The first part of our SA road trip saw us travel from Johannesburg to the Drakensberg and on to Durban. By the end of our stay in Durban we were already 11 days into our
holiday and a week into our road trip around sunny South Africa.
From Durban we continued south to Justin's parents in Uvongo. Thanks for having us Mum and Dad! Thanks for all the fun things we did and for feeding us so well, we had a really wonderful time. We are sad that is probably the last time we will visit you on the South Coast but we also look forward to seeing your new house in the Cape =)
From Durban we continued south to Justin's parents in Uvongo. Thanks for having us Mum and Dad! Thanks for all the fun things we did and for feeding us so well, we had a really wonderful time. We are sad that is probably the last time we will visit you on the South Coast but we also look forward to seeing your new house in the Cape =)
Our route around SA!
This post is about our journey from Uvongo to St Francis Bay to Wilderness and to Mc Gregor
Fun activities and highlights from Uvongo:
- A wonderful braai with the whole Duarte family at the Cross home
celebrating beautiful friendships and birthdays. We are so glad our time on the
South Coast overlapped with yours Ev, Frances and Santi. We really enjoyed
spending lots of time together and catching up with you, it's been too long! We
can’t wait to hang our new paintings =) and we hope to still visit you in
Germany one day!
- Justin and Mum played 9 holes of golf while Bron and Dad (&
Herbie!) went for a drive in the MG.
- Watching the Wimbledon Men's Final on the couch
- Quiet evenings on the couch watching movies (Rush).
- Mum's roast chicken! Perfect on a chilly rainy day.
- Cups of tea with Jean Verwey.
- Breakfast at the Waffle House!
- A walk on the beach on a moody cloudy day.
- Visiting the Duarte's and experiencing a real life art studio!
- Last night dinner at The Pavillion with Jean and Phillip Verwey.
- A visit to the dentist, bleh!
Justin and Everett blowing out candles at the Cross-Duarte family birthday braai
Bron and Frances in the Duarte Art Studio with the paintings we bought
Dad Cross's MG
A snoozing Herbie
Boibs on a South Coast beach
The Waffle House!!
Our hardest travel day was driving from Uvongo to Bron's parents in
St Francis Bay. We chose to push through and drive in one day along the N2
through the Transkei. It took us 14.5 hours with minimal stops to cover
the 900 km. It's a beautiful drive through very rural Eastern Cape areas
but the roads are very busy with lots of huge heavy trucks and livestock
crossing wherever they please making it very slow going.
On the drive we passed through Qunu, where Nelson Mandela grew up as a
young herd boy in the fields with the cattle. We marvelled how one of the
world's greatest leaders came from these hills in the heart of the rural
Eastern Cape. As we drove through the area we were filled with thoughts of
what life must been like growing up in this rural area in the 1920s. I imagine
it was vastly different to what it is now, the population has grown and the
town has spread a lot since then.
Madiba is buried there now on the family estate but the grave is not
open to the public since he didn’t want his final resting place to become a
pilgrimage site. It was Madiba's wish that a museum be built in his home
village to house all the gifts he was given over the years as a statesmen so
that they would be accessible to all South African and help boost the local
economy of the area. The museum was officially opened in February 2000, 10
years after his release from prison. We would have loved to stop here and visit
but we just didn't have the time that day. Maybe we will pass through again one
day in the future.
A mostly rainy week with a few days of sunshine inbetween followed. We
didn’t let the rain stop us though and we had a lovely week doing fun and
chilled activities with Bron’s parents in St Francis Bay. Thanks for having us
to stay Dad! And thanks for letting us invade your space at the bakery Mom! Thanks
for all the fun times, it was lovely seeing you both and spending time
together.
A firm favourite of the holiday was the day spent in the Addo Elephant
National Park. Addo was founded in 1931 to provide a sanctuary for the few
elephants remaining in the area. Today the park has grown to 180 000
hectares making it the third largest National Park in the country with over 600
elephant and a large number of other mammals calling the park home. The park is
only 30 minutes from Port Elizabeth yet one feels completely secluded in the
bush.
At Addo one can normally see many large groups of elephant but we only
saw 17 ellies the day we were there and they were mostly alone. We speculate
that this was due to the high rainfall at that time negating the need to go to
watering holes. We may not have seen very many ellies but we had some special
sightings including a large bull walking right past our car and 2 ellies
tousling with each other. We also saw heaps of other game including eland,
kudu, red hartebeest, zebra, buffalo, warthogs, ostrich, yellow mongoose, a family
of meerkats, a tortoise, and many cool birds. Unfortunately we didn’t see any
rhino or lion despite sightings being reported that day. We also loved all the
giant spekbooms or elephant food trees seen throughout the park.
