Trip report: Southern Africa
OK, so I've had my takeaway and a bottle of Belgian beer. The cats have stopped attention-seeking and the house is quiet because Sally is 20 miles away with an IV antibiotic drip in her arm failing to...
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Day 11: Tuesday - Garden Route
Before leaving this ideal location we went for another walk along the sand dunes.
We head further down the coast. We are now starting to get into the territory of nice middle-class seaside towns. In this case the very pleasant Jefferies Bay. We do some grocery shopping. Sally decides this is the sort of place she could live.
I picked up a newspaper from the supermarket. It said there had been a murder in Addo :E
Our camper looked appropriate during the first half of this journey, up in the highlands and on the dirt roads. Now we are in the land of cities, 4-lane highways and BMWs. Our camper, covered in mud, is starting to look out of place. I guess the Land Cruiser did sort of look the right thing in Addo Elephant Park yesterday. There weren't many other overland-looking vehicles in that park, although there were plenty of people wearing safari style clothing they had bought for their one visit to the elephants.
We carry on west into the heart of the Garden Route. At Storms River is a national park. We visit the park office and they do have camping right by the sea. It is very expensive when combined with park entry fees, but I've seen pictures of it before and it looks like it will be worth it. The woman in the office asks if we need electric hook-up. I say no, so she books us on a tent site.
However, we find the place very busy. There are tour buses, and the main camping area is packed. Luckily the tent camping area is empty - one other vehicle turns up later (ironically it is another Bushlore rental vehicle).
It was very windy, so I oriented the camper so as to shelter the gas stove. After managing to make a tea we took a walk along the coast past the large restaurant and souvenir shop.
This lead to a trail leading to the river.
We were hoping to cross over the river, but the suspension bridge was being maintained. There were two other suspension bridges which we could walk over, but we couldn't get across the river.
Below our camping site others were sleeping already:
The wind did drop a bit, and we got a reasonable night's sleep.
Stay tuned for heading back inland...
Before leaving this ideal location we went for another walk along the sand dunes.
We head further down the coast. We are now starting to get into the territory of nice middle-class seaside towns. In this case the very pleasant Jefferies Bay. We do some grocery shopping. Sally decides this is the sort of place she could live.
I picked up a newspaper from the supermarket. It said there had been a murder in Addo :E
Our camper looked appropriate during the first half of this journey, up in the highlands and on the dirt roads. Now we are in the land of cities, 4-lane highways and BMWs. Our camper, covered in mud, is starting to look out of place. I guess the Land Cruiser did sort of look the right thing in Addo Elephant Park yesterday. There weren't many other overland-looking vehicles in that park, although there were plenty of people wearing safari style clothing they had bought for their one visit to the elephants.
We carry on west into the heart of the Garden Route. At Storms River is a national park. We visit the park office and they do have camping right by the sea. It is very expensive when combined with park entry fees, but I've seen pictures of it before and it looks like it will be worth it. The woman in the office asks if we need electric hook-up. I say no, so she books us on a tent site.
However, we find the place very busy. There are tour buses, and the main camping area is packed. Luckily the tent camping area is empty - one other vehicle turns up later (ironically it is another Bushlore rental vehicle).
It was very windy, so I oriented the camper so as to shelter the gas stove. After managing to make a tea we took a walk along the coast past the large restaurant and souvenir shop.
This lead to a trail leading to the river.
We were hoping to cross over the river, but the suspension bridge was being maintained. There were two other suspension bridges which we could walk over, but we couldn't get across the river.
Below our camping site others were sleeping already:
The wind did drop a bit, and we got a reasonable night's sleep.
Stay tuned for heading back inland...
