Road Trip!

So I went up the eastern coast on the Garden Route and up to the Wild Coast. So I left on this road trip a little more than a week ago with 3 people I just met. One American - Adrienne, Mark the Brit and Soraya from Holland (quite weird not hanging out with a German!) Soraya was with for only a day and a half. To start out the trip we decided to go to Oudtshoorn. On the way there, in typical Tara fashion, we got lost. Well kind of. The road that was on the map came to a dead end. We found our way some how, but found our selves on a gravel road in our little Spark Lite car. Yep, Spark Lite, sounds like a soft drink. I will put a pic down below of our fancy ride. We explored some caves here and met some Irish folks, so partied like we were in Ireland. The next stop was Wilderness, where we went cannoing and hiking. Soraya and I ended up with more water in our canoe then anything. Soroya and I were drenched. Mark didn't end up with any water in his canoe or on him. We must have been doing something wrong. Next stop Plettenberg Bay where we did some hiking, ate some tasty food, went on a Safari and chilled at the beach and had a Braii in a township (my favorite part of the trip). Loved Plett. Saw quite a few animals on the safari, didn't see the lions though. The whole time we were looking for them though I kept imagining them jumping out of the bush and attacking. We were in an open jeep and getting really close to the bushes and the trees. Then I went on my own on a packbackers bus to Chintsa (on the wild coast). Absolutely beautiful there. Amazing views. Went horseback riding on the beach, got a massage, played volleyball, walked on the beach and jammed with a few locals and peeps at the hostel for my last night. Then back to CT!


Tomorrow I fly to London. Very sad to leave CT. I have met some amazing people here and formed relationships I didn't expect. As sad as I am, I am also every excited to make my way back home. I love Cape Town. So grateful for this experience, the adventures I had and the people I met along the way.


I had fun doing the blog! Thanks all for reading. Goodbye CT!

 our little Spark Lite - surprised this thing could make it up the hills

 Mark (Britt) and Adrienne (American)

 beach in Plettenburg Bay

 Mark and Soraya (girl from Holland)

Chintsa - my view while eating my breakfast

Holy Sharks!

Wow. What an experience. indescribable. amazing! Finally made it shark diving. Kind of glad I waited. April is the start of the high season for the sharks. Dan (Aussie) and I went out to Seal Island. This is one of the most famous islands. This is the place where you see footage and pics of the great whites on the discovery channel and other various channels/magazines. Now I know why! I saw a great white rip off a piece of fish from the bait (right in front of my face - I was in the cage at this time) and attack the decoy (fake seal) we had. Flipping awesome. When I was in the boat we saw a great white latch on to the seal. He did not do a full breach out of the water but was pretty cool - got to see his/her teeth! While I was in the cage we saw a great white that was a little over four meters. It was huge. The biggest great white Apex predators (the tour co. i went with) have seen was 6 meters. Freaking massive. It was so cool. The crew was super nice and we only had 8 people, so I got to stay in the cage for quite a while. I was in the cage with Aussie on my left and the New Yorker on my right. I did not want to be on the end of the cage. I almost forget, the smell of seal island, wow disgusting!! And just before I got in the water I saw a bunch of seal piss/shit. Yummmy.

On the way back to Simons Town, I had the most amazing experience in SA thus far. There were hundreds of dolphins swimming around the boat, along with seals and the Cape Gannon birds. It was so cool. The Dolphins were flying in the air, jumping, playing, swimming along side the boat, and seals were playing and the Gannons were dive bombing into the water. I looked out in the water and all I could see were dolphins everywhere. There were at least 1000 but I am guessing more. I can't even put into words how cool this was. Of course when I was telling this to one of the guys back at the hostel and my face was lighting up, he was like, yeah the chics always love the dolphins. I guess in my case that is true. I got a few pics but than my camera died. I apologize in advance for not having many pics. I did not have an underwater camera and it was really difficult to get good photos.

I can't believe I will be leaving CT soon. I am leaving Cape Town and going on the garden route (which is up the eastern coast of SA) starting Monday and probably won't be back to CT until a couple days before I fly out :( I really wanted to go on the garden route in a car rather than a tour bus. Pretty sure I found some random guy to go with! He was checking into the hostel and I asked him what he wanted to do in CT. He said the garden route. I said I want to go there. He said you want to go with me. This was with in about one minute of meeting him. I was like, I don't know I just met you. Well we are going! We kind of have a plan. His name is Mark (good name) and he is from the UK. I am excited go but sad to leave CT.

 Aussie before the dive

 seal island

 the cage

 you can kind of see the shark

I don't know...

Last week on one of my days off of work Dillon and I went to Ladando beach for the afternoon. I love this beach. It is beautiful. Then went to Hout Bay - the plan was to go on a sunset cruise out of there but we had to schedule it in advance - so we ended up going back to Ladando to watch the sunset. It was AMAZING.

In Hout Bay we had some fish and chips and Dillon decided to stop at a sketchy ATM machine on the way. There was nothing around, it was in a random wall with graffiti on it. As I was sitting across the street waiting for him, two "gangster" type vehicles drove by, blaring Nelly on the stereo. Glad it wasn't a drive by. Mind you Hout Bay is a fishing town, we were down by the pier, so it was all kind of comical - it just didn't fit with the setting.

We had easter at the hostel. In the morning, Felix and I painted eggs and then hid them for the easter egg hunt later in the day. It was really fun, I hadn't painted easter eggs in forever. We had a delicious seafood potjie and rolled beef with salad for dinner. Very yummy. Then we played drinking games and went out later that night. Cut my foot on some glass while cutting a rug on the dance floor. I think it's still bleeding. Still recovering from the hang over now.

