The Pepper Travel Diary

Heading into the WILD......

2010-03-09T18:15:00.005Z

Once again I apologise for the lack of posts in the last few days. Let me start this one off by giving you a brief run down of our time spent in Hogsback. To be honest, I don't quite know what came over the Pepper crew, I think it might have been a delayed reaction to all the adrenaline filled activities for Plettenberg Bay or the fresh mountain air. Whatever it was, it definitely made us all go a little wild!

This started promptly on the first night which we all spent in the infamous bath on the edge of a cliff. All the adrenaline still left in our systems made everyone very devoted to our Pepper family which has become quite the tight knit crew. This immediately set the mood for our next few days in Hogsback.

Bath-time devotion to Pepper

The next day it was a misty and wet afternoon in the Amatola Mountains and the mood of the crew meant that we needed to get outside either way. For some reason, camo war paint, tribal outfits and some warm up shooters seemed to be the only way of lifting moods. Like a band of crazed tribal warriors we dashed through the ‘Lord of the Rings’ inspired forest in the rain. Purely for the fun of it! Its quite difficult to give reasons for our actions and I feel it was one of those memories that no matter how many times you try to tell the story and explain to others, you kind of just had to be there. Without being able to provide many details lets just say it was a crazy afternoon that will remain in the memories of the pepper crew for a long time to come.

Going tribal....

The nights at the Away With The Fairies were just as crazy with the parties being so good that we literally had members hanging from the chandeliers. We left our mark at the bar with Abi and Georgia creating a shooter that made its way onto the permanent Fairies shooter list.

The last day at Fairies was sepnt with a much more civilized walk to the Madonna and Child Falls, a sundowner at the edge and Harry managed out do the rest of our craziness by marking his territory forever in the memories of our few days in Hogsback.

Finding our way in the forest

Enjoying some of the purest water on earth

Trust Annie to spoil a perfect sunset pic!

News and pics from Coffe Bay to follow,

Till then, love Pip.x

Throwing ourselves out of planes

2010-03-02T13:13:00.003Z

In Plett we all thought it would be a good idea to jump out of a plane at 10,000ft.

Luckily we all were wearing parachutes and it turned out to be one of the best ideas ever!!

Over two days everyone enjoyed the absolute thrill of tandem skydiving; there were nerves, bikinis, cross-dressing, dolphin spotting and lots of screaming. It had to be one of the best experiences so far, to be honest a picture tells a thousand words. Bridget Jones Reporting, back to the studio.

Enjoy!

Bridge practicing her manouvers

Nerves make you do silly things

Coming back to earth

Next Stop: Hogsback

2010-03-02T07:11:00.002Z

Welcome to hippy central. Sitting in Away With the Fairies, our hostel, with a stunning view across the valleys towards Hogsback, in possibly one of the coolest hostels we have stayed in thus far, and looking back over the past couple of days, a wave of contentment washes over me. The walk around the Robberg Nature Reserve during the day, with some stunning vistas over the whole of Plettenberg bay, the stink of the seals on the sea burning in our nostrils, and a tough walk around the peninsular to Witsand, the beach hugging the side of the cliff, was truly awesome, in the truest sense of the word.

Missioning over the Witsand dunes at Robberg

Team pepper on top of Robberg Peninsula

This was almost equalled by our last sundowners over the sea, at Kranshoek, were we perched on a fence over a near sheer drop looking over the sea crashing on the rocks. There are a lot of worse places in the world to have a sunset, and I felt it was one of the better places we have been to watch one.

Sunset at Kranshoek

This morning, after leaving early for one of the longer drives on our road trip, I felt a sense of excitement. Away from the coast finally, burning through the amazing countryside, towards Hogsback and this hostel. Arriving here, I had a sense of the fantastic here. Truly this place can only exist in a world of fairies. From the massive mushrooms daubed on the walls of our dorm, to the cavorting pixies along the corridors, the hostel gives a sense of tremendous opportunity for some beautiful scenes and debauchery. Bring on the next few days!!!

- Harry

Throwing myself off a bridge

2010-03-02T07:01:00.001Z

After a night packed with numerous amounts of dreams involving bungee jumping off cliffs and rocks (!?!) I awoke to a feeling of pure excitement, where i was hours away from experiencing the immense thrill of the world’s highest bungee jump!! A short drive took us to Bloukrans and after sprinting out of the punisher to the edge we saw some little speck of a ragdoll throw themselves off a ridiculously high bridge suspended over an amazingly beautiful gorge type thing...i was pumping!!!! After quite a bit of time was spent on miserably failing to convince bridge to also throw herself off the bridge (hahah!!)

