Berlin baby!

I arrive in Berlin as a brunette! I got sick of the upkeep of the blonde and went back brunette. Was weird for a while, sometimes I still look in the mirror and have to look twice.


I arrived around breakfast time and have a few hrs to wait for Jenny (Eugenia) to arrive. Jenny is a russian girl I met and lived with in Canada and her family live in Germany so we are meeting up, along with another friend from Canada, Kim.
When I see Jenny I almost hide. Here I am with no make up, tired as hell and looking even worse and when I see her she is in a sexy blue dress, heels, hair done and perfect make up!!   It is quite obvious which one of us flew first class!! 
She is her usual excitable self, making those inaudible sounds and squeals of excitement that I have missed so much.
Kim's flight arrives soon after so we make our way to greet her and meet Jenny's mum. I must add here that Jenny's family does not speak English so the whole time poor Jen has to translate every conversation for us!

                                                            Jenny and her Mum




After this Jenny's brother and Oma greet us with a bunch of flowers each and a bottle of champagne. We head back to her mum's apartment and get treated to a lovely German welcome feast.
Over the next week it is a mix of family BBQ's, nightclubbing and sightseeing.
We take a hop on hop off bus ride around the city and visit the Berlin Wall, take a boat ride on the spree, take photos at the Brandenbuger Tor, statue of Victoria, checkpoint charlie, Berlin Zoo. Jenny's family take us to a German Beer house where they serve beer in Litre glasses. We also went to Madame Tussauds and made good friends with some of Jenny's friends Schenja and Anastasia.

                                                                    Berlin wall

                                                            Bus trip around city

                                                            Jenny's brother Andre

                                                              Me and Anastasia

                                                                  Me and Jenny

                                         German Tapas with Kim, me, Schenja & Jenny

                               Kim, Jenny, Me, Paul, Schenja, Irena @ German Beer house

                                          Posing in front of the Brandegurger Tor at night

Sexy scuba city!

After leaving Cape Town and flying back to Johannesburg, I was inspired not to waste any more time and wanted to fit in as much of Africa as I could so I booked a last minute trip to Mozambique! I am staying at Tofo Beach, Inhambame and doing my open water scuba course.

I arrived at the airport, which looked more like my dad's work shed than an airport, to find they don't have technology, i.e. eftpos, to pay for my visa and I didn't have cash... Drama? No! We will let you go through into town and get cash out.. Security at its best!

Tofo was such a paradise, exactly what I wanted after such a hectic travel schedule. All roads made from sand, I was the only person in my accommodation which was right on the beach, bar next door, scuba place 100m up the beach. People were so friendly, I could walk around at night on my own and not only not have to worry about being safe, people would ask me if I was ok, did I need directions or a lift. 

Transportation was hilarious, the local taxi's were mini vans and the time I got in one I was joined by 29 other people!!! INSANE! Everyone gives people rides in the back of their utes, the local school bus is simply a ute for 30 school kids! You will love this mum :)

The scuba course was great. Really weird to begin with, the first time I was breathing through my regulator under water in the pool, I freaked out and came back to the surface! I didn't know why it just seemed wrong, it takes a bit of getting used to. We did 3 pool sessions and 2 sea sessions and then had to complete an exam to be qualified. The next day I got my deep water qualification as well. The second sea dive was an experience for sure. We had to practice using our dive buddy's alternate air source in case of an emergency with our own air tanks. So as I was breathing through hers she made the signal for "somethings wrong" although I did not know what exactly that was. Then she threw up in my face... straight away she takes her regulator out and goes to take mine but changes her mind and takes the instructors so he has no air. I give her alternate back, pick up mine and hand the instructor an alternate. He still has no idea what is going on!! Pretty scary at the time but all worked out in the end.

On my dives I saw many different species of fish, Manta rays, Moray Eels, reef shark and a sea turtle. Not to mention hundreds of jelly fish, they were everywhere!

I did an ocean safari where you go out on the boat and look for marine life and where possible jump in with them. I was really hoping to see the giant 6m Manta rays they are famous for or a whale shark but unfortunately that didn't happen. I did see a humpback whale and a pod of dolphins that we tried to jump in with but they just dove straight down.

After a week in Mozambique I headed back to Johannesburg with a smile on my face and a bit of a tan. I fly out to Berlin in a couple of days and I'm excited about the new adventure!!

Yvette

Coastal romp

My journey continues south toward Cape Town, by this stage it is a kind of unspoken rule that the Roxi, Eva and I stick together. We check in to the Ashanti backpackers which lies at the foot of Table Mountain and try to adjust to the drop in the temperature from our last stop.

Over the past few weeks the soccer has been going on and at this stage Holland are still in the competition so we head out for the night to a Dutch bar to watch the game with 2 other Dutch people we picked up along the way, Kylie and Joris. I think I am one of the few foreigners in the bar but I blend in by wearing the colours and painting the Dutch flag on my face. This must work because people start blabbering to me in Dutch and I have to admit I am an intruder. The game does not turn out the way we had hoped but it was such a fun night. Every time they scored beers were thrown straight up in the air and I was being taught Dutch songs, dances and swear words. I would hate to see how they party if they actually won!!

