Birds in the electric box

The electric box attached to the outside wall of my flat has provided me with some enjoyable moments of excitement and curiousity. Not only is it the place I go to check the electricity level, as well as load prepaid electricity codes, but also a place I have visited to view Mother Nature in the works.

When I first arrived here in July, there was only an empty nest in the right corner of the electric box. Figuring it was an abandoned nest, I did not plan to see any birds or eggs hiding out in the nest. Much to my surprise, one day I was greeted by bird life upon checking the electric box. I now do not remember which I found first, the sitting bird or the eggs, but regardless, I was excited to see some signs of spring life here in South Africa.

I was excited to check in on the eggs every few days, always standing back in anticipation of the protective bird that would fly out from its post on the nest when I would open the cover to the electric box. I thought the eggs would sit and mature longer than they did, so the day opened the box and found hatched baby birds, I felt like I had found a secret treasure.

Once the birds got strong and flew the coop, I figured that was it for my bird watching in the electric box. I was again surprised a few weeks later, when there were another 3 eggs in the nest. A few more weeks later, and 3 more hatched birds out of the nest, and I was left wondering if I would get to see a third batch of spring birds. There have not been any more since, but I have enjoyed passing the time with the first two batches, enjoying watching and waiting on the natural wonders of the world.



Road Trip!!! Tsitsikamma...

The weekend before Halloween was spent on what I'd describe as a classical roadtrip with the ladies :D We drove west along the coast 3 hours to the Tsitsikamma National Park area.



Ethelyn, Neelu and Aleschia with our car that we hired (rented) for the weekend.



The car was picked up from the Port Elizabeth airport on Friday morning. We caught a ride with Pang, our usual cab driver, to the airport to get the car. Pang has often told us he is the cheapest, among telling us all sorts of other true/ridiculous claims about any given thing. We have now twice found out, that Pang is indeed the cheapest for us, at least for surely on rides to and from the airport. 

We brought the car back to Annie's Cove, to load it with luggage and ladies. Luggage being more of just a play on words :D It was small bags we all brought, you saw our little bubble car in the pic above right?! We of course made a brief stop off at the Green Acres shopping center, a place any of us rarely go due to the combination of factors ie. student budgets, transportation.

Neelu and Aleschia got piercings, and Ethelyn and myself found wallets for a really good price. We stopped at the music store and invested in a transfer cord for the IPOD to car stereo, got groceries and some good old McDonalds and hit the road to Tsitsikamma.  

We made it safely to Storms River Village, the area of the Tsitsikamma region we stayed in. We stayed at the Tube and Axe, a really comfortable backpackers resort. There was quite the variety of accomodations to choose from at the Tube and Axe; tent sites, raised tents, dorms, rooms. We stayed in a 6 person dorm room the first night, and in a really nice 4 person room the second night. We were very excited about the full bathroom that we had access to outside of our room the second night.

After arriving and checking into the Tube and Axe on Friday evening, we went down the road and had dinner at a really cute hotel restaurant. The food was really good, I was totally excited to be able to have a caprese salad (fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, balsamic and pesto). After dinner, we went back to the Tube and Axe and sat around the fire conversing with the other international travelers. After some time at the fire, soaking up the warmth, we were ready for bed!

Saturday morning was marked with excitment. Ethelyn, Aleschia and Neelu were scheduled to bungee jump from Bloukran's Bridge, the highest bungee jump in the world. Bloukran's Bridge, is a huge public bridge, a cement structure, set over a stunning river valley, opening into the ocean. Being that I have bungee jumped once in the Wisconsin Dells, I opted to be the supportive role of a "bridge buddy" :D That was awesome, going out on to the bridge with the ladies, and getting to be there while they took their plunges off the bridge! I had to wear a back support harness belt, which Ethelyn humorously questioned the need for. I assured her it was probably a necessary safety measure enabling me to be able to walk in the cage under the bridge, bringing us to the jumping platform. We never did find out the exact purpose of that harness belt, it was never used for anything, leaving us laughing about it after the fact.

The afternoon was spent at Tsitsikamma National Park, climbing around on the rocks and hiking out to the suspension bridge where the Storm's River meets the Indian Ocean. We had a great time, taking in the fresh air and scenic coastal views.

Take note of the little fellas relaxing on the rocks above.

After Tsitsikamma, we drove to Plettenberg Bay. We passed through a toll, as well as made a stop off at Monkeyland. Monkeyland is a sanctuary for monkeys, providing them with a natural environment to live in, after being rescued from unhealthy lives as pets, circus performers, zoo exhibits etc.

From the time we drove onto the main road leading to Monkeyland, we began to have exciting sightings. The road leading up to Monkeyland was full of free roaming baboons.

I was really surprised at the variety of monkeys that we saw within Monkeyland. They were free roaming and got VERY close to us. We were warned by our guide to stay on the trail and hold on to our belongings, because the monkeys are not afraid to take stuff from people.

Our guide through Monkeyland. Note the monkey on the feeding table.



We were not supposed to take pictures while on the suspension bridge, we were supposed to focus on walking across. I of course am taking a picture while walking across the suspension bridge in the picture above, hence the odd face I'm making...



After Monkeyland, we drove into Plettenberg Bay. We stopped off to sit on the beach and soak in the view and then had dinner at a quaint cozy Italian restaurant in Plettenberg Bay.

Yep Aleschia is in the water with her shoes on....by accident of course :D

After dinner in Plettenberg Bay, we hit the road to head back to the Tube and Axe for the night. Sunday morning we slept in a bit and then got up and packed the car and hit the road back to Port Elizabeth. We had a great time, enjoying being out of Annie's Cove, taking in the scenes of the coast along the road, seeing new places and trying new things!