We got our harnesses on....had THE most rancid Tabasco vodka shot I have tasted in my ENTIRE life...and proceeded to walk across the bridge, soon to let gravity take its toll where we left Annie and Liv behind to fly across the bridge on a zip wire - the Flying Fox!! Wahooooo! Walking across the bridge on diamond mesh that sank under every footstep and suspended 216m up got the adrenalin pumping...on the bridge the music was pumping and everyone was having a little boogy getting themselves psyched with our heart beats synchronised to the beats of the music!!

Freddie, head held high took the plunge first, very calmy yet exceptionally excited hopped to the edge and after a loud ‘5..4...3...2...1...BUNGEE!!!!’ he gracefully leant and jumped into the air and immediately disappeared plummeting down to the bottom whilst the rest of us watched the TV eagerly screaming and getting more excited for our jumps!! Georgia, the absolute hero, who yet is scared of heights has officially conquered all fears!! After a few little doubts and hesitation she VERY bravely took the last few steps to the edge...with great encouragement and cheers from behind, she took the legendary plunge and faced the fear....definitely no regrets...we are all very proud!!! I was so pumped for it by the time it came to my turn...after being strapped in with one tie around my ankles and asking if this is actually going to hold me I hopped towards the edge to be faced by a sheer drop of beauty! I didn’t really have much time to think about it too much as the countdown had already started...after I leaped out there was no going back...and the feeling was absolutely incredible!!

Georgie looking as brave as ever

I can’t really describe it but EVERYONE has to do it at some point in their life...unless you’re missing both legs as that wouldn’t be cool. The rush of adrenalin was just insane...as they say airgasmic...hahhahaha! After being hauled back up and everyone completing their jumps, Mountain Goat Freds, Super Josh in his pink dress and blue speedo’s (nice....!) and myself Mad G had to take it to another level...and do it a second time...backwards! Once again it was so so much fun...not going to lie I was a little scared with my back to a humungous drop with my heels hanging over the edge...nevertheless...so worth it!! An AMAZING morning!

Josh just showing off

Till next time,

Georgie

Snippets of Vic Bay

2010-02-26T15:02:00.004Z

Contemplating the situation

Toastie making factory

Chef's in action

Enjoying the mud

Keeping ourselves warm and dry out of the rain

Super slightly belated sailing slideshow and some very manly firefighting

2010-02-25T16:05:00.006Z

After three weeks of being immersed into the sailing world Josh and myself can now say we are Day Skippers. The last three weeks have been absolutely incredible; I have met some great ‘okes’, made amazing memories and have definitely caught more of the sailing bug. Some of the highlights have to include sailing with penguins, whales and dolphins, dancing all night long in Mitchells, my first ever yacht race in Table Bay, seeing the city bowl and table mountain at night from the boat, sailing around the Cape of Good Hope and sharing all of this with such great guys.

Our first week was a good intro to the boat with Hugh, Josh, Tim and Greg. Up at 6.45am everyday regardless if you went to sleep at 4am the night before. We sailed in-between the V&A Waterfront and Hout Bay, the bouquet of Hout Bay will be one few can ever forget!! We started to get to know the other two boats on the trip and had several unforgettable nights and fantastic sailing days. Josh experienced his first on the Pacer, a 37” racer, and we all managed to irritate the rear outside commodore of the Royal Cape Yacht club upon sight! The weekend brought me much needed respite for my muscles after excessive amounts of push ups and winching!

The theory week saw me cramming like crazy to pass our 3 hour exam on Friday. On Wednesday Hugh left us to further pursue his diving, and I experienced my first ever yacht race, which took place in Table Bay – in up to 28 knot winds – exhilarating doesn’t even cover it!! By Friday both Josh and I passed our theory to great relief and drinks all round. Sean was a great teacher and we learnt so much in such a small space of time all in preparation for the final week on the boat.

Hugh chilling out on the High Seas

Ride the Wild Wind!

Nightsailing

On Friday night the old crew of Enigma reunited, with Nick another English addition to the party for a few well earned drinks and a good boogie at Assembly. After a chilled weekend wine tasting and a lovely valentine’s day spent walking and chilling with a picnic, Josh and I met Hilary bright and early on Monday morning to start our final week on the boat. That morning we shortly found out we would be sailing around Cape Point, the Cape of Good Hope, many sailors dream, including mine! So we quickly set off on our 8 hour sail to Simonstown, with myself skippering and Dale ready and waiting, just in case! Enigma, The Pacer and our crew on Benguela looked beautiful storming down the final stretch of the west coast of Africa. As we neared the Cape, for the final stretch the wind picked up to gusts of around 30 knots and Dale’s steady hands took over to guide us back to his home turf. After a great night spent in beautiful Simonstown we all headed back to Hout Bay; we were on course and ready for an amazing sail when a banging pulled us up short – our spreader had come off! – an integral part of the rigging, which meant we had to motor all the way back. While we watched the other two boats battle it out for pride and first place.

