We made it to Knysna a couple hours later and checked into Island Vibe Backpackers. It was still pretty dreary outside so we decided to rent a couple movies. We went to a little store called Vee's Videos and got two movies. The woman at the counter was so nice! A man, who I'm guessing is her husband, came out from the back to talk to us as well, and we stood there for about ten minutes chatting.
That night we decided to add up how much everyone owed each other, which turned into mainly how much everyone owes Nick. We couldn't believe how expensive our trip had turned out to be! Granted, it was way less expensive than most trips we had seen advertised, but more expensive than we originally planned. Personally, I blame the Boma.
Day 17
The next day the weather was a little better but we decided to keep moving towards home. There was one last thing I had to do though. We drove back towards the eastern cape and stopped at the border, where there happens to be a big bridge they call Bloukrans. Since I first came to South Africa I knew I wanted to bungy off this bridge, and our friends in AIFS did it over September recess, which fueled me even more. But I was so nervous when we pulled in! Nick had already jumped with AIFS and Emmi is TERRIFIED of heights so I had to convince Damon to go with me. Unfortunately, though, he wasn't even scared! He went first and just stepped off the bridge like it was nothing. We were in a group with 4 other people: one woman who was from Chicago and had a bad ankle so she had to use a body cord instead of an ankle one (which sounds better, but you flip over when you get to the end), and a man named Corey who lives in Hawaii but I'm not sure where he's from. I went last. I was so terrified that I thought I might not jump, but I told myself I had to just go whenever they counted down. I hopped up to the edge without looking over it and then closed my eyes. I opened them briefly while they were counting, then closed them before I bent my knees and jumped. I opened them again to see where I was falling to, and then I tried to scream but the air caught in my throat and I couldn't. I closed my eyes again as I hit the bottom because I was spinning a lot. I opened them every now and then to see the view and kept breathing in through my nose and out of my mouth. It was scary, but even more it was uncomfortable, especially when the cord would pull you back up a little and let you down again. My hands went completely numb and I just waited to feel the tug on my cord. I'd like to say I was relieved when I heard the guy coming to retrieve me, but I didn't really take a breath until I got onto the platform. I clung to the grate until they had me completely unstrapped and I could stand again. I really thought I would like the experience once it was over, but I don't have any desire to ever bungy jump again. Don't get me wrong, I'm really glad I did it because I can say I jumped off the highest bridge in the entire world, and also because now I never have to do it again. Watching our videos in the shop, I couldn't believe my neck didn't hurt worse from the whiplash. I had really hoped to do a pretty swan dive off the ledge, but once you're up there you have no control of your body because of the fear.
(Having trouble with the video upload, but it is on Facebook!)
With that checked off my list (and Damon hating me just a little), we made our way back to the western cape. This time we stopped at a sunny spot in Wilderness for lunch and to figure out what we wanted to do with the rest of our time. We decided that it wasn't worth it to stop anywhere to stay overnight, especially since we were only about 5 hours from Stellenbosch, so we decided to go to Cape Agulhas and then head back to Stellenbosch one night early.
I woke up in my bed at Concordia the next morning, completely exhausted, but we had one more stop. We ate breakfast at Julian's then drove towards Cape Town to hike Table Mountain. One word of advice: Don't attempt to take a standard up the hill to Table Mountain. Caroline didn't exactly cooperate and now I'm traumatized. But! We did make it up alive and well.
The hike was a bit harder than we expected, but the views were beautiful! We passed several waterfalls and some really pretty flowers before hiking up the rocky Platteklip Gorge (with quite a few stops on the way). The clouds were rolling in and it got pretty cold at the top. We finally made it up but couldn't see much of anything until after lunch when the clouds dispersed a little. It was hard, but it's awesome to say that we hiked to the top of one of the natural wonders of the world! The ride back down, however, was not so wonderful. We took the gondola, which is a big round car with windows all around and a floor that spins. There were so many tourists packed in with their souvenirs and cameras. We had a couple tourists shove a camera over our shoulder and knock us out of the way to get pictures, which was ridiculous. Needless to say, we were glad once we were back on the ground (Emmi especially).
The trip was incredible and I couldn't have asked for better people to spend all that time with. It certainly had a couple of downs but those made for the best stories, which we can laugh about now and years to come. I'd say it was the best way to wrap up our time here in South Africa for sure! :)
Oh, and just in case you didn't catch my 'Goodbyes Begin' post.... 20 minutes before we had to say goodbye to Nick, we did get that jumping picture right!
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