300 Rand

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We last left you in Cape St. Francis on one of the southern peninsulas of S. Africa....and a beautiful little beach. From there we entered the Garden Route, a stretch of the coast that runs east from Mossel Bay all the way to Port Elizabeth, along the N2 highway. From Cape St. Francis it was a short drive (compared with our 6-hour marathons in the northern Free State) to Tsitsikamma National Park and the Storms River Mouth.

We stayed in a backpackers hostel, Rainbow Lodge -- a Baz Bus stop -- in Storms River Village (not to be confused with S.R. Mouth), approximately 15 km from the National Park gate. It costs a whopping 40 Rand per person to enter for the day, so staying overnight in the park wasn't an option for us....especially since we had ease of access with our car. It turns out that 40 Rand is WELL worth it for the dramatic and breathtaking views of the coast. It's a rocky coast with giant surf that crashes (audibly) upon the rocks and sprays up for a few metres into the air. We spied some campsites that were right on the edge of the coast and imagined that it would be quite the experience to sit by a campfire listening to the surf, under the stars, and fall asleep in a tiny tent. (Well, not that tiny, since Nick likes his elbow room)

We hiked the first section of the supposedly reknowned Otter Trail that begins in the park....3 km to a waterfall and 3 km back to the trailhead. If you have time you MUST do this, because it was AWESOME. It takes about 2.5 hours round-trip, and for about 800 metres you are climbing/hiking/balancing your way over huge rocks and boulders. Nearly the whole time you are walking within spitting distance of the coast and when there's a whopper of a wave you might even get some spray....like when you're standing in front of Sarah trying to speak German. If you want to do the complete Otter Trail it's about 52 km and you should allow 5 days or so, and must acquire a permit beforehand. It would be spectacular.

To top off this cool experience, we arrived back at the restaurant/gift shop centre overlooking the actual mouth of the Storms' River (so named because the river current clashes with the ocean tide) and enjoyed a beer while fortuitously watching a few pods of dolphins swim out of the river mouth and into the ocean, jumping all the while.

The following day we headed off again to stay at Plettenberg Bay, another neat little beach settlement (and playground for local retirees). We stayed at Nothando's, yet another stop on the Baz Bus route, and so we began to run into people we'd seen at our previous stop. A nice quiet place to stay with a what looked like an older detached garage that had been converted into a bar area, ideal for hanging out and socializing. While we were there we experienced our first of many power outages. Apparently a few days earlier something had blown the generator at the power station in Capetown, and while trying to fix the problem the engineers had rewired it and the whole Western Cape region blacked out. Sweet. For the next week and a half or so, they would rely on the backup generator, which could not support the load requirements, and so more often than not we were left without power, without warning. This provided interesting discussion on the state of the country as a whole, and we were exposed to varying opinions about the direction the country was taking ahead of the next elections on March 1. The power outage also reminded us of how reliant we are on power and electricity on a daily basis: when we tried to pay for a couple of nights at our hostel, we found we didn't have enough cash on hand, and so attempted to use debit card and credit card --- both useless without power. And so we were obliged to wait for a few hours with our car packed one day, until the power came back on and we could use the credit card machine in the hostel. That was the first time Nick heard Sarah lamenting the demise of the old manual credit card swiping thingy.

While we were in Plettenberg, we took a day out to visit the Knysna Elephant Sanctuary, which holds approximately 8-10 elephants rescued from culling programs in the Kruger National Park. Entry fee included a guided tour, which means they piled us into an interesting trailer pulled by a tractor, and drove us to the top of a hill. Elephants in the distance heard the sound of our tractor and began also to head to the hilltop. When we disembarked, we stood there with pails of sliced fruit and vegetables while the elephants automatically lined up like soldiers on the other side of a low metal bar. We were instructed to hold out the food in a flat palm and as soon as we did so an elephant trunk came shooting out of nowhere, and like a vacuum cleaner nozzle with two fingers grabbed the food. Definitely a strange and slightly gooey sensation. After feeding we assembled nearby and the staff kindly asked the elephants to also assemble in a little group near us (the elephants kindly obliged), and we were able to pet them while they sucked up mounds of peanuts strewn about the ground. The guides were fantastic, with lots of info about African elephants in general---and as they spoke you could see in their eyes how much they loved their jobs and these animals. Some of them even got to sleep next to the orphaned baby elephants to keep them company. This place is a sanctuary, not a zoo, and so after the peanuts were exhausted the elephants quickly wandered off into the distance to graze on the tall grass. What remarkable animals! When you are standing next to one you really get the impression that they are gentle giants and that if they got angry you might quickly become a stain.

