Days 251 to 260 Diary Index
Days 271 to 280 
I woke with the light, had some breakfast and read for a while until the Cango Caves center opened. I went in, bought a ticket, and then wandered the complex until the tour commenced. The guided tour of the first to thirds of the caves was interesting, impressive and well done. Along the play they explained the different rock formations and how they were formed, as well as there estimated ages. The last third of the the tour is where the adventure is. As you have to do a lot of climbing and scrambling, through tight, narrow and twisting passage ways. It was good fun, but not too hardcore, so you didn't need any equipment or protective clothing. Before you book you ticket on the tour it politely states " not for people of a large build ". And after crawling through some of the narrowest area's you knew why. After the tour finishes you are left to wander back through the cave system at you own pace, as it is all lit and sign posted. Once back at the entrance I wandered round the gift shop for a while and had a cup of tea before getting back on the road. I then drove back to Oudtshoorn, onto George and to my destination for the day of Knysna. Once there I drove down to a pair of head lands which are the entrance to the lagoon, called The Heads. As there is a Adventure Center at the end car park. After a chat finding out about what dives they done, I signed up to dive a wreck right outside the center in the channel, for the following day. I then spent the rest of the afternoon snorkeling around the nearby rocks looking at all the colourful fish interesting plants. I then drove back into town to find a backpackers to stay the night. I first went to Peregrin Backpackers Lodge, but they didn't have any secure parking and didn't do camping any more. So I then drove round to The Overlanders Lodge. Where I arrange to camp in the drive way for the night. The place is a bit shabby and a lot of the appliances in the shared kitchen didn't work. It had obviously seen better days. So after dinner I spent the evening reading until I went off to bed.
I was up and about quite early, so had breakfast and played pool until it was time to go diving. I then drove down to The Heads, got my kit sorted and waited for a couple to turn up, who were also diving. We eventually got into the water and followed the ropes along the bottom to the wreck. We had a great dive cruising around the wreck and even had time to feed the fishing before having to return to the surface. Along the way we also saw a octopus, lurking around in the rocks. I always loving seeing creatures in there natural environment, especially when it is unexpected. I then had lunch with the German couple who I had just dived with and learned about what they were up to in South Africa. By this time the rain had really set in and so the drive to Jeffreys bay was wet all the way. By the time I arrived it was late afternoon, so I took a quick look around a couple of factory surf shops before they closed and then set off to find Island Vibe backpackers. Once there I arranged to camp in there car park and was then given the tour of the place. I set camp and made some dinner, had a shower and read until I went off to bed.
I got up at 07:00 after not the great nights sleep, as it had not stopped raining and had been very winding at some points. That set the scene for the rest of the morning as it didn't stopp raining until after lunch. I then took advantage of the dry spell and walked into town to do some food some and look around a few more factory shops. Once back I mad dinner and enjoyed and night of drunken fun and games in the bar of the Island Vibe backpackers, until I eventually crawled to my roof tent in the wee hours of the morning.
After sorting my head from the night before, me Christian (Brazilian) and Darnel (German) went to the other side of Jeffreys Bay for a Surf. They were by no means the great waves in the world, but were easy 1-1.5m waves with some nice corners. We spent a couple of hours in the water until the waves dropped off around lunch time. We then headed into town after first dropping the gear back at Island Vibe. We settled on a restaurant with a nice sun deck, and enjoyed a good lunch, even if it was a little pricey compared to other places along the coast. We just spent the afternoon relaxing and chatting back at Island Vibe, which set the scene for the a quiet evening watching a movie on the box, before collapsing into bed.
I woke to find the surf had now completely dropped off. So I spent the morning finishing off my website update. Around lunch time I went with Darnel into town for some lunch and to go to the internet cafe. After updating my site we split up and I went off to do some food shopping and to checking the last few surf shops I hadn't been to. I then walked back along the beach to Island Vibe. There I spent the rest of the afternoon and half the evening finishing reading The Deviancy Code. When I eventually came out of my reading coma, a joined a couple of people in the bar for a cheeky beer before bed.
