We woke up, but was slow to get moving. There was still so much to do, and we tried desperately to fit everything into our backpacks, which turned out to be a bit on the heavy side. We ended up leaving a lot behind. Tersia made us a lovely breakfast, and we had to return the car to Avis at Margate Airport before 9am. We had a coffee, then Ters collected us and stopped by Paddy's place so that we could say good-bye to our dear old friend and his wife Gracy.
It wasn't until 12am that we were dropped off at the Wild Coast Sun where we would start our hike.
It was overcast, and we were hoping the weather would let up, but I didn't suspect it would. Wow, it was good to be back! We hiked towards the Petrified Forrest, passing a couple of people on our way. The first river we had to cross was the Mzamba, but the tide was coming in, which would make it difficult to cross if it's too deep, because our packs are heavy and we risk loosing a lot if our gear got wet.
We hiked faster, but it was as we feared, too deep to cross, and there was no ferry in sight, so we set up camp, just in the nick of time, because it started raining. We have these amazing tents from Topeak, called bikecampers, which you are meant to set up by using your bicycle as the structure, but since we have no bicycles this time, we made a structure using conduit piping, which is light to carry and reasonably flexible. In theory it's a great design, provided there's no wind and no rain. It was a tight squeeze, but we remained dry.
There was still enough daylight in which to play out in the rain, and adjust to our surroundings. What a priviledge it is to be able to experience this once again. There is a certain magic about the Wild Coast, which is inexplicable at best. I had memories of a previous time that we were here at this very spot, and we met a man named Andre, who lived on a property just a little bit into the forrest, and so I made my way in the general direction, to see if there was any traces left of him. Dante and Katryn came with me, but they were very alert. I walked quite deep into the forrest, and still couldn't find this place. There was a network of foot paths, all leading in different directions. There were the strangest sounds coming from deep within the forrest which not only had the dogs spooked, but me also, especially since the sound were around us now. The next moment Katryn jumped, and before I knew it, they bolted in the direction we came from. I didn't wait around to see what got them so spooked, as I was right behind them.
I eventually found the path which leads to this property, but this time I got Maria to come with me. The place was run down and deserted, not that it was in top shape the last time we saw it, only no sign of Andre. We walked around a bit, saw a snake, and that was the sign I needed, to get out, because the place gives me the creeps.
Maria says that the main building looks like it burnt down, but I didn't even see that as I was getting out of there!
We quickly washed and ate before it got too dark, then we crawled into our tents, and lay listening to the sound of the waves before drifting off to sleep...
