We had spent a further 10 days (unplanned) in South Africa - but we certainly weren't complaining. Emily and I had both been in contact with our employers in the UK and we had both been told that we would still be paid our usual salary, regardless of the situation. An excellent problem to have!
We were lucky because we had Bini's folks to stay with and we had spent most of the past week lounging around on the beach and generally just chilling out. As we had made the most of our time in South Africa, we hadn't had a great deal of time to just chill out and enjoy the good weather - so now we were certainly making up for it! But today was our last full day, as we had managed to get booked onto flights back home tomorrow. Originally I was a little concerned about not getting home for another three weeks (which was what we were told originally) because I was due to lead my first Project for GWC on 10th May - so I really needed to be home to sort things out.
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| Bouldering at Uvongo beach, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa |
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| Bouldering at Uvongo beach, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa |
We spent today at the stunning
Uvongo Beach. While the others topped up their tans for one final time, I turned my attention to the shady sandstone cliffs towards the back of the beach. As I got closer, I could see a couple of bolts glinting in the sun; sport climbing routes. There was a very prominent overhanging roof a short way from the ground that was just crying out for some bouldering. The rock was a little damp but the friction wasn't bad and there where lots of big features to grab hold of to pull along the roof of the overhang. It didn't really matter that I was without my rock shoes, as it was mostly all about the arms. I had great fun traversing along the roof and occasionally pulling up and through on to the main headwall of the routes. The lines didn't look too difficult (as the difficulty seemed to be pulling over the initial roof to gain the main face) and certainly looked worthwhile. Wish I had a rope and some 'draws.
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| Bouldering at Uvongo beach, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa |
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| Bouldering at Uvongo beach, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa |
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| Bouldering at Uvongo beach, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa |
A great end to an amazing trip.
