managed to get a good night's sleep, which only seems to occur on the rare occasion, but still woke up early. took a really long hotshower, since not sure when i'll be getting one of those again, then managed to snuggle back under the covers while jeff was getting ready. attempted to watch a cricket match and nearly poked my eyes out. found a rugby game instead and though i don't understand everything, it's a lot easier to follow. plus, will hopefully make it to the rugby world cup in new zealand in 2011 (fingers crossed!) so need to work on my knowledgeof the sport - go all blacks ;o)
checked out of our lodge and made our way to the border at oshoek. it was much more formal than what we had experienced at jeppe's reef; we still had to get out and stand in odd lines, but it seemed more official somehow. everything was going smoothly until a guard wanted to check our trunk. i wasn't sure if he was concerned we were trying to smuggle something in or out, or if he just wanted to check out the "nice car". he kept asking me about it, like how much it cost and whatnot. i was like - dude, i don't know, it's a rental. not in those exact terms, mind you. goodbye swaziland, and hello again south africa.
we were dumped onto the N17, which should have taken us directly back to jo'burg. what we didn't know was it was completely under construction, full of one lane closures, horrible pot holes and wild animals, all of which slowed us down considerably. the N17 also goes through a bunch of little towns, and fails to inform the driver it is turning. several times we found ourselves on the wrong road and had to completely backtrack. a 4 hr journey quickly turned into a 6 hr journey, which isn't awful, except when you anticipate 4 hrs and you go 6 and you have to pee really, really bad.
to make matters worse, the directions to the hostel weren't great (surprise surprise). they just said "exit the highway" but didn't indicate where or when. so we took a lucky guess and i pulled into a gas station to ask. no wasting time here. fortunately the attendant had an idea of where we were trying to go and gave us semi-cryptic but semi-useful directions, and we found our way to mbizi backpackers. at this point i was quite grumpy and irritable thanks to a ridiculously full bladder, so when i couldn't open the gate to the hostel, i nearly started to cry. jeff fortunately was in better spirits (well, he got to nap during the 6+ hrs of driving and did not have an exploding bladder) and was able to figure out the padlock to the gate. we walked into the hostel and didn't find anyone except for 2 guests who showed me where the toilet was. sweet relief!
made our dinner of pasta, and the owner showed up so i could settle the bill. he was confused at first by seeing jeff, but i explained i was taking him to the airport tonight and it was indeed just me staying. asked about laundry since it was advertised, but was told the dryer wasn't working well. desperately needed to do a wash before the next leg of my trip but also didn't want wet clothes for tomorrow's flight. keeping fingers crossed will have a chance at the next accommodation, otherwise i'll be very dirty girl. eventually it was time to take jeff to the airport. didn't want to have to take him so early, but also didn't want to drive by myself, in jo'burg, at night. despite our fights, it was still sad to see him go. managed to find my way successfully back to the hostel without getting lost. did some major reorganizing for tomorrow's flight, and though was invited to "the pub" (not sure which) to watch "the game" (also not sure which), called it an early night since had to be up so early the next day.
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