Day 7
Adventure out of Cape Town begins! But first, a run on a silent hill morning.
Oh misty isle
Checked out after a nice breakfast (perfect scrambled egg by me!)
Then down to Stellenbosch for (second) breakfast at Schoon de Companje with super good croissant and passtie de nata
Charming little bread shop
Next up: wineland!
Waterford at the entrance but was enough to impressed
Then to Boschendal for wine tasting
Rows and rows
Smooth Sauvignon Blanc with "green pepper and tropical fruit like lime", stronger Chardonnay with "70% oak and 30% stainless steel" distillation; Pinot noir "with spice and berry; the baby wine - some say you can drink 6 bottles a day"; Pinotage "king of grapes: combining DNA of Two different grapes to get; with a taste is Blackberry and other spices"; and finally, Shiraz "redder and very spicy". I’m impressed by my diligence to record all these
Eventually got a Shiraz to go with their chocolate
Dutch East for lunch which served amazing risotto
Entrance to our little cottage
Drive towards Hermanus was filled with road works but we still reached and check in to our BnB in good time.
A grand (and out of place) restaurant/hotel in a very small and humble town
Where dem whales at!
Whale watching was expectedly unrewarding (heard there're one or two of those southern right whales around but they're scarce; the rest are coming in in August)
Temperature went down quickly with the sunset - the sea breeze didn’t help
Then dinner at Fisherman's cottage after sunset
Who knew calamari and mussels go so well with fish curry! And the roti (literally what they called it; they even have Nasi goreng for the matter) was one of the best I've ever had!
Day 8
Morning drive to Gansbaai then shark cage diving!
The anxiety is real!...
The birds did the opening show
The legendary Chomps that lure the sharks over - no real feeding was done so as to not disrupt the sharks’ feeding instincts (ie to not rely on hoomans)
Under any other circumstances, this would have raised more panic than exuberance... but they’re finally here!
Simply amazing; was still afraid we would not see the great whites cos of the orca attack but they came back!
And this is us! One is genuinely excited about seeing the sharks, the other is more of happy to escape the seasickness caused by the constant rocking when anchored
And after awhile, it’s just the genuinely excited one that’s left. Haha. And featuring the “commander” wearing orange by the side, who tells us “Now!”
to dive in when the sharks approach
Up close and personal with nature this whole trip. More to come!
Have done shark tank diving before but definitely not so close in the wild. Also, great whites are scavengers with great sense of smell so they follow the scent that the current brought on the top and, as surface hunters, get triggered by our bait we used.
We, on the other hand, survived to tell the stories!
Our dive trip ended much earlier than expected so we decided to head to the southern-most point of Continental Africa, so Cape L’Agulhas we go!
But it was rather unimpressive - as pointed out by various travel forums so we anticipated it, all’s well
Also, TomTom took us through 22km of unpaved dirt track. Nice. Almost destroyed the car really - and I was seriously worried the wheels might not take it well.
Anyway, Swellendam next.
BnB was roomy and luxurious!
With a frontyard BBQ area
And a backyard playground!
We were also greeted by Dust...
And Powder! Both are Heterochromia!
Initial impression of the town wasn't that great as it felt hostile but grocery shopping later (cos all the restaurants are closed in this small town) showed otherwise.
Cooked our own dinner then chilled the night away with a HTHT with Ms Blur
Day 9
Left after breakfast from SuperSpar bought last night; checked out, bid our goodbye to Powder and Dust, then drive towards Oudtshoorn we go! Through Route 62 and dropped by Ronnie's (Sex) Shop - quite a scene I must say.
The (in)famous
I am Groot
This amount of (under)garments
Reached Oudtshoorn in good time then decided to have lunch first. So went ahead with the top recommendation on TripAdvisor: Nostalgie; and it did impress!
Wanted to head towards Prince Albert after lunch but we realise the Swartberg Pass is closed since late May due to a heavy storm that washed the road away!
Decided against the ostrich farm or the wildlife ranch and went the other way round to Meiringspoort Waterfall. Road works and herds of goat lengthened the journey but those goats were cute! Landscape was a pleasant surprise but the waterfall was more of a trickle in this dry winter. Came back round to check in to our amazing retreat! Slacked and worked out before we headed back to Nostalgie for dinner! And they even have shuttle service - how nice.
