Knysna Chalets to Cannon Rocks

From Knysna Chalets, we went past Plettenberg Bay, Jeffreys Bay, Port Elizabeth and Boknes Strand to Cannon Rocks.  On the way we passed the Stormsrivier bridge where the youngsters do their bungee jumping off the bridge.
At Cannon Rocks we were surprised with the layout and facilities of the camping grounds.  They have a shop and a few permanent accommodation facilities as well as recreation facilities for kids.  This is obviously a popular place for families and will probably be very full during school holidays.
The beach area are characterized by huge dunes in the process of expanding on the beach area.  One road is gradually being "consumed" by the sand.
The only problem I had was the wind, but that may be because I stayed very long in Pretoria which is one of the almost windless places in South Africa.

The Stormsriver Bridge

Our campsite

The camping area

This road being "consumed" by the creeping dunes.

The Dunes

Cannon Rocks was kind of windy when we visited.

Cannon Rocks Town

A seabird on the rocks.

Beautiful effect of the dune growth.

Entrance to someone's "little house by the sea".

Melkboom B&B to Knysna Chalets

From Melkboom B&B we drove to Riversdale where we enjoyed a good breakfast in the Ou Tronk (Old Jail) Coffeehouse.  Some of the women of the community open the old jail on Saturdays to sell their stuff from little stalls that they have in each cell.  The pictures below show some of the stalls.We then went on through Mossel Bay and George to Knysna where we went to Knysna Chalets where we can get accommodation via our points scheme.

We visited Thesen Island, a newish development in Knysna where ther's a lot of restaurants and shops and also a harbor for smaller seacrafts.

Knysna Chalets

View on Buffalo Bay

View on Buffalo Bay

Campsites on Buffalo Bay

Harbor at Thesen Island

Thesen Island

Thesen Island

Pictures from the old jail, Die Ou Tronk in Riversdale

Klondyke Cherrie Farm to Melkboom B&B

Leaving Klondyke behind next to the Matroosberg Nature Reserve, we went through Swellendam where we previously visited the Bontebok National Park, but being in a hurry, we passed it and carried on to Riversdale, but being a bit tired after the long drive, we turned in at the Melkboom Farm where the lady of the farm has a very nice B&B with friendliness and great food.  We enjoyed staying in her warm and spacious little house on a large piece of lawn.  We can recommend this place to everybody who need a safe, great place to stay overnight.

Some of the scenery we passed through.

Melkboom B&B

Tulbach to Klondyke Cherry Farm

From Tulbach we went through the spectacular Mitchell's Pass after refilling in Wolseley.  Then through Ceres and onto the Swaarmoed Pass to Klondyke Cherry Farm.  This was a wonderful drive for us through these passes and finally to arrive at Klondyke where we were the only people in the huge caravan park under massive trees.We stopped at the Old Tollgate Restaurant where we enjoyed a wonderful meal in exquisite surroundings among huge mountains and wonderfully friendly staff and tourists.  We can recommend a stop at this restaurant which is housed in the old historical tollgate buildings.Wolseley, Ceres and others on the Scenic Cape Route 62 all are towns that each offers great tourist accommodations, restaurants and other attractions.  We did not have time to languish around, since we were getting cold and we wanted to get to the Kruger Park before winter strikes.  But we will be back at a different time to take in all this area has to offer.Klondyke Cherrie Farm offers Cherrie picking during the cherry season and we would also like to be there to pick our share.

Old Toll Road Restaurant

Old Toll Road Restaurant view on outside tables.

Mountains around the Old Toll Road Restaurant.

