The World Is Not Enough (TWINE), but it's a perfect place to start, so goes the Bond theme by Garbage and now my travel vlog/blog channel.
Hi, my name is Niall (Ni for short) and this is a diary of my 18+ month world trip.
Hope you enjoy it as much as I hope to. Oh and please do subscribe here and on YouTube :)
Ni
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 :)
So my latest adventure has been another big surprise. I'm always dumbfounded by the welcoming nature of the South African people and the wide variety of beautiful landscapes to enjoy.
From the jagged multicolored rocks of the tranquil Transkei, I made my way to Cinsta (aka Chinsta) and the Buccaneers backpackers, which is peaceful in its own way and not as dramatic to look at. Cinsta feels a little more developed and is perfect for people who want to kick back, but don't want to forgo hot water and electricity. There I was met by Meg, who was brilliant, really welcoming and the source of all knowledge for my stay. I was only there a night before heading off to Hogsback where I looked forward to washing in a bathtub set on the top of a cliff and taking pictures of Cape Parrots...
Neither of those things happened because, as I soon found out, Hogsback is not so much a place as a community and what makes it truly special are the local people, who are hugely welcoming and a lot of fun.
On my first night I was determined to make the most of the area and went on a short pre-dinner hike. The map they have and the signs in the forest leave a lot to be desired and I was truly lost gone sun down. Luckily after a few additional hours I found someone to direct me and managed to find my way... At least I got to know the area. Seething I got back, but before I could vent I started chatting to some of the guests and then the one girl party that is Jen came in with a friend and rounded up a group to play kings... If you don't know kings the game goes like this... 1) take a pack of cards 2) drink until you are wrecked. This then became a big night and we went to another bar, the Hogsback inn, where we met more of the local people, Licia, Morgs, Grant, Luca and the Germans (volunteers for a local youth project). A few hours later I found myself on the back of a pickup that had run out of diesel, minus my phone. Undeterred we found our way to a house and went skinny dipping because we were drunk. It was a fun time.
The next day was spent chatting and sitting by the fire.
The day after looked to be much the same, but as I didn't have my phone I had to go back to the Hogsback, where low and behold I was greeted by my new found friends who had all finished a big sporting event. We started drinking and before the night was out I was dancing on a bar and had checked out of my backpackers to go stay at Jen's place. This was not the best preparation for mountain biking and abseiling...
The next day I was at the mountain biking office at 9am - I was very proud of myself. Neels an Candy, the owners of Hogsback Adventures, the company that organizes the activities, then took us biking up to the areas most impressive waterfall Madonna and Child. This waterfall is impressive and fits into the scenery, which inspired J. R. R. Tolkien when writing The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. With all the recent rain it was touch and go as to whether we could abseil down, but thankfully we were on the right side of the cusp. The abseiling was great and Candy was really good at talking me over the edge. I went down well and the guys said I did it like a pro, which they didn't say to the other guy that was with me!
After that Jen, Grant and I had a movie night at Grant's MASSIVE place. The following morning was my time to go sadly, but I would love to have stayed.
Back in Cinsta I checked into the Buccaneers and within 10 minutes had made friends with a Dutch girl called Sue. We soon became fast friends and hung out the entire time. We went horseback riding along the beach - just like in the Old Spice advert. It was a really good experience as we didn't just do a little walk, but got to trot, canter and take on some more hilly terrain. We also did yoga and spent a day totally chilled. This visit was a bit different as Sue and I found the Crawfords, a fancy hotel, and sat by their pool a lot drinking G&Ts with cucumber and black pepper (something I picked up from Simon in Transkei).
Again I wish I could have stayed longer, but it was the right time to go as I would have just been lying around if I had stayed. The only regret is that I couldn't have stayed one more night as Jen was headed to Cinsta, but I had already ordered my Baz Bus and would have lost my ticket if I had not gotten on. I hope that one day I'll be able to come back and spend time with Jen and my new friends in Hogsback.
On a side note, my new music obsession is Birdie - Shelter (Photek remix)
Transkei, I loved this area of South Africa. It's easy to understand why they call it the wild coast. The scenery is dramatic, with the sea rushing up against the jagged rocks that sit between the bay's and lagoons. It's also wild in another way, it's a lot less developed than the rest of the coast, which a is a fantastic thing. There's a big emphasis on Eco-living and living with the local community. As such some of the backpackers don't have electricity or running water outside of the main buildings - this is a good thing.
Transkei roughly translates to across the Kei, referring to the Great Kei River, which in turn got its name for the Dutch for rocky, as the bed of the river is indeed, rocky.
I started my adventure in the Mdumbi backpackers, which was nice but as the weather wasn't great there wasn't a lot to do. However I made friends with Simon, a German stone mason and tattoo artist and Neinke, a photography student from Cape Town. We soon formed a little group and headed to Coffee Bay and the Coffee Shack backpackers which is great if you want to socialise, which we did and got very drunk. On a side note we had great pizza at Pappazella's - so I'd suggest you check that out if you're there.
We were only there the night and the next day Simon suggested I come with him to another backpackers called The Kraal where i could see Dolphins. Unfortunately Nienke had to make her own way and we parted at Mthatha, the central point for most of the Transkei backpackers.
From Mthatha we took local transport and hitched a lift of a local coach. This got us to Issamella which wasn't as far as we needed to go. Luckily Simon knew two of the doctors there Zo and Tali, who are awesome!! They invited me to stay the night and said I should come camping with them to Dwesa national park in the morning.