This is the first elephant we saw at Addo. He slowly walked walked past our car in a calm and measured way. It was quite a special experience seeing an ellie so close.
These two ellies were having a non-aggressive tousle. Another spectacular sighting.
It was quite amazing how these two gentle giants just disappeared into the bush seconds after this photo.
The largest family group we saw the day we were there
Snack time!
Ellie crossing
Kudu males
Kudu female
Buffalo!
How sweet is the fluffy baby?!
Zebra
Canoodling zebbies
Male ostrich and zebra
Warthog!
Tortoise
Yellow mongoose
Cool bird
Heron of sorts
Beautiful little weaver
Fun activities and highlights from St Francis Bay:
- A nice long walk on the beach from Anne Avenue to the Kromme River
Mouth with Dad on a gorgeous sunny day.
- Rock hopping at Granny's Pool.
- A drive around the canals.
- Lots of time chilling at the bakery with Mom and getting our fix of
Meeps rusks and other bakery goodies.
- Coffee club on Friday morning with long-time friends and old
neighbours Mirley Reithmeier and Lynne & Xander Knipe.
- Fish and chips at The Port with Dad.
- Watching the rugby at the Links Clubhouse on a rainy Saturday.
- Sunrise photo shoot at the lighthouse in Cape St Francis and watching
the penguins at the rescue centre being fed.
- Sunday roast at the bakery.
- Taking the doggies for a run at the lighthouse.
- A really great day out with Dad at the Addo Elephant Park near Port
Elizabeth.
- A lovely evening with Hannie and Peter Finnemore in PE on the way home
from Addo with fish and chips and load shedding while watching the finals of
the golf open at St Andrews.
St Francis Bay Beach
Walks on the beach with Dad
Bron and Dad
Boibs on St Francis beach
Surfer at the reef
At Granny's Pool
Things to be seen in the rocks at Granny's Pool: mussels, starfish, sea urchins
At the cove on the canals
Cool sea slugs and hermit crab at the canals
At Port St Francis
Jonathan the seagull!
Fish 'n chips at the Port
Watching the rugby at the Links
Sunrise photo shoot at the lighthouse in Cape St Francis
Bron and Dad
Penguin feeding time!
Taking the doggies for a run at the lighthouse
Shell hunting in the rocks
Bron and Mom
We left St Francis Bay on a rainy morning and continued down the coast
to Wilderness. On the way we stopped at the Birds of Eden Bird Sanctuary, the
largest free flight and bird sanctuary in the world. We had been here before
but it was really nice to visit again and we enjoyed a lovely morning bird
spotting from the walkways. In Wilderness we stayed at Serendipity, the
guesthouse we stayed at on the Touws River while on honeymoon and have been
meaning to return to ever since. The rain had cleared by the afternoon and we
enjoyed a lovely walk on Wilderness beach and along the lagoon before being
treated to a spectacular sunset. At the lagoon we were fortunate to have a
malachite kingfisher sunning himself 3 paces from us unperturbed by our
presence. That evening we enjoyed a delicious 5 course meal at the guesthouse
restaurant, a real fine dining experience.
Gorgeous Macaw at the Birds of Eden Bird Sanctuary
Various Loeries
Cool parrot
We think this cheeky guy escaped from Monkeyland next door
Flamingo
Scarlet Ibis
Dikkop
Duckies all swimming in a line
Arum Lily
Strelitzia
Aloe
Cool fungus
Boibs at Wilderness Beach
Sunset over the Touws River in Wilderness
From Wilderness we continued to McGregor where we spent the night with
our special friends from CMC and Cape Town, David and Olga Finnemore. Thank you
for having us and spoiling us with a delicious home cooked meal! It was so
wonderful to spend time with you and see your new home.
A wonderful evening with David and Olga Finnemore
And then it was already the end of 3 weeks of holiday and time for a jam
packed week in Cape Town! More about our Cape Town adventures next time x
Huge congratulations to Brenainn and Kirsten as they welcomed their
first child and daughter Isla Jane on 2 September. We are so happy for you
guys!! Our only sadness is that we aren’t there to enjoy newborn snoodles. Wishing
you much love, happiness and joy in this new adventure called parenthood!
