaully manage it! Oh and 1a the dogs from the backpackers came with as well
05. View over parta Hogsback from Tor Domme
. Id to carry him across partas bits of tracks an all. Lol could see by look in his eyes that he didn't wanna jump bitsa it / trees so I was dog rescuer for a bit! Neway. Got to all the waterfalls and was well worth the sweat and muck! Lovely hike to do! J
Had one quiet night at the backpakers while paul was still there (he was going to sort out a visa and a holiday for a few days) so Stewie, Paul and me decended on a local hotel / resturant / bar and had 'Away with the Fairies' Xmas Party! Lol. Was a gud laugh! Was sum surprise for the staff of that place coz its normally them going to the backpackers not the other way round!! Acturally was a feather up their ass (if that's an expression even?!) coz they were gonna buzz down after they finished work! Lol.. tough shit there really!! Neway. Eventually left Hogsback and went to Cintsa for a cupla nights. Roll on to the 20th January 06!!
