September 24--Baz Bus and Mossel Bay
As the great hosts that they are, Tammy got up at 7:30 to see us off and Jay took us to the hostel where we were to get on the Baz Bus. We arrived a bit early and tried to encourage Jason to go home and get back to bed. He just wouldn't. He said it was his responsibility to ensure that we got away okay. We joked that he wanted to ensure that we had really left and wouldn't be going back to their place!
The entire time in Cape Town, we had recognized just how hospitable South Africans are. After standing on the street for about 25 minutes, we experienced another instance of South African hospitality. A lady who lived across the street came to talk to us. She apologized for not having come out earlier. She wanted to know if we'd like a cup of coffee or tea or something. Unreal! How sweet. Being the "we don't want to put you out kind of" Canadians that we are, we quickly thanked her and declined. She hung out with the three of us until the bus came. Finally, Jason would be rid of us, ha-ha. Kisses and hugs (not me, just Gerald and Jay....ha!) later, we hopped on the bus en route to Mossel Bay along the Garden Route.
This drive is really spectacular and yet a bit sad as well. We drove through Cape Town and as we approached the airport, we drove past one of the many "informal settlements". This one stretched for miles. The small one-room shacks are made of either plywood or corrugated metal; some painted, most not, many without glass on the windows, are all so close together (less than 2 m) and do not have electricity. Entire families live in these homes often, more than 6 people and many generations. There are very few electric lights and basically, going out of the home at night is extremely unsafe. Many of these children do not go to school and as expected, crime is rampant. Guided tours of informal settlements are encouraged to spread awareness of this problem. We'll hope to do this along our trip somewhere.
The government is extremely aware of this problem and is trying to do things to help. They've tried building communities of small 2/3 bedroom homes and giving them to people from the informal settlements. This worked in some cases, however some people have decided to sell their houses, take the money and move back to the informal settlement. I'm sure that the government is working on how to combat this loophole. Hopefully, they'll be diligent and help these poor people.
Outside of Cape Town, the landscape is surprisingly rural. Rolling fields, small streams, copses of trees, orchards, vineyards stretch to the base of the mountains. Once again, these are not rocky-peaked mountains, they are green and rocky, but very imposing just the same. There are quaint farmhouses and small towns. I think that it is a good thing that we were on a bus, otherwise I would have wanted to take a hundred photos and Gerald would have become very irritated with me.
Eventually, the road led back to the Indian Ocean. Finally, it was our stop. We'd been on the bus for about 5 hours (stops and stretches along the way) and our 4 hours of sleep from last night was taking its toll.
We checked into our very unique hostel. It is a train right along Santos Beach! They've converted 6 cars of a passenger train into a hostel. The first car holds the office and restaurant, the second the kitchen, the rest are the rooms. Our room had 2 single beds with about ½ meter between them, windows at the foot of the beds, and small table (hiding the sink). Very cozy quarters and very clean! We loved it! We got ourselves organized, read some brochures and pamphlets, and had a short nap.
By the time we headed off to the grocery store to pick up food for dinner, it was already 4:30pm. We were warned to be back before dark (6pm), but since we had more than an hour to walk there and back, we took our time walking. Not a great decision. This small town shuts down at 5pm! Yup, Saturday evening and everything is closed at 5pm! The grocery stores, the convenience stores, the pizza take-out, the pie take-out...everything was closed. Hmmm! Well, we decided that we'd have to give the restaurant a try.
This turned out to be yummy. Gerald's pizza was very tasty and my fish and chips were perfectly prepared. We weren't up for waiting for the live entertainment to begin so we just headed back to our room. We tried to stay awake and then just gave up. Gerald lasted until 7pm and I read until almost 8pm. We were wiped! Our only fear was that we'd wake up in the middle of the night...not.
Saturday 25--Mossel Bay Museum and Oudtshoorn
At about 7:30, we finally stirred. We couldn't believe that we actually slept the entire night. The only time that we were somewhat conscious was when the people having a beach party outside would screech or when our neighbours would return and start laughing and talking loudly. I can just remember thinking, "Nothing is going to wake me up. I'm sleeping like the dead."
We had a lovely continental breakfast in the restaurant car with an unobstructed view of the beach and Mossel Bay. We planned to head into town to see if we could get some groceries and better cough medicine. Luckily, at 10am, the shops were open...seems sort of strange for a Sunday...anyway.
