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Published: March 30th 2007
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On route to Hermanus
View while driving over the hills to the coast from Oudtshoorn to Mossel Bay After packing our bags again to move onto our next location, a process which we are shortening each time, we wander down for breakfast at 8.15. Not sure why but at Mooriplass breakfast is only served between 8.00am and 9.00am which doesn’t allow you time to sleep in!
Breakfast this morning is something called a “Bobotie” which is a Malay influenced spiced Ostrich mince with sultanas topped with Dutch milk and egg and grilled. It was served with baked banana and was surprisingly pretty good.
Today we have an appointment to keep with “Fanie” from the Ostrich skin place, so after packing the car and filling up with fuel for our long drive ahead, we set off.
Heading through town it was amazing to see the difference in how it looked with all the lights, posters, billboards and stalls ready for the festival (for some reason the town had decided to out it’s Christmas lights up and you were welcomed by Santa!).
We arrived at Lugro at 9.15am and were warmly welcomed by Fanie (pronounced “Far Knee”). The wallet was great abd just what I wanted! I also bought another wallet so in total had spent
Arniston Bay
The fishing village of Arniston Bay. about 100 pounds. Not sure why, he either liked us or we had been ripped off, but Fanie also kindly gave us a credit card holder, a key purse and a keyring.
Unfortunately it was time to hit the road and we left Lugro’s at 9.45 for our 500km trip to Hermanus (SA Whale Watching Capital) where we are staying the next 2 nights.
The drive from Oudsthoorn to Mossel Bay over the mountains was lovely. Its reminded me of the highlands of Scotland but with Eucalypt and Gum Trees! We stopped in Mossel Bay for a coffee which other than being an active fishing port really didn’t have much to offer.
So we carried on down the N2 towards Cape Town for about 200km until we turned off for Arniston. This area of the Western Cape is very how do I say it, samey! It’s just rolling fields with dotted with the occasional farm building, flocks of sheep and Ostrich.
We started to think why we hadn’t just stayed in the main road when we descended into Arniston Bay one of the most picturesque fishing villages we had seen yet with old fishing huts, aquamarine ocean vistas and a single hotel “The Arniston”.
We stopped at the hotel for lunch on the terrace over looking the ocean and sipped cold beers. Boy it’s hot today and the air conditioning in the car seems to have a mind of it’s own!
After lunch a quick swim in the ocean I decide to take a short cut along a dirt track in the direction of Pearly Beach!
2 Hours and 50km later with the cars suspension in bits we arrive at Pearly Beach with it’s luxurious houses and shanty towns perched on the beach.
There is not much to see here other than a very very long white beach and it’s getting late so we head for Hermanus another 80km away via Gaansbai (The Great white diving hub).
Note to fellow travelers! Although Arniston Bay is worth the trip from the N2 don’t do the coastal route to Hermanus it’s simply not worth it. Simply head back to the N2 and head for Hermanus via Caledon.
We arrived at the guest house at 7.30 to be greeted by Barbara who came to SA in the early sixties with her husband from east London for 18 months, and has been here since. I can understand why!
The guest house, only built 2 years ago, is great with a giant bath overlooking a private garden. We quickly unpack and head for town to get something to eat. After wandering around for a while we decide to try a restaurant called “Momo” which was empty but the menu looked interesting. Our initial impression was not good as the service was very slow and we were still the only people in there (especially as it’s Friday night!). Well, I’m pleased to report things got better and better. I had a delicious Bouillabaisse to start and we both had chicken escalope with Sage and Madeira sauce and leeked potatoes for main. It was delicious.
With our bellies full again we retired for yet another early night. We are becoming a couple of boring old buggers.
Ta Ta for now K & M
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