We were unlucky there with the weather as it was raining, a bit cold and very windy when we arrived at ‘Sea Breeze’ guesthouse in Plettenberg but it was nice to hear the waves crashing onto the rocks at night as the beach was so close. Plettenberg is a seaside town with many holiday houses high up on the hills and all along the coast and by the estuary which comes right into town.
Our guesthouse host recommended some restaurants so one night we tried a Lebanese place called ‘Off the Hook’ that served excellent portuguese type food. One day we explored the town and then went out to ‘Old Nicks’ specialty shops with it’s beautiful array of woven, good quality African goods and a number of boutiques. The weather had not improved so we kept indoors after a brief and cold walk down to the beach.
We had more nice fresh fish at ‘The Lookout Deck’ restaurant overlooking Plettenberg Bay. It was unfortunately not a balmy evening so we sat inside and enjoyed more fresh seafood. While there we tried the South African ‘roosterkoek’ or griddle bread and the ‘koeksister’ a syrupy type of donut. The bread was very dense but tasty.
It was spitting rain but we decided to go to ‘Birds of Eden’ a wonderful bird sanctuary. An enormous area of forest from a hill down to a deep valley was covered with netting which made a vast free flight area for a great variety of birds. The birds could fly long distances and get lost in the forest.
Not far away was Bramon winery, a lovely spot where we stopped for a delicious light tapas lunch. We ate dinner at ‘Fat Fish’ where the fresh fish was again delicious.
The quality of food in South Africa was excellent and the prices extremely reasonable.
On the 13th November we moved on to Bishop’s Cove on top of a cliff in the Tsitsikamma area. It was a beautiful part of South Africa. We stayed in one of only three cottages on the headland overlooking the forest on one side and the Indian Ocean on the other. It was about 12kms to the closest shop. There was a very strong wind blowing but we sat and watched the waves crashing on the rocks far below. Joe (Cocker) the caretaker’s very intelligent spaniel greeted us and followed us as we walked up to a viewing point to watch the sunset. He is an amazing dog – he sat like a sentinel looking out to sea and watched the sunset with us. The waves were enormous. It reminded me of an avalanche. It poured with rain the first night and we could hear the waves all night. The weather didn’t improve for the couple of days we were there but the sun was shining brightly the morning when we left for the 2hour drive to Port Elizabeth for our flight back to Johannesburg.
Michelle picked us up and we had a nice Portuguese meal at a restaurant in Boxburgh that night. Trevor dropped us the next morning on the 16th November at the airport for our flight back to Dubai.