Travels from Zithulele to Cape Town...

Candace and I left Zithulele on Saturday, 10th August, and travelled the fifteen hours by road back to Cape Town. We decided to take our time on the trip back and enjoy some of the Garden Route's treasures. We stayed a night with our friends Brad and Lydia in East London before heading on to George, one of the Garden Route's main towns. The photo at left was taken above the Knysna Heads.

We stayed for two nights in George with Mercy Shippers Lourens and Ruth and had a lovely time chatting about the ship and exploring the surrounding area together. My family used to have a holiday house in nearby Wilderness and so we relived some of my childhood memories in this beautiful area of South Africa. We arrived in Cape Town last Tuesday, 13th August. The photo at right is of the beach at Wilderness. Enjoy some more photos from our time exploring this region!

 On our way to George we stopped at Knysna, a town on a beautiful lagoon. This is the view towards the town from the Heads - where the sea enters the lagoon.

 Catamaran in Knysna lagoon.

 View towards the Heads. Many a ship came to grief between those two cliffs.

 Smit Amandla, a powerful ocean-going tug, standing by off the Heads. The reason is the next photo...

 The Kiani Satu, a bulk carrier, had ran aground between Knysna and Sedgefield. Thankfully, salvage experts were able to pull her off the beach and out into the deep ocean, where she has now sunk.

 Lourens and Ruth drove us along the old road from George to Wilderness and we crossed this pretty mountain river.

 We visited the Big Tree at Woodville.

 It is said to be over 800 years old.

 Now that's a Big Tree!

 We then went through to Wilderness and visited the Malachite Bird Hide.

 This is Island Lake, Wilderness. My family once had a holiday house overlooking this beautiful place.

 Kaaimans River Bridge, Wilderness. My family and I used to walk along the railway track collecting coal from the steam train for our winter fires. We'd walk from Wilderness to Victoria Bay and back. It was always scary crossing this bridge!

 The railway line is out of service due to a severe storm several years ago.

 The bridge is still sturdy enough - though very scary.

 I don't like heights, so this was quite a challenge. Candace encouraged me all the way across!

 Almost there!

 There are a number of tunnels between Wilderness and Victoria Bay.

We made it to Victoria Bay!

 This is Victoria Bay - it's a great view.

 It was low-tide and so walking back we crossed the river mouth under the bridge.

Candace and I on the tracks.

 View from Lourens and Ruth's place in George. Above the prominent point in this photo you can just make out the Kiani Satu aground, and to the right of centre, in the sea, is the salvage tug Smit Amandla.

 Sunset in George.

 Sunrise in George on the morning of our drive back to Cape Town.

Snow on the mountains as we near Cape Town.