The Garden Route

---

We left the grey skies of Cape St Francis behind and headed for our favourite spot along the Garden Route, Knysna, via a breakfast stop in Plettenberg Bay. We managed to find ourselves a little self-catering cottage and decided to base ourselves there for 3 days. We spent the day at the Waterfront and wandering around the town before treating ourselves to a meal at a restaurant called Zest in the evening.

Our next day trip was to Nature’s Valley to enjoy a walk on the beach. It is a really beautiful area. We went to Birds of Eden, just outside Plettenberg Bay which is like an Eden Project for birds, a huge outside aviary with 170+ species of birds.

We spent another day in Knysna hoping to make the most of the brighter weather and to go on a boat trip. Unfortunately within the space of a few minutes the clouds came over and another storm was brewing so we decided against it and went to the cinema instead!

The next stop was Swellendam, the 3rd oldest town in South Africa. We went liqueur tasting at a local berry farm in the afternoon which we thoroughly enjoyed (!) and the next day we visited the Drostdy museum which gave us an opportunity to nose around some original Cape Dutch buildings complete with antique traditional furniture and old wagons.

The highlight of our trip so far was discovering our next stop, Arniston. This is a beautiful fishing village on a lovely stretch of rocky coastline, which is a real hideaway. We stayed for a couple of nights in a seaside cottage and explored the beaches and bays including a famous cave, Waenhuiskraal, that we had to wade out over the rocks to reach. We visited Cape Agulhas which is the southern most point of Africa and had lunch at the lighthouse after climbing to the top and checking out the view.

---

Photos

Knysna Waterfront
Storm brewing

African Grey Parrot
Taken at Birds of Eden near Nature's Valley

Laura
Laura on a suspension bridge at Birds of Eden

Kassiesbaai
Old fishing village adjoining Arniston

Fynbos
The local flora is called fynbos

Phil and Laura
Standing on the southern most point of africa where the Indian and Atlantic oceans meet

Comments

[Dad]

Keeping track
Hi you 2, just to let you know we are keeping track. Some great pictures Phil (and Laura it seems). They bring back happy memories of our holiday (and someone got married if I remember right). Look forward to seeing more from Zimababwe etc. Love from the British parents

[Goz]

Enjoying the trip so far
Hi, just to say some of your colleagues at GE are enjoying your blog, it's a right riveting read particularly with poor weather outside. Looking forward to reading the next instalment... Laura Gosling