The beautiful lady Benguela

Wednesday brought docking practice; parking a 42” yacht with no experience can be a scary experience! Doug joined us on Thursday to get some footage and experience the thrill of sailing, though unfortunately felt rather green all day. We did Man over Board Practice and all managed to save our man before an absolutely beautiful sail into the V&A. We sailed into the Royal Cape which was a buzz of activity in preparation for the race up to Mykonos the next day and enjoyed the pre-race atmosphere and banter. On Friday we left the other boats as they headed up the coast while we headed back to Hout Bay and the final sail of the course.

The three weeks spent on our course were absolutely amazing and will stay with me forever. Massive thank you to Sean and Hilary, Greg and Dale and all the guys on the boats who made my day skipper so much fun.

This has been Bridget Jones reporting,

Over and Out.

Nice angle

Josh? Is that you Josh?

Fight fire with...water

Foam Party!

Make the Most of the Rain

2010-02-25T12:13:00.001Z

After two days and nights of constant rain, everyone started to become quite accustomed to the way of things, even the ones who are not natural born campers (like myself) found a routine in getting into the shower wet, coming out wet and then remaining wet for the rest of the day! However on day three we were all pleasantly surprised to wake up in a blanket of our own sweat, because however uncomfortable it was we knew that outside our tents the sun was beating down on us! This was very exciting and we were all desperate to explore the beach bellow that had been hidden by a thick grey mist for the past three days. The girls headed down to the beach early to top up their tans, followed by the excitable surfers dying to christen their new surfboards. All was very well and everyone seemed to forget about the last two days of bad weather until suddenly the sun vanished and left us with the same familiar grey overcast sky that we had got so used to! However after munching on some yummy toasties made on the braai we regained our optimism and headed down to the beach to take refuge in a cave and swim in the sea. Nothing beats swimming in the rain! Josh and Pip managed to climb across the rocks with provisions to light a fire so we all sat around singing and dancing, managing to forget the weather outside our little den! Annie and myself went back to camp just as the rain was at full pelt and got trapped in out tents by a puddle which looked more like a lake surrounding our entrance! However it was a safe place to watch the mud fight from which Pip and the boys started! In the evening the rain finally stopped and we managed to get the braai going again with boerewors, peppers, corn on the cob and marrows to look forward to. It was a very chilled evening where we all sat round drinking and telling jokes (Georgia defiantly being crowned queen of jokes). It was a very relaxed evening to end our wet but spontaneous four days at Victoria Bay.

Till next time,

Liv

Final moments in Cape Town

2010-02-24T08:48:00.004Z

So the last few days in Cape Town were bitter sweet. With completion of the volounteer's Pepper Lounge at the Ubuntu Centre in Khayelitsha and with our sailors passing all their qualifications with top marks, our final weekend started with one last sunset trip up Signal Hill.

The volounteers last day in Khayelitsha

The Pepper bundle of love on Signal Hill

As celebratory as it was due the feeling of completion and accomplishment after a hard working week it was also a fairly sad evening as it was Jake's last moments with us. Due to this we had to give him a proper send off with everyone making their way down to Assembly for another night of good music and extreme dance moves. True to their word, Georgie and Georgia even managed to come home from the night with our official team mascot; Andrea.

Georgia, Andrea (the much loved mascot) and Georgie

Saturday started off fairly slowly with Team Pepper feeling the beatings from Jake's farewell but soon enough we were all packed in the punisher and ready for a trip down to the tip of the continent at Cape Point. With lots of mountain goat action, a fair amount of jumping around and some great weather, it was a pretty fun day spent at the Cape of Good Hope National Park.

Fun and games at Cape Point

After a quick stop at Simonstown for some Salty Seadog fish and chips on the pier it was time for the boys and Abi to head to Newlands for a Super 14 rugby game, and the rest of the girls to treat themselves to a well earned dinner. With a win in the rugby (Go Stormers!!!) and a delicious meal it was time to head to Knoxville for one final night out! The Pepper crew has properly become part of the Knoxville regulars and I'm sure we will be sorely missed in those parts.

With our last full day in Cape Town being a fairly organisational one (lots of packing, last minute shopping and postcard sending) we still managed to fit in a relaxed stroll through the Kirstenbosch gardens allowing everyone to absorb the last views and atmosphere of the great city of Cape Town. The evening then kicked off with live music by SA band, Just Jinger in the perfect setting of the gardens. This set the mood for the rest of the night with the crew then shipping off to Caprice, followed by some last minute fun back at the Zebra!

