The next few days part 1

---

We went back to Jeffery’s bay for a night as it was on our way to Cape Town for Christmas and New Year’s. Nina’s was our obvious target as we hadn’t posted any pictures or blogs for a while, so spent a relaxed evening doing so. It was just after the girls left that we realised we are spending our money and fast. That evening we shared a pizza and a slice of cake for £4 to get into a rhythm of being careful of where we spend our money. At least Mozambique will be a lot cheaper.



We left Jeffrey’s, along the Garden route, towards Knysna where we are staying for the next couple of days. We could told Knysna was a place we had to go, from our new friends, that we made in our first week in SA. We have arrived to the backpackers here, with a pool in the garden and a balcony on the roof to watch the sun go down. We met a German guy who told us about 2 mountains called ‘The Heads’, which he had just been to climb, which we are planning to do tomorrow. Between ‘The Heads’ is a channel of water, which opens up into a bay this is where Knysna is situated and it is supposed to be beautiful.



We are here for 2 nights, then off to Mossel bay for 2 nights and then its Christmas Eve. We are spending the 24^th-28^th in an expensive deluxe double room; I would like to say because I am romantic and want to treat my wife to the best over Christmas… but really it was the only accommodation left and we needed to book something otherwise we would be homeless over Christmas. It’s going to be a great Christmas and New Year’s; we are planning (if we get good internet) to Skype round the world to Australia and England, climb Table Mountain and open all the lovely cards people have sent, in our own private mailing bag… Beth. This is just Christmas day; we have booked to go to the Kirstenbosch New Year’s Eve Party, with bands playing at the foot of Table Mountain in a big botanical gardens. O my word it’s going to be fun…



…We hit ‘The heads’, which we got told was a mountain but turned out to be a big hill with a cliff face. Despite this it was still amazing being there and looking out over the lagoon on 1 side of the ‘mountain’ and the vast ocean to the other. We had fun ‘rock climbing’ where we could and got to some cool locations to take some good pictures. In the Afternoon we went to the water front which was nice, although quite modern in appearance and sold lots of sea food.



The next day we left for Mossel Bay down the Garden Route, a bit further towards Cape Town. Mossel Bay is the last place on the coast, just off the N2, before we get to Cape Town; this still left us a 5 hour drive when we do eventually leave Mossel bay. We didn’t know anything about this place, it was just convenience that attracted us to this place but as we were packing up our car to leave, our dorm mate said to us that he drove past a few day previous and all he saw was a big power plant... we had our hopes up before that point. We set off for a 2 ½ hr drive and as we got close saw this huge, ugly looking power plant but as we drove further into the bay the buildings disappeared and arrived to a beautiful dock round 1 side of the point and some nice beaches on the other side.

We found the backpackers and we both have to say this is the nicest backpackers we had stayed in; clean, friendly and good facilities. The water was amazingly clear here, and actually thinking back the closer we have gotten to Cape Town from Port Elizabeth the more the water has gotten cleaner, bluer and clearer. We spent a couple of days relaxing in this bay the first of which was spent relaxing dangling our feet over the wall looking out into the ocean. The next day we walked around the cliff edge for an afternoon. It was during this walk that I caught myself actually saying that I would enjoy going on more walking holidays. I had always not envied friends when they say their parents were taking them on a walking holiday but found that I am turning into the exact person.



Heading onto Cape Town on Christmas Eve. Our drive is about 5 hrs, so we made sure we left early to get there at about 1pm and have the afternoon to have a wonder near where we were staying to find a supermarket, a restaurant that might be open Christmas day and a café with free Wi-Fi. We were to stay at this backpackers for 4 nights in a ‘deluxe’ room. We were both looking forward to staying here despite being expensive. It will be nice to have a double bed, a balcony looking at Table Mountain and an en-suite.

---