How do you put into words, an experience that truly changed
your life and how you look at things?
Something that you can always look back on when you feel that you are
unable to do something, and know that you did that even whilst it felt
impossible? I will try, because I would
like to be able to look back on this when the memories start to fade.
When Kim & I started planning our road trip from Durban
to Cape Town, she mentioned that getting a shuttle between Coffee Bay, Wild
Lubanzi and Bulungula would be more effort than it was worth, as we would have
to drive all the way back to Umtata first, and then get a lift out again, so we
should rather walk it, which would be about a 4 hour hike each day. I was very sceptical about this, as besides
the fact that I never exercise, I had sprained my ankle just over a month prior
to that that was by no means healed yet, so I didn’t know how I would cope. I decided, however, to have the mindset that
I was going to push the boundries and try new things and so decided to go for
it. I would only draw the line at
jumping off a bridge or out of a plane!
Coffee Bay was beautiful and I was just blown away by the
seemingly never ending coastline and beautiful beaches! One downfall though was that it was
incredibly hot so I wondered how I was going to manage this walk in this
extreme heat. Anyways, not deterred by
the challenges, I woke up the next morning and loaded up with a big
breakfast. Kim told me to get a decent
amount of water, but for some reason I thought this was a strange request
because I really didn’t think that I was going to get that thirsty! Little did I know...
We set off just after 10am with our guide Silas, and 4 other
hikers from the backpackers. Once we got
to the top of the first hill I was totally out of breath and grabbed the water
and drank almost half the bottle! I was
a little shell shocked at this point as the harsh reality of what I was about
to do hit me. However, once we
continued, the views and what we saw in front of us was just so unbelievably
beautiful that it really had a way of distracting me from being tired and my
muscles aching. I also had Kim who was
being really motivating and encouraging, so, to my surprise, I actually started
to really enjoy myself! (Yes, this was a
shock, as I was doing strenuous exercise!)
We continued to hike for another hour or so when we got to a
beach. I was pretty amped to take a dip
in the ocean, as it was very hot!! The
ocean in the Eastern Cape is quite a bit warmer than in Cape Town, so the swim
was very refreshing!! After our swim,
Silas told us not to put our shoes back on, as there would be a part of the
hike in about 5 minutes where we would have to swim as there would be no path
to walk on. When we got to the spot
where we had to jump into the ocean, I was a little nervous, and as luck would
have it, when I jumped in, the current picked up and I got sent in a bit of a
circle. One of the other hikers grabbed
my hand and lifted me out of the water.
We continued on and got to a very steep hill, which took me
almost 15 minutes to get up, with everyone else waiting at the top of the hill
for me (embarrassing!). I think what was
tougher than the tiredness, was being so incredibly thirsty and only having
warm, not so tasty water to drink. One
of the other hikers was snacking on Pringles and offering them around but I
couldn’t even think of eating when I was so thirsty. We were applying sunblock to ourselves about
every half an hour but I was still aware that I was burning pretty badly! Not too much we could do about it.
About two hours into the walk I really felt like I had
reached the limits of my fitness levels, but I was very determined to push
ahead and complete the hike, at least until The-Hole-In-The-Wall. With Kim’s encouragement, I pushed ahead
until we walked to the top of yet another hill, just over 4 hours into the
hike. When I got to the top, I saw a big
village in front of me. Silas told us
that this was the village of the Hole-In-The-Wall and that we were almost at
the end. At this point I got a little
teary, as I couldn’t believe I had made it this far. It may not be a huge achievement to some, but
I was pretty stoked with myself for making it this far, as besides the Argus
Cycle Tour in 2004, this was the hardest I had ever pushed myself to complete
something. I had proven to myself, by
myself, that anything was possible and that sometimes you really should try and
stretch the boundries and push yourself further than you think you can go.
I finally got to the Hole-In-The-Wall, which was
spectacular, though not quite as much as some of the things which I had seen on
the actual hike!! I finally got my wish
for an ice-cold coke granted and had 2 hours to kill before my lift to Wild
Lubanzi Backpackers would arrive, so I had a nice long swim in the pool at
The-Hole-In-The-Wall Hotel and chilled on the lawn. 2 very nice backpackers from Wild Lubanzi
came to pick me up at 6pm and drove me to the lodge where I met up with Kim
again. She cooked us a delicious hearty
dinner which went down very well after the days walking!! I went to bed with a big smile on my face
because of what I had achieved that day.
Thanks Kim for making it possible and showing me how do to prove to
myself that anything is possible!!
