Mel arrived on a Sunday night, and I picked her up witht he rental car, "Zulu Blue".  I decided earlier that week that it would be better if we started heading along the Garden Route the first night.  Driving in SA is sometimes tough enough in the daylight, let alone at night and out by the airport.  This made for an interesting start to our tour towards the eastern coast.  Upon leaving the airport we got lost and found ourselves heading into a township.  We did enter the township, but immediately turned the vehicle around and got out of there as fast as we found ourselves in it.  Townships are not a place you want to lose yourself in the daylight, let alone at night.
Hermanus was the destination we were seeking that first night, and we found it safe and sound with all four wheels attached.  We slept the night away thinking about our travels thus far, and looking forward to the whales we were going to be spotting the next day.
Hermanus is a stopping spot for female southern right whales with their calves.  I mentioned these whales earlier in my blog on my way to the shark diving.  We were blessed with a few sighting of whales this day, with one that was exceptionally close.  We stayed and watched the whales for about an hour.  Truly, we could have stayed the whole day, but we had to get back on the road so that we could make our next destination, Knysna.

Fat cat in Hermanus Hostel



Whale tale action for Mel



Hermanus waterfront

 From Hermanus we headed along the Garden Route to Knysna. We stopped off at Mossel Bay and Wilderness. These were both very nice stops; although we again ended up in a township in Mossel Bay, unscathed.   Once in Knysna we settled into our hostel then went on a mission for 'Milk Tart', a South African dessert similar to a Creme Brulee but more awesomer. Everyday so far Mel has searched for the best milk tart in the country. The best up to this point is from a bakery in Britz, a farmtown near Pretoria, SA.

Farmland along the highway

Knysna harbour

 We arrived in Jeffrey's Bay the next morning. This is a surfers destination. This reminded us of Torquay in Australia because of the numerous surfing outlet stores. Our hostel had a view of 'boneyards' (for you non-surfers this is a surf break right next to 'SUPERTUBES', for those of you non non-surfers this is the longest right break in the world!!!!). Neal didn't make it out in the waves as there was no one else out in the water and the waves were very large. We walked along the beach finding shells such as abalone and a family of 3 Golden Retrievers: the dad Kei, the mum Scuzzy (don't really understand that one) and the puppy Summer. They followed us down the beach until their owner had to come and fetch them. They all barked at the guy who came to retrieve them.  We think they enjoyed their time with us much more than the idea of heading home.  Really, what dog in their right mind would want to leave Mel? In fact, Mel wished she could take them home for Kennedy.
A funny thing we saw was on the sign for the hostel was a Sitka surfboards sticker from Victoria. We thought we'd even it out by posting a Coastline sticker above it - represent. To make it to Cape Town which is 8hrs drive from Jbay We had to leave the next morning early.  Unfortunately, we also left some perfect wave sets coming through.