Last morning in Cape Town

Monday morning we packed up and headed up the beautiful east coast to a serene little spot of Vic Bay. Although the weather wasn't exactly ideal for camping, it only slightly drizzled and the wind hadn't quite picked up to gale force just yet. I have to admit I was expecting a very grumpy group, but was extremely pleased by the fact that not even camping in the wind and rain got this crew down. Spirits were very high and to be honest I think they secretly enjoyed the foul weather. Added a new dimension to the Pepper Experience. We kept ourselves fairly dry yesterday with a trip slipping, sliding and climbing through the Cango Caves in Oudsthoorn followed by a well earned trip to the cinema last night.

And in a great act of kindness the weather Gods have awarded our extreme enthusiasm, dedication and optimism in the bad weather with an absolute peach of a day today! The crew have rushed down to the beach with surfboards, rugby balls, frisbee's and whole bunch of other sunny weather paraphanalia.

Our home in Vic Bay

I do apologise that there has been a slight lull in the blog posts but everybody has had such an action packed last week and have been involved in all sorts of things such as paragliding, shark cage diving, live concerts, rugby etc. Hopefully we will get updates up about all this excitement by the end of the day as the guys are winding down in the campsite over looking the Indian Ocean in Vic Bay.

One last word must go out to Jake. His hacky skills and guitar strumming has already been missed by all of the team. Jake, if you read this soon, we all hope you have the most fantastic trip through the rest of Africa and I hope your ex-Pepper survival Kit has come in handy. Take plenty photo's, send us news and remember; "Just Chill Bro!"

Jake in his element

Well, till next time,

Pip.

2010-02-16T20:36:00.001Z

Hugh gets back in the 'Seal Look' for his diving specialities, pictured here with Ben, his instructor from Pisces.

S.A. INK and a bit 'a wine tasting

2010-02-14T17:06:00.004Z

The past week has brought out a 'wild' streak in the Pepper group.
On Wednesday four members of the team marched down to WildFire piercings to get several pieces of their body mutilated, including tongue bars which have provided wicked entertainment for everyone else because listening to someone try to speak with a newly pierced tongue is comical genius.
I on the other hand thought it would be an excellent idea to visit the tattoo department and get my first bit of ink (and I'm not gonna lie it looks pretty awesome).
On Friday I sat through an hour of heavy metal music as the tattoo artist patiently drew out my swallow design at the base of my neck...although it was painful it was still tollerable and I can definately see how people catch a bit of the "ink-fever".
In the evening we payed another visit to Assembly, and this time THE WHOLE GROUP made it there in one piece, RESULT! Vince came to say his farewells, randomly bringing with him a tray of small chicken pies, and dancing with numerous girls inside.
We all woke up Saturday feeling worse for wear, but we got ourselves together to visit three vineyards for a bit of wine and cheese tasting. I was much more interested in the cheese, but Hugh was totally in his element and bought twelve bottles along the way!
The group decided to do secret valentines (which is just like secret santa) so that we could all wake up to a present of some sort this Valentines day. Jake woke up to chocolate waffles from Liv, Ed and Hugh received poems from Georgie and I and Ed excelled himself by giving Georgia a big pink fluffy cushion emblazoned with the word LOVE. Awwwww
Next week we hope to finish the out-building at Ubuntu. Painting has finished now so there is a sense of accomplishment amongst everyone and we are looking forward to giving the kids a wicked place to have meetings and just chill.
Speak soon
Anniexxx

A Fun Filled Weekend

2010-02-08T17:31:00.003Z

After a long weekend of volunteering and playing with children that used you as a human climbing frame, we were all feeling pretty tired. For once everyone had to physically prepare themselves for the weekend approaching as we were told that it could well involve copius amounts of alcohol?!
FRIDAY NIGHT: We had all decided that a good night out was well deserved after our gardening, cleaning, collecting rubbish and sailing for a week for some. We had decided in order to save money we would start our night at the hostel, which would mean we wouldn't buy as many drinks in the club (which possibly didn't go to plan). After a few rounds of drinking 'Uno' we had already losted a few members of the group, with Abi feeling too tired to join us on our night out. We grabbed a taxi and were on our way too the club. Our destination was reached, however within 5 minutes we managed to lose another 4 memebers of the group, shortly followed with Harry going astray in the queue. This meant only three out of a total of 10 actually reached the club for our planned 'HUGE' night out! The night could've been described as a nightmare, with three out of a possible four girls being sick. One before reaching the club, one whilst, and one after. Possibly not as successful as hoped!
SATURDAY: It was sure to say that there were a few sore heads this morning and many entertaining stories from the night before. The prospect of another night of drinking made many feel rather ill. Therefore a day chilling at the beach seemed very well deserved! We arrived at Pip's with many of us quite excited about the England vs Wales match. It was even more exciting to see England beat Wales in front of many South African Viewers!! After a very well cooked Briie (Braai - ED) by Pip and a few very full belly's, the idea of going out was quickly abolished! And it was straight home to bed.
SUNDAY: We had all bought tickets for the long awaited, last performance of Goldfish in there home town of Cape Town was finally here. We all took the intiative that pre-drinking before this night may not be quite a good idea. We were quickly learning from our mistakes! The set that Goldfish played was even bettter than remebered, with many of the girls this time wearing bikini's after viewing the seaty faces of last time. Whilst we were partying away un-be-Known to us Liv and Annie had taken on new roles whilst in South Africa. They had managed to convince some Brazilian guys that they were perfessional surfers and were in Cape Town for a photo shoot. I'm sure that they are looking forward to the surfing trip they arranged with the guys on wednesday! GOOD LUCK GUYS!!! The night lasted longer than last time and i actually managed to stick out to the end and beyond......
Georgia xx

