My first task was to collect a hire car. Taxis here are charged per person (at least to us) so, although individually cheap to get into town, the overall cost is quite high and I’m pretty sure the fact we are a captive market miles from anywhere doesn’t help. When you are going 200 miles rather than ten then the overall cost can be quite ridiculous. Instead of five of us paying £65 each, I arranged a car for £45 total cost and we bit the bullet on the high cost of a taxi to go and collect it from Grahamstown 20 miles away.
Adam the Australian and I set off in the taxi, collected the car and headed back to collect the other three. Now Modolo lodge is 15 miles down a dusty, unsurfaced road that links to a main north-south road so getting back was simply a case of heading back along this route and taking the road signposted to Alicedale, the town a few miles past our lodge. Now you would think that a town in the middle of nowhere would be well signposted thereby allowing us to get on the road to our lodge which is in the middle of the middle of nowhere but despite checking each junction we failed to see anything for Alicedale. We had clearly gone too far and Google Maps wasn’t helping, we either had no coverage or when we did the roads were not always marked. It took an hour longer than planned before we got to the lodge to collect the others and set off on our two hour trip south.
We eventually arrived at Jeffrey’s Bay and although I have never been surfing before this place was everything I expected a surfing town to be: a chilled vibe and a fabulous beach. We kitted up in the surf shop and headed down across the sand to the blue rolling sea where for two hours we were shown how to get on, kneel and eventually stand on the board. It was a slow and tiring process as we faced the force of the surf and the undertow as well as a side current all of which would sweep you off your feet. But it was great fun.
After two hours we headed back in, grabbed a quick snack and then headed out for the long trip back. It was tiring driving on dark and unlit roads but four hours after setting off to Madolo’s, and then onwards to Grahamstown, I was dropped off by a taxi at the lodge and headed in to join the others I’d dropped off earlier for a beer. It had been a long but good day. So I guess you are wondering how I did...well I did manage to stand for a few moments on a few occasions and on one I actually surfed all the way to the beach. I may have wobbled a bit but I was pleased...
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