The Garden Route
Trip Start
Jun 25, 2006
1
30
34
Trip End
Dec 15, 2006
Plettenberg Bay, The Garden Route and Cape Town,
South Africa
Monday, October 2, 2006
Having a scratch on the bottom of the boat
.However, I didn't linger long in Cape Town yet as I'd decided to do the Garden Route first and foremost. There's lots of tours and backbacker buses you can take along it which had been my original plan but the next morning, I found myself eyeing up the car rental prices and before I knew what I was doing I had handed over my driving licence and credit card and was weighing up the merits of whether it was worth the extra R40 a day to have air con (it is!). So in true Thelma and Louise style (except without Louise, or Brad for that matter unfortunately!) I set off windows down, stereo blaring and singing away to myself along the N2, otherwise known as the Garden Route! "On the Road Again" - And I remembered how to drive - bonus!
Wow, Wow, Wow, was all I could think as I rounded each new bend as one amazing view after another presented itself, from the views right across the city, mountains and bay to the rolling hills and landscapes comprising of every shade of green, yellow, orange and pink you could imagine. The scenery is truly amazing, a bit of a cross between Australia and Brokeback Mountain! And thats before you even get to the coast itself which is even more breathtaking and postcard perfect. All along the route I was suprised to see how many people were hitch hiking actually
The Wilderness Beach on Garden Route
. Mainly Black South Africans outside their townships as it happens. And that's another thing thats suprising too indeed. Any town or city of any significance has at least one township that comprises of hundreds and thousands of homes of assorted levels and classes ranging from shacks and huts to brick houses, but all crammed in on top of each other as far as the eye can see, on the outskirts of the towns. Some of them have cattle roaming and all of them seem to have an alarming amount of dogs that were intent of doing kamakaze runs in front of me at every opportunity... Something else that I was amused to see was the culture of flashing the hazards to thank/acknowledge overtaking is very much alive and kicking in South Africa. The Infrastructure here is amazing, especially compared to everywhere else I've been, with exceptional roads. The N2 is 2 laned for the most part and the normal speed is 120kph, not, mind you, that that's even remotely adhered to, depite the fair amount of police cars dotted along the route. Anyway, I whizzed along with them, hazards flashing happily and flicking between radio channels before finally deciding on 'KFM 94.5 - the station in tune with the Cape!' was the best, even if they did play far too much Will Young that was healthy... Still no sign of Kenny Rogers and The Gambler though since I came to Cape Town. I did hear it in Joburg airport however. The unwritten rule though is that I cant leave a place now until I hear it so I may have to buy the CD yet...
View from the B&B bedroom in Mossel Bay
. So as for the Garden Route, I went from Mossel Bay to Plettenberg Bay and back taking in the Wilderness, Kynsna, Sedgewick and George on the way. Lots of R&R on the fabulous beaches and sightseeing, but by far the highlight was the day spent off the coast of Plett doing the Whale Watching. We seen about 6 in total, mainly humpbacks and got unbelieveably close to them. They are just amazing mammals and so HUGE! At one point one of the humpbacks came up and had a wee scratch for himself on the underside of the boat... We had a few dolphins swim alongside us for a bit too and just to finish off the day we went to visit the seals on Robberg Point. Absolutely hundreds of them. Unfortunately my photos don't to it any justice at all but it was just a lovely day. As for swimming along the Garden Route or Cape Town for that matter, I have tried twice now but been unable to get beyond the waist. In fact I didn't even mean to go in that deep but a sneaky wave got the better of me... The seas are crystal blue, the waves are to be seen to be believed but the water is absolutely baltic!!! Not for Boys!
So I'm back backpacking it in Cape Town for the moment but taking off later in the week again. So far I've squeezed in Long St, the party street..., the V&A Waterfront (and earmarked all the shops I'm going to just a bit mad in before I leave), Camps Bay today which is truly gorgeous, if full of the Beautiful People, and yesterday I was lucky enough to visit Robben Island where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned. Normally these things wreck my head but this was actually a really interesting tour, helped probably by the fact that the tour guides are all ex-prisoners from there. Maybe they should try that with H-Block....hmmmm!
Anyway, for those of you still not completely sick of me by now I'll keep ye posted as to how I get on with my Table Mountain climb, Winelands tour and who knows, maybe even a Shark Dive.... Oh Ho!!!