Rapper G's input....shweeeet as!!

2010-02-04T15:42:00.004Z

After searching on the net about gardening and various things you can grow we ventured out to the garden centre to get our vegetables and pots which were yet to become our future veggie patch for the children we are working with. When the very nice garden lady donated certain items we headed to Pips to get planting our own little pots. After mixing soils with water, fighting over carrots and tomatoes and re-living childhood times,our little pots were almost complete...of course the blue pepper paint had to be wacked out for decorations! Handprints, smiley faces and for Harry, kisses and hearts had them completed! The evening continued with Pippa's AMAZING braai (?!) where the burgers were insane...not to mention home-made potato wedges...get in! Of course Annie and my rice crispy cake was the best though...so after watching 3 films, chilling and consuming obese amounts of food the day came to an end...so much where my tummy was so completely stuffed that my abs hurt when I woke up this morning...maybe a little too far with the cake.
We returned back to Kylitcheay (?help ed i dont know how to spell it!) with our amazing vegetable pots where we made a little space for them, cleaned up vasts amount of rubbish and weeds and made an amazing path to our future pepper love shack! Then we arrived at the sports centre with all the children which we dominated with a bouncy castle, hoops, footballs...the crazily mad energetic children...and ourselves. After numerous amounts of piggy backs, swinging the little ones around, skipping and much much more the fact that we were dripping with sweat said it all...I can say that all of my lunch is now sufficiently burnt off! So now as people are crashed out on their beds and showered off all the dirt from our hard labour I am going to retire to the swimming pool to do a few casual lengths...as you do...wahoo!

Georgie :)

Lion's Head

2010-02-03T09:45:00.000Z

To our disappointment, the volunteering was called off yesterday. Not wanting to waste the day however, we had soon packed our bags for a day on the beach (yes, it's a hard life). Out of the many beaches on our doorstep, we decided that Clifton 2nd had not had our blessing yet, and so with the tunes pumping out of the bus, AKA The Punisher, we were on our way.

On arrival, copious amounts of suncream were poured on and towels were spread - the girls clearly had a game plan for the afternoon. Harry on the other hand, still hasn't quite got the hang of sun cream yet, and returned from the beach with a kind of tribal design on his chest and stomach to match the incredible cut off lines on his legs.

After a well spent afternoon it was off to climb up Lions Head. Despite the evening drawing in, it was still hot work and in places a bit more demanding than you average walk. At one stage there was an actual climb involved, albeit only 4 meters high. Then towards the top it was more of a scramble up the rocks, rather than a walk. On arrival however, we realised the climb was definitely worth it, with an amazing 360 degree view. On one side we could see Cape Town stretching miles into the distance with Table Mountain looking over it, and on the other was yet another spectacular sunset going down over the Atlantic. We had soon found ourselves a suitable overhang to sit down on and spent a good 30 minutes just sitting and chatting as the sun slowly went down.

After a cheeky team photo it was time to head back. Pips, Georgie and myself were determined to make it round the hill before the sun had fully set, but despite our best efforts we didn't make it. Some of us then ran down the rest of the way, carefully avoiding any twisted ankles and shear drops, before Jake, Georgie and I decided to run all the way back to the lodge - God knows why, but it seemed like a good idea at the time.

It was then off to the Waterfront for a couple of drinks. All in all, a day well spent.

Freddie

Some more happy snaps from week 3 in Cape Town

2010-02-02T12:26:00.003Z

The boys checking out the view from Logan's house...

All dressed up for a day at the races...

Harry's incredible tan.....

Last few moments of surfing lifestyle.....

The culmination of our time with dear Logan

2010-02-02T08:59:00.004Z

We were all sad at the prospect of our three weeks of surfing coming to an end, especially when Logan told us that the swell would be too small to even surf at all on the last day. To lift our spirits it was decided that we would return to our childhood mentalities and spend the day go-karting.Upon arrival at the go-karting place we were quickly turned away and told we could not kart for at least another two hours so to fill the gap of time we headed to a nearby shopping centre to display our tenpin bowling skills.
Certain people showed they had it in their blood with numerous strikes (Pippa) and some showed their ability to gutter almost every ball they threw down the alley (Jake and Abi aka Bridge haha it made for classic viewing).

