PCM News: Trailing the Otter

09 September 2009

Trailing the Otter

The last time we went away together for any length of time (on a non work related trip) was almost two years ago. It was brilliant therefore to get away last week to do the Otter Trail with some friends. This is a five day, 45 km walk along a secluded bit of the south coast and South Africa's most popular trail which needs to be booked a year in advance.

It was a 1600+ km, 18 hour drive through the night to get there - and back again, but it was well worth it.

The scenery is spectacular and rugged.

And good for sunsets.

Also pretty good for long exposure, moonlit night time shots.

You stay in basic huts right next to the beech, but have to carry everything else with you (food, sleeping bag etc). Each night we cooked outside round a fire.

It might only be 45 km but the going is often tough - especially with big rucksacks.

The trail is noted for many things but one of the most daunting is a river crossing on day four. When we did this walk eight years ago one of our group had major problems here.
We crossed at low tide but still needed to swim about 100m. Trouble was that low tide was at 08:00 and it's a four hour walk from the hut. This meant we were up at 03:15 and had to walk 2 1/2 hours in the dark to get there.

Day three huts are on the right in the pic below and also required a river crossing to get to them.

We saw wales, dolphins, shed loads of birds, buck, some big insects

and a scorpion!

Oh, and we even saw an otter!

Cathy felled a small tree with her bare teeth and then wrang the sap out so we could use it for cooking later that evening!

After the walk we took a day to do a mountain bike trail and then drove back - on our wedding anniversary.

When we left we were having a fire each night to keep warm. We get back to find the day time temperatures are over 30 deg. I guess spring must have arrived!

P n' C

1 comment:

Nigel Traynor said...: Pualand and Kathy
glad to see you are doing well the pics and the place looks inspiring
keep up the good work; 14 September, 2009

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A short history of us

Not long after we were married we felt that God had some full time work for us overseas. This initially began with a move to Sheffield in 1992 to work for a Christian management training company. Three years later we felt the Lord's prompting that another change was imminent and this led to a move to Africa where we helped set up a youth program with the Lesotho-Durham link in the capital Maseru. An initial three year commitment turned into four after which the youth work was handed over to the nationals.

Then, after feeling God was moving us into mission flying Paul enrolled at a flying school and completed his South African commercial license with an instrument rating in December 1999.

We moved from Lesotho to White River in South Africa in June of 2003 where we now work with Mercy Air. Mercy Air was borne out of Youth with a Mission (YWAM) and is a sister, although smaller organisation to the more well known Mercy Ships. We are situated near Nelspruit and provide a service to missions and the development/aid community in the southern African region but mainly serve Mozambique.

We operate four aircraft at present - a Quest Kodiak, a Cessna 310 and two Airbus 350 helicopters which are often used for the relief flights.

When not flying Paul is responsible for flight operations and is Mercy Air's Safety Officer.

Cathy, who is a registered Nurse and Midwife works part time at Africa School of Missions which is a bible college preparing missionaries for overseas service. She teaches in their School of Health and is part of a team which visits a number of rural clinics during the week. She is also helps with the hospitality ministry that Mercy Air runs.

Matthew spent four years at Rhodes University in Grahamstown where he studied photo journalism. He has now flown the nest and is living with his wife in Durban. They have a young daughter named Isabella.