January 2019

Good evening from a warm South Africa! Apologies for not updating this blog for the past month - we've been all over the place so it's been quite hectic lately (We've noticed that South Africans LOVE to use the word 'hectic'). Here's the last three weeks in their own wee blog...

Week 19 (14 - 18th Jan) - Learning, kayaking and the dreaded beach marathon.

We all started back at OB on the 14th of January and for being the first five days back at work after an incredible Christmas holiday, what a good few days it was. Mornings were spent doing maintenance around base then after 10am Andy ran different training sessions each day. Andy is from Outward Bound UK and is based in their centre in Aberdovey Wales, but for the past three weeks he's been here at OB SA to do some training and development with us all. Each afternoon we all spent time together doing various activities. Monday we all went swimming (us volunteers won the relay race we did!), Tuesday afternoon was spent doing kayak rolls and on Wednesday we fixed up the beach volley ball court which was in some desperate need of some TLC. After lunch on Thursday we all headed out in the sea kayaks and paddled all the way to the sea mouth where we spent time at the beach before paddling back again. It was such a nice afternoon to swim there and the water in the estuary was super clear when we were kayaking. At 6.30am on Friday morning we started the infamous OB SA beach marathon!! Although the name suggests otherwise, it's not actually a marathon. It's a ~15km run along the beach with the target of doing it in under 1 hour and 40 minutes. If that wasn't an inspiring target to reach, you also need to run fast enough so you don't get cut off from the last 2km as the tide comes in...or it's a long walk back. I managed to run it in 1 hour 51 minutes and I've never been so happy to see breakfast after it!

Week 20 (15 - 26th January) - Citrusdal.

Saturday the 15th we drove out to Citrusdal as this is where the first course of the year was being held. Being in the bus for eight hours after running the marathon the previous morning was exactly what our legs asked for... The next day we hiked up the abseil marking the path more to make it more obvious. We also went for a swim in the dam to cool off afterwards, although leeches were soon discovered within it. The next two days were spent clearing a new path up the gorge (so the groups have somewhere to walk in the shade), putting up the spiders web we made and prepping for course starting. We also played football outside and me and Talitha made a new friend in Peter - one of the local kids who goes to the day care which is joint onto our base. We taught him 'What's the time Mr Wolf' but I think he was more into running around the hall.

Wednesday 23rd was the first day of course. It's a college from Cape Town so the participants were 18-23 years old. It was really interesting to see how the instructors interact and frame activities and initiatives for older people. Me and Scott hiked out with the groups and camped overnight as we'd be setting up the abseil the next morning. We made use of the good weather to spend the night on just our roll mat. The stars here are also INCREDIBLE, and lying under them was breathtaking. After hiking up the abseil at 4.30am and setting it up, with spectacular views of the sunrise, we spent the day there assisting with the three groups. I really like being abseil support and for two groups I got to help the instructor tie in the participants at the top. It was just a three day course so the next morning after a 5am final challenge (a race with clues which Scott and Talitha masterminded) and clean up the group went home. There was ten cups of jelly left from the previous night so we (and Peter!) all sat down and ate them with some custard - jelly and custard is VERY big in SA. Then we were back on the road the next morning heading back to base.

Week 21 (27th Jan - 3rd Feb) - We love the beach.

Sunday the 27th was our first day off since coming back so we went out for the day! Talitha joined Shirley at her church in George for the morning while me, Scott, Andy and Nthabi went to the mall. Me and Scott got breakfast with Andy then sent postcards. Afterwards we all headed to Victoria Bay where we went swimming! The water was so blue and clear is was so nice to swim in. Shout out to Andy for buying me a rugby ball! After our swim we got a well deserved ice cream, which tasted so good! We also visited the 'Map of Africa' on the way back. This isn't an actual map, just trees that make up the shape of Africa due to a river running round them. It was pretty cool.

The start of the week was filled with safety checks but on Tuesday we headed out on a staff expedition! We spent that afternoon rock climbing, and I have to say I'm definitely more of an abseil person. Afterwards we kayaked to base where we picked up our rucksacks and hopped into canoes for the final 20 minutes to 'shack', a mosquito paradise. This is the camping area where we would do our overnight solo. A overnight solo is time on course where the participants build their own shelters and sleep out and have time to reflect on themselves and anything happening in their lives. They're given some tarp and rope then food - for us this consists of four slices of bread, four biscuits and an apple. I'm glad how I made my shelter as it started to rain in the early morning and my stuff remained water free.

After continuing with the safety checks the rest of the week Friday morning saw us give presentations to each other. These were about someone else at OB who we had to find time to talk to the previous few days and learn about their background and culture. This was really interesting to listen to as there are so many different cultures here at OB - Xhosa, Afrikaans, Tswana and English.  The rest of the day was a staff braai so it was nice to chill with everyone after a hectic week. We made use of the newly refurbished volley ball court and although none of us are going to be the next volley ball gold medalist, it was definitely fun.

I made use of Saturday morning by sleeping in till 10am which was bliss. Me and Talitha went out and did some kayak rolls with Andy in the afternoon but an oncoming storm and lightning getting closer and closer put a stop to that after an hour or so. We went out with Emily and Andy that evening into town to La Piazza to watch the rugby! And although the bad weather cut out the TV during parts of the Scotland game, it was really nice to spend time together with dinner and the rugby. Sunday was another beach day! We headed to Buffalo Bay with a lot of the OB staff and their families. Talitha and I have mastered the art of body boarding, although the water was freezing! I don't want to sound like I'm repeating myself but it was such a nice day spent all together.

In some other news around base - us volunteers are going to get a chance to instruct a course in the next few months and we are also being put on as support for a DSD group. Also lychee's are our favourite fruit of the month.

I've picked my favourite photos from the past few weeks so in order we have...
The sunrise from the top of the abseil in Citrusdal, me and Scott's camp under the stars and a few from the abseil including the lizard that kept running around. Then to show how hot it was I have the temperatures for Citrusdal. There's no phone signal there so I don't have the actual temperatures we had while we were there but it'll look the same as the ones in the picture which is the temperatures for the coming week when we left.
There's also a picture of Shirley and Scott looking out at the sea, Scott back flipping with two kids at the beach and then the Map of Africa.
Two photos from our staff expedition, one of all of us posing for photos in front of the ghetto, a shark bite kit at the beach we went to yesterday and finally a rainbow over base.

Tomorrow we drive to Robertson to run another course. It's going to be non stop for the next few months!

I hope you've enjoyed reading what I've been up to these past few weeks and like the photos too.

Rachel :)