The Sunshine Coast

The past few days I have spent driving and camping along the spectacular Sunshine Coast between George and East London. The road follows the coast and goes through so many different micro climates. The first night after leaving the wonderful and inspiring company of Maureen and her humble abode, I camped in the Tsitsikamma National Park. I walked along the vast expansive and desolate beaches. I had my first swim in the mystical Indian Ocean. So different already from the others...I was a little un nerved by seeing a number of shark eggs on the beach, and looking out at the strong waves and currents of the ocean. There were big jellyfish with no tenticles on the beach.

The next day I drove to the Aldo Elephant National Park. I was expecting to see just elephants, but ended up seeing warthogs, buffalo, rhinos, kudu, jackals, monkeys, and more. In fact, I pulled up to a huge meadow in the morning, and watched a pride of 5 lions arranging a hunt of buffalo in a field. They made one attempt but the buffalo were aware. They ran away, and once again began graving, while the lions retreated to the bush. AMAZING sight...throw away the T.V. you can see it in real life. It was amazing watching how unscared the buffalo were of the the lions hunting. It's as if they are saying...."yeah, we know your there, but have you tasted this grass? It's delicious. Listen lion- I am busy right now. Come back later on. Boy this grass is good.".



There is elephant shit all over the place. The park now has something like 500 elephants in it. They come right up the car, and I just loved watching these little babys walking underneath the mom elephant. One looked at me and tried to give me a "I'm a big boy" scream...I had to laugh. Of course you are! Even the baby could smash my little Nissan! The only thing that sucked about the park was the camp site, that reminded my of a Orange County trailer park. There was a hard gravel ground, and I could not put my tent stakes in. Mean while, I thought the few caravans around me were going to unroll some astro turf and practice there putting.
Driving from town to town has become really exciting. I love to stop at the thrift stores in between and see if I can hunt down the necessities I need...old pots, a matress, other odd and ends. Interesting not: the thrift stores all around the world smell the same! I stopped in on little town called Humansdorp. There was a traditional healer/fortune teller's office at the end of time. I had a nice long talk with Dr.Fred (he would not allow me to take a picture). Almost 80% of Africans will first visit a traditional healer before they go to a doctor. Dr. Fred was from Kenya, and a very interesting person, who moved here for a better opportuniy. He works with a lot of AIDS patients from his humble office.
I then bought 12 carrots from a lady selling them on the corner for 6 rand ($.75), and have been living on these for the past few days. Still amazed at how segregated the country is....although, many say it is so much better than before. The only difference I can tell between the whites and blacks is that people with white skin drive too fast, and always seem to be in a hurry. Somewhere they must arrive....




I slept in the lawn of a hostel here in Port Albert last night. There were no other guests, as it is not tourist season. The woman running the place, Michelle, and her friend Mellie, were really nice. They invited me out to a pub to listen to some music and have a few beers last night in a near by village. My first time out since being here, and what a great time. It seems everyone knows each other in the pub, and soon they all knew Johnny. The songwriter who was playing was VERY talented, and was once again amazed why we do not hear this type of great music on the radio. Then they all begged me to play some songs, so I obliged. I had to go unplugged, so it was more like screaming over a bunch of drunk jolly South Africans. But they danced and cheered.