I wake up in the dorm to the sound of people packing and moving about. I manage to sleep until 7:40 when things are calm again.
Dean is outside smoking a joint and coughing his lungs out. Frik tells him that they’re leaving at 8am and he better be ready. “Where are my black jeans?”.
I drink my coffee while watching the waves; which are small. My decision as to where to go next was to be decided by the ocean: if the long period swell had arrived I would go down to Shark Point to check out the wave, but if it was small I would go up to Mbotyi and do some running. The ocean doesn’t impress me; so it is decided then - running it is.
I’m eating some leftover curry for breakfast - which has doubled in deliciousness - and have a lovely chat with Travis, an Australian traveller who’s on a two year world trip. He convinces me that Turkey is a must do spot in Europe. Dean rolls out of the shower at 8:05am wearing blue jeans.
I spend some time finishing up and posting the Mdumbi Magic post. It’s interesting to look at this blog now after just a few weeks - it’s really got some substance to it. It’s going to be such an incredible collection of memories from this wondrous adventure.
I find a prime piece of bamboo and put it in the car; the ideal dog deterrent length with very little weight. The car is packed and I’m out of there. Driving through the main street I go the wrong way down a one-way, but everyone is very relaxed about it. I stop at a petrol station to fill up and because I really feel like I’m in Padang, Indonesia from the environment - I buy an ice cream and eat it on the bank of the river.
The drive is quite pleasant. I listen to the Doing Good series on the Waking Up app again and really get inspired with effective ultraism. I have made a reminder to take the 10% pledge of donating my earnings to charity when I’m back at work in October.
I pull into Mboyti and park off in the same campsite that me and my brother David stayed at last December. On that trip we didn’t have the time to make it out to Waterfall Bluff, so I’m planning on doing a run out into the beautiful Pondoland tomorrow.
The car is a mess and the shopping from yesterday has yet to be unpacked. I spend an hour putting some thought into the location for the various things that have come along for the journey with me. After that I need to move my body so take a little run down to the river mouth. Two puppies join in for the run along the sea shore.
The leftover curry from last night has doubled in deliciousness. My cousin Finn calls me to talk through general life happenings and how my room and surfboards have been treating him. The internet quality slowly deteriorates and at the end we’re just watching each other in stop-motion hearing things said about 30 seconds ago.
Now that I’ve eaten and caught up on things it is time to face a task that I’ve been putting off for a while; fixing my inflatable camping mattress. It sprung a leak the last time I used it, and someone mentioned that they had the same one and really struggled to fix it. Tonight is the night to at least try!
I was correct to guess that it was the join between the mattress and valve that was broken! I smear it with adhesive that came provided and am now hoping for the best. My singular challenge for the day was a small one this time around.
I make a turmeric (a new addition), ginger, honey, cayenne pepper and rooibos tea. Read my book and fall asleep to the sound of the ocean.
Starting to think about the Drakensberg. I found this great post about fast packing through the berg. I test out my mattress only to discover another hole. I fix it but am worried I’m in for a game of wack-a-mole here.
Frik (not the insurance salesman) calls and we chat about gear for the Transkei run in a 17 days. Holy shit it’s 17 days away.