Week Seven. Seven!!

I can't believe I'm in week seven already...next week will be my last week with ORCA. Whhaaaattt. Also, super long post. I apologise.

So on Monday me and Chanel went to Ocean Blue to feed the turtles. We now have three, another one was found in Knysna over the weekend. It has been named Chuw (Chanel Hauvette and Ulrica Williams combined as they are the ones who collected it.) He is very very small and we think may only be a week or so old. He weighs 25g at the moment and 20 - 25g is normally the weight they are born. He is being very stubborn and not eating so we'll have to keep our fingers crossed he will be ok. In the afternoon we went fishing again with Charlie and some other people. Nobody caught anything but it was still fun. Tracy's husband was there and he and his cameraman friend had set up three crab nets and they caught one in each. They were big! I think they were going to cook them. Crab is tasty!

Tuesday in the morning we went on a hike in nature's valley. It is such a beautiful hike and when you get to the beach half way through you're pretty much in paradise. Seriously amazing. While we were there we found a dead bush buck on the beach. It was an amazing find as it's really not normal to find them on the beach! It looked like it had been there a while and we were trying to work out how it might've died. I think Chanel came to the conclusion that it was an old cow so had probably died simply from being old. It could have been brought down by a cat such as a caracal but even then it would have been targeted because it was old. In the afternoon we went to do a beach clean up but didn't really find much. It was a lovely walk on the beach non the less! In the evening me and Hilde went to eat at a Mozambican restaurant. It was delicious. It was nice to catch up with her as I don't see her as much now she's moved out!

On Wednesday we went to Tenikwa to kill alien tree species. This time we were meant to be painting poison on the ones we had already chopped down so that they can't grow back. But they gave us something like organic weed killer instead of proper poison. So we think it was a waste of time and won't work. Oh well. While we were there I helped feed a brain damaged African penguin. He has been at Tenikwa for a while and they think he was hit by a boat which gave him brain damage. So he will never be able to be released as he can't even feed himself properly. He is a very sweet penguin and doesn't bite like the others would. I like him. At one I went diving to finish off my open water course. We finally got in the ocean, yayyy!!!! We managed to do two out of the three dives we had left. So tomorrow instead of going to preschool I'll go and do one last dive and I will finally be a qualified scuba diver! It's very tiring and now my legs ache but it is totally worth it as it's so much fun and just such a completely different world to experience. I'm sad I'll miss preschool because I love the kids there so much but at least I have next week to see them again. In the evening I booked my flight out of South Africa. I had been deciding whether to come back to Plett after being in New Zealand but in the end I decided that I couldn't really afford it. So what I am doing is flying to Sydney to stay there for around a week and then I will head to New Zealand to meet Sophie. I will be so incredibly sad to leave South Africa but I am also soooo excited to for the next part of my trip!

So on Thursday we finally completed our Open Water diving course, yay. I am now a PADI qualified open water scuba diver! We just had one dive left where we had to complete one skill - taking off our masks underwater, putting them back on and clearing them. It was fine apart from the fact my regulator came out of my mouth when I took my mask off, but it was fine! When I go to Australia/Sydney I definitely want to dive there! In the afternoon we went out on a boat but unfortunately didn't see anything which is a shame as it was such a nice day. We are having a heat wave here and it's SO HOT! Today and tomorrow the Sustainable Seafood Trust has been with ORCA, seeing what we are doing and what we are about. They are doing a tour of the coast visiting different towns and organisations and getting people to take Ocean Pledges - basically pledges to look after the ocean environment and fish sustainably. So on Thursday evening we went to an event where the SST people gave a presentation and Tony the big boss of Ocean Blue and ORCA also gave a speech. It was interesting and there was free wine which is always good!

Friday was a nice day. We went to see two performances by the Lunchbox Theatre group. One was the Tree Show about the importance of planting trees and the other was the Whale Show about protecting South Africa's whales. They were in two different schools and they were so good. A lot of it was in Afrikaans but you could easily get the gist of what was going on. In the afternoon we came back to the house, cleaned the van, buried the food waste in the garden so it can compost the plants (which is disgusting and made me want to throw up) and other such things. It was a BOILING day so me Ulrica and Marlies had a swim in the lagoon near the house. It was freeeeezing but lovely and beautiful. In the evening a few of us went to Chanel's sister Louise's 30th birthday party. It was a Great Gatsby themed party so I tried my hardest to dress 1920s like with the limited clothes I have with me! It was a good night.

Saturday was an awesome day. In the morning everyone from the ORCA house (minus Lore, who can't dive) and some people from Pro Dive joined together and did a reef clean up. We managed to get rid of 5kg of fishing crap (lines and hooks and such like) from red bait reef. It was good to go diving again too. Me Chanel, Hilde, Ale and Chanel's dad (who was visiting Plett for Louise's birthday) then went on a seal swim. Again it was a beautiful weather. On a seal swim you get taken out on a small boat to the seal colony at Robberg and you swim with the seals! You wear wetsuits, snorkels and fins and the seals are eeeeeverywhere! They completely surround you. The pups are really inquisitive and playful and come really close. I got a few nibbles from a couple of them but it's only to figure out what you are and it doesn't hurt. Saying that Hilde got bitten on her bum and it even made holes in the wetsuit! Luckily it didn't break the skin! It was sooo much fun and the water was really really clear which made it even better. I was buzzing even before we got the the seals though. As we were on the way to Robberg some dolphins popped up right beside the boat. I automatically assumed they were bottlenose dolphins which still would've been cool but they weren't. They were common dolphins. I hadn't seen them yet and I had resigned myself to the fact I wouldn't be seeing them as it's out of the season for them now. But there they were! I was so happy I pretty much cried. No joke. They are beautiful dolphins with a beautiful yellowish stripe down their side and they are the kind that ride the waves created by the boat, so they get really close. Because we were on such a small boat I literally could have reached out and touched one. It was incredible. I am SO happy I got to see them. Aaaarrrhhhhghghghghgggghhh I love them!!!! After the seal swim went went for lunch which Chanel's dad very kindly paid for. I liked him a lot, he was very nice. In the evening I went to Hilde's flat where she and another Norwegian girl Oda (also like her a lot...maybe all Norwegians are nice?!) cooked us Norwegian meatballs with potatoes and Norwegian peas. They were delicious. I also loved the peas which Hilde and had told me many times that I wouldn't like, but I loved them! We played games and watched a film. It was fun. And we found a MASSIVE spider which wasn't so fun.

On Sunday I had a looooovely lie in (not a lion) and then skyped with Sophie. We chatted about our impending trip to New Zealand (so excited!) and other such things. She's hopefully going to meet me in Syndey and then we'll fly over to Auckland together. Later me Marlies and Lore met a friend at a pub by a river. Again it was a beautiful day and there was live music. It was so nice. Her parents were there and they bought us drinks and then we played mini golf. It was fun. I started off really well and then went super crap. Managed to not lose though, wahey!

So, week seven was a bloody good week! Can't believe I only have one week with ORCA left...