Abseil Africa: The Return of Jurassic Park

On Sunday we somehow managed to wake up insanely early and head to the car rental office. Wyatt, not being accustomed to how ridiculously far we have to walk to get anything done, found a way to complain the entire way there. Okay, I may be over exaggerating, but the point is the kid hates walking anywhere. We finally arrived at Hertz, dealt with a few dilemmas renting the car (has anyone ever rented a car problem free?) and were headed to Cape Town. Because I was the actual renter I had to be the person to drive away from the lot, but there are two major problems with this: 1. I haven't ever driven on the left side of the road, and 2. I can't drive a stick shift. Uh-oh! Sam hyperventilated in the backseat and Wyatt helped me make it the three blocks I needed to so that we could shift drivers. Once Wyatt took over we only had a few scares at the intersections (Sam is still hyperventilating at this point) until he got the hang of it. Actually, at one point Sam had her hand on the door handle to literally eject herself from the car. Overkill? Maybe. Necessary? Definitely.

We arrived at Table Mountain with plans to hike all the way up and abseil down. Now, I'm not sure if you've seen this thing, but the mountain is gigantic. The only way to go was up, so that's what we did!

About two steps into the hike I managed to find someone new to talk to (insert Wyatt's sigh here) and she was really interesting! (I'm going to call her Susan because I have an awful memory and can't remember her real name). Susan, a native Californian, was in Cape Town for a mere week for work with her biological research company. Hello! Right up my alley! 

Before we could even really hit the trail we ran into a homeless guy trying to give us "free maps", and unfortunately Susan, being an unknowing tourist, fell for it, dragging us along with her. After paying R5 for an unnecessary map of a place that has one way up and one way down, we hit the trails again. Silly Americans.

The view was gorgeous.

During another break we met a really friendly couple from none other than Texas A&M! It was so nice to talk to someone about College Station, football, and crazy times at Northgate, I actually felt like I was back in Texas! Here are a few more pictures from the hike up:

Wyatt and I by a cool tree

The hike we did was called Plettenberg Gorge. If it looks difficult, that's because it was.

We finally reached the top of the mountain, enjoyed the view for a while, and made our way to the abseil station. 

Clouds were rushing over the top of the mountain. (Note to self: in the future, this means conditions are not optimal to abseil). 

"No experience required, just a bit of insanity." HA. No joke.

Wyatt, Sam and I hung out with the abseil instructor for a few minutes while we waited for the group before us to finish, and in these few minutes two crucial things happened. First, the temperature dropped about 20 degrees. No joke, we were all freezing on top of this mountain. And second, the entire top of the mountain got covered in a cloud. If you've been keeping up with my blog, you probably remember me talking about Table Mountain and how sometimes a cloud, dubbed "the table cloth", covers the mountain at a moments notice. Well, this was that moment. So here we are, three innocent American kids trying to be extreme in South Africa, freezing, shaking, scared out of our minds to throw ourselves over the mountain's edge..it was probably quite a sight.

After getting strapped in and receiving a 30 second safety briefing and instructional, we were headed to the edge. Before we started Sam decided she didn't want to go through with it and I can't say I blame the girl. Wyatt and I are both a little too competitive, and I don't think either one of us wanted to admit that we didn't want to do it either, so down we went!

Male model extraordinaire getting mentally prepared.

The instructor kept telling me to scoot back and I was taking the smallest steps imaginable to do so.

And they're off!

This is my "what the heck was I thinking when I signed up for this" face.

After abseiling down all 112 meters (the tallest commercial abseil in the world!) I think both Wyatt and I came to an agreement that it was the most scary thing either one of us had ever done. I'm convinced that the conditions had a lot to do with it, because friends of mine went on a nice day and said it wasn't too bad, but let me tell you..it was bad. At one point the wind got so strong I got blown right onto the side of the mountain. Wyatt was next to me and we just looked at each other, made the "let's get the heck down this thing" face at each other, and kept on truckin'.

This is from the bottom of the abseil looking up. Wyatt went a bit faster than me and when he got to the bottom he kept yelling "Amanda! Look down! You won't even be able to see me!" REAL encouraging!

Once we both finished we had to hike back up the mountain to meet Sam. The hike back looked like a scene straight out of Jurassic Park.

At the top we had lunch, warmed up a bit, and made our way to the cable car to head down the mountain.

Our descent down the mountain via the cable car. The difference between the climate at the top and bottom of the mountain was insane.