Kathy’s Travels

Hey All

One of my last activities in Plettenberg Bay was to go on a great hike and beach cleanup in Robberg Nature Reserve with some of the students from the ORCA research center.

A wonderful place to see some of the unique examples of fynbos (a type of plant life unique to this part of the world). We spent the whole walk picking up cigarette butts and other trash. Watched the seals making a right royal noise, you could actually smell them before you saw them.

When we got to the beach you are able to run all the way down the sand dune. This is an area where 2 currents collide and that means trash from both sides ends up on this beach.
We filled 2 large black bags and carried 2 crab traps off the beach. That was after about 2hrs of cleanup. Could have filled a lot more.

This beach is also a great place to view the endangered African Oyster Catcher. A rare bird that is black with red legs and a long red beak.

A great time in all. Next stop Buffalo Bay and Wildside backpers

Well here I am staying with family in Plettenberg bay. At first I was kind of wary about coming here. All I had heard was that it was pretty, touristy and where all the matric / 12th grade highschoolers came for end of year parties.

 Didn’t sound like the kind of place I would enjoy or that it would have much character. I was mistaken! Even though there is tons of construction going on which equals too much traffic, Plett has a wonderful seaside village feel. There are all the advantages to bigger places but still lots of old charm.

 My aunt and I visited Monkeyland. By the sounds of it, you expect another corny old tourist trap. But here you find 12 species of monkeys ranging from the tiny squirrel monkey to the larger languars. They are all rescued from labs, circuses, pets….. and there are about 300+ roaming free in a forest the size of 24 rugby fields. For R100 you get and hour long guided trail through the forest to meet all these wonderful creatures. We saw 8 of the 12: vervet monkeys, squirrel monkeys, 2 kinds of lemurs. gibbon, howler, languar and capuchin. Truly a great experience. If you don’t want to pay for the tour you can sit on the deck and try keep your possesions away from the very mischevious vervets.

In the same area you can go to Birdland, also all rescued and Elephant sanctuary. A great place to spend a whole day.

Another interesting place is the Global Village, where you will find products from all over Asia and Africa. Be sure to bring your wallet to this little stop.

Then there is also the sea and beach. With scuba diving, surfing and whale watching activities, not to mention sun-baking…. I mean bathing…..

Wow, who ever thought my entry would be on the correct date. But here I am able to catch up a little.

Have been in Port Elizabeth for 3days now. Only arrived at Tanaqua Lodge at 1am thursday morning. But was given a fabulous room with private shower, loo, TV and DOUBLE bed!!!! Please note I do not usually stay in such “comfort” at backpackers, but am on a marketing trip and this often means I get a few perks…… The owners of Bomvu decided since I was heading down to Cape Town I could take flyers with which is equivalent to a marketing trip. Most hostels give free accomodation, some give meals and occasionally some give you better rooms. No arguments here.

Tanaqua Lodge: 9.5/10, stunning set-up, swimming pool, very homely with up-market decorating. The word elegant comes to mind. Had a little bit of water pressure problems but think they were still fixing up that room. Very friendly staff. Excellent atmosphere. A definite must!!

Met up with my dad’s cousin for lunch and then onto my gran. She has just moved to PE and I went to see her new house. Then onto my aunt, lunch with my second cousin and finally tea with old friends of my parents. Crumbs!!!! All in 4 days! Now am at Wet Hippo Backpackers because the bus comes at 6.30am tomorrow.

Wet Hippo Backpackers: 8/10. The manager is very friendly. Good internet connection. Satelitte TV. Pool, very comfortable.

Tomorrow is on to Plettenburg Bay and the last set of family members, other cousins of my dad.

January 31st

OK, this time I am going to work backwards since not much has happened since my last entry.
Presently I am staying with my dad’s cousin and his family in King Williams Town. I have been here for about a week and a half and will leave for Port Elizabeth tomorrow on the Baz bus.
Yesterday I got back from spending a relaxing weekend with friends in Mthatha, yup very close to Coffee Bay (unfortunately not close enough for a quick visit). My Aunt and Uncle went up to Durban for the Grand Prix and dropped me off on the way. On the Saturday there was a HUGE storm, in fact a tornado hit the northern part of Mthatha, We saw the funnels forming. My friend and I were at a small reserve and got caught in it. We barely made it to the gate at the road rapidly turned to slush. Of course, Murphy’s Law, it had just started hailing when I had to get out to open the gate. Within about 2 seconds I was drenched to the bone, may as well have jumped in a swimming pool. Hectic is an understatement, but beautiful and amazing are good descriptions too.
The week before that saw me relaxing and catching up with emails and as you might have guessed, my blog. We spent a fabulous day on their farm in the little karoo, about a 3hr drive one way from King Williams Town. It is a game farm and has numerous animals including springbok, impala, wildebeest, gemsbok, eland etc…. Truly spectacular.

