After the bungy jump, back at the hostel I chatted with John, a helicopter pilot who runs tourist flights, and he told me of the backpacker place he also owns in Port Elizabeth. We swapped stories for a while, and I told him about achieving my helicopter goal, as well as my goal to learn to fly a plane. He soon had me on the phone to Gerhard, a pal of his who runs a flight school. I will try to meet him when I get to Port Elizabeth, although time on this trip is too short before I fly to South America.
After their day out trekking, Sandor and Melanie picked me up at the hostel, and we drove to surfer town Jeffreys Bay, where we stayed at the surfer-packed hostel there. The place was lovely, right on the beach front, very relaxing.
The next day my new travelling companions’ route took them through Port Elizabeth, so I grabbed a lift again with them, and they dropped me off right at the door of John’s Helicharter Hostel. Their kindness and assistance has been very much appreciated.
I met up with John for dinner, and the next morning headed out to the airfield with him to meet his buddy Gerhard, who runs Madiba Bay School of Flight. It may well be worth coming back here to do my flying lessons, as Gerhard and his wife Yvette seem very enthusiastic about my project, and can offer a very competitive package to get me flying solo.
And so this afternoon it is time to head for the train station to catch the sleeper train to Johannesburg, beginning my long journey up to Zimbabwe, aiming for my next goal – to see Victoria Falls.