Jason had told us that we must see the Post Office Tree in Mossel Bay. This is a very huge tree, but we had no idea of the history. As it turns out, the only way to see it is to enter the Maritime Museum. For 6 Rand (a little more than $1 CDN), we were well entertained for the next 2 hours. The museum was spread over 3 buildings and a large courtyard. The first building displayed specimens of plants and flowers of South Africa and led out to a short medicinal botanical walk explaining the different uses of indigenous trees and shrubs of SA. The next building was a cute little aquarium, a very extensive shell collection, some whale specimens, a stuffed Great White and a replica of a giant squid found in SA waters. This building led out to the large courtyard and directly to the Post Office Tree.
The legend of this tree is that an early Portuguese explorer, Bartholomeu Diaz, left a letter in a boot and hung it from the tree. The letter detailed his journeys along the SA coast and over to India. The boot and letter were found by the next explorer and helped in future exploration. The tree became a common place for people to leave messages and became SA's first post office. They've constructed a stone boot with a letter slot. Letters sent from this post office bear the unique postmark of the tree. We sent ourselves a postcard from here. Hopefully, it makes it home.
The final building was a wealth of exploration information. It could take an entire day to read everything. The most prominent feature of this building is the replica of the vessel that Bartholomeu Diaz originally sailed. This replica was built just priot to 1988. in 1988, it was sailed from Portugal all the way to Mossel Bay to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Diaz's landing in Mossel Bay.
After picking up stuff for a picnic, we headed back to the beach to have lunch before boarding the bus. Luckily, the woman at the front desk knew where we were sitting on the beach as the bus was early arriving. If not for her, we would have missed it and lost this leg of the trip. Anyway, we jumped on the bus and headed for George.
The 80km trip seemed to fly by and before we knew it, we were boarding the shuttle bus to head to Oudtshoorn. This was an amazing trip through the mountains. We followed the winding road along the side of mountains and looked down to deep, green valleys below. Once through the pass, we ended up in rolling landscape once more. This is Ostrich Country. Everything here is about the ostriches. There are numerous ostrich farms an all sorts of products made with ostrich eggs and ostrich leather.
We arrived at Backpackers Paradise around 4pm and were shown to our dorm room. Yup, new experience! We lucked out though and got a bunkbed. Being the big kid that I am, I claimed the top. We organized our stuff and headed off to the internet.
This is a great place. Our building has a kitchen, a lounge and a living room. The main building has two areas with couches, one with a bookshelf of books and board games, the other with a TV. We helped ourselves to complimentary tea and connected ourselves back with the rest of the world.
We spent the remainder of the day writing our journal and choosing pictures for our travelogue. Before we knew it, it was time for the in-house ostrich braai that we had treated ourselves with. It was to be ostrich sausage, ostrich steak, salad, and baked potatoes. Oh my goodness, how tasty does that sound? Again, our tummies were very satisfied.
We had an inspiring chat with a German girl who had just spent ten weeks volunteering in Cape Town. She was working for an environmental awareness camp for 10-12 year old children. She shared many of her stories about the disadvantaged kids she worked with. Just thinking of some of the details makes we want to cry: twelve people in a one-room shack, never having seen an escalator or an elevator, never having been to the waterfront in Cape Town because they thought it was only for white people, hoarding and hiding food given at mealtimes...it just goes on and on. It really makes me so thankful for my childhood.
We spent the next couple of hours updating our journal and travelogue and checking our emails. We feel so bad that we've been so delinquent, but we do not regret having spent so much time visiting with our friends. Sorry if the rest of you had to wait.
September 26/27--Oudtshoorn
Ten hours of sleep! Man, are we getting wimpy? We walked down to the grocery store to pick up stuff to add to our complimentary ostrich egg for our breakfast. About an hour later, back at the hostel, we cut up mushrooms, tomatoes, onions and cheese to make a great ostrich omelette. For some reason, the consistency ended up like couscous and the taste just wasn't that great. Maybe the ostrich egg had been watered down or something? We're really not sure. While we preparing our couscous, a girl offered us the rest of her pineapple, and at the time, we thought we'd eat if for lunch. Not! It became my breakfast. I made it through about five forkfuls of egg, Gerald toughed it out and finished his. I think we'll go pick up some muesli and yogurt for tomorrow morning.