This was a fantastic detour and I got to know the girls well. Zo even gave me her sister's number so I could look her up in Cape Town... How nice is that!!
Tali then introduced us to her friends (I hope I remember them all) Ash, Kirsten, Debbi, Danny and Rachael. They all fed me G&T and we hung out and listened to Ash's great music while she cooked and awesome braai (my first). The next day Zo and I woke up for sunrise which was spectacular and I read my books - Garth Nix's The Old Kingdom trilogy. Later that day Zo drove Simon and I to The Kraal.
The Kraal is amazing, I did loads of things for the first time. I walked through herds of cows, petted donkeys on the beach, saw tonnes of dolphins, stood on the back of a pick up truck, bought seafood from a local fisherman, drew a tattoo stencil... And much more besides, all while soaking up the beautiful sunshine and relaxing on the beautiful coastline.
I also bumped into Simone (yes it was me, Simon and Simone hanging out for a while), who I had met on the Baz Bus and who was going to visit her relatives in Storms River. We took Wasabi, my favourite dog from the backpackers on a walk to the next bay and she very kindly offered to make me a braai when I go to Storms River, so I'm looking forward to that. It will be a good way to celebrate having completed the Bloukrans Bungee jump, the highest bridge jump in the world!!
So I've been travelling for six days post Christmas and it already feels like forever. A lot has happened. I've discovered my favourite part of Johannesburg, Maboneng and taken my first surf lesson in Durban amongst other things.
JOHANNESBURG - MABONENG
This area is so far from my previous experiences of Jo'burg and is definitely my favourite part. With its many trendy cafés, bars and works of street art, it has an East London feel. There's also 24 hour security, so I felt safe to play with my new sexy camera, which was fun.
The art here is spectacular and the've crammed a lot into the relatively small four or so blocks. On the other side of these blocks is the town centre (CBD) which I assume has all the shops you could need. I only went to the Pick n Pay for groceries, but it looked like a big town centre.
That brings me onto the accommodation. I'd heard of the Curiosity from other travellers and it definitely lived up to the hype. From the moment I got there the staff were helpful and really welcoming. There's a great kitchen where I cooked aforementioned groceries, a spacious balcony, an outdoor jacuzzi and a bar with a stage for live music. They also give a discount to musicians which gives it a great vibe. It's the first place that I've walked by some guy playing the sax to a bunch of people and getting them to sing along.
The Wifi is also great. You buy 1.5G for R60 and you can use it all around Maboneng - which proved really handy when the power went down for an evening in the hostel due to a local power cut.
DURBAN
Durban is a nice place. The weather on the whole was good during the day/stormy by night and there's lots to do along the coast.
I stayed in the On The Beach backpackers, which is served by Baz Bus, my transport of choice as it was the cheap option.
Anyway back to Durban. The On The Beach backpackers does what is says on the tin. I could see the beach and hear the waves from my room. It's situated in Durban North near La Lucia, giving you a choice of shops at the La Lucia mall.
All the activities are in South Durban, but you can easily get a taxi with Flying Tigers, which is basically a woman called Maureen in a car. She's really nice and will charge you R70 to get anywhere in town.
When in town I used the people mover busses. Apparently not a lot of people use these. I don't know why, they are convenient and you can get a day ticket for R16 (under £1) and hop on and off as much as you like.
I visited the Victoria Market, which to be honest didn't live up to the hype in the travel guides. In all I think I spent 10 minutes there. However, opposite the main entrance is the spice market. Now this is worth check out. They have all manner of things there including huge lizard skins, bones and a huge array of spices. Just be careful when taking photos. I innocently took some and another stall owner tried to get me to pay them, I had my earphones in, so just walked off 'oblivious' to what they were saying.
The next day I went for my first surfing lesson and did really well. I was standing on my second attempt!! We started with some practice on the beach to get the theory down and then hit the waves (on an Beginner board). By the end the instructor was questioning whether I hadn't surfed before and he even let me catch some waves on my own while he caught up with a friend - by this time we were past the hour lesson time. He then invited me to join him and his friends for a drink. Man that pint tasted good! His friends were a great group and I could have stayed all afternoon, but I needed to get onto my next activity.
I walked up the Durban south coast to the Moses Mabhida stadium and completed an adventure walk, which takes you over the top of the building, much like the one that they do at the O2 in London. It was only 500 steps, but it was really steep. The views of the city were great too and the weather was perfect for it. (I'm not going to be an English stereotype and complain that it was too hot...). We then headed back down and that's when you get an appreciation for how steep it is. At one point you can't even see the bottom of the stairs due to the curvature of the stadium. That's when I was glad I had a harness thy was attached to the wall.
There were a few things I would like to have done if I had the budget. You can bungee swing across the stadium, that would have be. Great. I also didn't get to do the Valley of a 1,000 hills, as on my own it was too expensive.
Those are the main things about my trip. I'm back on the Baz Bus now on my way to Coffee Bay and hope to have more fun stuff to tell you a soon :).
Also as always, please like and comment on the vids on YT, follow me on Twitter and Instagram and Tumblr.
Also I've been keeping myself entertained with The Wicked + The Divine and Saga, both great comics. Plus I've been watching a lot of What Would You Do on YouTube. It's so addictive and makes you want to do more when you see unfair situations in your daily life. Currently at the top of my travel playlist is Crown by Diplo feat Michael Posner and Boaz Van Beats, which is becoming a bit of a personal anthem, so I'll sign off with a lyric from the track.
"Don't worry about them angry faces, they just hate"
