Into the unknown, with the vacation of a lifetime

by Jurgen Maree (South Africa)

I didn't expect to find South Africa

While all the matriculating students were planning their first "alone" vacation to one of the matric vacation hotspots, like Plettenberg Bay, me and my two best friends set out to explore the unknown and experience all South Africa has to offer. We planned to start our journey at Jeffrey's Bay to have some of the matric vacation vibes but then travel down along the coastline to Cape Town, in time the watch the Cape Town 7's rugby series. We set out early one morning to take on the long road ahead of us. We only had a few miney saved up for the holiday and planned all our adventures to fit in our budged. All went according to plan the first half of the trip, but and unexpected adventure caught my eye while we drove from Jeffrey's Bay to our next destination, Knysna. While driving I saw some hi ndebele houses and wanted to explore the village. We stopped and then the me unexpected happened when I realised it was next to a bungee jumping facility. Bungee jumping has been one of my life goals for as long as I first layed my eyes upon a video of such an event. I ran to the facility wighout any hesitation and convinced one of my friends to join me in this exiting event. Keep in mind, we dis not plan to spend money on this and our money was allready at a low. Me and my friemd decided that it is was a once in a lifetime opportunity and gathered the money. That jump, from the Bloukrans Brige was the highlight of my whole trip and I would pay the money anytime again. The rest of the trip became very interesting as we had to plan around our new budget and that is what made the trip the vacation of a life time. We stopped at private and secluded water holes for some amazing swims, we picked up a friend along the line and had amazing day trips to places we would jever have gone and we made the most of the vacation and what we had to work with. Since our budget was at an unexpected low, it forced us to become creative with ideas to make the holiday a fun trip. It made us explore what nature has to offer and meet new people to show us the local landscapes. We did not know it at the time, but spending our money and breaking our budget, was the best thing that could have happened to us and made that matric holiday our vacation of a lifetime.