A perfect way to say goodbye to SA

After leaving the LRC on Tuesday, Ellie and I were getting ready for our last South African adventure. We had been told on numerous occasions that the Wild Coast was beautiful and that we should try to get down there, so on Wednesday morning, we were off to Chintsa. It was a long drive that turned out to be so incredibly worth it. We drove through Mandela's home town and got to experience some of the beauty of the Transkei. We arrived at the hostel around 3 and were pleased to see that we would have a cottage to ourselves for our 4 nights there.

Some of you will know that I had full intentions of learning to surf while I was in SA. Well, I didn't really meet that goal, but on Thursday morning, we were signed up for surfing lessons. We met our instructor and made our way to the beautiful beach. It was an absolutely wonderful morning for learning to surf - bright beautiful sunshine and waves that were small enough for beginners. We went through the safety briefing, had a few good laughs, and carefully listened to the instructions on how exactly we were supposed to go from beside the board, to on the board, to standing on the board. I think we were both pretty skeptical that this was going to work. So, with our shorty wetsuits on (the water there is much colder than the Durban water), we were out into the ocean. I was first - up onto the board, with our instructor holding the board to help me get lined up with a wave, then he lets go and says, up up. And, I never would have guessed this could happen - I was standing on the surf board. Crazy! I was pretty proud of myself. Once off the board (not particularly gracefully), I turned around just in time to see Ellie standing on her board. Yeah us! So the rest of the lesson wasn't quite as successful, but still a ton of fun. After an hour and a bit, Ellie and I were both exhausted and decided we would do the second half of our lesson the next day. We spent the rest of the day really enjoying being in such a beautiful place - a walk on the beach, lunch by the pool, and lots of time sitting reading in the sun. Late Thursday night, some more of the crew arrived - Mat and Carolyn from Grahamstown and Gloria from Windhoek.

Friday morning, we were up again for more 'surfing'. For me this second day went so much better. Ellie and I were sent right out while Gloria and Mat got their safety talk and instructions. It was a lot harder to do everything yourself without the help of somebody with a lot more experience, but I had a few moments of success and was actually able to catch a wave and get up on a few occasions. Again after about an hour, I was exhausted and had more than a few bruises forming, but had a ton of fun.

Lots of laughs while learning

Ok, so not the most beautiful thing - but I am standing (barely). 

And she wasn't sure she wanted to try surfing. 

Not really on a wave, but standing and in enough control to smile at Ellie. 

So very very tired. 

Next day, Mat and Gloria surfed again. My body was too sore.

Mat working on his paddling skills. 

Like Gloria, I found body surfing quite fun when the standing up wasn't working so well. 

That is one happy surfing girl 

Just had to throw this photo in - I may not be much of a surfer, but I can build a card castle. 

Anyways, the rest of the extra long weekend was spent at the beach, having a few drinks, and just enjoying getting to be with some of my South Africa people. It was the perfect way to end my time here. Gloria, Ellie and I drove back to Durban yesterday and the next day and a half will be spent finishing up (or maybe more starting and finishing) packing, saying some good byes and do last minute errands to get everything ready for the trip home. Thanks so much to all of you for following me along with my adventures while here in South Africa. I will have a few more SA postings before I let this trip go, but I guess this is the last one about an adventure. Sad. So, until the next adventure...

And thanks Ellie for most of these pictures.