Catch up blog: Road Trip!
Lunch overlooking South Africa’s beautiful coastline
I had a few more items I wanted to share about South Africa but didn’t have time before we were ensconced in departure preparations. These “catch up” blogs will be out of chronological order but hopefully are still worth the read.
We were ready to explore more of South Africa
With the completion of Catalyst taking longer than anticipated, we had time to venture further from Cape Town. We’d loved our safari and our wine country excursions and were eager to explore more, so we rented a car and took a 4-day trip to South Africa’s east coast.
We started off driving along the beautiful coastal route to Cape Agulhas, the southernmost tip of Africa. There, we hiked to the Cape and enjoyed a windy sunset at the intersection of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. The next day we drove the famous Garden Route to the lovely seaside town of Knysna, home to several catamaran brands. We hiked the Knysna headlands and saw huge waves pounding the harbor entrance – no boats could safely enter or exit Knysna that day! Later, we goofed off on kayaks our BnB provided, surfing the small residual waves in the bay, before meeting up with fellow Balance owners Meg and Paul for dinner.
After Knysna, we drove to Plettenburg Bay, stopping at Robberg Nature Reserve, a World Heritage Site, for a 5 hike along the rugged cliffs overlooking the sea and down to the beach. Solely for bragging rights, I took my first dip ever – albeit very brief! – in the Indian Ocean.
Throughout our trip, we traversed a rugged coastline and stunning ocean vistas reminiscent of the Oregon Coast and enjoyed many delicious meals at waterfront restaurants. We returned to Cape Town via the interior route, driving through endless yellow fields of rapeseed, which we learned is used to make canola oil.
In general, we found the South African drivers to be quite polite and the roads well-maintained (even the dirt road we accidentally ended up on for over an hour!). Driving on the “wrong” side of the road took some getting used to and more concentration, but it wasn’t as difficult as I’d feared. More than once on this excursion Pete and I remarked that South Africa has some of the most beautiful countryside we’ve ever seen. It was a great trip!
