Adventureland continued...

After our 2 days in Hermanus, Melissa and I then stopped in very quiet little towns along the Garden Route, the first called Swellendam and the other called Knysna. Beautiful places, both of them, but very very quiet. We were 2 of 6 guests at the backpackers in Swellendam and the only 2 guest at the one in Knysna. The highlights of my time there: a nice hike to a dried up waterfall in the forest near Swellendam and a cruise around the harbour in Knysna. Knysna is also where Melissa and I parted ways. She desperately wanted to go back to Hermanus (her story to tell, not mine), so we went our separate ways after 10 days of travelling together. I was back to my solo-traveling ways.

I went off to Storms River, home of the world's highest commercial bungee jump at 216 meters. The only reason for me stopping there was to watch the bungee jump, not do it. As I've said before, it's just not my thing. It so happened that a Canadian girl arrived the following morning to do the jump, so I was joined by Mairead, a lovely Irish girl I'd previously met on the bus to/from Hermanus, to watch her jump. We payed an extra 50 rand (approx. 7$) to walk under the bridge and watch from the platform. Now honestly, the walk to the platform was scary enough for me, as it's done on a wobbly grill and you can see straight down to the valley/river below. I made it to the jump site without looking down once. Once there, it was thrilling to see how the jumpers reacted before and after their jumps. Lots of adrenaline, for sure.

While there, the bungee crew were working hard on getting Mairead and I (i.e. the watchers) to do the jump. Actually, they didn't waste a lot of time on me, since I looked very determined that I wouldn't be jumping. But Mairead was wavering between doing it and not. Long story short (actually, a very loooong story ;-) ), she decided to do it, then spent about 20 minutes on the edge of the platform trying to jump, while constantly being reassured by the excellent crew that she could do it. She finally gave up and we walked off the bridge. At the edge of the bridge, we met 2 English lads who had bet on her jumping or not. Nicely enough, both guys, including the one who had bet against her jumping, convinced Mairead to join them and try again. So back under the bridge we went, and this time she jumped (helpfully shoved by the crew) without hesitation. It was amazing to see her overcome her fears.

The next day, I went on my own version of an adventure activity, a zip line tour above a waterfall in the Tsitsikamma National Park. There are 8 zip lines to cross in all, and the first couple of them were a bit scary, getting the hang of it and feeling confident that the damn things will be able to hold me up :-) But all in all, it was a fun thing to do, but not very adrenaline-inducing. The scenery was nice, what I actually got to see of it. You see, the guide would tell us for some of the zip lines where we should start braking. For example, start braking when you get to that big tree over there. So what would I do? Just focus on the tree and nothing else. Didn't see much of the scenery on those lines...

After the waterfall zip line tour, I headed out yet again to the bungee jump. This time to watch 2 other guys from my hostel who were doing it. Noticing a trend yet? This was now the 4th time in my trip (twice in NZ, twice in SA) that I've watched others do the bungee jump. And of course, on my last day in Storms River, sitting in the sun just hanging around and waiting for my bus to bring me to my next destination, I started regretting not doing it. Somewhere along the line, the bungee jump has become something of a symbol to me, overcoming fears, yes, but more than that, proving that it isn't too late for me to 'live' a little. Do something adventurous, exciting. Things I didn't do in my 20's and have thought I'd never get around to doing. Now don't get me wrong, it's not like I think 37 is old, but still, not being fit for most of my life has left me with a body that does feel older than my age most of the time. I left Storms River with a definite sense of disappointment. Hopefully, next time I come across a bungee jump, I won't hesitate & I'll just do it.