The day before our trip to the farm, my aunt and I had visited a Lion Park near East London and got to play with some of the cutest little cubs ever. There were 4 of them at about 3mths old and they were true little terrors. One of them decided my bag was a nice chew toy, another decided my pony tail needed combing, the 3rd attached itself to my leg and the 4th lunged at my back. All very amusing…. Until I was nipped on my posterior….. Also had to be careful as they had a fascination with 2 of my most important assets, nearly lost them once or twice….

Before visiting family, I was in East London, Hogsback and Cintsa.

East London I stayed at the Sugar Shack: 6/10, right by the ocean, comfortable, clean. The internet is a bit expensive, there isn’t a very good vibe there, the bar should be moved to the upper deck and the lounge and kitchen to down below, the streets are not safe at night. But on the whole, not a bad place to stop.

Hogsback was amazing, it is rumoured that Tolkien based his descriptions of Hobbitville on these valleys and mountains. Sure enough, as you walk through the fields and forests you almost expect Bilbo Baggins or Sam or any of the other characters to walk past you.

Away with the Fairies: 9/10 nice feel, looks like a little cottage in a beautiful garden with herbs and flowers everywhere. The housekeeping staff and most of the office staff are really friendly. Stu, the gourmet chef from Scotland, is phenomenal and you will want to marry him for his food.

Being in Cintsa was like coming home to friends and family. I had met the staff when I had done my marketing trip and it was great to see them. I might even go back there someday after I get my Massage Therapist license. Spent one afternoon on the booze cruise down the lagoon, great fun and very relaxing. Every now and then you hit a sand bar and have to get out and push. At one point, a guy sitting near me turns and says, “Hey! You’re the girl who didn’t leave Bomvu in like, forever. I gave you and your friends a cigarette on the beach on New Years.” Kind of crazy, but rather amusing how small the world can become.

Buccaneers Backpackers: see previous rating.

That pretty much brings me up to where I am now. Last night I went and watched the latest Harry Potter. We arrived with 10min to spare and nothing was open, they were still cleaning and not in any hurry to finish. Today I will leave on the Baz to Port Elizabeth to see my Gran and Aunt and some other family members who I haven’t seen since I was knee hi to a grasshopper.

Wait for the next entry, hopefully sooner than a month……

January 9th

Me, Myself…Listening

Listen to the beat of the drums,
The roar of the crashing waves,
The call of the birds,
The laughter of the children.

Peaceful, energizing, earthly, cosmic.
A place of inspiration, self-discovery.

My self awareness grows,
The beat changes, stops
I stop, wait, listen…..

In the tent, safe, free, breathing, being.
I am ME, MYSELF.

The rain starts, a gentle beat
in harmony with the distant drums

I am here, in the now!
Listening…….

a poem inspired by Coffee Bay and my friends: Mark and Jade! Who taught me to be me…

January 2nd 2006

WOW!!!!! I can’t believe it is 2006……

New Years was fantastic!!!! The party at Bomvu was a hit. We must have had almost 200 people out on the festival grounds at one point.
Since I had been working in the office and the bar for a few days I had got to know a few of the guests and when they saw me selling the tickets for the party they were very amused. Some bought me drinks, others gave me sips of their drinks…. but the sentiment was the same “Do you do everything around here???” “Do you ever stop????”….. it was all very amusing.

I think the best part of the party was that I got to spend it with 2 of my best friends. We danced all night, stumbled onto the beach (it was very dark you see…..) and even went skinny dipping in the ocean…. my first time! We sat and looked at the stars…until it started raining beautiful warm rain…. and then we sat in the rain. Around 3am it was time to go back and dance till sunrise….and we did just that.

We all crashed in a big heap around 6am and slept the morning away…… until I had to work at 10am.

I loved every minute of it, I think this time holds my favorite memories….. 🙂

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! HAPPY HANUKAH!!!! SEASONS GREETINGS!!!