The next morning we hire a car and climb table mountain, then we drive back up the coast to Hermanus and check into a hostel intent on going shark diving the next day. Unfortunately the next morning the swell is huge so diving is cancelled, instead we drive along the coast line for a couple of hrs sightseeing and go to Stellenbosch for wine tasting and cheese.

Thankfully the swell subsides the next day and Roxi and I head out early in the morning to cage dive with Great White Sharks :). It does't disappoint!! Definitely a highlight for me. The cage is attached to the side of the boat and 4 people at one time get in the cage with only goggles. The dive master attracts the sharks with a giant fish head attached to a piece of rope and once they see a shark approaching they reel the rope toward the cage and tell us to take a breath and go under the water. The sharks are magnificent, they come right up to the cage and a couple of times run into it. At one point I got hit in the face by a tail fin and came up laughing my head off with excitement! The guy next to me reached out and touched it's tail when it hit the cage.

After the shark dive we drove back down the coastal route we had taken the day earlier, it was so beautiful, stunning mountains to the right of us and beautiful coastline to the left. We did see a HUGE pod of dolphins, Im talking at least 200, making their way up the coast but we did not see a whale which is what Hermanus is known for.

It is here where I must say goodbye to Roxi and Eva :( we have had such a great time exploring and getting to know each other. We will definitely keep in touch and are already planning for them to visit me in London for the Olympics and I will come stay with them when I travel Europe.

This is what draws me to travelling, the amazing scenes, once in a lifetime opportunities, the blending of cultures and the bonds that you make along the way. Thanks girls for an amazing time, see you soon xxx

Yvette

Baz bus continued..

After boarding the bus to leave Durban we changed our minds about our next destination, instead of Coffee Bay we headed to Cinsta. It is also on the coast with direct access to the beach. So far this has been my favourite place. The staff were great fun and the location was just perfect. Upon arrival we were served up some mulled wine which is red wine heated with spices and fruit. It was ok but I had been feeling ill for 24hrs so just went to bed. 


The next morning Eva, Roxi and I decided to take a surfing lesson down at the beach. Seemed like a good idea at the time.... We were having a ball for the first hour and were starting to get the hang of it (kinda) when chaos broke out. My surf instructor had my GoPro camera and was filming us attempting to surf, he handed it back to me saying he was worried he was going to drop it. As he handed it to me a wave smashed my board into me and I dropped it straight in the ocean!! We was frantically searching for it when we heard Roxi yell out from back at shore. At the same time the wave hit me it also hit her board straight in her face and she had broken her nose!!! There was blood pouring out and she looked like she might pass out. The hostel manager came and drove us to the hospital where they told her she would probably need an operation and have to cut her holiday short, she was devastated to say the least. Luckily the specialist the next day said no operation was necessary she had to wait for swelling to go down and they would push it back in place so she could stay for the last week of her trip. Not to mention our hostel felt so bad they upgraded us to an amazing cabin overlooking the beach :)

The drama at Cinsta didn't stop there, due to their awesome "free wine at 3pm every day" we then missed our bus and had to stay another night!! We didn't mind though as we were having a ball.
The next day we left and headed down the coast to Jeffereys Bay. By this stage I had convinced the girls that private rooms were better than dorms and so we shared a triple room right on the beach. This area is known for its "super tubes" and the Billabong surfing comp was happening there in a couple of weeks. They also have factory outlets for Billabong, Roxi and Rip Curl so of course we went shopping. That night a local group of dancers came and entertained us at the bar doing traditional songs, drumming and dance. 
The next morning we decided doing another surfing lesson was most likely pushing the envelope so instead we took a day trip to Seaview Lion Park where were able to get in a cage with Tiger cubs and a rare black leopard cub as well as driving through Lion enclosures. One lioness sat right outside our car window staring for about 2 mins and then roared at us like she was gonna jump in and eat us! Scared the hell out of our driver who insisted we leave after that!

Next stop on the bus trip was supposed to be Knysna, we had heard all these great things about the area but as we drove in to it we realised it was not what we expected. We had made a booking at a hostel there so we got off the bus but 10 mins later we cancelled our booking and got a ride to the next town Sedgefield. It was right on the beach and the Sedgefield markets were on the next day which were supposed to be amazing.
We didn't do any activities here, just went out to dinner at a local Italian restaurant and then had a party at the bar and built a bonfire on the beach. Staff here again were fantastic and really looked after us (free chocolate tequila shots) so the next morning I chose to stay in bed and let the girls go to the market without me...


I am really enjoying South Africa, I can't believe the things you are able to experience here.
I feel like I am running out of time, there are so many places I want to see and I am not going to be able to fit them all in. This is somewhere I definitely want to return to in the future.


Yvette