Day 21 - Oudtshoorn to Swellendam

Well, today is my birthday - A full 35 years young! 

We woke up in the cabin and I opened my card from mum and dad then got serenaded by Deb and Kate who then gave me their own card which was sweet. 

We had breakfast and headed off to an Ostrich Farm 15 minutes away. We were introduced to two of the resident ostrich’s Lady Gaga and Suzy the Stripper who we fed and managed to stroke.... these birds were huge! The tour lady gave us a detailed overview on the life of an ostrich in a farm and how an ostrich egg volume is equivalent to 26 normal eggs from a chicken. We proved how strong they were by standing on them and they didn’t give way, even though we were all a little dubious considering how much weight we had all put on during this trip!! 

We had a potter about the farm on a tractor and fed the ostrich’s and learned why the Males are black and white (they lay on the eggs at night) and the Females are brown (they lay on the eggs during the day and so are very well camouflaged). It was an interesting hour actually!

We then continued our way to Swellendam through more changes in landscape to mountains, gorges and huge rivers. It was a beautiful drive and reminded me a lot of the Scottish highlands actually. 

We arrived at our campsite and upgraded again for £20 where we were taken to this tiny little hut where no doors or windows fit properly so was very much open to the elements (and the creepy crawlies). But it had its own shower and hot water so that was all that mattered to us! 

We met up with the rest of the group and donned our life jackets and helmets ready for some rafting. We were two to a raft and Kate and I chose our positions, me at the front as “rock spotter” and Kate at the back for “steerer”. We set off with the rest of the group and soon got our rhythm except for the odd confusion between my left and right we made it through the two main rapids and ended up back at the camp site. 

All in all it was a good day with a lot of laughs. It ended with a lovely slap up meal of ribs and steak and salad and then I had Happy Birthday sung to me by the group and was presented with a cake which was very unexpected and very sweet of Tsepo and Mr Goodman.