Camping at Klondyke Cherrie Farm

From Velddrif to Tulbach

From Velddrif we decided to start taking a rough course back towards the Kruger National Park and the warmer weather of the Lowveld.  We went past Die Ark again and decided to stay over once again with these friendly people.The next morning we drove to Piketberg where we had a very nice breakfast at Winkelshoek Restaurant.  The people friendly and the food good.From here we went via Porterville to Tulbach, where we found Fynbos Guest Farm Restcamp, a very neat and well laid out camping facility amongst large trees.  The owner, a very friendly gentleman showed us the farm and all his animals and very beautiful horses.  He also have a few permanent accommodations where one can upgrade when the weather gets unpleasant.

The town of Tulbach is a tourist heaven with a number of wine cellars, restaurants and guest accommodations in the district.  All of them on the Cape-Dutch theme,  friendly service and good food.  We will be back someday to come and do a thorough investigation of this area.  We are looking forward to it.

Winkelshoek shops and restaurants

Waverley Hills Wine and Olive Estate and restaurant

Fish pond at Waverley Hills

Saronsberg Wineries

Leafy camping area at Fynbos Guest farm

A typical fireplace at Fynbos campsites

View on the mountains from Fynbos

From Ganzekraal to Velddrif

Our next leg took us to Velddrif via Langebaan.  The weather improved dramatically and we enjoyed a meal in Velddrift's famous Bokkemlaan.  Bokkems are dried fish that the locals love to eat.Bokkemlaan has a number of very interesting eateries and we decided to come back to suss them out during  the next few days we will spend in Velddrif in our time-share place, Port Owen.We aimed to do a lot of catching up with our documentary work as well as this blog and to do some marketing of TheBushdrifters and their website, which fell way behind due to our actually being busy driving from place to place and not taking time to do these chores.Well, Velddrif and Port Owen actually offers some interesting places and people which we enjoyed very much.  We would like to go there again.The eateries in Velddrif normally offers traditional dishes like tripe, bobotie and others and it was one of the main attractions of Velddrif for us.

Saldanha Bay in the West Coast National Park

Bokkemlaan in Velddrift

One of the interesting little shops in Bokkemlaan

Pellicans and ducks in the river next to one of the eateries along bokkemlaan.

A shop along Bokkemlaan with a line of bokkems hanging in front of the shop.

A garden restaurant in Velddrif Town.

One of the eating places next to Bokkemlaan

Port Owen in Velddrif.  We enjoyed staying here.

Port Owen at night.

From Gansbaai to Ganzekraal Camp Sites.

From Gansbaai, we went to Milnerton, where we had a great meal at Maestro's on the Beach Restaurant.  We can recommend this restaurant for both the view on Table Mountain as well as their quisine.We then went north against the coast to Ganzekraal where we camped at one of their camping sites which was nicely tucked away from the wind, which was quite cold and unfriendly.  Luckily our tent is a real fortress against wind, cold and wet, so we crept into our beds after dinner and slept like babies.Ganzekraal has good ablution facilities, a very good atmosphere and great views of the ocean.  It must be a real gem during times when the weather is more friendly.

The view on Table Mountain from Maestro's on the Beach Restaurant

The view on the ocean from our camp site.

View on the camping sites and the ablution block.

Lion family feast on Giraffe and her unborn calf.

From de Oude Molen to Gansbaai Municipal Camping sites.

After de Oude Molen, we decided to go to the coast and stopped at Gansbaai to sleep over for a few nights.There are a number of restaurants there and we did not find any that was not sufficient for a quick meal, but the one we will recommend for a good dinner will be Thyme at Rosemary's next to the main road.  The serve a number of traditional dishes, like tripe, oxtail, lamb shank and a number of others.The municipal campsite is quite good and protected against the wind.  It offers a view on the ocean and a rock bank with lots of birds to watch.  Also to the left the fish canning factory is visible with its cloud of steam constantly visible.

A massive tree covers a campite at Gansbaai Municipal Camp.  Its a pity they have only one of these.:-)

View on the ocean and factory

View on the harbor.

A Grey Heron sitting on the rocks.

Campsites with the fish canning factory in the background.

The ablution block at Gansbaai Municipal Campsites