Short break in Wilderness

It's just a month since we arrived back in England - where has the time gone??

Before we left Cape Town, at the end of our (almost) two years in Africa, we drove to the eastern side of the Western Cape, which was the furthest we had been out of Cape Town by car.

We planned a route through the mountains, along the Wine Route and the Garden Route. It was spectacular with folded mountains...

...archways cut through the rock...

...and flowers lining the road:

Our destination was Wilderness, a small coastal town, with wide beaches, inland lakes and rivers, and ancient forests:

Walking along the beach, early one morning, I saw this huge jellyfish. My camera case and footprints help to show the size:

Further along the coastline it is even wilder and rugged...

...reminiscent of Argulas, which is the most southerly point in Africa, where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Indian Ocean. The weather was warm and sunny, but quite windy.

Andy loves boats, so we decided to take a canoe along the river, stopping partway, where the water level becomes too shallow to paddle.

Then, hiding our paddles and bouancy aids in the bushes, we walked up to some manmade waterfalls:

Some of the river's waterflow has been diverted into a pipe, for use lower down the hillside.

On our return journey Andy took this photo of me, over his head (I was behind him). He was reluctant to turn round and destabilise the canoe, but I think he did really well:

Another day, we followed a trail to the 'Big Tree', an eight hundred-year-old yellowood, which was over 30m tall. To get an idea of the size, you can just see Andy standing behind the information board at the base of the trunk:

We saw a curious sign, so had to go and find out what it was referring to:

This is the view:

If I had a wide-angled lens you would see that the river traces the shape of Africa, around the forest - very interesting and totally unexpected!

The viewing point for 'Map of Africa' is the top of a steep hill, which is a popular launching pad for paragliders. We had seen their colourful chutes above the hillside, from our Bed and Breakfast. In fact I was fascinated watching them and longed to have a go. Andy had NO desire to join me, but took these photos.

• Getting 'kitted up':
  
  
• Being strapped in front of my pilot:

• In the air:
  
  
• Coming into land, after 30 minutes in the air:

My pilot for the tandem ride, also took some photos in the air:

The view from the air was awesome: being able to see the lagoons, the coastline and way out to sea. I loved every moment, not feeling scared at all. My pilot has been paragliding for 17 years and is very experienced. It was a treat which made our short holiday even more special, and I will remember it for a long time.

We arrived back in Cape Town, the day before we were due to fly home, so we went to the ocean for one last sunset, with Lion's Head just in the picture:


It was very windy and cold, but the biggest hot chocolate I have ever seen soon warmed us up:


We have so many wonderful memories of our 'Adventures in Africa'. Thank you for being part of it with us.