We had plans to borrow bicycles to head to one of the ostrich farms, however right after breakfast Gerald said he needed a nap. Hmmm, this cold was not letting up. He crawled back into bed. After about an hour, I thought maybe I should wake him for fear that he wouldn't be able to sleep the night, instead I let him sleep. He slept and rested until almost 3pm and awoke feeling much better.
We threw out the plans to go to the ostrich farm and opted for the short walk to the winery instead. A short walk found us at Kango Wines. We were greeted by a very friendly Africaans woman who encouraged us to taste any of the wines, liqueurs, ports, dessert wines, and brandies. Dangerous!
Together, we tasted a few wines, a dessert wine, one port and a very strong brandy. We loved the wines and I especially loved the dessert wine. It was one of the best I've tasted. I would have loved to purchase a bottle of it, but I thought that it might not last me too long and that probably wouldn't be great for my system. In the end, we purchased a couple of their reds to take along with us.
We took it very easy for the rest of the day, made ourselves dinner, took some time to continue to catch up on our travel log, and just relaxed. We headed to bed early as we planned to head to the ostrich farm early in the morning before having to catch the Baz Bus shuttle at 12:30.
September 28 - Wilderness
Gerald and I have been particularly lucky with weather on our holidays. We recognize this as luck and always knew that our luck would run out some time. Today seemed to be the day: rain. Riding bicycles in the rain to an ostrich farm, to look at and ride ostriches in the rain wouldn't be very prudent considering Gerald's cold (besides, I didn't want to get wet). So, scratch the ostrich farm idea. We resolved ourselves to having to relax some more. Now, for those of you who know what a typical "Gerald and Tamalyn" weekend is like or any of our previous holidays, you can imagine that relaxing for yet another day was making us wonder if we were "wasting" time. Well, with no other choices, we were forced to relax. Actually, we have been taking days here and there along this trip to "recharge our batteries". And what better place than here. This hostel is very large with many small seating areas, outdoor areas to lounge around and has a very home-like feeling about it. Before we knew it, it was approaching noon and we needed to get ready to go. Despite not having been to many of the outdoor attractions here in Oudtshoorn, we have no regrets at having come here.
The trip back to George confirmed this. We retraced our path through the rolling, agricultural landscape of fields and ostrich pens. The mountain pass we drove through was so picturesque. High green, forested mountains to deep plunging valleys, the road was magically suspended, stuck against the mountain side, a sky of fluffy white clouds and brilliant sunshine made this trip an experience in itself. In a way, Gerald and I felt like we were travelling through interior British Columbia.
After a short wait in George for the Baz Bus, we headed off to Wilderness. About thirty minutes into our journey, the bus rounded a corner and everyone on the bus simultaneously gasped at the view. Imagine a long coastline with breaking surf along the entire length. What made the breaking surf so spectacular was that there must have been five to six rows of waves breaking upon each other. The beautiful blue Indian Ocean, breaking into white, frothy waves, hitting into beige sand, even the cloudy, rain filled skies couldn't take away from its beauty.
Our backpacker's hostel, Beach House, was virtually empty. We didn't know if this was a good sign (space to ourselves) or a bad sign (it is a dump). Well, the bus was already gone so we were stuck here for one night regardless. The guy at the front desk showed us to the dorm room. I have to admit that along the way, I was hoping that he'd give us a double room for the same price since they certainly had some free and it was doubtful that they'd be filled by nightfall. Luckily, he didn't. Our dorm room slept 10, one end opened to the kitchen and lounge area that had floor to ceiling windows overlooking that fabulous ocean! Wow, what luxury! To top it all off, we were the only people in the room. What luck!
Looking at the time, we unfortunately couldn't sit and appreciate the view, We had to get to a grocery store to pick up provisions for tonight and tomorrow. Off we went to "town". A twenty minute walk found us at a small supermarket and we stocked up. Just as we were heading out of the store, those heavy, rain-filled clouds dumped their contents! It was pouring! Oh well, we had our rainproof jackets and shoes...we'd survive.