December 25th
Arrived yesterday at my uncle’s house in Durban to spend 5 relaxing days catching up with sleep, emails, friends and movies….
Well I am defiantely getting the sleep one down, after a slightly sore throat turned into a severe, but classic, case of tonsilitis. Sleep, antibiotics and pain killers for the next 5 days. When I walked into the pharmacy I was so swollen they thought I had mumps (something you have to wait out), thankfully there was a doctor who could give a correct diagnosis and drugs….
The question I have is this: My tonsils are so swollen I can barely swallow water and yet the antibiotics they give you are about 3 times the normal size of most pills……go figure……

December 29th
Hi Ho! Hi Ho! Its off to Bomvu I go…..
It always feels like I am heading home when I do this trip.
Am feeling much better and can at least swallow down the left side of my throat….. 🙂 Should be right as rain before New Years !!!
Wow 2006 is just around the corner!!!!!!!

December 23rd
I can’t believe the festival is over….. After a month of intense work for me and 3yrs of work for Mark, the first of 7 festivals is over.
On the whole it was a success. We had over 110people, everyone who came loved it and had a blast, no fights or serious security issues (except for staff tents being robbed – more on that later). But it wasn’t enough to make money for the non-profit organisation “Aids to Eden”. Perhaps in the years to come the festival will grow in name and size. By 2010 we should hopefully be able to challenge the world record for drumming circles.
I am glad I got to experience and help with it.

Now back tothe robbery. On the first night of the festival at about midnight I went back to my tent utterly exhausted. When I got there I noticed it was open, then I noticed everything was thrown around. I ran back to the festival grounds and the whole staff came to check their tents. Every tent had been hit in some way. Simone (Bomvu manager) had her camera stolen, Jenna (Bomvu chef) was lucky, Mark (Bomvu host and festival director) had a special necklace, shorts and t-shirts stolen – he didn’t have that many to begin with…, Boaz (Bomvu massage and yoga therapist) was hit the hardest, he had his camera, bag, wallet and CDs stolen. He is also a DJ so the CDs were probably the worst. I had everything in my tent pulled out, a bottle of whiskey stolen and my purse stabbed. The funny thing was that they stabbed my purse and went straight through 2 R10 notes, but never found them. On the whole kind of a hectic night.
Unfortunately when things like this happen there is not much the police can do. Everything just sort of evaporates into the hills. Thats when you smile and nod and say “well at least no one was hurt and I can replce everything that was stolen in some way or another….”

December 6th -19th
Arrived back “home” and found out a good friend, Mark, had a serious spider bite. Later we discovered he had actually been bitten on the foot by a nightadder (snake). Luckily it is only slightly venomous so he was just really sick for about 2 weeks and got to keep his foot. Symptons included fever, headaches, shakes, sweats and generally feeling downright crappy…. Oh yeah not to forget the 2 puncture wounds on the side of his foot. He is the main organizer of the festival and I have become his PA (personal assistant), especially while he is sick. A lot of work requiring many hours on the telephone. But as Mark put it “Kathy you are very tenacious” when I said no one had ever called me that, he replied with “it means you never shut-up”…. Yup quite a few people have told me that.

Working as a PA was fun but involved me being busy from 7am to often after 7pm, and running from the festival grounds to the office (since Mark had to prepare all the lights and sound etc and couldn’t leave). Eventually I took over his cell phone and had to field quite a few queries about if the festival was cancelled….. “A new beginning hotline, this is Kathy, how may I help you?”

The heat and humidity in Coffee Bay had been intense and I got a touch of heatstroke one day. Learnt very quickly to keep a bottle of water handy at all times.

The festival starts on the 19th and already (as of the 18th) we have about a hundred people. Lets hope they keep coming.

December 3rd (back in Durbs)
WOW!!! Today marks 2mths since my return to South Africa. Can’t believe I left 10yrs ago and am back now for 2mths already. Today is also the day I go to the airport to try extend my ticket.
That’s right I have decided I want to stay longer. If I can’t I will have to go back to the US on the 8th. Let’s hope I can.
It turns out all the internships and jobs I applied for fell through, so staying and helping with the festival seems like a good alternative.

December 4th
Almost back at Bomvu….. can’t wait, feel like I am going home.
Was able to extend my ticket and went so far as to extend for a further 3mths rather than the 2mths I planned. So I only leave here on the 27th of Feb rather than the 8th of Dec.

Cost me $175, more than I had hoped but I think it will be worth it. Am flying on South African air, had tried to go to the flight office in town, but because it was saturday the office was closed. So had to go all the way to the airport.