Day 36 Hogsback

Made good time to the N2, and travelled easily down to East London, could not find a nice place to stop anywher for the dogs, roadworks all over the place, ended up driving into East London and onto the beach for a 10 minute walk, went past Buffalo Park but unfortunately no cricket on at the moment, then back to the N2 with rain coming down in sheets, all the way to King William's Town the rain dogged us, stopped for gas, which I miscalculated, some supplies and some cash, stopped again at the Shell Ultra on the way out of town and finally got an internet connection, managed to upload two days of my blog and then my laptops power went, if it's not one thing it's another, so we hit the road again, I thought we only had about 45km to go, turned out to be about 90, hence the miscalculation in fuel, Cami-Leigh phoned while I was looking for the turnoff to Hogsback which I was convinced did not exist, so had to stop for awhile to catch up with her, have not heard from her for about 6 weeks so we chatted awhile, she is happy on her ship and her transfer has not come through yet which makes her even happier.

Finally found the turnoff and discovered the 25km to Hogsback is actually 35km, according to the sign, the petrol situation was supposed to last until my return to Alice, now I'not sure it will last to Hogsback, anyway up we went into the lovely mountains, lots of villages scattered everywhere on the hills, and a magnificent drive, stunning scenery, the last 10km was a narrow, winding road through hanging vines that clearly house angels and goblins, I think the 35km sign is also wrong but was too wet and tired to calculate it, I definately won't get back down again so hope this town has fuel.

We came into the town late, did not manage to eat anything along the way so am really hungry, did not find much in the way of food along this one street of downtown Hogsback iether, pulled into the info desk just as the rain came down again and as I stopped Lorraine phoned to say she was in the mighty concrete jungle ready to head off to Botswana after picking up her mom tomorrow, they are off to check on the wellbeing of her uncle.

Couldn't get hold of Shane at Terra Khaya but I did not like the look of the town and wanted to stay on an eco farm so I took the 2.5km trek on a terrible road, up slippery mountainsides and over rutted tracks following an iffie sign board, but made it to Terra -Khaya in one piece, I think.

I found a few volunteers who welcomed me in as Shane is off in the Wild Coast on a backpackers convention. I settled the camper at the gate, the farm is on a hill and everything is slippery and muddy so I am taking the camper nowhere but this little grass verge I landed on, we are on a slope downwards but not much I can do about that right now.

It got dark quickly after I took the dogs for a walk, could not see what is here or make any real impression of the place, it seems very basic, no electricity, could not wend my way to a toilet or a shower, I did join the 2 volunteers, Stewart and Suna for a chat and a lovely vegetarian dinner, the dogs followed me of course and we spent the night with them trying to get used to 7 farm dogs and 5 cats lying all over the place as close to the wood oven as they could get, as this was the warmest place to be in the cold, Josie spent the whole night trying to eat the cats, very unsociable of her.

We made our way back to the camper, camp dogs and all, at about 10pm, in the dark along slippery tracks, to climb under the duvet and try and thaw out, we spent all night falling off the bed becasue of the slope we were on and trying to stay warm in the chill mountain air, I needed to keep the door open for the dogs so the camper is like an icebox, we must have managed okay because I woke rested and to the most stunning scenery around us, green mountains with clouds clearing and the sun coming through strongly, enough to allow me to put up my washing line and hang all the wet things out. I aslo had a chance to move the camper to some level ground, a bit of a precarious position but I put rocks under the back tyres so we don't go haring off down the hill in the night, hope it allows us to sleep better tonight.

I went in search of some hot water to wash in and came across the beautiful big old bathtub, the one with old fashioned feet, sitting on the side of the mountain facing a stunning view, so I took a boiling hot bath under the morning sun, what a great experience, will have to do the same on my farm, such a pleasure to be as close to nature as this. The place is awesme, a little bit of paradise here in the hills, a dorm well kitted out and coulourful, little khayas in the mountainside with great views, the lounge and kitchen I only saw in the dark last night, but rustic and comfortable, small and in need of some work but apparently Shane built it all himself coming from a catering background, quite amazing.

I pulled black wattle out of the ground for 2 hours to pay for my supper tonight, met the horses, ducks, chickens and pigs in their mudpatch, they get fed the wattle weeds. Shane bought this place 10 years ago, gave up his catering business in Cape Town 3 years ago to move here, it was just a plot about 40 acres big, full of wattle, it has been an uphill battle for him to carve out a homestead from the wattle patch but he has done a sterling job and will obviously continue to grow and expand it. The backpackers is what he needs to rely on for an income, and what an awesome place to chill out in, I would recommend it to everyone, unless you like your home comforts, bathing and showering in the great outdoors is not everyones cup of tea, especially in the mountain's icy winters and slipping your way around has some drawbacks.

We snuggled into the camper for the afternoon as the sun disappeared and the clouds came over, I guess rain is on it's way, caught up with some writing and reading, a group of POMS arrived on a quick 3.5 week trip around the Cape, then 4 Americans arrived, they are studying in PE and come up here every few months, the Xhosa party of 14 arrived late so we were a full house this evening, had to wait until 9pm for dinner which Suna, Stewart and I made a mess of, vegie soup we all had a say in and in the end Suna put chillies in, unbeknownst to me so after being patient all day for a nice dinner, I ended up not eating it, could have had the party groups food but they put 15 chillies in their meal which even his friends complained about, so noway I was going to give it a try. One of the ladies was afraid of dogs so all 7 farm dogs and my 4 and the 5 cats had to be kicked out of the lounge, mine were not happy with me when I walked them in the dark down the slippery slope, over the river and up to a cold dark camper and locked them in, it was better than having them sit outside getting wet in the drizzle then getting in the camper wet, wetting the blankets, towels, pillows and everything else when they shake, not happy with me at all, I thought what we should have done was just kick the one girl out, I didn't think I would be popular if I made that suggestion though.

So not a good evening, went to bed hungry again, but slept better on a flat bed, woke up 3times to find the dogs gone walkabout, Slicky was okay as he just sat next to the camper, not sure why he did not seek shelter under the shed roof, but he seems to not want to be too far from the camper these days, Lani the idiot, picks the worst nights to disappear, she could go wandering on clear star filled nights, empty beaches and grass patches, no, she has to pick a black night, misty, wet and on a hill, with mud everywhere and about 5000 black wattle trees to get lost in, I had to leave her outside in the rain a long time as I simply had no way of finding her, by the time I got her in she was wet through and shivering fit to rattle those bones of hers that stick out everywhere.

These old dogs are definitely not having a great time but I am so reluctant to put them down, they need a place to relax in like my permaculture farm, I am starting to think that this travelling needs to come to an end and we should just aim for finding ourselves a spot to grow veggies in, the younger ones also don't much like driving in the camper, they only like the stops and the walks.

We finally woke to a wet and miserable morning, I paid my R210 last night so I forwent my lovely morning bath, dressed and left at 7.30, found fuel in town and headed out down the mountain and out of the mist and rain. It was a great stop, Shane has a beautiful place, but living in the misty mountains with little comfort is not my idea of self sustainability, just because you are off the grid does not mean you have to be uncomfortable, last night 24 people could not have a good time in a little lounge and no light as the batteries went dead with the solar not getting any sun for awhile and dinner was cooked with a parrafin lamp, no, I want more and better and luxury where I can get it and good lights are easy to do with solar.