The walk home was wet to say the least and I was so afraid for Gerald and his cold. He assured me that he was not cold and we walked at an incredible speed back to the Beach House. As soon as we arrived at the room, we put the water on to boil. We peeled off the wet clothing, changed into dry and luckily, clean clothing, stole a blanket from the bunk, jumped onto the couch, and sipped our tea. We stayed there, under the blanket, relishing in our privacy, and watched the rainstorm and crashing waves along the coast. Eventually, hunger got the better of us and we unravelled ourselves and prepared dinner. As soon as it was ready, you know that we quickly huddled again beneath the blanket to eat our supper. We really didn't venture too far away from that couch. What a lovely evening to say the least.
September 29 - Wilderness
One of the main reasons for staying here was the Kingfisher hike into the mountainside along the Touws River. The only unfortunate side is that we were a forty-five minute walk away from the starting point of this eight kilometre hike. Having recharged our physical batteries over the last two days, we felt like we had plenty of energy to tackle this hike. Our only concern was that the Baz Bus was due to leave the Beach House Backpackers as early as 3:00 pm. We knew that we didn't have any time to dilly dally.
With only a slight hiccup in getting from the Beach House to the start of the Kingfisher Trail (not our fault the signs aren't explicit enough!) we headed off on the trail at 10:00 am. The hike snaked its way through dense forest and long grass clearings, sometimes following the bends of the river and sometimes heading straight up the hillside (and inevitably back down again). Often the path was only wide enough to walk on and gave way to steep slopes falling to the river below us. We climbed up and down many stairs made of rock and logs, across wooden bridges, and at one point, we even had to deal with a short ladder.
The highlight of the hike in came about halfway to our intended destination. As Tamalyn rounded a corner in a grassy part, a young deer was only mere metres ahead of her on the path. The deer looked up at Tamalyn, and continued to slowly stroll over to a patch of short shrubs. We were able to take about six or seven pictures before we knew we had to get going to keep our pace.
After hiking for roughly an hour and twenty minutes, we arrived at our final destination - two small sets of waterfalls. We were able to climb up some boulders to the top level of the lower water falls, thereby bringing the second set into view. Although not overly high, they were quite pretty. Given that it is the dry season, the volume of water flowing through the falls was minimal. We paused here to have lunch and to take a few photographs.
The walk back was highlighted by the number of large grasshoppers that became apparent near the end. These were easily spotted as they were up to ten centimetres (four inches) and were of a bright green colour. It seemed that after we saw the first one, we became more and more aware of them everywhere. It only made me think of how many we missed on our way in!
Three hours after having begun, we returned to the starting point of the trail. Our legs were telling us that it had been a strenuous hike, but we knew that we couldn't let up if we were to make it back to catch the Baz Bus. We decided to take a different and more scenic route back. We followed the main road along the beach, and then made our way down to the beach to make our way back to the Beach House. Over five hours and fourteen km's since our departure, we made it back onto the main deck of the Beach House around 1:45 pm, fifteen minutes ahead of our target time.
While drinking our well earned beers on the deck, we were treated to whales breaching in the bay. Amazing! This kept us very entertained while we waited anxiously for the very late Baz Bus. Luckily, we didn't have very far to go as our next stop was only thirty-five kilometres further down the highway.
We arrived in Knysna, at the Highfield Backpackers just in time to head to the local supermarket to pick up groceries for the next couple of days. After a very welcomed shower, we made dinner, checked our emails, and turned in for the night.
September 29 - Knysna
Shortly after having completed breakfast, we headed out to Mitchell's Brewery, one of South Africa's few remaining small micro-breweries. A 'short' three km walk from Highfield brought us to the industrial area where the brewery was located. We took the short tour of their operation and then enjoyed a tasting of their four different beers. It did not matter to us that it was only 11:00 am! The tastings were offered in small glasses, probably a good thing for tours this early in the day. (We kept one of the sample glasses for you Dave! It will look nice on your office desk.) A 6-pack in hand and a souvenir pint glass in tow, we made our way back to Highfield for lunch. The rest of the afternoon was spent walking along the waterfront in Knysna and popping into the many souvenir shops along the way.
We departed Knysna for Plettenberg Bay late in the afternoon. We had booked two beds in a dorm room at Stanley Island Backpackers (SIB). This place literally is on Stanley Island in the mouth of the Keurbooms River, just outside of Plettenberg Bay. We were dropped off at a boat landing next to the main highway where the SIB's ferry came to pick us up. Upon arriving at the island, our first impression of SIB was not great. Just off the dock was a massive "For Sale" sign listing Stanley Island as for sale. We were scared that this place was going to be run down and a dive. Walking into the main reception area, we entered what could easily double as a mountain ski lodge. There was a big dining room with a fire place off to the side in the main entrance. Upon registering, we were taken for a tour of the kitchen facilities, which were quite impressive.
