Hole in the Wall

We are happy to say that our TEFL prac is done and dusted!! We spent the weekend in an air conditioned conference room at Protea Hotel Umhlanga, over possibly the best weekend of weather that Durban has seen in the past month! However, we are both now proficient EFL teachers.

Monday morning saw us setting off from Durban to Hole in the Wall, to join Ross's family for three days. The trip was a breeze up until Port Edward - with an open highway and the ipod blaring our favourite songs while we sang along enthusiastically.

Then we crossed into the Transkei. Suddenly the fun stopped and serious concentration was needed in order to reach our destination in one piece. After a number of close misses, and words of fury from Ross, we eventually got to Port St Johns. We were now two thirds of the way to Hole in the Wall and convinced that the next stretch could only get better.

We were correct... to a point. You see, while there were far less cars on the road (to the delight of Ross), we followed the GPS blindly on a short-cut. Now we really should have known that any mention of a short-cut through the Transkei should have sent off alarm bells, but we were on an adventure.

So... onward we went, following the GPS along the bumpy, dusty, dirt road. We were excited and so proud to be real explorers on our rugged road trip through our native land. At least there weren't many other cars on our new road, and anybody who has driven through the Transkei will appreciate just how refreshing a break from the maniacs on the roads can be!  

Our little dusty road was taking us deeper into the old homelands, and further away from any prospect of help should our little car sulk with us about taking it along such a bumpy road. At least we had the GPS! We saw loads of small, isolated homesteads and crossed a few narrow bridges on our rural route. And then it happened... our GPS decided to strike - EISH!

Frantically, we tried to use Ross's cell phone to guide us safely for the rest of the way. Success! We were back on track. Now, 50 odd kilometers of bumpy, dusty, dirt road later, we were positive that we were close to a tar road. We were wrong. As the GPS on Ross's phone indicated a further 20km to the next turn, it also politely told us to plug in the charger. Not a problem, apart from the fact that we don't have a car charger. At this point we started asking each other just how cut out we were for exploring.

Mel suddenly had a plan. We could use her laptop to charge the phone! So there she sat, a GPS, cell phone and laptop on her lap, to go along with the padkos and cool drinks at her feet. We were back on track - with an idea of where we were going. Just in time too - as we hit the tar road about 10km outside of Coffee Bay. The rest of the trip was (thankfully) pretty straight forward, and our eight-and-a-half hour trip including over 80km of dirt road, half a million maniac 'drivers', a bush wee and a temperamental GPS was over.  

We woke up excited to see the sun and spend the day on the beach. We put on our cozzies and hats, armed ourselves with our camera, grabbed an apple each and set off for a walk to see the infamous Hole in the Wall. We had an awesome family walk and relaxed on the rocks while enjoying the stunning view. The water was just too tempting, so we all had a well earned swim and enjoyed the African sun and quality time. What a fantastic start to these two little birdies' great adventure.

Photos to follow when we have a better internet connection.