Heading to Durban from Coffee bay is always a bit of a bitter sweet situation, on one hand its really exciting to be heading to a new destination but on the other you're leaving this beautiful rural area and heading into the big city.
Just as we were about to leave Olly remembered that we had bought cray fish the day before and hadn't cooked them yet, so he quickly fried them up and made us all eat our cray fish at 8am in morning before our 8 hour drive. I wasn’t so sure it was a good call but it ended up being delicious.
On arrival we headed straight to the backpackers on the bluff- a surfing spot, well known for its powerful hollow waves. The backpackers is owned by the famous Palmboom family, Rudy Snr is a big wave charger as well as being known for his barrel riding. Their two kids are also very well known surfers and Hiedi does the catering for our groups when we head to Durban as well as coming and enjoying a night out with us every now and then.
Durban is always a fun stop, the waves are pumping, the vibe buzzing with the excitement of being back in the city; knowing that we are going to go check out some wildlife at a game reserve always excites a few members of the group as well as have a Jol (good time) on the flow rider.
There a few things in that most South Africans would classify as a ‘Must Do’ and one of them is going to watch a rugby game, we managed to catch the local team, the Sharks, play a game at the King Shaka stadium. The game was really exciting and we drank a couple of beers and ate hotdogs. After the game we went and had a little dance at the local club.
There are a couple of surf sessions that really need to be mentioned, one of the highlights for Olly was a session he had after a big night out where he went out on the bluff and had the session of a life time. The waves were barreling and a couple of the local guys were screaming him on to some epic hollow waves, as a result he ended up getting a massive ding in his board cutting his session short. The other session to mention must be one of the last, the group all had their new surfboards, and when you change equipment it can sometimes be pretty challenging- so the group all managed to paddle out by the piers in Durban city and get some epic waves on their new boards putting very BIG smiles on there faces.
The game drive is always something to be mentioned. We woke up early and started up on our hour drive in land to Tala game reserve, We drove around and got to see some really cute giraffes and some not so cute hippos, as well as loads of impala and wildebeest. We were very lucky to come across a rare bird, with a beautiful piercing orange on its neck. All in all it was a great experience.
One activity that never seems to let us down with the amount of laughter is going on the flow rider. Chris like sand boarding didn’t really get it as quickly as the rest of us did. Michelle and Olly did pretty alright and I, as per usual, had some epic wipeouts. We all had a great laugh on it, it was the perfect way to lead into our last night in Durban before everyone flew out the next day. Our last night is always filled with mixed emotions, we all made our own pizzas and enjoyed a couple of beers reminiscing the last 6 weeks we spent together and all the funny, odd, silly, great things we all did over the trip.
Thanks Olly, Michelle, Chris and Charley for an epic trip.
Nikita
And as one trip ends another one begins… here is a quick note from our South African team ahead of the upcoming September trip!