Different roads

aka Swansong - II

Is it just me? Or did Smaug's growl (it could hardly be called a roar) at the end of The Hobbit sound like a giant big block V8 starting up? :D

Last weekend I took a trip down to Asansol and it wasn't just the usual family visit. There was a wedding to be attended. I wasn't the only one who made it, so a few of us converged on the old school campus after many years. As is usually the case with such visits, old memories hung thick in every corner and corridor. I'm afraid the wedding reception was rather overrun by excited recollections from a decade ago :).

Speaking of recollections, let's continue with the story where I'd left off. So we left the Western Cape behind and started making our way east. The idea was to make it from Cape Town to Durban in three days. Yes, a somewhat steep hill to climb, but we were in high spirits. The first day went about as perfectly as anyone could ask.

The weather was perfect and so were the roads. We hugged the coast for a little while before it became obvious that this wasn't going to be the usual long distance trip across an unobtrusive landscape. Not that I'm one to complain about that :). Rolling hills, sudden passes, deep gorges, tantalizing views of rivers rushing along at impossible depths. To say nothing of the changing vegetation. It was as if every few hours or so the whole world around us transformed itself just to keep things interesting :).

I kept thinking about the last most spectacular road trip I'd ever been on, back in New Zealand. This was as close as I'd ever come to that in the intervening five years, and it wasn't for lack of trying! Eventually we hit the ocean again, close to Mossel Bay and made our way to Knysna. It was just an overnight stop, but we managed to make it to the lagoon waterfront and even found a particular seafood restaurant that had been recommended by some fellow divers in Simon's Town :).

Early next morning, it was off to the Storms River. We weren't just going to be driving through for three full days, we'd decided, so zip-lining on the way was just the thing! As far as adrenaline rushes go, it turned out to be fairly tame :). But hanging suspended 30m above the forest floor and zooming across from tree to tree was quite a refreshing experience! Once we were done with that, seeing how the Storms River mouth was really quite close by, we decided to visit that too.

We might have gotten a little carried away by the Middle-Earthesque scenery a bit, as it was very late in the morning by the time we got back on the road. We still had about 600km to travel to our next stop! We did quite well, despite the traffic and the road-works. But then the GPS got us in a spot of bother. Luckily, we'd been in touch with the proprietor of out next hotel at Haga-Haga. When we called to let her know we were quite close and told her where we were, she seemed to go into quite a panic! We'd overshot the mark by a good 90kms!!

Getting lost in a foreign country can be a bit distressing. Especially having just spent most of a very long day in a car. Thus it was quite a dreary trio in a completely inappropriate vehicle that traversed the last 15kms bouncing along on a bone-jarringly awful dirt road in a darkness pierced by cicadas. But then things looked up again. The proprietors turned out to be an extremely charming old couple thoroughly worried about our ordeal. Dinner was waiting as was the lawn out back. We were back at the ocean, and even though we couldn't see it, there was no mistaking the crashing waves and the soothing breeze.

The plan had been to leave again the next morning, and head all the way to Durban. But, cold beer in hand, standing in the wind, the water that close and absolutely nothing else for miles and miles all around (not to mention the 15km of horrifying dirt that would have to be covered before we could go anywhere), we couldn't help but throw all the plans to the wind and ask the owners for another night on our cabana. The gentleman was only too happy to oblige us, and we woke up the next morning, three rather tired but extremely happy people.

The resort lay at the edge of the water. A mix of rocky and sandy beaches stretched both ways as far as the eyes travelled. And there was hardly a soul to speak of. Paradise, as far as I was concerned!

Currently: reminiscing
Listening to: Dido - Sitting on the roof of the world

Swansong - I

It's not that I haven't been somewhat occupied lately. Impending life changes of the dramatic type tend to bring with them a whole lot of rather more banal details to sort out. Nevertheless, I find my thoughts straying back to South Africa. Barely a month past, it already seems like a long while ago.

Much has happened since, and I'm rather happy I managed to fit in a quick trip to Bombay over the weekend in-between. You see, farewells aren't something I get to do personally very often. Not that I'm one much given to whims, but things seem to work out that way more often than not :).

Anyway, I figured if I thought one of these days I'd be able to put down the whole story of the South Africa trip, I was kidding myself. For one thing, it'd take forever. For another, it'll be closer to a short book than a blog post :P. But where do I start?

