I left Herolds Bay on Monday morning following a walk along the coast and breakfast with Mick and June. I’d woken up at 5am so there was plenty of time for both before hitting the road at 10am.
The weather was not playing along with my plan to explore the coastal towns on my way to Storms River. Well I say that but I didn’t really have a plan. I hadn’t booked accommodation for Monday or Tuesday night, so I was going with the flow. The ‘flow’ told me to keep moving given that it was raining. In my head I was trying to out ride the rain. My head was wrong!
I drove to Wilderness on the old Wilderness road on June’s advice. It’s a narrow, windy road which brings you into Wilderness over the mountain and past the Map of Africa. Instead of telling you what it is, I’ll show it to you instead (see photos below).
I had a quick stop in Wilderness for coffee on the beach. I instantly liked Wilderness. It has a village feel about it which is quite unusual for a coastal town. My ‘plan’ at that stage was to see how far I got down the coast and then to come back and stay in Wilderness on my second last night. Of course, plans change.
The rain continued as I travelled east along the coast. My dad told me not to miss the Knysna Heads so when I got to Knysna I took the turn off to the Heads, only to turn around about 2 minutes later when I see anything past 100m in front of me. Okay, now I would have to come back past Knysna.
So off I went to Plettenberg Bay.
It stopped raining long enough while I was in Plett to have lunch on the beach. The thing that stood out most for me about my stop in Plett though was a young black boy, about 16, digging though the dustbins along the beachfront for food. I’m pretty sure he was as high as a kite as he stumbled along in a pair of ladies heeled sandles that were at least two sizes too small for him and what looked like slices of bread in his brown shorts pocket. The sight was heartbreaking!
I offered to buy him a meal but he asked me for the money instead so that he could go into town and buy some bread. I thought about it for a second and then realised who am I to judge what he uses the money for, so I gave him enough cash for a good few loaves of bread. I hope he got what he needed from it.
I left Plett with the boy very much still on my mind. That was my sad thought. My happy thought was that I was now approaching my favourite section of the garden route, the section between Natures Valley and Storms River, which is the Tsitsikamma National Park. This part of the coastline is exquisite! As it is a protected area it is only accessible to the public on either end, and to the 5 day hikers via the Otter Trail. I did this trail with a group of friends in 2009 – an experience I will never forget.
As I didn’t do the hike I can only show you what it looks like on either end. Sadly I just noticed that I didn’t put very many photos on Instagram so I’ll put more on my Mel & Trinity Facebook page. The photos were taken on Tuesday when the weather had cleared up.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BBAAMuUnXpI/https://www.instagram.com/p/BA__xaiHXox/
If you ever get the opportunity to do the Otter Trail, grab it with both hands! Just be warned there’s about a years waiting list. It is worth the wait though.
The other exiting thing to see while you are in the area is the worlds highest bungee jump. The bungee jump from Bloukrans bridge is a whopping 216m. Well, the bridge is 216m and the bungee jump about 180m, but I don’t think you’d notice on the way down. This is what it looks like.
The one thing you may want to skip is the Bloukraans Pass. I travelled along it between Natures Valley and Storms River not realising it is actually closed. I’m not surprised, it’s in a bit of a state, although quite beautiful in its own right. Below is a photo that I took along the pass.
My accommodation in Storms River was absolutely delightful. I knew that Stormsriver village had a number of places to stay so I pitched up there in the hope that there would be somewhere to stay. I ended up staying in the Stormsriver Village Inn which was such a pleasant surprise. The Inn is made up of a series of little houses all in a different Cape style, all dancing into a central garden. It is too cute (see photo below).
The delight of these two days was however Knysna Heads. As I mentioned earlier I had planned to stay in Wilderness on my way back but when I saw the view from the Heads I couldn’t drag myself away. The photos don’t do it justice but will give you a feel of it. Enjoy!
I had found a little piece of heaven!
Mel & Trinity 