Everyone was then very excited to return to go-karting, where the boys were told that they drove too recklessly and made to stop racing early, and the girls found that they had a mini Schumacher amongst them; Georgie, who annihilated all of us with her driving skills.
Sunday was a chilled day, in preperation for Logan's braai (BBQ) and house party in the evening. His house is set up in the hills of Llandudno, overlooking the beach and setting a wicked backdrop for the party. We were all joined by the youth of Cape Town and Logan's parents; his dad being quite the silver fox. Fat sausages and meat were cooked on a proper log braai, but I have to admit that I went a little too strong on the alcohol at the beginning of the night meaning that I could not fully appretiate them...it was definately a good night.

Annie xxx

Harry's Khayelitsha Blog - First Day Volunteering

2010-02-02T08:23:00.004Z

Khayelitsha: Streaking under the baking midday sun, the shacks of the township growing one onto another either side of the road, i knew little of what to expect from our first day working with the Umbuntu organisation.
What i knew of them was limited to a half hour introduction last thursday. I failed to see at that point how the children who came to their after-school club would be anything other than sombre. Kids who are for the most part younger than us, yet have to deal with something much greater every day. I failed to account for the Love and care then Whitney, Jules and the others there give to them.
From the moment the first few ran into the room, i am not sure whose smiles were bigger; ours or the kids. Watching little scenes of happiness from outside, and being
involved in them also, was not only exhausting, but so rewarding. From the confusion of what to expect this morning, after watching Big Ed playing football with two boys who barely grazed his waist, or Jake surrounded by eager kids as he strummed the guitar, or the little children bedecked in our sunglasses, rummaging through the handbags left on the table,
I am looking forward more to tomorrow and the rest of these three weeks than i think anything since I have been here, and thats really saying something.

Harry

The J&B Met "COME RACING!!!"

2010-02-01T08:54:00.002Z

After searching copious amounts of shops in the Canal Walk shopping centre, we found our outfit for the prestigious event that is Cape Town's J&B Met (SA's very own Royal Ascot). The theme being "In full colour" we stepped onto the racetrack and imediately became invisible, due to the extravagant outfits people turned out in to try and win big prize money for the elegant couple award. This was no other ordinary race meeting that one would experience back home. For a start the course was full of beautiful young women. Nothing in comparison to the mutton dressed as lamb, Stella drinking scousers in their soggy facinators and open toed heels in 6 inches of mud that we would find at say ladies day at Aintree! It was a beautiful day with the sun shining down on a sea of multicoloured get-ups that people had been planning for weeks. It was clear that so much time and effort had gone into this event from latino style dancers to best dressed awards, everything ran effortlessly, including the horses! A great day was had by all the pepper team!

speak soon, liv x

Another tough day in Cape Town....

2010-01-27T08:50:00.003Z

So today we headed back to llandudno for another crazy day in the surf - everyone is getting so much better under the expert tuition of logan aka terry wogan, the waves were pretty 'gnarly dude' today and i achieved my longest run standing up, thankfully the only casulties today were two fins breaking off the boards.

I think a few of us are appreciating the relaxing beginning to the week after the 'hectic'
weekend we all had. Climbing table mountain was one experience i think few will forget.
When you reach the top of the gorge and look out from the top of the table the hard work becomes a distant memory and so worth the effort. The chilled sundowner session on the beach was definately in order after the climb and a nice end to the afternoon. The evening saw in yummy thai food and a cheeky cocktail or two close to home.

Sunday saw the boys enjoy a fantastic english breakky while the girls checked out what the south african shops had to offer at the mall. I think another trip to JayJays will be in order before long for Annie to pick up some more amazing shorts!
The afternoon saw everyone head out to the township of Gugulethu for a 'surprising lunch trip'. As we pulled into the street the smell, noise and sights were incredible. The afternoon was spent drinking and dancing to the amazing beats and a good time was spent learning some 'kiefe' dance moves from the locals.

To top off the day, we went to Caprice at Camps Bays - the long awaited
trip to 'the' sunday night drinking hole. The night got off to a slow start, though several of us, err just me then, enjoyed the sights of the australian professional rugby team enjoying a few after match beers.

After such a busy weekend everyone was enjoying a few chilled beers and cocktails. Pip roused us with shots and we hit the dance floor to dance the night away. A fab night was had by all.

Abi

Georgia's Birthday Blog

2010-01-27T08:46:00.002Z

Normally when your birthday is in the middle of January you start to get used to waking up in the freezing cold. Experiencing my birthday in South Africa with Pepper was completely the opposite, i woke in the intense heat, being informed that it was meant to be reaching 38 degrees.