The thing with this trip was that it was really quite random :). As has been the case before, there wasn't a lot of time for planning. Well, not for me anyway. While we'd been hoping to go on this trip for almost a month, it wasn't until about a day or so before crew change that we actually knew it was on! Yeah, hurray for late cancellations.

One of the regrets I've had for a while was never visiting Cape Town on my previous South Africa trip, so I was quite happy to begin this one doing just that! The V&A Waterfront is quite the place. But since we'd already picked up what was to be our car for the next 10 days, we decided on staying out in the rather more quiet Simon's Town on the other side of the Cape.

What followed was three days of scuba diving and relaxed ambles down the Main Street in some spectacularly chilly weather for the middle of summer :). Instead of trying to find a hotel, we'd actually got ourselves a little holiday rental place close to the beach. The view looking out over False Bay was quite spectacular.

I hadn't had a dive for a bit over a year, so it was a bit interesting. Especially the shore dives. I'd absolutely never waded into the water and then just kept on walking as it got deep enough :). There were a couple of scares with the weather and visibility, but all in all it turned out to be good fun.

On the last day we decided to drive down to Cape Point. We were too late to get in, but the drive around itself was a spectacle! The next morning though, we went again, this time all the way to the old lighthouse at Cape Point :).

It was one of those life-affirming sort of moments. You know, the kind that seem to in some way justify all the shit you've taken in the immediate past ;). All the colours seemed to be especially bright. The blues and greens, the whites of the wave tops. Even the sand seemed a sparkling gold.

About the only thing that helped us move on was the lure of the epic road-trip we were about to embark upon. All the way from Cape Town to Durban. But of course, little did we know exactly how epic just then :).

Currently: reminiscing
Listening to: Lifehouse - Between the raindrops (feat. Natasha Bedingfield)

The choices we make

It would seem, one sure thing with change is that it is sudden. Even when it isn't it surely appears that way. Sometimes there's even a choice. But when you think about it you wonder if there really ever is. I mean who would refuse something only because it would cause change? Yeah, some people, I guess. :)

Had things gone on as they were supposed to, I would be just about getting started with the packing, heading back to the boat. Shame, would have managed to see Namibia. Haven't actually been to a new country in well over a year.

Now I have at least a month at home. Well, half of that is gone in a hurry. It was a little strange getting back behind the wheel here again. :) Too much driving in, shall we say, somewhat different driving conditions. Bit ominous, that. Seeing how I don't expect to drive in India for the next few years.

Bottom-line is, my boat days are over. For the foreseeable future anyway. Who would have thought? :) I didn't! I never thought I would be ready to stay in one place for long. Still don't, but then, I'm never really ready for anything till it's all over me, so who knows.

Be nice to land in Norway in the summer I guess. And afterwards, there's all that snow to look forward to...

Currently: hmm..
Listening to: Lifehouse - Slow motion

Days of wonder

Now that it's over and I'm about ready to fly back home, looking back on the whole trip, it's beginning to slowly sink in.

I've seen more than I had ever hoped to see. I have heard lions roar in the wild. I have seen sharks swim serenely by a meter away. I have stood on a beach where a river meets the ocean and felt the heat of one water meet the cold of another. I have stood on the top of a mountain and seen the world fall away all the way into the sea. I drove to the edge of the horizon and then beyond. Over and over again :).

One of these days I will sit down and remember all the other incredible things from these last sixteen days.

Feeling: overwhelmed :)
Listening to: Barenaked Ladies - Pinch me

Havoc and bright lights

 

It's a little scary how much has happened in the last couple of weeks. The vessel sailed from Durban to the west, past Cape Town. We crew changed a few crazy days later and washed up on the shore of Cape Town. Which is where the vacation started.

Scuba diving in False Bay. A crazy road trip from Cape Town along the Garden Route via some spectacular roads and stops along the way. A completely impromptu day spent in Haga Haga. (Yeah, you'll have to look it up, the shelly beach of the Wild Coast, the sign said. We got lost several times just trying to get there. But once we did, we really didn't want to leave :).) Yet more scuba diving, this time at the Aliwal Shoal. And now we are back in Durban again!

But that's not all. There's still another six days to go. Who knows what else might happen.

Currently: a little overwhelmed
Listening to: Joshua Radin - These photographs