Easter Weekend at Stinkwood Lodge

Nothing says “Welcome to Cape Town” like going on a trip to South Africa’s Garden Route during your first weekend in town. Easter is such a widely celebrated holiday here that most places are closed for the weekend, so our staff decided to organize a trip for us to have a four-day getaway while getting to know the area. So, Friday morning at 5:45 we got ready to depart for Sedgefield, which was “the accommodation” spot. Everything in quotes is simply me practicing my South African lingo. Trust, it’s a work in progress! :)

Colleen was our wonderful tour guide, Sammy was our bus driver, Shannon is Colleen’s 16-year old son who is obsessed with T-Pain, and Michael was, actually, I’m still not too sure what Michael’s job was but he came along and provided pure entertainment the entire time. We were all still adjusting to the 9-hour time difference between here and California so the bus ride there consisted of a lot of creepy sleeping pictures. As soon as we arrived, we hopped off the bus and walked down to the river for what was supposed to be a canoeing and hiking adventure. Torie and I partnered together in a canoe, secured our cameras and backpacks "rucksacks" into the buckets, and took off down the river. It was our first time in a canoe and it took us a while to get the hang of things but eventually we started getting into the flow of things and moving along. However, about halfway down the river, the wind started to take over and none of us could make it around the corner. Canoes started tipping over and being pushed to the sides of the shore while families sat along the bank enjoying the show. They tried yelling out instructions on how to make it through the wind, but no matter how hard we resisted the wind took over and sent all of our boats to the shore. So, we sat down and had a picnic with paninis and fruit that Colleen had prepared. I didn’t even care about the bugs that were flying/crawling all around me, not to mention the leaves from the trees that were falling all in our food. Anyone that knows me can tell you this was a big step. I was truly becoming at one with nature. Lol

Later that night we had a “braai” which is also a barbecue. Michael and Sammy snuck off to the pub on site and had all of us waiting around until about 10pm to eat. We had no idea where they had gone. They just started the fire, grabbed Parth, and took off into the night. After a few shots of whiskey they came back and grilled the snook (fish). They were so nonchalant about the whole thing that we couldn’t help but laugh.

The next day was our adventure day where the group split up into the Z-Crew and B-Crew. The Z-Crew went ziplining at Tsitsikamma Falls and the B-Crew went to Face Adrenalin, which is the world’s largest bungy jumping site—216 meters! I wanted no parts of that! Lol. About halfway through our ziplining it started to rain but we didn’t even notice. We were nice and soaked by the time we left but it was all worth it. The waterfalls were beautiful!

During the rest of our trip we visited Monkeyland, the Elephant Sanctuary, and an ostrich farm. Some people got frisked by the monkies, some rode elephants, and others rode ostriches. They can run about 72 km per hour, even faster! After the ostrich farm we went to the Cango Caves and literally turned into cavemen and cavewomen as we traveled through an intense adventure route with everything from tunnels to the “Devil’s Chimney” that required us to use every ounce of our bodies to make it through. I literally almost had a panic attack when my butt was stuck in this tiny tunnel (google the letterbox at Cango Caves) but Hannah and the rest of the group calmed me down and helped me maneuver my way out while I was suggesting things like telling our guide to cut the whole cave down to release me. I never would have done anything like this in a million years! I left dirty and sweating but the ostrich burgers for lunch made it all worth it.

I wish I could go into more detail about the trip but there was so much happening I couldn’t possibly capture it all. I have pictures/videos that do the weekend some justice but unfortunately uploading is not the fastest process here in Cape Town. But, Stinkwood Lodge (the accommodation for four of us) was home for many deep conversations, bottles of wine, and even some impressive dancing by Keith and Shannon. My first weekend abroad was one I’ll always remember for being the perfect escape from e-mails, showers, and inhibitions. Throughout it all, my favorite moment had to be at the braai where everyone shared what they were hoping to get out of this experience in Cape Town. All of our responses had to do with escaping from the pressures and expectations we face on campus and at home. We all just want to enjoy life and live in the moment. Something tells me I’m with the right group of students on this trip. Nothing but good times ahead... :)

Xoxo,

Britt

Excuse any typing errors! I’ve been promising these blog posts for 2 days and it’s now 1:30 am and I don’t feel like checking for grammatically correct sentences. Besides, who said my blog has to be perfect? Lol