The day started with us travelling all the way over to the Newlands cricket stadium to watch the twenty-20 match between the local cape town rugby team, the stormers, and the Cape Cobra's the cricket team. The majority of the group were supporting the stormers apart from a few strays!! However after being presented with an african fanfair, watching the exciting cricket match and left with a few sweaty faces. The match ended with a draw.... after the last ball was said to be a 'no ball'.

The Pepper team then treated us to a meal at a well known steak house called spurs, we were told that on our trip to Cape Town this was one of the restaurants not to be missed! We all stuffed our faces with burgers or steaks. The excitment did not end here however, from the corner of my eye i saw the whole of the Spurs staff dance toward me holding a large icecream sundae singing happy birthday. Red faced, and embarressed i blew out the candles to be treated to another surprise. The Pepper team had bought me a globe for my travels, and a lipgloss to apparently aid my pulling skills! We left full and happy!

We then had a quick 15 minute turnaround before heading off to see Goldfish in concert. All of
the girls struggled with this, trying to fit 5 of us around one mirror was a miracle in itself!

However the impossible became possible and were off and raring to go, with Goldfish blaring out of the Pepper Bus. We had a few Sundowners, before Goldfish started, a perfect way ro recharge after our busy day. Goldfish are a local band from Capetown, so there was no place better to see them which meant the atmosphere was amazing. The intense, sweaty heat of the room was put to the back of our minds as we raved away to the music, with no worries that the photo's may be a little less attractive than first assumed! The night reached a peak when we were then able to meet the band.

I was tucked up and in bed by 11.30, this showed signs of a good night even if i had left a few
of group to carry on, partying without me. Overall it was one of the best birthday's i have ever had, and definately one i will never forget. The sore head in the morning was definately worth it!!!

Georgia xx

Good times continue....week two on January 2010 Experience!

2010-01-25T20:00:00.005Z

The week began on great note with an incredible night with Goldfish at La Med last sunday and after another good week of surfing and diving we made the most of this weekend with conquering Table Mountain, sunsets on the beach, jamming at Mzoli's in the township of Gugulethu and a great night at Caprice! Check out the pics below for a better idea of the good times.

Jamming to the township beats at Mzoli's...

Team Pepper January 2010!!!

Playing in the sunset on Camps Bay...

Jake soaking up the views over the city...

Celebrating after conquering Table Mountain...

Half way up Table mountain...

Sweating it out La Med with Goldfish...

Georgia , The Birthday Girl, with Abi enjoying the Goldfish tunes...

Soaking up the last rays of the day at La Med...

Surfers heading in to the Atlantic...

Jake's weekend blog

2010-01-24T16:23:00.003Z

Day... cannot remember. Table Mountain.

Covered in suncream and as streched as a crew of Ethiopian marathon runners, the Pepper team embarked on a challenge of frightening magnitude - The ascent of Table Mountain. I was worried about how we might all scale the north face of the towering beaut in consideration of our late evening the night before, however, we succeded.
I sincerely doubt that I would ever have contemplated such a task if I was back in the UK, but seeing as we are in Cape Town and under the encouraging eyes of Big Ed and the Pipsicle, the idea seemed a little less daunting! Georgie, Fred and myself were standing at the top within an hour and 15 mins, closely followed by Harry - he somehow managed to finish numerous cigarettes on his way up and in light of this, his completion was all the more impressive. The views, as anyone can surely imagine, were breath taking. To the right, the miniscule city sprawled for miles towards the airport. On the other side, Lion's Head and Robben Island posed as a stunning background.
And so, after hundreds of photos, and a punt to the face from Pip in an extreme game of Hackey, we made our way down on the Cable Cart in the direction of Camps' Bay beach for a few sneaky sundowners. We revelled in the evening sunshine playing frisby and a bit of touch rugby whilst the icy Atlantic lapped at the shores of the beach. All the while, a jolly fire-breathing tightrope walker sang sweet African folk songs on the Boulevard.
I hope some pictures go up on the site, and I'm sure that rest of the team will agree that we had a pretty epic day.......

Deep dive 2 and Wreck dive 1

2010-01-22T18:19:00.004Z

22/1/10

Did 2 dives today, they were both boat dives and were great fun.
The first dive was the second dive in my deep diver speciality, we descended down to 27 meters/81 feet. The temperature dropped from 15 down to 8 degrees in the last 4 meters which was a big shock. We did some regular excersizes which shows what depth does to certain objects and quickely continued due to the cold. We saw alot of Lobsters and a very rare starfish. After a long saftey stop we continued to the boat and dekitted and returned to shore.
The second dive was the first dive of my wreck diver speciality, we descended 15 meters to the deck of the boat and swam over it for a while noticing the damage the sea does to wrecks quickely due to the weather and strong currents. There were some good swim throughs which were amazing, using my dive torch i could look right into the cracks of the boat and saw some more animals which included Nudibranchs, these look like slugs but are bright colours and have horns. They are quite rare and very small so when you find them they are good fun to look at, the photography is amazing aswell as they dont move so you can get some amazing close up shots. When using the correct settings it is amazing. We continued around the boat for a while longer and then surfaced. We then proceeded to shore and had to wait for a while as the fishermen were docking their boats, they had brought in alot of fish [Snoek - ED] and we bought some for and supper tonight which should be great. Caught earlier that day and then Barbequed [Braai Hugh, we're in SA now bru - ED] should produce some really nice fish. Overall a good day and a successful supper.

