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  • Day 23

    Supertubing part 2

    April 15, 2023 in South Africa ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    This morning nobody was up before 7am. We were all tired after our mega 18 hour day yesterday and appreciated the lay in.
    Of course I was up first making the coffees and cuddling Millie who appreciates my company first thing in the morning. Then Pete was up with me and before long Ron and Ellie joined us both.
    Today we had no plans except to run to the shops in Sodwana bay and if it got hot we would take Ron supertubing later on.
    At 10am Pete and Ron were playing chess which Pete had really been looking forward to. Hilapè was in doing the cleaning and tending the newly built vegetable garden and I went to do a workout and shower whilst Ellie caught up in emails.
    Then Pete cleaned the back of Karin ready to pass through border control tomorrow in Swaziland and started loading the back ready for our road trip to the Kruger.
    At 1pm the chess games had finished, we had all showered and felt refreshed and we all jumped in Karin and took the scenic drive through the river to Sodwana Bay so Pete and Ron could pick up tobacco. Then we drove home, everyone put on there swimming gear and then we jumped in the chuckit bucket and drove across the ISimangaliso wetlands to Sabaya lake to introduce Ron to supertubing.
    Today the wind was blowing but being from England and well above 25°c I thought it was warm enough to get wet. Fortunately so did Ron and after a quick check from Pete for hippos and crocodiles and given the all clear we both jumped in.
    Ron went first as it was his initiation, whizzing down the rapids looking quite worried because we all know you can never “ really” trust Petes word.
    Next it was me and this time I had half a body board for protection but lost that half way down as the water just swept me off of it and away.
    At the end of the supertube experience is the lake and a very small beach enclosed by small sand dunes and that’s where we all sat for an hour drinking beer and having a laugh.
    After 45 mins I went for a nature break and as I looked over at the chuckit bucket I could see it was surrounded by cattle. That’s where all our clothes were and my phone, out in the open just waiting for the cows to pick it all up.
    I left the beach and struggled through the long grass and sand dunes back to the car to clear the cows and retrieve our clothes. Luckily the cows had left everything alone.
    5 minutes later I could see the others coming back towards the car, I was relieved to not have to trudge back through the long grass back to the beach. Then we all jumped back in Chucky and returned home.
    Back at the house Pete and Ron went next door to the old winter dodgers backpacking lodge that now lays in ruins, while Ellie and I sat on the roof terrace. Then, as the sun set the chess game started back up and we all went downstairs to the main house.
    At 6:30pm Pete started cooking a fillet steak stir fry with rice that got served at 7pm, then we all sat in the lounge area and talked until 8:30pm watching the geckos on the wall before finally retiring.
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