It was an early start for Sean and I leaving Cape Town and our first experience of South African public transport. I have to say that the bus station in Cape Town is beautiful, gated to keep out hawkers and so polished it shines. The bus was also on time, we were given tickets for our checked in bag and the driver was polite and greeted us with a smile. The bus itself was clean and new. We had seatbelts, rubbish bags and lots of leg room. We arrived in Knysna around 3pm, a little later than scheduled, but hey - we were happy customers! We also got a pretty decent view of this 'Garden Route' as we travelled, the hillside views that suddenly turned into seaside.
We walked up from the waterfront where the bus dropped us off and immediately remarked on how posh everything was here. Boutiques, cafes, restaurants with table cloths. It was quite surreal to see such a relatively small town be so up market. Certainly not in line with most of our African experiences to date.
The lodge we had picked was called African Jewel. And a jewel it certainly was. A huge old colonial style property with beautiful grounds, wooden floors, high ceilings, a wonderful friendly manager called Bev, a big fluffy cat (called funnily enough Fu-Fu Fluffy Pots) and a little terrier dog called Aribella. And we pretty much had the place to ourselves, except for Ron the boat captain who was there deciding whether he should buy the place and Dean a travelling South African who was considering staying in Knysna for a few years (a big move for him as he hasn't ever put his roots down anywhere).
We needed cheap things to do in Knysna having over indulged considerably in Cape Town so occupied ourselves by walking. Lots of walking. We made a day hike down the 8km to The Heads where the bay begins. And it didn't disappoint as we were greated with stunning views and the whole top of it to ourselves!
Having long since discovered the joys of self-catering as a big cost saving exercise we only went out one night on the town. Which as it turned out was all you needed during Winter. The place was hardly throbbing, but we did have a very lovely pub meal and a few drinks of the local Knysna brew with Dean, who entertained us with his philosophies on existentialism. He's a very deep thinking gentleman!
Having gotten our stride on, we took another walk down the 9km to a little town called Belvidere as we'd read that the church there was very quaint. And quaint it certainly was. A tiny little thing (a miniature 11th/12th century Norman style church) that was built and consecrated in 1855 by Thomas Henry Duthie who founded the surrounding estate. It was a lovely little place to saunter through for the afternoon. By the time we returned from that we'd walked over 30km in three days, so were feeling rather pleased with ourselves!
We'd stayed longer in Knysna than we'd planned to and had to tear ourselves away in the end. I can see why people love to 'do the Garden Route'. The places through which we travelled, the amount of activities that there are to do, the beautiful landscapes that there are to see have certainly sparked our interest. But next time, we have to come back with a car!
Here are the photos:
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