The Garden Route, Western Peninsula, South Africa

Monday-Thursday, April 20, 21, 22 an 24, 2015    The Garden Route, Western Peninsula, South Africa

We reserved a rental  car for a four day adventure to explore the "Garden Route". It was nice to meet Eleanor, the South African owner of Hermanus Travel who helped Larry arrange the transaction. We loaded the car and took off driving on the left hand side of the road. Larry is getting really good at this….after doing it in East Timor for a year and in Ireland and UK for a month last year. He is calm about it. Personally, I did a lot of gasping and then remembered that he was doing it the right way!

      Many of the buildings had a Dutch influence.

We drove to Caledon taking a right on R316 going through Fairfield  and Napier and turning right again in Bredasdorp onto  R319.

We followed the  2 lane road spotting Thomas Gazelles and ostriches out in the fields. We passed through Struisbasi with sweeping views of the ocean.

The area was dotted with these old English homes.

 

 

Our final stop was in L’Agulhas, the most southern point of Africa.  Here the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean meet.

 

We walked around the lighthouse and ventured down to the beach to find a couple of sea shells to take home for my homemade shell wreath.

 

The water views were marvelous! We just enjoyed the moment of being at the southern tip of Africa in Agulhas National Park .

 

 

 

 

 

We found a great little Bed and Breakfast right on the water and settled in for the first night having a great conversation with the owner, a retired South African school teacher.

Her family had bought the house which used to be the old post office. She and her husband retired here and got bored so she started the bed and breakfast business. They have had guests from over 70 countries around the world.  She made a mighty fine breakfast and told us a little about her teaching career. She was fun to talk with.

                                                       What a view out our back door!

 

Our B and B hostess

On Tuesday morning we head back north on R319 stopping at the town pier. Two men were digging in the low tide for Prawns. It was a  gorgeous day to walk along the water and take in all the sea cape.

 

From there we enjoyed our journey back into Bredasdorp stopping to take pictures of the flowering jacarandas and olive orchards. We also felt lucky to spot the Blue Crane, South Africa’s national bird.

We passed by many sheep and cattle grazing in the open rolling fields. 

 

 

We drove on to Swellendam and stopped to stretch and do a little shopping.

Fall Foliage in April

We had a great picnic lunch and headed onto the N2 into Heidelberg, Riverdale, and Albertina passing by huge farms. Lots of fields were being plowed and readied for winter wheat, canola, and other crops.  We had planned to stop in Mossel Bay, but we missed the exit. Happily, we stopped in the next town, Hartenbos, a very nice vacation spot that had just ended a busy  summer season. We found another bed and breakfast in the home of a retired farmer’s wife. 

 

What a contraption to just get a little battery charged!

We had the whole four bedroom house to ourselves. We walked down the street for dinner and the electricity went out while in the restaurant. No worries…the generator kicked on in less than a minute. It was difficult to find our way back to the B and B on the dark, dark street. When we found our way back into the house, the electricity magically came back on. We were happy…wanting to watch a little television to find out what was going on in the world before turning in for the night.

Wednesday was a gorgeous day in South Africa 

After a nice walk down the beach walkway, we headed out for the town of George. Here we turned north on N12 winding across the mountain range that we had paralled the day before. It was a very nice view.

 

 

We drove through Montagu Pass enjoying all the mountain scenery. We passed a lot of ostrich farms.

 

 

We stopped in Oudtshoorn, looking through the town museum.

Ostrich feathers for sale!

 We  planned to walk down the street, but decided against going when a questionable character started hanging out around our car. It just didn’t feel right, so we got back into the car and headed down R62 to Calitzdorp. Here we turned left to go to the Calitzdorp Hot Spring Spa resort . 22kilometers later we found it was closed due some electrical malfunctions.

We opted to go back down the road a kilometer to stay at the Uhuru Hot Spring . Nice room with a kitchen and a hot spring pool all to our selves…how could we say no? 

 

 

 

 

Hot Springs at Uhuru

 

 

We spotted zebras, Thomas gazelles, monkeys, parrots, rabbits, guneas, peacocks, and other wildlife in the distant range.  Staying here was like having a mini safarai!

 

 

Thursday was another  gorgeous  sunny day. This area is known as Klein Karoo, an arid landscape  where the temperatures range from very hot in summer to very chilly in winter.

It is home to  many succulents  and aloe plants. We drove back into Calitzdorp, a small town known as the port wine capitol of South Africa.

We headed down R62   west through the Husirivier Pass to Ladismith and Barrydale into Montagu where the South African’s wine country begins. Montagu offers spectacular scenery and awesome mountain passes.

                                         Montague had a  troop of baboons outside the town.

 

We went through a short tunneled mountain  known as ‘the hole in the wall’ with unusual rock formations. 

 

Hectors and hectors of vineyards stretched out into the horizon. The area was irrigated. A severe drought was occurring in South Africa. Large lakes were nearly empty. Wineries were thriving throughout the area.

 

We drove through Robertson with spectacular views of the Langeberg Mountains. This area is popular for the tranquil nature scenes, fruit orchards, vineyards, and thoroughbred horses.

We stopped to capture a shot of the shanty town that seems to appear on the edge of every town that we have driven through.

 

R 317 was lined with spectacular blooming cannas,  palm trees and other colorful bushes. 

 

 

 It was quite a sight.  We followed the road to N2 turning on the GPS to lead us back to Hermanus.

We arrived back in time to take a lovely walk on the 14 mile beach of white sands in Hermanus. The wind was blowing but the air was warm while kids boogie boarded the awesome waves.

 

What a fantastic walk! What a fantastic day! We enjoyed a fabulous road trip in South Africa!