We were then taken to the best part of this backpacker's location. Our room is on the top level of a thatched roofed home. It is about three hundred metres from the main dining and reception building. We had to walk along a footpath that winds through the trees, which brought back memories of Hansel & Gretel. Again we lucked out by having a room to ourselves, although this time, we have a bathroom in our room. After a candlelit dinner in the main dining room, all of our reservations about SIB had melted away.
September 30 - Day 1 at Stanley Island
After a nice sleep and a delicious breakfast, we took off. Literally. The owner of SIB has a glider and offers thirty minute rides to those daring enough to give it a whirl. You guessed it, we are both daring enough!
After much discussion on how we would go about writing about our flights in the glider, we decided that we would each write about our own experiences separately. We promised each other that we wouldn't cheat by peaking at what the other wrote. We hope you enjoy our stories.
Tamalyn
Gerald insisted that I go first. I was not sure if this was due to his gentleman-nature or if he was too scared to be first! He just kept saying, "No, I really want you to go first." So sweet. Having flown a lot with my dad, I was confident that the little glider would be fine, but I must admit that I was really scrutinizing this Barry fellow. Did he seem as intelligent, meticulous, and skilled as my dad? I guess I would just have to trust him. In the end, Barry, the owner/pilot, took me for a wonderful forty minute "half-hour" flight full of commentary about the region: birds, tides, the island, the park...you name it.
Rolling down the airstrip was a bit bumpy and it was the sudden smoothness that made me realize that we had left the ground. We were gaining altitude and heading from the island, over the rivers, past the tributary and towards the beaches. Seeing the sand, the grassy dunes and the surf from the air brought tears to my eyes. I think that if I let myself, I could have fully cried. This was beautiful!
Knowing we hadn't seen much of the town, he flew along the public beaches, pointing out the local hotspots and the ocean front multi-million dollar homes. We headed over to a large piece of land that protects the bay from the large ocean swells. Along here, we saw a lot of seals. Some of them were just floating on their sides; others were playing and still more were sunning themselves on the rocks. We then headed back towards the beaches to watch the sky-divers land. Watching the first one nearly gave me a heart attack. He came in gently soaring and then started to fall rapidly towards the houses and just at the last second, he flipped his body, changing direction, swooped towards the beach and at the last second he gently touched down. Yikes...maybe I'll put that sport on the back-burner for a while.
We continued on past some fishermen on the beach and almost without realizing it, we were less than 100 feet off the beach/ocean! Cruising along so close to the surf and sand was really unbelievable. We then had to climb again in order to make some distance. Soon, Barry pointed down to my side a pod of seven whales all lined up! Seven! I was hoping for at least one! Also, surfing on a wave were four dolphins. They looked like they were having a blast. Looking around, we spotted quite a few more dolphins just swimming about.
Barry circled around the whales again, getting lower this time. Words cannot express the sight of these huge mammals. The whales were now beginning to huddle. Barry explained that one was a female and the males were coming in to mate. No way! We circled around them a few more times, seeing them roll around and underneath each other. I think I must have taken at least 20 pictures of them.
On an earlier flight, Barry knew of a mother and a calf a little ways down the coast. Less than two minutes later, he spotted them. The calf was lying underneath the mother possibly nursing. As we circled around, it moved from under her, lay up on her back and then slipped back into the water next to her. Unreal!
We gained altitude again and headed over the Tsitsikamma National Park. This is a large expanse of forest which is home to all sorts of wildlife including: monkeys, baboons, antelopes, and cats of every size right up to leopards. From above, the forest looks like broccoli! The canopy is very dense so no sightings of leopards or baboons. Oh well.
We flew back over the coast to catch a last glimpse of the large pod of whales. A whale-watching boat was approaching which would likely cause them to spread apart a bit. Hmm, knowing that our presence didn't affect their behaviour really made me think twice about taking a boat ride to see whales.
