Day 5 in South Africa: Garden Route (Plettenberg Bay, Tsitsikamma National Park, Storms River Village)

April 26, 2016

*Note: The post is truncated due to length- please click on “read more” to see the rest of the post!

We headed out from our apartment by 9:00 AM and headed along the Garden Route towards Plettenberg Bay.  We stopped at Plettenberg Bay for a bit, and walked along the beach.  There was a small mountain of rocks at the end of the beach, with a little bench up on top, so we climbed up the rocks.  I wasn’t wearing shoes, so I climbed up barefoot- probably not the best idea, but I survived without any injuries or cuts.  We checked out the pretty views, then got back in the car and headed onwards.

 

Our next stop was Tsitsikamma National Park.  This was probably one of the favorite parts of our trip.  It’s a gorgeous drive from Plettenberg Bay to Tsitsikamma National Park as there are several amazing, green ravines that you drive over.  We entered the park at Storms River Mouth.  The waves were absolutely amazing!  They were huge and crashed against the large rocks.  We ate some snacks, then did the hike to the suspension bridge.  We crossed the suspension bridge, which looks a bit scary, but wasn’t too bad.  After crossing the bridge, there is a pile of large rocks, so we sat there and enjoyed the view for a bit before heading back over the bridge.  From there, we crossed two additional suspension bridges.  At that point, you can either go back over the bridges to go back to the start of the trail or you can take a very steep shortcut to a part of the trail that is a bit further back.  We took the shortcut, which was a pretty good workout.  We spent a bit more time on the beach there after our hike, then headed on.

Our third stop of the day was at Storms River Village.  This is a very small, touristy village.  We got some ice cream at an American 50s-style diner (complete with large images of Marilyn Monroe, the Beatles, and some beautiful antique cars).  There are some restaurants and a couple of stores, but the town really doesn’t have a whole lot there.

From there, we headed a short ways further on N2 to the amazingly quaint, rustic, and simple farmhouse we were staying in for the night.  The cottage is called Fynboshoek, and it was truly an amazing house- probably the coolest house I’ve ever stayed in!  There is no electricity, but there is running water, as well as plenty of candles and a huge fireplace.  I’ll share more information and photos in a separate post- it was that cool!  We relaxed for a bit outside on the patio to soak up the sun, then headed back to Storms River Village to get some pizzas for dinner, which we brought back to the cottage to eat.  After dinner, we lit the candles and started a fire in the fireplace, then wrote in journals/read/played a couple of games of Pitch.  I then took a shower in the candle-lit bathroom, which was pretty cool.  We had to get up very early the following morning, so we went to bed pretty early.