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Published: January 25th 2008
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False Bay
This is just a short distance from Cape Town, and starts a spectacular coastal drive. (Photo caveat: most of the pictures here are of poor quality due to our camera, which broke in the middle of the Garden Route. Bummer!)
After our big halloween party in Capetown, we headed for "The Garden Route." We have been reading about this infamous route for months and were excited to finally begin the journey. We rented the cheapest car possible, and hit the road. The car resembled my former yellow Festiva, only bright red. Oh yea, by the way, one of the things they caution tourist drivers about is not to stand out. Karl was not thrilled about the bright red car (Ed note: the car screamed "Please take all of our earthly possessions!")
Hermanus is a small village north of Capetown where whales can be seen migrating to Antartica. We had heard there was a great walking path along the coast where you could see loads of whales just chilling in the water and if you were lucky you'd see some movement. We got lucky! We saw them jump out of the water and splash their tales, and there weren't just a few, there were several. We stayed in a great little backpacker's hostel and enjoyed
a couple of days in the quaint town.
We ate at a great little restaurant called Fisherman's Cottage. The building is one of the oldest in the small city. I even tried Karl's fresh caught Springbok (big deer) which to my surprise was quite delicious.
From Hermanus we headed to a town called Knysna known for the famous Knysna Heads, (Dartland would make several remarks here, so think of one quietly to yourself in his honor). The town was one of our favorites and we stayed at a great backpackers called Island Vibe, the owner of the other famous Jeffrey's Bay Island Vibe. There are so many options to choose from while driving the Garden Route so we had to limit ours to a forest hike, some well-needed exercise, a sunset cruise, and a drive up to both the heads for some spectacular views and astounding homes. By the way, right across the water are the townships which we took a tour of. It's just bizarre to see the drastic changes in landscape a few kilometers away.
According to South Africans, "The weather in South Africa is four seasons in one day." It is so true. It
Our "Youth" Hostel
First stop on our Garden Route journey... would be blazing hot and then fierce wind and cold would creep in suddenly. You were never sure what to wear, but the water was starting to get a bit warmer. It's freezing in Capetown. We had some nice days in Knysna and some rainy ones as well. The summer is their wet season. It's all very confusing for me, KT.
After 5 days in Knysna, we headed to Jeffrey's Bay. The wind was howling pretty much the entire time we were there! Even though the surf wasn't great, we still had fun watching some of the world's best surf Supertubes. Karl surfed at The Point but wasn't signed by any major surf-sponsors. We think the beard may have scared potential suitors. Sand-dune surfing was a blast!
After a few days at Island Vibe, it was time for our weekstay at a place recommended by our lovely hostel in Capetown called Houtsch Bout Bay. It is about 5 Kilo's from JBay and it was a self-catering unit with a Jacuzzi, ocean view, satellite TV, and anything you could possibly need. You didn't have to leave if you didn't want to. After hostel life, it was SO nice
Greetings!
Our first stay on the Garden Route was at Hermanus. This little guy was inside our room upon check-in! to have our own little place where we could cook food with CLEAN, barely used dishes. Karl made some great dinners on the Braai (bbq), we took long walks on the beach, birdwatched, played scrabble, and were able to watch CNN and ESPN. We were a short drive from town where, when the surf was good, we could go watch amazing pro surfers ride these huge waves. It's like you were watching a movie.
From Jbay we went to Addo Elephant Park and took our first self drive safari. It was spectacular and we saw many elephants within 5 minutes of entry into the park.
After two weeks exploring the Garden Route, we hit the road to head back to Capetown and get ready for our volunteer effort in Zambia. When we left, the rain started to come down heavily and our little, red car was swaying in the winds all over the highway. I was white knuckled, but Karl handled it like a pro. At some points the rain was so heavy, we couldn't see out the window. Just like the Florida rain I remember.
We stopped at Storms River Mouth in Tsitskamma National Park
Hermanus
Known for whales (and their proximity to land), Hermanus was a quaint little town. We took strolls down miles of coastal trails spotting Southern Right whales everywhere. and the weather was quite stormy, so we didn't get to explore much. We decided to stop in Mossel Bay for the night to break up the drive to Capetown. We arrived in Capetown the next day and prepared for our trip to Zambia.
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