Roadtrip to Coffee Bay

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Decided to volunteer back in Coffee Bay starting from the 15th of December, we hired a Chevrolet Spark (a really cute small car) for one month to get there and to be independent once arrived. We decided to leave Cape Town the 12th of December, as we had 1350 kilometer of bad roads ahead of us before arriving in Coffee Bay. A three day road trip was a good idea as driving at the left side, the many animals on the road and the potholes in the road demanded our full concentration. Moreover, it was quite a challenge to drive the Africain way, which means passing slow trucks or overloaded cars on a one lane highway. Not to forget are the many stiff hills of South Africa at least for our little engine they were a whole challenge.

Mossel Bay, our first stop was only a five hours drive, which gave us the time to enjoy breakfast in a cosy Italian restaurant with our French friends before leaving Cape Town. The second stop we made was in Chintsa, a four hours drive away from Coffee Bay. When we arrived at the backpacker that we couldn't reach by phone, they told us they were fully booked! Having no other backpacker in the surrounding, we only had two options left. Going straight to Coffee Bay but we already drove ten hours that day or staying at a resort with dinner and breakfast included but pay a lot of money for one night. We chose the second option with the excuse that at midnight it would be Helene's birthday and so we treated ourself with the fabulous Crawford resort with it's beautiful little bungalows on the beach. No more than 10 minutes later, we were already having a competition who reaches the first the other side of the pool sitting on a plastic orca. We enjoyed also that night an all you can eat seafood-buffet. The next morning a present was waiting on the plate of Helene during our amazing breakfast with so so so many food choices. We ate as if we were not being fed for days and definitely filled our stomach for the coming three weeks of volunteering. Leaving after this amazing breakfast, we arrived in the afternoon at our final destination, Coffee Bay. We were welcomed by the project manager at the Coffee Shack Backpacker, where we spent the night to celebrate the birthday of Helene.

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