Again I woke early in the hope of there being some waves, but it was not meant to be. So after pottering around I went for a walk into town with Darnel and after buying some Zinc cream for my nose, we enjoy a tea and some cake before taking a lazy walk to the backpackers. Now with my energy levels fully restored but no waves to go use it on, I decided to go for a run along the beach. I ran for 50min's along the beach and back, in the vain hope of seeing some waves round the other head land. Once back I was boiling hot and so and had a quick swim in the sea to cool off, before having a shower. I just chilled for the rest of the afternoon, made some dinner, and spent the evening enjoying a couple of beers along with a few games of pool.
After the usual get routine, I packed my gear, and walked into town to sort out some more money. Once back I checked out and said my goodbyes. I then drove through Port Elizabeth and Ghrahanstown and head for King Williams Town before turning off about half way there and heading to Alice along back roads and onto Hogsback. Once there I followed the signs to the Away With The Fairies Backpackers. I was warmly welcomed showed around the place and told where to camp. I drove into position and set camp, before enjoying a cup of tea and chatting to Asia, a polish woman who was working at the backpackers. It was not long before I was roped into helping out and running the bar until the local barman turned up. The evening was spent enjoying a mad drinking session and meeting lots of characters from around the area. It was very late by the time I finally crawled off to bed.
I woke with only the slightest hint of a hangover, more over from drinking myself sober. So after breakfast I was good to go and set of on a hike to the top of Hogsback 1 (1836m). Not far out side to the village on the track leading to the start of the trail. A dog decided to follow me. I didn't think much of it, and figured after a couple of K he would get bored and turn back. By the time I arrived at the trail head he was still with me, so on we went. It was a tough climb/hike up along the course of a river, which was broken up by sections of nice water falls. Undeterred the dog followed me through all of this. The trail then broken out of the tree line and along clear track to the saddle between hog 1 and hog 2. Along the way I had to stop and let the dog drink some water and cool of in a stream because the heat was getting to him, as it was a very warm day. The track then disappeared and I made my own way up the ridge to the top of hog 1. It had been a tough climb but the views from the top were worth it. As you had a clear 360 degree view of the surrounding area. While sat at the top taking in the view I shared my lunch with the dog, before heading back down a different way, to a set of horse trail and back along the track to the village. I then checked the dogs collar and took him home before returning to the backpackers. It had been at least a 22km hike and had taken me 6h 30min to do, and so enjoyed a well deserved Coke before have a shower. I then got chatting to another one of the staff, who had returned that day. He was also from Jersey and his name was Daniel Bowman, or as everyone called him, Tank. After enjoying a nice dinner cooked by the backpackers staff, I spent most of the evening chatting to a South African family, who had a prototype trailer based roof tent/caravan. It was certainly a clever system of storage and the ally roof broke apart and expanded out to a 4 berth roof tent.
The first job of the day was to crack on with some washing and after hanging it out I turned my attention to the main job of the day, cleaning and changing the air filter in the Landy. After pulling my gear out of the back it was a quick enough job to remove the dirty air filter and replace with the freshly oiled clean one. I then took me quite some time to clean the dirty filter and there was a lot of dust and bugs trapped in it. But after the fifth rinse through it was clean and ready to be left in the sun to dry. I then had some lunch and repacked the Landy and tidied up a bit. I then walked into the village center, done some shopping and along the way back got chatting the a Black English bloke, who had some interesting options on how he saw South Africa. I ended up chatting to him for a good hour about the way he and I saw the situation. He was saying that things had in fact got worse for black people over the years and I disagreed. As I had only seen positive changes and progress, compared to what I had learnt it was like, with the understanding it was going to take a long time yet until things were completely fair. But this conversation left and bad taste in my mouth, and that combine with other minor event throughout the day, put me into a bad mood. Which didn't make it easy for Verena to talk to me, when she called later that evening.
After a quiet start to the day, I packed my gear and left Hogsback, heading first north-west to Seymour and then over the Nico Malan Pass to the N6. Unfortunately the views along the way were not too great and the low cloud and rain meant you couldn't see the full picture. I then followed the N6 down to East London and then turned onto the N2 and it was not long before I turned off to Cintsa. As I grew closer to the coast there was ever more obvious signs showing the way to Buccaneers backpackers and I soon found my way there. I arrived around 15:00 and after checking in set camp, and set of for a walk across the beach and river mouth to the other side of the village and the shops. After coming back and having some dinner I spent a mad night in the bar drinking and dancing the night away until the wee hours.
Days 251 to 260 Diary Index
Days 271 to 280