Hugh xxxx

Just Chill Bro...

2010-01-21T16:55:00.001Z

Wind swept and chilled as a stoned naturist, I look forward to another evening in Cape Town. Having spent a really fulfilling day on Long beach diving with various creatures of the deep, I am going to venture apart from the group and get some exercise with Doug playing some indoor footy. The purgation of my battered body through strenuous physical endeavours will be a welcome change from the relaxed pace of first gear, in which I have been revelling since January 6^th.

Enough of the rhetoric... The past week has been an absolute blast. As far back as Sunday I can remember, so I’ll start there. We went to a charity 20-20 match at Newlands and bathed ourselves in the glory of the African sun, whilst bulky Stormers’ team members did their best not to get annihilated by the Boland Cricket team. Surprisingly, the match was tied! And so, after a well deserved free meat feast at the quintessentially South African ‘Spur’, the Pepper team geared up for a night of sun drenched, drunken carnage on the coast.

The event: Georgia’s 19^th. The intention: self explanatory really. The South African electro duo, Goldfish, really put the icing on the cake....

Along came Monday morning, and we all awoke snuggled in our respective hubs of tequila breath and thoughts of chunder... However, we soldiered on and found ourselves at the top of the Llandudno cliffs, peering into the foamy depths below. Logan, the surf instructor demonstrated with the ease of a natural cliff diver, how we all might leap from the relative safety of the rocks into the icy waters. It was just the adrenaline binge I was looking for and the peaceful après - sleep on the beach was that much more satisfying for it.

Unfortunately, the time has come for my departure and so I bid everyone adieu and have a great evening, wherever you may be.....

Till next time,

Jake

Cape Town Dive Scene

2010-01-21T16:12:00.000Z

I did 2 dives today; we were shore diving off Long beach. I was diving with one of the dive masters from Pisces divers, a practising dive master and 2 friends who are advanced divers. We set out from the dive shop after getting our equipment and arrived at long beach 10 minutes later, we kitted up and did a mixture of dives.

The first dive I participated in was a fun dive, we saw a small wreck and plenty of fish and starfish, we also spotted a baby stingray hiding in the sand. It was a 40 minute dive and we came up a few meters from shore.

The second dive I participated in was an advanced level dive, I had already completed my advanced level diving and completed my rescue diver qualification which is 1 level higher. One of my mates was doing his PPB or Peak Performance Bouncy dive. This is a very interesting part of Advanced diving and is also very important as it stops you crashing into the reef and damaging the fragile life there, plus it also stops you injuring yourself. We completed the exercises and had time to continue the dive looking for interesting animals. Again we saw a lot of fish and starfish plus an Octopus that actively grabbed bits of wood around it which was entertaining to watch. We came up near the shore and started to swim to the beach, suddenly a large seal shot underneath us and raced towards the shore. It crashed into some other divers who were doing their rescue diving qualification and one of the guys screamed Shark and ran for the beach. While in fits of laughter we headed for the shore and de-kitted.

It was a good days diving and ended with a laugh so it all turned out well.

Till next time,

Hugh

Freddie's SA thoughts so far

2010-01-20T18:42:00.007Z

Well, we have now been here for almost two weeks and have already had enough good times to fill up a month. The first few days at the lodge in Langebaan were a great way to settle in to our new surroundings and adapt to the slightly different weather to what was left behind in England. With endless sun, games of hackey and the odd quick dip in the freezing atlantic, I think we all realised then that it is going to be a wicked 3 months.

After that brief stay, it was off to the Backpackers Lodge in Cape Town, and the beginning of our placements. Myself, alongside 6 others chose surfing and have already spent many hours in search of the perfect wave, maaan (or possibly just the right technique to stand up) - only to be sidetracked by the odd sunbathe, or to watch the dolphins surfing out at the back of Llandudno. After our hardcore few hours in the sea, our instructor, Logan, has taken us to some great little spots around the coast - whether it's a walk up some remote path, or just pulling over at the side of the road for a quick stop, we've seen some great views and had some wicked afternoons out.
It's not even 2 weeks in to our 3 month trip, and already we're saying that it's going far too fast - I think we are in for a good time!

Freddie