When you've gotten up at stupid o'clock to take an early morning long-distance bus, it's difficult to find positives in anything whatsoever. However, looking back on our still-dark start at Cape Town before our bus to Knysna, Jen and I had quite the stroke of luck. On our bus was a girl named Shannon, who informed us that she worked at Ubuntu Backpackers in Jeffrey's Bay, which we'd decided was to be our stop on South Africa's Sunshine Coast. She sold the place so well to us that we stayed there, and what a fantastic little hostel it proved to be - a cosy converted house with good people (including another Sean, an American surfer/skater working his way around the world, and Maria - a lovely Swedish girl studying in Stellenbosch who we intend to swap travel notes with in the near future), a great vibe, pool table, movies and free breakfast, and it was right near the beach - the perfect place to us to hole up for a few days and do as little as possible.
Jeffrey's Bay is the surfing mecca of South Africa which, given my exceptional lack of talent on a surf board, wasn't of any real use or interest to me personally, but it did give us the chance to see some people who actually have a modicum of balance do stuff like this:
We had no real plans at J-Bay (as the locals call it) which meant we could spend a few days of guilt-free chilling before it was time to move on. Three relaxing days later, we said goodbye to our new friends and made our way from the Sunshine Coast to the appealingly named Wild Coast.
Many locals still call this area the Transkei, which is the name the region was known by during the Apartheid era. However, the stigma attached to this name - it was one of the more infamous relocation zones during those dark days, and was set up as a "homeland" for the local Xhosa people, essentially to keep them out of the way - remains quite strong and so every effort is being made to refer to this part of the country as the Wild Coast.
And wild it most certainly is - rocky outcrops and sheer cliffs against which the waves of the Indian Ocean crash make this one of the more scenically dramatic stretches of coastline in the country. Settling in at Sugarloaf Backpackers in Coffee Bay, the weather wasn't great but that just made the views of the coastline still more dramatic.
We'd come to Coffee Bay for the coastal scenery, and also to make the hike to its famous natural landmark, the Hole in the Wall. However, on our first couple of days there the heavens were frequently open, meaning that instead of making the all-day hike we had to content ourselves with playing with Sugarloaf's plethora of dogs and discovering Bunny Chow, the signature dish of the Eastern Cape's Indian community - a half loaf of bread, scooped out and filled with curry. It's bloody magnificent.
Jen and I had pretty much decided that the weather here was a lost cause and were going to call it and move on after two days, but we decided at the last minute to give the weather gods of Coffee Bay one last chance to let us worship at their altar - and the next morning were rewarded with a day like this.
Not being two to look a gift horse in the mouth, we set off on the three-hour hike to the Hole in the Wall, most of which was along the side of the hills tumbling down to the ocean. The walk was as much of a highlight as the destination, though it must be said that when we got there, the Hole in the Wall itself was pretty damn cool.
And now for something completely different...after coasts and bays and oceans and beaches, we're heading inland to the mountain kingdom of Lesotho. You gotta love variety.
Things Jennie will Remember:
1) The taxi driver from Humansdorp to Jeffrey's Bay who couldn't help but brag about the 900 rand PROFIT he had made that day. He flashed it to us and then showed us where he hid it (in his ashtray).
2) How incredibly lucky we were with weather to get that one amazing sunny day at Coffee Bay so that we could hike to Hole in the Wall (the reason we came)
3) The people! Chris and Janene at Sugarloaf in Coffee Bay (you guys made our stay and are super top people!), the Sugarloaf owners Brian & Judy and their children Crystal and Kyan. And then additionally from Ubuntu; Toby (Nepalese Ceramics guy), Shannon (the reason we went to Ubunto and who also introduced us to Montesory) and Darren (we hope you managed to get your money back and has anyone told you you look like Smith Jarad?)
4) The dogs at Sugarloaf! Bindi - Slobber Doggy, Java - Big Black Doggy, Diesel - Other Doggy, Sugar - Friendly Overlooked Doggy, Channi - Puppy Doggy and the one whose name we can't remember but called White Doggy.
5) Just how open everyone was on both coasts about pot and mushrooms. They didn't mention this in the guidebooks. ;)
6) I'm also almost certainly convinced that there were little men moving the arrow markers on our hike to Hole in the Wall, just like in the film Labyrinth with David Bowie:
7) The dogs that tried to eat us whilst on the hike at Coffee Bay. The one bit, but didn't penetrate Sean's trousers and the other had to be called off by his owner. Oh my! What big teeth he had!
Here are the photos:
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