Hi everyone! well it feels like it has been a while since we last wrote, so sit tight, grab a cuppa and enjoy!
Arriving at Jeffery's Bay was a light relief in one way or another - all the way up the coast we had met several people but at Island Vibe, the hostel where we were staying there were lots of people!! known as the party place we did feel that we ere back at freshers week! funny though!
We spent 4 days here where we learnt to surf and improved on a tanning techniques - this place was so laid back and chilled it was good to be somewhere like this and spent a decent amount of time there. We met a couple of girls Emma and Jenny who we spent a lot of time with - a nice change as travelling at the moment there are so many guys to girls - therefore dorms are constantly boy-i-fied (time to enter deodrant, perfume and other girly things to spruce the place up!)
as well as tanning there were SHOPS!! lots of surfing shops too and then across the road - FACTORY SHOPS (thought a lot about you mrs jones!) it was great fun baggaing a bargain! so after (hannah) leaving all of bikinis in the UK im now dolled up and ready to hit the beach!
on our last night there was a full moon party - no music though which was pretty random but we had a few dudes strumming on the guitar here and there so it was all good!
from jefferys bay, we started making our way back down the garden route. the journey was painful to say the least - so long - but when we arrived at our shuttle bus to go to next destination Oudtshoorn, we still had another hr to go. the drive though was incredible right through the mountains into a really cute little town - also known as the capital of ostriches! the hostel when we arrived was awesome too - home from home almost! The next day, not having not done a lot in J-Bay we hired two bikes for the day where we were driven to the top of a mountain - again incredible views! we were up in the clouds!! I (hannah) rode down the mountain which took about half an hour, well when i say ride, i mean having immese control on the break, no paddling whatsover!! after that we went tothe Cango Caves where we did a tour and went through some horrible caves that were so tight to squeeze through - not for the overally large or chastophobic person!! jo very nicely offered me to go first and i can honestly say that was the first time i was scared - it was too small, slimey and just generally icky! in our group as well we had a couple of 7yr old boys who were just catapulting though these gaps! so after that rather adventourous tour, we took our bikes (and bikinis ) on a 17km ride to some tea gardens - a very peaceful gorgeous garden with a swimming pool - must have looked pretty shattered as you are meant to pay but the lady just saud 'go, quick jump in!' after drifting in and out of sleep we went to the ostrich farm - the highlight of our day!
we learnt all about ostriches, the meat the leather that comes from them (i was tempted to nick the rather large sample, but dont think customs would have liked it!) there were loads of opportunities to get involved but osteriches are fiscious little things so we didnt do any other than ride them! out of group of about 20, Jo and I were the only ones allowed to do it - due to weight so i nominated Jo to go first! will be trying to upload the video as it is so funny, but i was crying with laughter!! so funny and such a highlight!!!
from there we called the guys at the hostel to come and pick us up! no way were we riding back too tired! anyway from there we just relaxed back at the hostel thinking about what we had done and what we hadnt - enter the next daft thought after the bungee - i know lets go shark cage diving! Glenn, who owned the hostel, was really helpful he knew we couldnt be bothered to arrange it and change our bus and hostel details so he did it for us and the next thing we knew we were on our way to hermanus! the home of shark diving.... going to pass you on to Jo now, my hands hurt!!

Thanks Han.....................ok so having arrived at Hermanus and into another hostel in a another somewhat quiet town, we headed to bed fairly early to be at our best for what could potentially be a very dangerous experience. 5am and we were up on a shuttle to Gansbai.....after a hearty breakfast of eggs, toast and muffins and a brief we were on what looked like a rather small boat with another 15 people venturing out to sea in search of some sharks!!!!

After the first group went down and the tuna/chum/bait was out the sharks came, approximately 10 foot was the largest.....however as quick as they came as quick they also left! The second group were not so lucky.....no sitings and in the cage for about an hour, as you can imagine our thoughts were "we've blown our chances now!".......Then at the command of girls get in now from Dan our skipper/cameraman we were in and ready and practically bait ourselves!!!!! Hannah being the first in had the best postion in the cage (the end!) and most exposed.....oh how she loved that and soon moved! We have to have been so lucky and as a group saw the most sharks!!!! Amazing!!! With the visability not being at it's best, made it feel alot scarier too!!!!

The journey back to shore we were all on an absolute massive high and and new found shark friends Will, Craig and Saskia were also to be our journey back to Cape Town too!!!!! No more Baz Bus for us...........after a video de-brief and some more chatting we landed ourselves a lift back to CT in a BMW Convertable 3 Series blah blah blah (we didn't know the car before we chose to accept the lift and we vetted them making sure us girls and saskia were going to be safe!!!) Such a funny journey home!!! We still cannot beleive our luck and how we managed to fit all our rucksacks in!!!!!

Back in CT almost felt like home, we settled back into Ashanti Lodge for the next couple of days and Saskia also joined us as we got ready for a night out Cape Town Style!!! Starting with drinks in the Mount Nelson's cocktail bar and a few more Mojitos later we had dinner at a restaurant at the Waterfront finally ending with some more drinks and music in Cubanas!!! A very good night had by all!!!!

Our next day was probably not the best day to have booked a Cape Penninsula Tour, but hey when your travellling and you only have a few days left then a hang over is no excuse!!!! 08:30 we then boarded our bus for the day and was welcomed by Roger our tour guide.....aka Barry Humpries/Dame Edna Dude!? Wierd as we had not yet ventured to OZ!? Anyhow we took onboard his little ways and random facts and ventured down to Cape Point and Cape of Good Hope via Simon's Town and Hout Bay seeing penguins/whales and baboons and rode on bikes and on mostly on foot embracing the amazing views!!!!

That night we met up with Emma and Jenny from J-Bay for a meal and a few drinks before we headed to some well deserved sleep!!!! Our final day in CT wanted to be a full on sunworshipping day however not coming as a suprise the clouds loomed! So shopping it was, in the markets and at The V&A! That night we went to our favourite location......Camps Bay for a lovely Thai meal, along with some dancing in Ignite!

All packed and ready for OZ we got picked up by our private airposrt shuttle and headed to the airport.........mmmmmm what luck we seem to have, 5 mins into the journey our driver seemed to think he had a flat tyre......and oh yes he did!!!! Not the most helpful of things to have when your on the way to the airport to board a flight!!!! Anyway, 2 randoms in a tow truck, and hannahs fear of checking in kicking in/20mins later we were back on the road!!!!

12 hours later we had said bye to South Africa and hello to a little old lady who'd lost her marbles that we had to sit next to (she thought she was on a train and everytime she got up had to be bought back to her sit cause she was lost!!!! Funny for the first 10 mins!)

Finally arriving in Sydney we were welcomed by no hostels due to the annual Mardi Gras Gay & Lesbian Festival/Parade that was taking place this weekend so a few phone calls later stayed with Kate and her boyfriend Andy from Uni at their flat in Northern Sydney!!! And this brings us to yesterday and last night whereby we took them out for a thank you meal and then experienced lots of feathers/neon/high voices/tightpants and YMCA's! The streets were heaving, thousands of people everywhere! what a great cool way to start our second continent!!!!!! Were now in a hostel called Wake UP and that sleeps approx 500, it's like a backpackers hotel for a few more days before we venture up the East Coast!!! For now then I am going to sign out and say OZ update to be continued.......................................................................