The next phase

-->

07/07/10

We have left the creature comforts of Kagga Kamma behind. Gone is the fire, kitchen, warm comfortable bed. Gone is a roof in fact. We are now the proud owners of a small lightweight 4 man tent and two thin air mattresses. I have never seen myself as a camper, but need must. To be fair we've not exactly been roughing it. Originally we had planned to camp every 4^th day. We then changed this to every 3^rd day when we first started burning through cash, we have camped 5 out of the last 6 days. The reason for our new found fondness of sleeping 'under canvas', is not just as a way of saving money, it only cuts cost by about 30%, but because we have been staying at some amazingly warm and homely backpackers. Places here seem to have backpacking down to a more refined art than many other places I’ve been. As I’ve mentioned with Karma Backpackers, many of the places are owner run, and you are welcomed with open arms into people's homes. The hosts are always interesting and have tons of stories and info they love sharing with you. We stopped at Robertson Backpackers for 2 days, where a roaring fire in the Moroccan room, a TV room, reading room, warm kitchen and small sheltered garden, all helped take our minds off 2 degrees C nights and mad camping seem easy. The owner was so concerned about the temperature drop one night she told us to sneak in and camp out on the sofa after everyone had gone to bed. We bought extra blankets and survived outside. 
 

We are now at a backpackers outside Plettenberg Bay. There are spectacular views across a forest and to the mountains from the garden where we've pitched our tent. There is a big log cabin lounge with fireplace and TV for the football. Earlier I sat next to the tent with the laptop on WiFi while the household pet horse grazed next to me. It has free reign of all the gardens and never wanders far. We found him halfway up the steps to reception earlier.

We have set ourselves the challenge of camping whenever we can. Last night the weather defeated us. We stopped in Buffalo Bay, a place where Nick went 10 years ago. He went for 2 days and ended up staying a month. We arrived there with 50 km winds, sheeting rain and huge crashing waves sending spray up onto the dunes where we were supposed to be camping. We paid $40 to stay in a draughty double without bathroom. Cold we can cope with, gales we can not, our flimsy cheap tent would have been ripped out from under us.

Buffalo bay is a wild windswept expanse of beach with only a small community perched on a rocky outcrop. Huge breakers crash on rocks sticking out of the sea, spewing foam into the air. In the wind and rain it's as wild as it gets, next morning in the warm sun and gentle breeze it was glorious. We went out for a walk along the beach. We were joined by the 3 Jack Russells from the backpackers.

Travelling the Garden route has been a bit of an eye opener for me. It has made me realize just how good life can be if you pick the right place to live. People have it good here. By UK standards the property is cheap; a three bed house with ocean views going from £130,000. all coastal towns are filled with beautiful unique beach villas that locals use as holiday homes. There is a great café culture and there are farmers markets and delis everywhere. There is always space and fresh air, and you are never far from a national park with hikes and adventure activities or a picnic braai site on the beach. They have an endless selection of restaurants and the food and wine culture is great. Everywhere we stop we meet locals out enjoying their country. South Africa has the longest wine route in the world. There is cheap quality wine available everywhere you go, and there is little snobbery about wine. In Robertson we found a hike that finished in a winery. You sweat it out with a demanding 9km hike before plonking down in the beautiful Van Loveren vineyard garden café, and they bring you a whole range of wines to try for free. Unlike most wineries it's a casual and informal affair where even we didn't feel under dressed with sweaty dusty clothes on. One of the four cousin owners came over to us asked us about our tastes then brought over his selection and left us to it with the bottle on the table. Obviously they expect you not to take the piss, but you can drink what you like. When some bottles are less than $2 you're unlikely to leave empty handed. You find many S. Africans going on wine tours as cheap weekends away.  One of the main elements that has made this trip so special, has been meeting all the local people where we've been staying, in the bars and restaurants, even in the supermarket. People are really open and friendly, they are all really interested in what we're doing, where we've been and what we've seen. Everybody is always really eager to recommend their own favourite places. They are just so happy to have all the tourists here. I’m not sure there are many other countries that would be quite as welcoming.