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The Garden Route is the coastal area roughly between Mossel Bay and Tsitsikamma. It is a place of stunning beauty, with majestic cliffs rising from the Indian Ocean, and lush mountains running parallel to the coast line. Having such a beautiful place to stay was wonderful and Mary insisted that we should stay as long as we liked. We didn't want to take advantage, but we had to admit, it was so tempting to have a base to explore the beautiful coast. Plett is so well situated and there is so much to do around it, it made sense.The trouble was is that there's so much to see and one could stay on the coast forever. Having our own car certainly was a necessity, and we set out to explore as much of the Garden Route we could in a reasonable timeframe.
Once again, Thora and Ken had highly recommended a place called Storm's River Mouth. Our first day centred around getting to the mouth, and getting around the tolls once again. Nature's Valley was a picturesque stop along the way, with a thick, lush, rainforest on the steep drive down to the town. A cute little village, and a nice lagoon protected by a wide sandy beach. Another drive through the curvy, steep, Bloukrans Pass (since we were now in the know) popped us on the other side of the bridges and tolls once again, and clear sailing to SRM. And what a lovely spot it was, with some fantastic campsite right on the ocean's edge, with huge wave crashing and spraying up behind - believe it or not, we actually considered leaving our fantastic place to spend a night backed onto the ocean here. This park is all about hiking, and one of the country's famous trails starts here - The Otter Trail. We did walk a brief way down the trail and got a taste of what it was all about - well worth the 3 day grunt along the trail one would imagine - but no time for us! There is also the popular hike up and down to the river mouth and suspension bridge crossing, although the bridge was closed due to structural instability.
Two more stops on the way back home via the Bloukrans once again. First, The Big Tree in Tsitsikamma Park. This huge yellowwood specimen is approx. 36m high, and about 2.7m in diameter. The other stop was again at something BIG. The world's highest bungy jump, from the Bloukrans Bridge. 216m of sheer adrenaline for the brave. My bungy career has been over since my 144m jump at Nevis in New Zealand back in 2002, but we were disappointed that it was late in the day, with nobody left to watch jump!!
Since we had explored the area East of Plett, we took another day to explore West, specifically the Knysna area. Town is on another large lagoon, protected by two large masses of land and a skinny inlet between the Heads. Apparently one of the most dangerous sea passages to navigate into the bay. We have noticed that there seems to be some wealth in the areas along the Garden Route, and Knysna was by no means short on exquisite properties. Some massive places perched high on the Heads, overlooking the passage and lagoon, while others were packed into the two islands (Leisure and Thesen) within the friendly confines of the lagoon. Thesen Island was previously an industrial/commercial island, but has been transformed into a very cool, hip village area with even the old factory gentrified into a Five Star hotel and spa.
Around the lagoon from Knysna, we happened on a little town called Belvidere, of note because of the very quaint little church. A tiny little old Norman-style stone church built back in the 1850's, with a semi-circular rear, and surrounded by foliage and trees. The rest of the buildings in the village were very clean, tidy and you could see there was much history there.
The rest of our drive took us through Brenton-on-Sea with a quick lunch stop on the beach, then on to Buffalo Bay. These two waterfront towns are connected by a stretch of picturesque beach of 8km in length.
Of note, with all the wealth and fancy holiday homes in the area, there are still townships in each of the Garden Route towns. The townships are usually on the outskirts and really show the wealth disparity of the country. People living in ramshackle huts, clustered on hillsides, then you head into town and see the mansions. Pretty tough to stomach at times, and really shows how lucky a lot of us are!! But the people are always nice, and we are greeted with huge smiles whenever we say 'hello', or wave. We have had nothing but good experiences so far with the people.
Mike and Fiona were had booked on a flight back to Zimbabwe, and we volunteered to drive them to the airport in George, on the guise that we would use it as a day out touring around. So, after our goodbye's, and hopes to see them again in Harare, Zimbabwe, it was on to Mossel Bay for the West end of the Garden Route. Michelle was excited for Mossel Bay, because of the Shell Museum contained in the Bartholomeu Dias Maritime Museum complex. Lucky for me, she was not able to collect any of these shells to take with us, but they did have a large and interesting collection - not quite the same as seeing them on the beach though. The museum also contained a full size replica of the ship Dias sailed around on his voyage of discovery, back in 1488. The replica was built in Portugal and sailed down in 1988, to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the original voyage. In the complex was also a famous tree that the early explorers used to leave mail under for the next passing ship.
Mossel Bay did contain some wonderful old buildings in Cape Dutch style, and lots of iron wrought railings. Michelle is always fond of lighthouses, so a visit to this one was in order. It was perched high on the rocks, above an interesting overhang and cave-like
depression in the rocks, also the start of a nice hiking trail along the cliffs.
George was next on the list. The largest city along the Garden Route was only a quick stop, as I was interested in seeing the Steam Train Museum. George was cradled within some beautiful mountains, so the scenery was wonderful. I can imagine all these old steam trains tackling these mountain passes, carrying their massive loads through to the next towns. The museum had a great collection of steam trains retired here, along with the carriages, and other transport modes.
Yet another park on the Garden Route - Wilderness National Park was worth a drive through, but I think you really need to get out and hike here to explore it fully. The Kaaimans River mouth was scenic with it's old rail bridge crossing between the land and the sea.
