Who can resist the highest bungy jump?

Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Stormsriviermond, Eastern Cape, South Africa
Just after I wrote my last email I discovered that someone had cloned my bank card when I looked on my online bank statements, so I spent an extra day where I was trying to sort that out – it took ages to call England to cancel my card and then I spent the morning in a South African police station which was fun! They managed to spend almost £1,000 in just one day, hopefully I'll be able to get it back. Thankfully I have a credit card to fall back on!

In the afternoon I revisited the gorge I had been to the previous day (Oribi) with a friend I had met in Durban as she arrived at my hostel. This time I took my camera complete with charged battery! We went to the other side of the gorge to where I had been hiking, and there was a gorge swing there, so we did that. It was great fun, and the view was fantastic once you reached the bottom. Nicole was a little nervous so she made me go first. When the guy was explaining what to do, he said to imagine I was jumping into a swimming pool feet first, naturally I asked "what if I wanted to dive in?"  He said that this was fine if I fancied it, so off I went head first into somersault with a twist – I just launched myself off with no idea how I would fall but apparently it looked pretty good!! The photos that we got someone to take turned out really well so have a look on ringo. The swing itself was good fun, but the view was what made it for me. 100m down into the gorge, with nobody else around, and only the sounds of the waterfall and the birds breaking the silence, with a 360 degree view of the walls of the gorge. I just wished I had been able to jump down with my camera!

After Port Shepstone I went to Coffee Bay, which is where I was to meet back up with the three guys I have been traveling with the past couple of weeks. On the way to the hostel, one of the wheels fell off the trailer! The photos are mainly of us all being a bit drunk and silly, but I promise we didn't spend the whole time drinking! Chris and I entered a mixed doubles pool competition and did really well considering we were the two drunkest people there and neither of us are very good - we didn't win though! There are some amazing beaches around there, so I was putting my surfing skills to practice again, and I was really bad! I also went on a scenic hike to the hole in the wall, which was knackering due to the heat, but a lovely walk. I spent four days at Coffee Bay and had a great time.

After Coffee Bay two of the guys went to Cinsta, but Chris and I both continued through to Port Elizabeth. I spent two nights there. On my first morning, I went on a township tour which also took us to a school that is provided for the children of the township. I enjoyed going to the school, and it was interesting to see another township, although it wasn't as detailed a tour as the Soweto one in Johannesburg. In the afternoon I went for a walk around in the city on my own and saw a few things. One thing of note was a beautiful park called St Georges, which has a cricket ground within it.

I then went to Jeffery's Bay for one night, which is one of the best surfing spots in the world. The beach is lovely and I just spent the day walking around and taking in the view as my surfing skills aren't quite up to the super tubes!

The following day I traveled to Storms River, where I promptly took on the world's highest commercial bungy (216m). It was good fun and there was quite a big group of us so I had a great time doing that, although I was a bit gutted as they wouldn't let me jump off backwards as it was my first time at that site. The DVD didn't come out too well for that as the camera kind of missed my fall, so I just got the pictures. The photos are now up on Ringo, along with a whole load of others that I've only just got around to uploading so there's lots of new ones to look at if you have a few hours to kill! The next day I went on a hike with everyone who had done the bungy with me. It was a hike on the otter trail to a waterfall. It was a really nice walk along the coastline, although we had to clamber over lots of rocks to get there. The waterfall was lovely, but the water was so cold that I didn't stay in for too long! The garden route is absolutely gorgeous, and may well have taken over in my mind as the most beautiful place on earth - the south island of New Zealand is pretty hard to beat though!

I'm now in Wilderness, which is another beautiful spot along the coast. The place I am staying is called the Beach House and it is right on the beach with the most amazing view. Tomorrow morning I plan to go paragliding, but it is all dependent upon the weather conditions, so fingers crossed.

I can't believe I have less than two weeks left before I get back to England. Time has gone so quickly; I've been away for over five weeks already! Just one more stop before I get to Cape Town.

For photo highlights of Storm's River:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=1566&l=2f5af&id=507899698

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