From Plettenberg Bay the following day we departed to drive along the N2 as far as George, then turned north to Oudtshoorn, a town whose name we still can't properly pronounce. That day we were introduced to the Little Karoo, a semi-desert area separated from the coast by a range of mountains. This town is the ostrich capital of (at least) Africa, and it shows. Ostrich farms surround the town, and every shop might easily be called "Ostrich products and other things too". It got to about 34-36 degrees the following two days, and so we were definitely glad to be at the Backpackers Paradise, which has a little pool. A pool!!!! In between meals of Ostrich burgers (a Sarah favourite) and Ostrich steaks (Nick's preference), we managed to find time to visit the Kango Caves. Had a hilarious and slightly bruising experience wiggling our way through formations called "The Devil's Chimney" and "Tunnel of Love" and everyone's favourite 30 cm-squeeze through "The Postbox", and we enjoyed some amazing sights of the limestone formations in the caverns.

Another site to be seen just outside the town was the Kango wildlife sanctuary, housing many of the big cats like Bengal Tiger, cheetah, lion, leopard and even a jaguar. This sanctuary was definitely more like a zoo, but at least they're successfully breeding the big cats who are endangered. Despite its zoo-like feel, after our little tour, Nick was able to send Sarah into the cheetah enclosure to pet one of the "beasts" (for a small fee that goes towards the conservation and care of the animals). Sarah got her cat fix for the day, and everyone was happy.

On the way out of Oudtshoorn (it's even hard to spell), we drove to the top of the remarkable Swartberg Pass, and were treated to a view of the valley among the clouds. Driving a little further we discovered that there IS a road to Hell, but contrary to popular belief it's not paved with anything---it's just gravel. Apparently in years past you had to hike it, but now it's a gravel road you can drive. Maybe someone will come along with good intentions soon.

Braving the nearly 40 degree heat in our little Kaar, we drove west through the semi-desert region (a beautiful drive) and cut through the mountains again to arrive in the wine region just outside of Capetown. Navigator Sarah suggested we take an alternative route to stay off the N1 all the way into Stellenbosch, and we were rewarded with the unexpected magnificent drive through the R45 (or R43, can't remember) leading into Franschhoek. If you're near here, do this drive. It is a short, switchback-laden pass that winds through some dramatic jagged mountains, past a small lake, and emerges on the other side overlooking the whole wine region down in a valley. Stellenbosch is the name, and wine is the game....so as soon as we booked a place to stay here we booked ourselves on the Easy Rider wine tour for the next day. Awesome.

But the day didn't start out so well. We'd had an awful sleep in our room -- hot and noisy and a wily mosquito all night long -- and awoke, despite our deposit the day before, to be unsure that we were successfully booked on the wine tour. Over breakfast our hostel lady ran into the kitchen and said "Whose cars are parked outside, there's a policeman giving everyone tickets...go move your cars". It turns out everyone was parked the wrong way on our little alley of a street (we'd parked that way because everyone else was, mistakenly thinking that was the way it was done here), and the policeman gave a friendly nod of the head while dispensing 300 RAND TICKETS to people for parking the wrong way on a street. For those of you back home, that's $60 CAD for facing the wrong way. While driving through this country, we've noticed that everyone blatantly ignores the speed limit, driving 20-40 km faster everywhere.....and no one pays ANY attention to construction speed limit signs, blowing through construction areas almost in the hopes of knocking something over. Add that to the fact that auto crime is possibly the highest in the world here -- we are statistically highly at risk to be car-jacked or get our car stolen. Violent crime is rampant if you believe the news, and daily car crashes take the lives of many people each day. But BOY DO THEY HAVE A HANDLE ON THE PARKING SITUATION.

Whew.

The wine tour was great, we tasted the locally-made Pinotages which were excellent, and enjoyed the company on the tour (Nick talked Leafs with another Canadian from Toronto for half the time). Went to 4 wineries, tasted some potent cheeses, had a nice lunch at one of the wineries....well, the day was a blur but fantastic. We would recommend the Easy Rider tour to anyone.

Now it's pouring rain outside our internet cafe here in Stellenbosch, so maybe we'll change our "walking around and window shopping" plans for this afternoon. Tomorrow we go to see Sarah's step-sis Allison "Big Al" Brown (aka Bad, Bad, Capetown Brown, Baddest Sis in the Whole Damn Town). Can't wait!

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Comments

[Hilton]

greetings
just thought I'd let you know that I'd visited your blog - came up on the blog feed on the www.MyPE.co.za site as it had 'Port Elizabeth' in the story ... Give birth to a smile ... and happy travelling! Cheers Hilton

[Jen and Muzz]

You Dirty Parking Violators!!!!!!! LAWBREAKERS
Well, Well, Well - Jennie warned me, but I wouldn't listen. She told me that sooner or later it would all come out in the wash, and that it would likely be thinly veiled in some half-assed load of old cobblers like "We did it because everyone else did, we thought that was the way....". Oh, how I should have listened to her. I don't know how I so easily disregard her sage wisdom. Oh well, I'll know better next time....... Cheers and Beers, Muzz. P.S. Did someone say wine?????