Storms River and The Crags

 

This section of my journey has been fairly idilic at times and adrenaline fueled at others having taken in amazing hikes and the world's largest commercial bungee jump.

The Crags

I started in the Wild Spirit backpackers, which I had been referred to by a lot of people. It's an amazing backpackers with a brilliant view of the surrounding mountains.

After arriving I was soon onto the area's main attraction. The Bloukrans bungee jump is the tallest commercial bungee jump in the world at over 216 meters. Having sky dived and bungeed before I thought I would be cool and pull my best James Bond impression as I threw myself off the bridge. However, when you look over the edge, that bravado seems to disappear. The team are really good at getting you over and I did the jump. In total you fall about 185 meters and its a weird experience. My mind couldn't really comprehend what was happening at first and everything seemed to slow down and then it all came hurtling toward me. The strangest part was the hanging once it was done, you're all full of adrenaline and then you just have to hang there. I was convinced my feet were going to slip through, but apparently this is normal. I'm glad I did it!

The rest of my stay involved a lot of hiking, which I am loving. I've been trying to do as much as possible as its great fun and good exercise. During the hike (which is free including our rather full shuttle), we (pic below L to R: two Danish girls, Irene, me and Dom) saw a huge variety of landscapes and an amazing lagoon, though the most memorable sight has to be a dead jellyfish being eaten by these weird snails, that was just plain odd.

Storms River

After a couple of days I then went to Storms River to meet up with a friend and ended up bumping into an English doctor called Sarah (hi Sarah). We soon became firm friends and spent the rest of the trip together. We hiked the Tsitsikamma park together which was stunning, the suspension bridge is fun and jumping from rock to rock along the beach is brilliant. We also met a guy called Ruben and explored a cave where we came up close and personal with a tiny and very cute bat :).

The best bit had to be the waterfall though. The water itself is brown as it had been dyed by the local plants, so swimming in the pool was like being in a big cup of black tea. Also the water was hot in some places and freezing in others as the water from the fall mixed with that of the pool - It's a unique experience.

Sarah an I also did a canopy zip line tour which was a little less thrilling after the bungee jump, but still a great way to see the first from a different angle.

I'm now in Wilderness, but I'll tell you about that another time :)