Food was good once again: butternut soup was more of a paste but it was amazing; schnitzel was alright but the homemade Chilli was mind blowing - probably hotter than the Chilli padi we get at home. Bottle was too big to buy one, sadly.
We were full but still got a fudge for night snack though, the temptation was too strong. A bath later, it was time to knock out.
Day 10
Checked out and decided (impromptu en route) to head to a Saturday Farmers market at Sedgefield: Wild Oats Farmer Market.
Awesome atmosphere; totally felt like we were in NZ or Europe here (also because there’s predominantly white people here)
Was way more crowded and bigger scale than what this photo shows Coffee and scotch eggs were disappointing but oyster cravings were satisfied! Local tarts were nice too.
Headed down to Knysna after that but the East Head cafe was closed. Took some photos at the Heads then left for 34 South instead for lunch.
Nice little harbour-side restaurant
Satisfied Ms Blur's oyster (bartered ones with nice asian sauce) and sashimi cravings at the same time (as well as a "conveyor belt" carving haha). Seafood platter was nice but nothing spectacular considering the better ones we had.
Plettenberg Bay next was a sham cos the"Lookout Point" is really a restaurant with that name haha! But not too bad a view I suppose (can’t find a photo of the view tho)
Then next up: bungee!
Jumper 60, Weight 77; 1600Hr stand-by.
Readyyyyyy~ Go!
To be honest I wasn't nervous until they started counting down to three; and my heart probably didn't pump much harder other than the 1.5s after I leapt off the edge. It was really fun to feel the free fall once again; in fact, due to the bounce on the rope, there were about 4 occasions of free falling as the pendulum effect got dampened away. I think the second, third, and final fourth rebound were the more exciting ones; and to be honest I wanted it to stop badly after the third bounce cos I was scared! The fear finally set in. And that is partly because I realise the cushion on my left ankle is causing cramps on my left calf (no one told me about this happening! Haha) but my right calf's strap is kinda loose. In any case, someone came back down to fetch me midair and I returned back on "land" safely, into the joyous mood that was on the bridge.
I think this girl was more nervous walking on the bridge and thinking about me dropping off the bridge than I am myself haha
Got the souvenirs (of course I must!) and off we go.
Storms River Mouth Restcamp next was nice; love the super spacious oceanette.
But first, some steak to celebrate my triumphant return from the fall!
And oysters as well, in this (kinda) romantic setting in a violet light tented restaurant by the shore
Watched the stars and the crashing waves at night but then the clouds came later in the night.
Day 11
Greeted by this view off our balcony in the morning... Clouds cleared but the big waves and chilly weather stayed.
Packed up and and drove out to Untouched Adventure for our next adventure!
Wetsuit doesn’t seem enough for this weather...
And off we go! Towards the Storm River Mouth
Switching over from our kayak...
To the Lilo!
And we survived! (Ms Blur looked this stressfree cos she was oblivious to the fact that there’re small River sharks underneath the waters we just kayak/Lilo/swam in... hahaha)
Kayak and Lilo was fun (and cold) and it was actually Ms Blur's first time Kayaking! Also her first cliff jump (sort of, less the black water rafting in NZ)!! Ready~ go! Look on her face is as though she's gonna do a bungee HAHA. Tour was informative as well; from table mountain to Port Elizabeth, they are all of the same (type of) rock, belonging to the same range. Also, many of the rocks found had vertical folds instead of the usual horizontal ones: this is geological history coming to life - when Pangaea split (South America, Africa and Madagascar, and India), these rocks were churned out from the ocean and formed the landscapes we see today! Interesting much. Ended the adventure in good time, got a quick hot shower and off we go towards Port Elizabeth!
Reached Port E early enough to grab some food
TripAdvisor didn’t disappoint with their recommendations
Dropped our trusty car off
And off we go to the next leg of our adventure!!!
It’s been unexpectedly fun along this Garden Route! 10/10 would recommend.