Barry asked if I wanted to take the controls...a stick. I said that I had only flown a wee bit in my dad's plane, but that it had a steering column. After a quick and simple instruction, I took over. Whoah! I've always been in awe of pilots' skills, but now, my appreciation has deepened tenfold! Simple left turns and right turns unnerved me. I did get a bit better over the four minutes, but I don't think that I ever felt comfortable even though I knew Barry would take over if necessary.
Now, it was time to glide. Barry slowed down to cool the engine and then...silence. Only the wind broke the silence. We were gliding???? Cool! I was extremely amazed at how much control was still possible. We came back towards our island, circled around it and came down for a perfect, soft landing. What a ride! I could hardly wait to see Gerald. My smile was so wide! I just hoped he would enjoy it as much as me.
Gerald
We had each booked what was described to us as a thirty minute flight, and I had insisted that Tamalyn went first. Inside, I was a little jealous that she was going first, but I knew that she would be tickled if she went first, and I knew that she would thoroughly enjoy her flight. I am always a little nervous about flying, even though I love being in the air. Looking at my watch, I started to get a little nervous when it had been thirty five minutes and there was no sign of the glider, Barry (the pilot) and Tamalyn. My fears were put to rest a few minutes later as I saw the white glider come into view. Tamalyn had been gone almost forty minutes, and my second thought, after being thankful that she had returned from a successful flight, was that I hope I get as much time in the air as she did!
Tamalyn & I switched places (after a quick recap of everything that they were able to see) and I saddled myself in the jump seat. The cockpit is quite small, with just enough room for two grown men. Each seat had a joystick in front of it. The joysticks simultaneously moved as one, both having control of the plane. The seat belt had straps that came over each shoulder and joined into the lap belt via a steel contraption. I now understand how babies and toddlers feel being strapped into their car seats! We each donned headsets which had a microphone attached to the left ear. This would ensure that we could easily hear each other over the sound of the engine.
Barry went over a couple of housekeeping items, and then we were off. Stanley Island being a little island, the runway was a grass strip and we did not have to wait as we were first in line for take-off. Yeah, the joys of private airstrips! We were soon airborne and the mouth of the Keurbooms river was directly below us. We headed due south and made our way to the Indian Ocean. Once we reached the beach, only about a half of a kilometre, we turned towards the northeast and headed along the coast. The beach was directly below, about two hundred feet down.
Barry said that we would make our way to where he and Tamalyn saw the whales so that we could see them before the sightseeing boats scared them away. It took all of five minutes to get to where the first whales were. We saw two sets of two whales, about 150 metres apart from each other. Barry indicated that when he and Tamalyn were up, they were all in a group of seven. We circled twice around the two pairs, and then continued along the beach. We then passed a whale watching boat that was following three whales. The group of seven had obviously split up.
We continued to head north east along the beach, as Barry knew of a spot where a mother whale and her newborn (seven weeks) calf were hanging out. Shortly, we found them playing in the shallow water, in an area where there were no people to be found. There were no roads leading to the shoreline at this spot, and no boats in the area. Even though this was a very secluded spot for the two whales, the calf was not straying far from its mother. We could see from above that the calf paled in comparison to its mother's size. We made a couple of passes over the mother and its calf, getting down to about 100 feet above the water. We could make out the white markings around the whales' mouths, both the mother and the calf.
Suddenly, Barry spotted another whale about 200 metres away. This one had a tag along friend. A dolphin was jumping in and around the water right beside the whale. Although I could make out the dolphin, it was a little small to catch in a good picture. We circled this pair of playmates twice and then we headed in land.
We flew over the south eastern edge of the Tsitsikamma National Park. There were numerous hilltops with untouched wilderness below us. At the mouth of a river, the small town of Nature's Valley could be seen. Nature's Valley existed when the national park was formed, so residents of Nature's Valley were grandfathered as residents of the national park. There is now a moratorium on development and expansion of Nature's Valley, so this sleepy little town will remain quieter than the rest of the Garden Route.
It was at this point that Barry started to tell me how easy the glider was to fly. He showed me what happened when the joystick was moved back and forth, and left and right. Then I thought he had lost his marbles: he told me to take control of the joystick. I was now flying the plane. He pointed to a couple of gauges on the dash. He mentioned that we wanted to keep our speed between 90 and 100 km/hr, and he pointed to the altimeter, which displayed our altitude. We were at 800 feet, and we were going to climb to about 2,500 feet where we would then turn off the engine.
