Day 379 South Africa 16/11/2011, Hluhluwe – Budget Backpackers, St Lucia. 43.48miles/69.80km, 3hr43minutes, Av 11.6mph.

The weather was pretty warm again this morning and we didn't set off quite as early as we had planned. Heading out into a thankfully wind-free day, we rode the 5km of dirt road until we reached the main highway and then happily rejoined the smooth tarmac.

Our intention was to locate a dirt road short-cut that would knock about 20km off our journey to St Lucia. We had been given all sorts of advice last night about where the road was and we had checked the internet to get the exact distance. All of this was to no avail, as somehow we missed it. We did see several tracks leading into the forest, but none of them looked overly promising.

Instead we carried on to the town of Mtubatuba, bought some lunch and then pressed on, sadly into a strong headwind, towards St Lucia.

Despite the less than ideal wind conditions and a hillier than expected road, we still arrived in the town at 12pm. Budget backpackers was easy to find and it has a large shady camp-site.

Having settled in we went to get some lunch and then had a brief walk round the town. Debs fortuitously found a chiropractor and after a quick session is on the way, to getting her back sorted. While Debs back was being manipulated, I went to see about going on a whale watching trip. I know that we had said no more boat trips after the ill-fated whale shark trip, but this is on a much bigger boat. This is probably our only chance to see humpback whales in South Africa, as by the time we get to the Cape the whales will have already gone. The trip is pretty expensive but there are supposedly still plenty of whales and the chance of seeing a humpback breach is too good to pass up. Fingers crossed that Debs survives the trip, as she is really keen to go!

Back at the hostel we got invited to join a large group of people for a braai. We had already got food for dinner, but it will keep until tomorrow. In the end we had to go and get some food from a nearby takeaway as no one seemed in any hurry to cook and with a cycling day behind us we were obviously hungry! The food didn't actually get cooked until well after Debs had gone to bed. By then I had had quite a lot of beer and was ready for bed. It was a shame it was so late as the food when it arrived was very good. It was still a good night though, just possibly not the best preparation for an early boat trip!