[WILDERNESS, On the Garden Route, Sth Africa]

After leaving Cape Town it was off to the wine region of SA into a pretty European styled town called Stellenbosch. From here I did a wine tour in the region, which is a gorgeous area surrounded by mountains. In the beggining I read the descriptions of the wine before tasting, to see if I could regonise the "complex wine, a multi-layered flavour with a hint of peach and banana rounded off with a strong tannen after taste...." How does a wine get complex, maybe Elfy can explain this one..? Needless to say I was rather 'charming' by lunch, and by the last wine tour a "complex wine" tasted very much like a "light all rounder", infact they all tasted very much like grapes to me.. :-) Slept well that night too!

Stopping overnight in Mossell Bay I arrived in Oudtshoorn, a town in the hinterland behind a mountain pass. Great twisty, cliff hugging roads to get there with views of the valley. From here the hostel organises a 52km mountain bike tour from the top of a mountain. The first leg was downhill on a dirt road and took some concentration. Along the paved road, I stopped at the caves (Cango Caves) to take in the adventure 'crawl'. After walking along to see the impressive formations of stallignites, columns etc, (the oldest formation was around 1.5 million years old), the guide leds us deeper into the caves. The temperature outside was a timid 30 and inside the caves it was 19 with 110% humidity. From here we had to bend with stopped backs, backpacks on the front instead of the back, to 'walk' on. We then had to drop our packs and then squeeze through some vertical cracks to the 'chimney'. The chimney was a semi vertical shaft made of smooth rock no wider than a peson. As I started climbing, I kept slipping down and I got scared I would get stuck for a moment, increasing the adrealine rush....with various attempts at grabbing, sliding, panting and knee holds I surfaced the other end quite elated and out of breath, it was hard work, harder in the humidity. We continued crawling and squeezing our way back to the backpacks, and it was with some relief to be able to get some fresh (albeit hot) air from outside.

From the caves it was a hot, long 14km ride with a persistent head wind to reach the Ostrich farm. Here I was able to see a guide pull a partially born chick from the egg, mucus still running from its mouth, to be displayed and touched by its dismayed audience. The male ostrich is impressively aggressive and even the guides keep a healthy distance, they can kick very savegly. It was another painful 12km ride home against the headwind....and my under carriage was suffering big time at the end of the day!!

I have now reached Wilderness, a sleepy beach town set against the cliffs of a national park. The hostel has an amazing view of the surf beach, its no more than 50m to the water. Its very romantic and relaxing, they dont even have tv. I walked in the national park today taking in great mountainous and beach views, the highlight being watching the steam train crossing the bridge as the high tide was rolling in under it. Try some boggy boarding tommorrow if its a good day.

.

>>Top.. ..Home
Give your response in my guestbook.