Mackay Bridge silhouette

The Mackay Bridge in Colchester outside Port Elizabeth silhouetted against the afternoon sun, ideal for a Skywatch Friday post.

Storms River Mouth panorama

I just noticed this lone picture sitting in a file and realised that it is one from our recent visit to the Tsitsikamma that I forgot to upload.  Its a panoramic picture taken from the eastern side of Storms River Mouth shows the three suspension bridges in the background.

Crossing the suspension bridges

At first Drama Princess was a bit scared of crossing the three suspension bridges at Storms River Mouth but after going one way hanging onto me she was brave enough to walk back on her own.

Storms River Mouth

Storms River Mouth is truly spectacular.  Over millions of years the river has carved a deep gorge down to the ocean and thus creates a very striking river mouth.  It's this spot that are reached by taking the one kilometre Mouth Trail from the Tsitsikamma National Park's main rest camp. 

Over the years the suspension bridge over the river mouth has become a main feature in the park and pictures of it has become synonymous with Storms River Mouth.  In 2007 a fire swept through the area close to the bridge and major damage was caused to the walkway as well as the surrounding environment.  The rockface wasn't deemed safe enough to rebuilt the walkway and park management had to find another way to access the suspension bridge and subsequently further trails.

The decision was made to built two further suspension bridges on the approach to the original bridge meaning that you now cross three before getting to the other side of the Storms River, giving one even more reason to walk the trail.

Tsitsikamma Forest Trail Part 2: Old Storms River Bridge

After a couple of hours hiking through the Plaatbos Nature Reserve we emerged from the forest close to where the old pass road crosses the Storms River.  We headed straight down to the river, kicked off our shoes and soaked our feet in the cool, soothing water.  Just what we needed at the halfway mark of our hike.

When the pass was originally built the road went through the river with the low water bridge only being build by soldiers during the Second World War (I'm just trying to confirm this as I've only heard it somewhere before but can't find anything about it on the internet).  The pass was replaced by the N2 and the Storms River Bridge in 1958 and today the bridge can only be reach on foot, by bicycle or on the Woodcutters Journey tour done by Storms River Adventures. 

In the early days many travellers camped out next to the river after a "down day" (because the pass is so narrow ox-wagons could only travel either up or down the pass on any given day to avoid them coming face to face with another ox-wagon and have nowhere to pass each other).  Just like they refreshed before the uphill trek, so did we. 

Paul Sauer Bridge

Most travellers on the N2 through the Tsitsikamma stop at the Petroport to fill up the one tank, empty the other or just grab a snack.  A lot of those travellers, specially those from afar, either take a walk across the Storms River Bridge or to the viewing platform.  The bridge spanning the Storms River is actually called the Paul Sauer Bridge.  The bridge was designed by Riccardo Morandi, an Italian architect, and completed in 1958.  At the time of its building it formed part of the brand new N2 highway between Port Elizabeth and George, replacing the old road through the Storms River Pass.

The Paul Sauer Bridge is one of four concrete arch-bridges constructed across the deep gorges of the Tsitsikamma and is about 120m high and just short of 200m long.  When it was built the two sides were constructed upright and then lowered down.  It is claimed that the engineer in charge said that he will jump off it if the ends didn't meet.  Apparently there was only a 1 meter gap but history shows that he died of old age in Italy, which means he never followed through on his threat.

Dolphin Point at Wilderness

One of the most popular lookout points on the Garden Route is Dolphin Point just outside Wilderness on the way to George.  Most tour buses as well as holiday makers tend to pull over here to both stretch their legs and enjoy the magnificent views.  Looking east you can see Wilderness itself with its long stretch of sandy beach leading off into the distance.

Turning the other way you see the Kaaimans River railway bridge down below.  The railway linking George and Knysna was completed in 1928 and it used to carry the very well known Outeniqua Choo Tjoe steam train until 2006 when the line was badly damaged in floods.  Unfortunately the train has since ceased to operate.  When I was still a tourist guide we always timed our departure from Knysna in the morning so that we could be at the lookout on time to see the train puff across the bridge.  The good old days...

3...2...1... BUNGY!!!

I decided to post something slightly different for this week's

  

post.  Rather than looking up, we are looking down.

The 451m long Bloukrans River Bridge in the Tsitsikamma spans the gorge of the Bloukrans River on the boundary between the Eastern Cape and the Western Cape.  Completed in 1984, the bridge forms part of the N2 highway between Port Elizabeth and Cape Town and is 216m high making it the highest single span arch bridge in the world.  But all of that is probably pretty insignificant to any regular person out there.  That's to say people really wouldn't have given much notice to the bridge if it wasn't also the highest commercial bridge bungy jumping site in the world.

Yes, you heard me right.  People pay good money to fling themselves off the bridge with nothing but an elastic cord tied to their ankles.  Ok, so its a bit more complicated than that, but I'm not going to go into the whole science of bungy jumping.  For those who want to know more I have one word... Google.

Look carefully and you will see the bungy cord hanging down below the bridge with something at the end.  It kinda gives you a better perspective on high it actually is.  A jumper accelerates from 0 to 100km per hour in 2 seconds and with a recoil of 140m it means that you actually get “two jumps” of over 100m.

Looking closer you will notice that the something is somebody who probably by now have a massive post bungy grin on his face.  Did I do it? Hell no!