So some things I discovered that I like while I have been here -

feta cheese, tea w/milk, cappuccino, wine (wait I already knew I liked it before I got here), I guess I
could say S.African wine, Germans, potjie, grilled calamari.
So somehow managed to miss my shark tour this morning. That's a nice chunk of change down the drain. Don't want to even go into how it happened. Plan is to go shark diving Saturday. Hopefully we don't manage to feck this up twice.

 Felix, Tim and I after a few cocktails

Daily/weekly routine....

 mini bus taxi in the background (I only take these during the day)

 view of signal hill walking up to my hostel

 pool at the hostel

 kitchen and dining area in the other house (part of the hostel)

 Lumka and Katie (housekeeping)

 my view working out

 the desk I sit at (Felix the new kick ass intern)

 Katie (she thinks she is my second mom) she acts like it - actually she tells me what to do much more than my mama.  (She will say Tara you really should go for a jog today, don't eat too many bananas too much sugar, you looked depressed today go get out and do something, ect)

 where I jog (one of the few cloudy days in CT)

 view when I walk out of the grocery store

Tonight we are having a FREE wine tasting at the hostel with some Biltong and cheese as well! And I have the next couple days off of "work". Lekka.

More hiking and yummy food...

April fools day was hilarious. Felix (the new intern, from Germany, shocking that he is from Germany, I know) and I and a couple other randoms played Aprils fools jokes on people all day. We put saran wrap every where, on people luggage's and on Tim (the owners) car. Made a spider web out of twine in front of the door in one of the dorms. We put the ping pong table on top of Tim's car along with the net. We also blocked Tim in his house with chairs (he was not amused by this). I thought it was hilarious.

So here is one thing I should try to remember in the future, hiking with younger guys, more than a foot taller than me is going to be a bit of challenge. They get to rest for two to three minutes every time they stop and so by the time I got up to them, they were ready to go, so I rested for about 33 seconds. It was freaking sweet. I went with Felix and the Aussie (Dan). We hiked up signal hill, which is pretty much right behind our hostel. It was lot of fun. We didn't take any trails. I lost in the race up to the top - seems to be a pattern. Hiking down was a bit of challenge, hence the reason why my legs look like I just got a new kitten. Scratches everywhere. At the end of the hill we played a little game...run until you run into a tree to stop you. I lost at that as well. Mind you this hill was loose gravel and rocks everywhere. I am almost slipped and biffed it a few times. It made for an exciting hike! Then Dan and I went for a delicious lunch (I tried Impala) at Camps Bay and walked on the beach.

Had a an impromptu Brai the night after hiking. Delicious!!! Marinated chicken kabobs, browerse, salad with homemade salad dressing!

 chairs in front of Tims door

 Felix wrapping ceran wrap

 i do wear other clothes every once in awhile 

Am I in Germany??

Germans every where!! Seriously. 40 out 45 people in this hostel are from Germany. Kind of weird. Nice sunny day in the Cape today.

Went to Tableview and Blouberg beach the other day with Nora (one of the germans that has been on holiday for 3 months). We walked along the coast and had breakfast by the sea. One of my favorite beaches for sure. On our way back into cape town a mini bus taxi pulled up beside us - the driver asked us if were models. I said yes we were. Then the the guy on the passenger side asked if we wanted to have a foursome. Mind you these guys had no teeth so I only considered there proposal for a few seconds. Good times in CT. That night went back to the hostel and had a traditional South Africa Potjie, which is stew slow cooked over coals, and then with pap and beans. Best meal I have had in CT for sure.

Got to sleep in my own bedroom with bath for a few nights last week. It was amazing. Loved having my own room for a bit.

Hung at the hostel quite a bit the last couple days. Watched a movie. Spent time relaxing. Today I went to the Old Biscuit Market again. Most delicious food ever. Yum! Now time to go and "work".

 view of table mountain from Blouberg

 Potjie

What to do on a cloudy, cold day in CT....

1) Wake up at 11 am.
2) Make breakfast and have 2 cups of tea instead of 1
3) enjoy some hubbly
4) don't leave the hostel until about 130 (wear sunglasses so people don't recognize me so they don't think I am working)
4) walk around green market square
5) read
6) write in my blog
7) go to happy hour soon :)
8) sport my new South African scarf
9) ride down a hill on the front of a long board - freaking lekka
10) take random photos

 didn't know he took this pic

 green market square

 fresh Biltong

 my new very colorful scarf

Veno and Cuba

Well, I am busy working today. By busy I mean I am sitting here eating popcorn, writing my blog after just taking a nap. I had a busy couple of days off like usual. Thurs I went to a couple vineyards at Stellenbosch with a few cool peeps (drunken Canadian guy from Lions Head awhile back, random German girl and Dillon). Views were stunning and the wine was good as usual.

Friday, went to Simonstown, Fish Hoek and Kalk bay again. One of my favorite areas. Went with a couple girls, one from London and the other the states, kind of felt like a tour guide, just a little. We took the train along the coast again and hung out, had some fish and chips at Kalk bay - very yummy! Then Dillon and hung out at Cape to Cuba my favorite local bar. I love that place. Dillon and I were talking about going to Lesotho, which would consist of flying and renting a car and he said the sweetest thing. He asked if I was old enough to rent a car...yep. lol. I was like Yeah I am 30 remember, pretty sure i can rent a car. Turns out that plan is a little too spendy anyways. I have to keep reminding myself that I am not independently wealthy. Then we took a drive and checked out the city lights from Signal Hill. Very cool!!

One that has been difficult is meeting people, hanging out and then them leaving to travel on. It's been an adjustment. Love meeting people from all over though. Well I better get back to work because I am sooooo busy!

 Peter (drunk Canadian guy) and Caroline

 

 Cape to Cuba - my favorite bar

 city lights from Signal Hill