"This is not your bus sister, your bus is coming..."

24/09/2013

My little adventure was SO GOOD. I left early Friday morning for my lonely bus ride to Plettenburg Bay. The journey was actually incredible. For miles and miles a patchwork of fields lined the bus until they eventually dropped into the horizon. The landscape in South Africa is incredible. Within a few hours your entire surroundings can dramatically change. Ocean views, rocky mountains, flat plains and the smooth wave of hills and shacks were few of the sights. We drove through lot's of places that I would like to visit: Sedgefield, Knysna, Wilderness...

I arrived in Plettenburg Bay 6 hours later, about 4.30pm. I was very excited...until the bus drove off and left me clueless. With a mental map in my head, I headed in the wrong direction for an hour. Eventually I gave up being lost and asked for help. A man was kind enough to walk me to Albergo Backpackers, where I spent the weekend. I was given a little tour and shown to my room which I shared with Diarmid and Kieran, the Outward Bound boys also in South Africa with Project Trust.

We went out for pizza that night and then to a little bar called Manzini's. Regardless of the place being half empty, it was fun. WOW! THE VIEW! I THOUGHT IT WAS FAKE! The horizon was eye level and the moon had lit up a huge triangle of water. I don't even want to describe it because I can't do it any justice. Just, woow. Sorry, i'm leaving that one hanging.

Saturday was spent walking all over the place. The beaches are amazing. Plettenburg Bay is just such a beautiful place. We got far too excited over a "KFC THIS WAY" sign and ended up on a half an hour trek to get there. It's truly awful that we are eating KFC in South Africa but Diarmid had never had one (what) and it was very different from  in the UK. On the way back Kieran was in and out shops without warning. At least he bought something decent...

We went to an Italian place for dinner on Saturday and then went back to Manzini's.

Bottom bunk is mine

My bracelets for Soweto, Hermanus, Hout Bay and Plettenburg

A good purchase

Me and Diarmid

Diarmid, me, Kieran

SUNDAY! Thee most exciting day of the weekend. Maybe even of my life. We woke up early and headed straight to reception to book...THE HIGHEST BUNGY JUMP IN THE WORLD! Within an hour we were in a car, nervous, excited and on our way to Tsitsikamma in the Eastern Cape. As soon as we got there we were signed in and strapped in. I was freaking out about my harness because it was easily slipping off my shoulders but they assured me it was normal. 

The bridge walk to the platform where you jump was so incredible, I definitely have no fear of heights, I loved it. There was such a good atmosphere on the platform. Music was blasting out of huge speakers and everyone was so hyped on adrenalin. We were told what order we would be jumping in. I was 3rd out of the whole group...and 1st out of me Diarmid and Kieran. 

In no time It was my turn. I sat on a bench as pads were wrapped and tied around my ankles. I barely noticed what the man was doing. My head was fuzzy and my heart was pounding. I only snapped out of my haze to smile for a "I'm going to die" photo. A few seconds later, my arms were heaved over the shoulders of two men and I was hopping the the edge of the bridge. My toes were over the edge and I was BUZZING WITH EXCITEMENT. Never in my life have I felt so good. I was mentally preparing myself to jump when suddenly 5,4,3,2,1 BUNGY!! is screamed and I hear the faint "woo, go Jasmine" before I'm free falling through 216 metres of AIR. OH WOW! it was BEYOND AMAZING! I won't lie, I screamed the whole way down but it was definitely a woo-hoo scream. Just when I started realising how far I had fell through the air without feeling the rope...PING! I brutally flew back towards the bridge. For what felt like a good few minutes I was bouncing all over the place and the cord was spinning me at the same time. I kept my eyes open for the whole time, surprisingly I did manage to collect my thoughts and think "wow, that's pretty".

It's definitely the coolest thing I've ever done. Eventually, the bouncing stopped and I was left hanging...for a long, long time. Just when I was about to start screaming that my feet were slipping and I was going to die, I looked up to see a man winding his way down to me. With a "don't grab my equipment" and a few clicks later, I was in a sitting position and we were pulled back up to the bridge, making awkward small talk. Yes, yes, South Africa is beautiful.

Once on the platform, I was unclicked and untied. The first unclick had me fall backwards and suddenly I was laughing because the bungee didn't kill me but I was going to backflip off the bridge and die by accident. No worries, I didn't fall. My legs felt like jelly but I stood up in time to see Kieran and Diarmid jump. Kierans was very smooth. He had a go-pro camera strapped to his chest. I have seen the video and it's incredible. Diarmids jump is another story. OH DEAR! As well as screaming like a ten year old girl the whole way, he flapped his arms about like he had the power to stop gravity. It was the funniest thing. His video is hilarious, If I had the money I would have bought his just for the giggles.

We were all definitely high on adrenalin after our jumps.