16 May 2012

Day Three - Flowers and showers

Dear Coco Here is Jonathan and the Alph, and Lucy and Katta crossing the Geelhoutbos River at the start of Day Three, which is a 7.7 km hike to the Oakhurst huts.
Mirror lakes and a pensive Lucy. The moon was still high in the sky in the mornings.
Today was a particularly flowery walk and Alice and I both managed to drain our camera batteries! Luckily I had a spare.
One of the exposed hillsides was covered with this Knowltonia vesicatoria subsp grossa - commonly known as Brandblare or Blistering Leaves - so I am glad we didn't try to pick any! (Knowltonias are members of the buttercup family - Ranunculaceae.)
After a fair amount of going up and coming down, we came to yet another glorious river mouth - the Elandsbos River Mouth, where we had lunch and swam.
Looking towards the sea.
After a bit of confusion as to where the path went, and putting on and taking off of shoes, we eventually found it and set off to the next river mouth - the Lottering River. As we came round the corner we saw hundreds of dewy spider webs glistening in the sun. They belong to our old friend from the fynbos, the sheet-web pisaurid (Euprosthenopsis pulchella), with its "GT" stripes.
A white hibiscus - possibly H. trionum.
A Chasmanthe aethiopica.
Sugar frosted berries.
A quick dip back into the forest where lots of interesting looking bulbs were popping out of the soil.
Another giddy descent - you can see the Oakhurt huts on the other side of the Lottering River. Luckily the tide was low and we got across without any trouble.
Looking back at the Lottering.
Each hut is in a more beautiful spot than the previous one - and this was certainly the wildest - with crashing surf all night. Gilly managed to find a spot to swim in the sea, but I had a very tame, very cold, shower with a spectacular view of the sea. Yes, old Otter Trailers who might be reading this - there are SHOWERS!
These are the Oakhurst huts, with Kate on the rock. And the beds were rock hard too.
Please say hi to Dougal and I hope that you are both beahaving well and not annoying the neighbours too much with your barking,
love from the Food Lady

No comments:

Post a Comment