Butterfly Valley Part 1

Sunset from the plateau where George House is situated ... a fine prospect!

We are loving our time here at Butterfly Valley! Originally we were going to stay 3 nights, then we changed it to 4 and then extended to 8 ... we have 2 days left. Mike and Chris suggested we stay here ... they stayed here a few years ago and loved it as well.  We are staying at George House ... a family run accommodation that provides breakfast and dinner ... the food is spectacular! We have met some great people and gone on some amazing walks with Kat, who is from SA, lives in the UK and comes over to help out at George House during summer, spring and autumn, this is her 7th year. Why not?? We feel like travellers not tourists here ... we are not jostling for position to see a historic site ... there are not 1,000s of people here, just fellow travellers like us. 

On our first day here we decided to go down to Butterfly Valley and have a swim at the beach ... which is beautiful like all the beaches along this coastline. There are 2 ways to get there, by boat, which is much longer, or climbing down. Mike had said there was a bit of a climb down to the beach but it was doable. Kat, told us that some people find it quite dangerous and come back and she explained about the ropes and the general trail ... Trip Advisor reviews were mostly favourable with a couple of people who said that the climb down was terrifying, we thought that maybe they were a bit soft and not used to long walks etc. We thought, we are Kiwis, we can do this, Kiwis are tough and used to the outdoors, the land of extreme sports! We headed off not sure what to expect and thinking surely it can't be that bad! It is!! We came to the first ropes and I was terrified! I looked down and all I could see was rock and a sheer drop. Pete and I looked at each other, discussed the idea of going back ... but since Mike had done it Pete had to do it too. Pete went down first and then guided me down ... I took  my time! Neither of us felt any comfort or safety from the ropes. They were pretty old and one was fraying. We got down feeling very pleased with ourselves and thinking that the next set of ropes will be easier .... no, no, no! Pete was so worried about me and terrified that I was going to slip or fall and kill myself! I never looked at him going down or up ... too stressful. We got down safely and lived to tell the tale. I am not sure we will go down again, although the walks we have been on have been sort of similar ... some rock climbing ... with no supports. I think we could do it quite easily now.

We had a great swim at the bottom, the risk was worth it. We met Tan a young man who is living in Istanbul, originally from Amsterdam. He wanted to climb back up and we invited him to come back with us ... so he did. It took a lot less time coming back up, but still quite scary in parts.

 Tan climbing up ... this photo does not really give a true picture of how it was, but close enough. He was a little nervous.

The view from the top ... 

The evening light ... 

We sit and watch the sunset in the evening ... just before dinner. We find it so peaceful and restful. People hang round on the plateau and have a few drinks and chat while the sun is going down. Watching the sun go down here is spectacular ... the colours are amazing.

George House links into the Lycian Way ... so there are a lot of trampers that come through and stay a night or two ... individuals, couples and guided groups. There is a great energy here and the family work very hard to make sure people are comfortable. We have had the best food here and it is so cheap ... breakfast, dinner and a double bedroom with private ensuite is about $NZ60 p.n. I mentioned Kat ... she loves going on walks in the mountains and knows her way round here very well. We have gone on 4 walks with her ... Paradise Beach twice with 2 different groups ... a waterfall walk, that goes more into the mountains ... today we walked up and along the ridge of a mountain ... a dry land walk. Spectacular ...

On our way back from Paradise Beach Pete had a near death experience! We caught a water taxi back from Paradise Beach to Kabak Beach ... a hippy beach, with lots of young people having a great time. Kat persuaded the water taxi to stop at a water cave so that we could jump out and swim over and have a look. Very exciting! The Mediterranean has got a small swell at the moment Kat says it is because of autumn and a change in the weather. I notice that it is a little cooler in the mornings but the days are still scorching hot ... particularly when we are walking. We are dripping wet with heat! Anyway I digress ... back to the story. So we jumped of the boat into the ocean and made our way over to the cave ... it was a little difficult climbing onto the rocks at the opening of the cave due to the swell, but we managed to climb onto the rock and jump into the cave ... the water was beautiful, a beautiful blue. I really wish we had a water proof camera. There is an underwater arch in the cave that Kat said we can swim under and out to the ocean ... it is about 2 maybe 3 metres down. Pete decided he would give it a go. Kat said that we needed to push off hard from the rocks and go down and through the arch, it was very easy to see. I am not sure how it happened but Pete started to kick his way under the water ... all I could see was his blue butt bobbing around on the surface as he kicked like mad.  I was roaring with laughter ... I haven't seen anything so funny in a while ... Pete's butt flailing around in the ocean as he is kicking madly to go under and through the arch. I think this almost matches our tandem story. Of course he did not get far, he didn't even get under the water properly. When he lifted his head out of the water there was blood running down his face ... the force of the swell was hitting his head against the rocks. Of course I was hysterical with laughter and it took me a minute to realise that he may have hurt himself.  Only surface scratches.

The evidence ...

The view from our room,

Pete found this at George House ... Jawa, they are everywhere and some of them still working.

Room with a View ... we went for a day walk along the coast line and came across this house that is being built in the middle of no where. I am not even sure the people who are building this house own the land.

Walking with friends to Paradise Beach ... me, Zahra, from the UK living in Turkey ... Ryan & Lindsy from the US,Texas ... Kat our walking guide ... she has made our trip so much more memorable and enjoyable.

View on the way to Paradise Beach ... the coastline along here is stunning.

We made it to Paradise ...

This is our water taxi driver ... who had been shot in the hand by his father, so he shot his father in the chest and the leg ... his father is a 'bad man', he has already shot and killed someone, so our driver decided not to take any chances! The father lived.

Kat ... posing as a Russian Girl, she said. We have been so fortunate to meet Kat, she has really made our stay here at Butterfly Valley something special.

The coastline here is soooo beautiful ... but there is lots of this as well ... people just dump their rubbish and don't care where. We can be walking along one of our walks and suddenly come across the smell of something rotting and then we see a pile of rubbish.

 Pete at the end of a hard day of sunning and swimming ... hard work!

There are not many flowers here ... couldn't resist the colour of these.

Look out for Part 2 of Butterfly Valley ...