Hi!!!!! hope your all keeping well!!

Well we've arrived in the most beautiful part of South Africa, where traditional African life and values are still carried out!! The Baz Bus dropped us off at a garage, which is where we got a shuttle bus to the Coffee Shack!! from what we thought was going to be a twenty minute drive turned out to be over an hours drive!! as we drove along the pothole road, we could see all the green African mud huts, which are really funky!! the hostel seemed quite small when we first got there, but we soon realised it wasnt when they went to take us to our dorm!! so we followed them out the back of the hostel and climbed down onto the beach (well it was more of a river with sand banks, which led down to the sea!!) anyway, we had to cross this river to get to our dorms - which were just like those huts that we had seen on our way here!! - the river was pretty shallow when we arrived, so we could jump over it, but they warned us that we would probably need to be careful later on at night because it can become quite deep!!!! something i was not looking forward to!! hehe!!

While we were in Coffee Bay we went on one of the tours from the hostel!! it took us climbing up over the cliffs and then down to the sea and into the caves, which were really amazing - well that is a part from the hundreds of bats that were in there as well!! - pretty scary and disgusting!!! hehe!! our guide - Lindgani also took some people for a 'natural shower,' where you basically had to stand at the edge of the rocks and get soaked by the waves coming in!!! so of course stephen had to have a go!! hehe!! he also took us to this really beautiful river, where a few people dived in off some really high rocks - thats before they saw the cows about 20 metres away using it as a toilet - o how i laughed so much!! hehe!!

The next night a few of the people who worked in the hostel, who also live in Coffee Bay took us to their local bar, which was basically like an off licence with a cage in front of it and a few old benches for everyone to sit on while they drank!! it was pretty cool!! a 750ml bottle of beer only cost about 60p!!! while we were there i was kinda forced into trying chicken feet!!!! i know it sounds absolutely disgusting but i like to say it was a new experience - horrible as it was!! hehe!! well actually it wasnt to bad - at first i felt really sick - even looking at it cos it was yellow, slimy and slightly warm which arent good combinations!!  the guy even had to pull the nails out of it before i bit into it - nice!!! hehe!! it was a bit gristly but it wasnt too bad - although i dont think ill have it again for a while!!  other people tried chicken heads - i dont think i could have done it - i mean the beak was still attached, and the sound of the crack when they bit into it was so repulsive!!! hehe! ooo we also tried their "local" beer - another delightful experience!!hehe! they passed around a milk carton with what was like a warm beer milkshake/yoghurt - i think that was even worse than the feet!! and thats saying something!! hehe!

The bar in the actual hostel was the only place to go in the evening, but it was a lot of fun!! they had a rule that u were only allowed to drink with your left hand - a really hard thing to do if your used to drinking with your right!!! (u should try it!!) anyway if they caught u not doing it they would shout Buffalo and you would have to down your drink!! so we all learnt pretty quickly to change hands!! hehe!!

Anyway this place has been absolutely amazing and i definately want to come back some day!! even for the scenery - its so beautiful, rural and traditional - i love it!! o and the nightly treks across the river make it even more fun - with just a small torch to lead the way!! hehe!! its by far the beat place we've been to so far!

Hope your all having fun!!

love you all lots,

rach xxx