He instructed me to try to keep the plane level, from a horizontal perspective, while trying to pull back slightly on the joystick which would help us to gain altitude. All this time, he also said that I should ensure that we keep the speed at no less then 90 km/hr, as we didn't want to stall the engine on our way up to 2,500 feet. While I continued to guide us higher through 1,500 feet, he then contacted the pilot of the plane that was dropping skydivers in town. He wanted to confirm that they had completed all of their jumps and that we could proceed towards Plettenberg Bay without worrying about the skydivers. The skydivers? He had a rookie at the controls and here he was worried about outside skydivers? He surely had lost his marbles. I was one quick mistake away from guiding a piece of metal into the ground, and he was busy carrying on a conversation with another pilot.
We headed back southwest along the beach, and as we reached 2,200 feet, he reduced the throttle on the engine and started the process to transform our fully powered plane into a floating glider. Seconds later, he turned the engine completely off. Here were we, floating in the glider at 2,300 feet, with nothing powering us except gravity, and nothing keeping us aloft except the design of the aircraft and the wings. The silence was heavenly!
Still at the controls, I was totally surprised that the glider was just as easy to control as the plane. In fact, it might have been a little easier as I didn't have to worry about gaining any altitude, but just keep it level and steady, and we would descend in a slow, gentle, and orderly fashion. We kept flying along the coast back towards Plettenberg Bay. I could make out a golf course down below, and for the first time in my life, I wasn't admiring a golf course from afar wishing that I was on the course playing. I was totally thrilled with where I was and what I was doing. I was "Learning to Fly", as Pink Floyd would say.
We were descending though 1,000 feet, and Barry decided to turn the engine back on. He started it up, and kept the throttle down low, wanting to warm the engine back up before giving it a full go. We passed along the beach in town, circling over the main hotel in town. This is where I made my only mistake. (Since I am writing this, you needn't worry that it was a fatal mistake!) Barry asked me to bank to the left. As I was looking to the right when he said this, I naturally just turned the joystick to the right. We banked hard to the right, almost passing directly over some large houses just south of the hotel. Barry said to me a little louder, "The other left" while he forced the joystick to the left. I noticed my error, and then eased up on forcing the joystick to the right. As I moved the joystick to the left, Barry laughed and said we made it in time. He pointed to the houses below saying that we were not permitted to fly over these houses. Oops!
Still at the controls, Barry pointed to a yacht down below, and he asked me to make keep a bearing heading towards this yacht. We were now dropping through 500 feet, and heading more or less towards Stanley Island. This is the direction that Tamalyn & Barry were heading in when they landed, but just as I was thinking this very thing, Barry said that we would land from the other direction as the wind had shifted ever so slightly since we had took off. Good, I thought, we would get a few more minutes of flying time.
Barry asked me to now head straight for the hill in the distance, and to continue our pace of descent. I noticed the grass airstrip to our right down below, and could see the chairs at the far end of it where Tamalyn was sitting. I wondered if she had flown the plane for this long. We passed about one half of a kilometre beyond the airstrip and we banked hard to the right. About three quarters of our way through the turn around, Barry assumed controls of the plane. He finished the turn, gently cleared the trees to the north of the airstrip, and touched down safe and sound.
The landing was a lot smoother than I anticipated, given that the runway was a grass strip, which was not as level as a paved or concrete runway. In fact, I would be of the opinion that this runway was quite uneven and bumpy. Nevertheless, the landing was smooth. Given that we landed away from the end of the runway where the plane was kept, we had to make a U-turn at the far end, and taxi back to the hanger.
Wow, I can't believe it. First, I had been up in a glider, and second, that I had been at the controls for almost 30 minutes! Getting out of the seat, I told Tamalyn that I had flown for most of the flight. Barry asked if I have a flight simulator on our computer, and he was surprised when I said that we didn't. This was my first experience with actually flying, real or simulated.
This truly was an experience that I will never forget.
October 1 - Day Two: Stanley Island
In our opinion, one of the best attractions to Stanley Island is the lack of attractions. Let's just say that we made the most of these attractions today. We took them all in! A very relaxing day.