I think you could take years exploring the Garden Route to it's fullest. What a lovely place to live, holiday, or just be!! We felt fortunate that we had a reasonable amount of time to spend here, thanks to the generosity of Mary!! *Stub
The Garden Route is the coastal area roughly between Mossel Bay and Tsitsikamma. It is a place of stunning beauty, with majestic cliffs rising from the Indian Ocean, and lush mountains running parallel to the coast line. Having such a beautiful place to stay was wonderful and Mary insisted that we should stay as long as we liked. We didn't want to take advantage, but we had to admit, it was so tempting to have a base to explore the beautiful coast. Plett is so well situated and there is so much to do around it, it made sense.The trouble was is that there's so much to see and one could stay on the coast forever. Having our own car certainly was a necessity, and we set out to explore as much of the Garden Route we could in a reasonable timeframe.Once again, Thora and Ken had highly recommended a place called Storm's River Mouth. Our first day centred around getting to the mouth, and getting around the tolls once again. Nature's Valley was a picturesque stop along the way, with a thick, lush, rainforest on the steep drive down to the town. A cute little village, and a nice lagoon protected by a wide sandy beach. Another drive through the curvy, steep, Bloukrans Pass (since we were now in the know) popped us on the other side of the bridges and tolls once again, and clear sailing to SRM. And what a lovely spot it was, with some fantastic campsite right on the ocean's edge, with huge wave crashing and spraying up behind - believe it or not, we actually considered leaving our fantastic place to spend a night backed onto the ocean here. This park is all about hiking, and one of the country's famous trails starts here - The Otter Trail. We did walk a brief way down the trail and got a taste of what it was all about - well worth the 3 day grunt along the trail one would imagine - but no time for us! There is also the popular hike up and down to the river mouth and suspension bridge crossing, although the bridge was closed due to structural instability.
Two more stops on the way back home via the Bloukrans once again. First, The Big Tree in Tsitsikamma Park. This huge yellowwood specimen is approx. 36m high, and about 2.7m in diameter. The other stop was again at something BIG. The world's highest bungy jump, from the Bloukrans Bridge. 216m of sheer adrenaline for the brave. My bungy career has been over since my 144m jump at Nevis in New Zealand back in 2002, but we were disappointed that it was late in the day, with nobody left to watch jump!!
Since we had explored the area East of Plett, we took another day to explore West, specifically the Knysna area. Town is on another large lagoon, protected by two large masses of land and a skinny inlet between the Heads. Apparently one of the most dangerous sea passages to navigate into the bay. We have noticed that there seems to be some wealth in the areas along the Garden Route, and Knysna was by no means short on exquisite properties. Some massive places perched high on the Heads, overlooking the passage and lagoon, while others were packed into the two islands (Leisure and Thesen) within the friendly confines of the lagoon. Thesen Island was previously an industrial/commercial island, but has been transformed into a very cool, hip village area with even the old factory gentrified into a Five Star hotel and spa.
Around the lagoon from Knysna, we happened on a little town called Belvidere, of note because of the very quaint little church. A tiny little old Norman-style stone church built back in the 1850's, with a semi-circular rear, and surrounded by foliage and trees. The rest of the buildings in the village were very clean, tidy and you could see there was much history there.
The rest of our drive took us through Brenton-on-Sea with a quick lunch stop on the beach, then on to Buffalo Bay. These two waterfront towns are connected by a stretch of picturesque beach of 8km in length.Of note, with all the wealth and fancy holiday homes in the area, there are still townships in each of the Garden Route towns. The townships are usually on the outskirts and really show the wealth disparity of the country. People living in ramshackle huts, clustered on hillsides, then you head into town and see the mansions. Pretty tough to stomach at times, and really shows how lucky a lot of us are!! But the people are always nice, and we are greeted with huge smiles whenever we say 'hello', or wave. We have had nothing but good experiences so far with the people.
Mike and Fiona were had booked on a flight back to Zimbabwe, and we volunteered to drive them to the airport in George, on the guise that we would use it as a day out touring around. So, after our goodbye's, and hopes to see them again in Harare, Zimbabwe, it was on to Mossel Bay for the West end of the Garden Route. Michelle was excited for Mossel Bay, because of the Shell Museum contained in the Bartholomeu Dias Maritime Museum complex. Lucky for me, she was not able to collect any of these shells to take with us, but they did have a large and interesting collection - not quite the same as seeing them on the beach though. The museum also contained a full size replica of the ship Dias sailed around on his voyage of discovery, back in 1488. The replica was built in Portugal and sailed down in 1988, to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the original voyage. In the complex was also a famous tree that the early explorers used to leave mail under for the next passing ship.Mossel Bay did contain some wonderful old buildings in Cape Dutch style, and lots of iron wrought railings. Michelle is always fond of lighthouses, so a visit to this one was in order. It was perched high on the rocks, above an interesting overhang and cave-like
depression in the rocks, also the start of a nice hiking trail along the cliffs.
George was next on the list. The largest city along the Garden Route was only a quick stop, as I was interested in seeing the Steam Train Museum. George was cradled within some beautiful mountains, so the scenery was wonderful. I can imagine all these old steam trains tackling these mountain passes, carrying their massive loads through to the next towns. The museum had a great collection of steam trains retired here, along with the carriages, and other transport modes.
Yet another park on the Garden Route - Wilderness National Park was worth a drive through, but I think you really need to get out and hike here to explore it fully. The Kaaimans River mouth was scenic with it's old rail bridge crossing between the land and the sea.
I think you could take years exploring the Garden Route to it's fullest. What a lovely place to live, holiday, or just be!! We felt fortunate that we had a reasonable amount of time to spend here, thanks to the generosity of Mary!! *Stub
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