Nai-publish: 06.09.2018
Hogsback... Such a beautiful place and after my last trip here in South Africa, I just had to go back there. After four hours of cramped driving in a small car, we arrived. It's such a contrast to life in the dormitory, where there's always so much going on. There in the Amatola Mountains, you can really relax and enjoy nature. At the Away with the Fairies Backpackers, which is designed in the style of Lord of the Rings, there is usually a campfire and the highlight is definitely the bathtub, which offers a super nice view of the mountains opposite. This time we reserved a slot. Then a fire is lit under a water kettle, so you actually have hot water.
There are also various hikes, to three or five waterfalls. We decided to start with the three and then see. In the end, we took five hours for the Three-Waterfall-Tour, which is actually scheduled for three hours. Not because we were slow, but because we got lost. Then we met some little children somewhere in the forest, who were collecting fir cones in wheelbarrows. They wanted to show us the way, but we ended up in a run-down yard with lots of little barking dogs. At some point, we surprised four senior citizens in their garden, where they were about to start their lunch with red wine. Luckily, they were very friendly and apparently didn't mind that five young people stumbled onto their property :D Thanks to them, we found the way to the last waterfall.
While we were away, the Iron Man finals took place in Port Elizabeth. For many, this was a reason to spend the whole weekend there and see everything, for me it was more of a reason to escape all the hustle and bustle. Weeks before, so much was being built up and days before, you could already tell that Summerstrand was much busier than usual because of the participants and spectators. In the supermarket, you could only get lucky with bananas and chicken - the athletes bought it all. When we came home on Sunday afternoon, there were still participants on the course - in pouring rain. The days before were really nice weather, which then turned into a big thunderstorm on Sunday. Our dormitory is also poorly constructed, so a lot of water ran into the staircase through the balconies - so we also had a waterfall and a small pond in the ground floor of CampusKey. Fortunately, our rooms stayed dry.