Luckily, one of the guests (and very close friend of the owner) had to go into the town of Plettenburg Bay to run a couple of errands. We were running out of cash and needed to be prepared with groceries for Jeffrey's Bay as we would be arriving later in the evening. She dropped us at the cute small shopping area. Very touristy, very new, very cute. We had enough time to pop into a couple of these boutiques, get our cash and groceries by the time she collected us. We wondered if we'd feel like we had really missed out if we hadn't come into to town to browse around, but this quick trip squashed those worries. This town is very similar to the other coastal, touristy towns. Unfortunately, South Africa's spring is holding on tight and the weather just isn't beach worthy just yet. We, however, were quite happy going back to our little island retreat.
The conversation from and back to the island was extremely enlightening. The guest gave us a brief history lesson of South Africa, hitting some of the major points. We knew most of the facts already, but she gave us the personal emotion of her experience.
One of the points stands out in my mind: She said that the black community has been very forgiving of the past. She attributes this to the leadership of Nelson Mandela, South African's first black president, 1995. He encouraged everyone to let the past be just that, the past. His methods had always been peaceful and he wished for his country to remain at peace and for this there had to be forgiveness. She says that there is very little racial tension between the three groups: Africaans, coloured, and black. She says that South Africa was very blessed to have had a president like him. Although he is no longer the president, he is still a very powerful and influential man and she, like many other South Africans we've met, is very nervous about the day that he passes away. Everyone hopes that the people in power will maintain his philophies, attitudes, and vision of a free South Africa with equality for all.
On a different note, she has done research on the AIDS epidemic. She has just completed a follow-up study on AIDS amongst college students. She compared her results to her previous results collected in the early '90s and is horrified. She found that students are just as careless now which translates into an alarming, sharp rise in the number of "reported" cases of AIDS. What scares me most about these results is that these are college students. They are the more educated sector of young adults. This is terrifying. AIDS research generally shows that the higher education of a population, the lower the rates. This means that the number of new cases of AIDS amongst lesser educated young adults would be even higher. I don't think that I can even begin to comprehend this epidemic here in South Africa let alone in more impoverished countries of Africa. It saddens me to think that there is very little that I can do about it.
Well, back to the island. After this chat, it seemed even more like paradise. Gerald and I spent a lovely afternoon writing our travelogue, looking at our pictures, reading inside and outside on the lawn. At one point Barry asked if I was okay. I responded that I felt like cooked spagetti. Limp, relaxed, not an inch of stress anywhere in my body. LOVELY!
Before we knew it, the Baz Bus was on its way. After quick goodbyes to Barb and Barry, the owners, to Leon, the manager, and to the four ladies who kept the whole place clean and smelling of amazing food, Gerald and I hopped onto the ferry. Looking at the island getting farther and farther away, I told Gerald that I felt like I was leaving home. He agreed. I guess this is a good thing. Being able to feel so at home in someone else's home is always such a compliment to the hosts, we took one last glance at the island and the river surrounding us, sighed and started to look forward to the new experiences awaiting us.
There are also experiences that await us, but that we choose to skip. En route to Jeffrey's Bay, we stopped at one of these skipped experiences. South Africa boasts the highest bungy jump in the world. A bridge sits 218 metres above the Bloekrans River and the bungy jumpers dive off the bridge falling to a maximum of 180m. If you do the math, that is only 42 m of forgiveness...out of 180m. If you do the math, that is only 42 m of forgiveness. YIKES! I have always been intrigued by bungy jumping and Gerald was actually encouraging me to do it. Standing at this viewpoint, I knew that not doing this one was the right decision. As it was, I could feel all of my systems going into overdrive. I think it would just be too much for me. We couldn't wait to get to the next hostel to pick up some friends who had been planning on jumping. Did they actually do it?
At the next hostel, Tube 'n Axe, Lara, Liisi, and a soaking wet Penny jumped into the bus. Poor Penny, the bus was uncharacteristically early and she had been caught in the shower with shampoo in her hair! Anyways, it didn't take but a couple of seconds before we asked about the jump. They practically exploded with excitement. Yes, all three of them jumped. We made each one of them tell us their stories. Their excitement was infectious. Needless to say, they loved it and were still pretty hyped. In the end, I don't regret not having done it, I lived vicariously through Penny who admitted that she had to be pushed.
Once we arrived at Jeffrey's Bay Backpackers, we found that two other BazBus friends were also there, Peter and Chris. They too had plans of doing the jump. While cooking our dinner, they showed up. Yup, they jumped as well. Both of them loved it and had a great experience.
Yup, right decision for me, no doubt about it.
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