We are packed and ready to hit the road.  Can’t wait to see what happens.  Let’s hope there are no major epics in this trip. 

Today’s plan is to get to Leisure view beach Caravan Park for the night before we head to Mbashee.  This is going to be exciting.

I decided to try to re-discover the Red desert that simply eluded us in the very first trip.  This time I read up on it and searched on Google maps and shockingly it does exist.  The problem in trip 1 I was on the wrong side of the road.  Let’s hope we find it this time.

9:15 and we are on the road.  Time for the adventure to begin

We headed down the N3 onto the M7 down to Port Edward.

Turned on the Google maps on the phone to get to the Red Desert.  And wow!!.  Believe it or not it does exist.  On trip one I mentioned that this place was figments of someone’s warped imagination about a red desert which happens to be the smallest desert the world.  This place is amazing.

The redness of the sand, the eroded sections, the stones, …..  Simply breathe taking.  Something that everyone needs to go and see.  Last time we were so far from this spot, no wonder we could not find it.  

We checked in the Leisure View Caravan Park.  Kathy and George we happy to see us again.  Realised that I had forgotten to bring the kettle.  Not impressed with this as we now had to go a buy a kettle or else we were going to have to boil water on the gas stove.  We will buy one on our way out of Port Edward.

While we were cooking dinner, we saw some lightening and by the time we had finished dinner it was raining.  This was not a good way to start the trip.  We packed up the gazebo and we crawled into bed around 8:30.  It rained for most of the night.  Lets hope tomorrow the weather improves.

So the next phase starts.  I spent the day sorting out equipment and packing.  This trip I decided that we were not going to set up tents because of my hand and the lack of strength in it.  I decided that dad and I will build a type of bunk bed in the back of van so that mom and I can sleep in the van.  We will put of the gazebo over the van and then that will cover the van and we can have a decent night.

All we have to do is to set up the gas stove and we are set for a night.

I have planned to photograph at least 11 light houses with an extra 3 if time allows. Our first lighthouse will be Mbashee, then Morgans Bay, East London, Port Alfred, Port Elizabeth and then a few others.  The last three will include Cape Agulhas.  These last 3 will be a mega bonus but not expected to happen.

Van is now packed, just to load suit cases, fridge and a few other things in the morning and then we will hit the road. Let Trip number 6 start and the adventure begin……

Hole in Wall

48km

We woke up this morning wondering where to go ….  Hole in the Wall or Lighthouse.  Spoke to a few guys and they did not seem to know much.  We decided to head for Mbashee lighthouse.  While we were still on the concrete road, we decided to change our plans.  We chatted about this and decided to turn around and go to the Hole in the wall.

With regards to the light house, we have decided to leave this mosquito infested abode where the showers and toilets are far from rustic, and head for a new camp site.  Although this campsite is beautiful, we both feel that we can do better.  Tomorrow we will head for Dwesa campsite and hopefully we wont be carried away by these blood sucking buzzing horrific insects, that have no right to our blood.  I would hate to be here is the heat of summer time.  I think these bugs will be deadly.  But anyhow, we had an amazing day.

We turned around and headed for the Hole in the wall.  What is 9km of dirt road, took us over 1.5 hours of driving.  This road can be done in a normal car, but in the wet season, forget it.  I was grateful that my bakkie was able to do this.  We arrived at the stop point and then walked for about 2 km to the hole.  What a sight.  We spent quite a while just looking at the space wondering how it has happened.  The whole mountain is split in half.  The hole is on the right and a hill on the left.  The mind boggles at the strength of nature and what it can do.

We watched some crazy guys jumping off the edge under the arch into the sea.  Really ….  Are you mad … Why do this… But anyhow….  They enjoy the thrill.  We headed back to the car only to be met but the “car Guards”  He told me my jammy was fine.  I said thank you and what will this cost me for your 2 hours of guarding.  He told me R70.  I said thank you so much I cant pay you that.  I don’t have that amount of money.  I will give you R10 and R10 for the old man.  He said ok R30.  I told him R20…  take it or leave it.  He took it and mumbled away.

We then headed back to the campsite.  I saw an incredible photo opportunity.  We stopped only to be harassed by 4 little girls.  They were quite aggressive towards us when we tried to leave.  The oldest one accused of us of running away and asking why we left and if we were scared of a lion.  This for me was horrible as I am a tourist in my own country and this would really leave a bad taste for anyone who was visiting here.  But anyhow, this is what has happened and I cant change it.

We arrived back at the camp, had a shower, chilled in the shade, had some supper and crashed.  What a day….  Nice, slow and relaxed.  Crawled into bed with the sounds of crickets, bugs and the waves on the rocky shore.  Tomorrow is a new day and a new adventure.

Port St Johns – Coffee Bay

Coffee Bay Campsite

203 km

Weather still amazing.

We woke up to a very wet and misty morning.  We decided to take it slow as we needed to have the tent dryer than what it currently was.

Mom made an awesome breakfast of fried eggs and tomatoes with fried potatoes. .Yummy.  A good breakfast to start the day where we have some serious driving to do.

We headed for the lighthouse and landed up walking up a hill for about 2.5 km.  Again very pretty scenery and a very rugged coast line.  Being a ship traveller in these waters must have been quite nerve wrecking.  Landing up on these rocks with such high cliffs, must have been terrifying.  Thank goodness to these light houses.

This light house for me is one of the prettiest ones around.  The write up about this lighthouse is really cute…. “Even lighthouses have a dream of having their own sea-side patch of grass on the perfect hillside bordered by a little wooden picket fence.”  This says it all.

Mom and me strolled down this hill and left Port St Johns feeling energised and fit enough to take on the next adventure.  We had a quick snack and a cold drink and hit the road.

This was quite an uneventful drive, but it did take most of the day.  Driving through lots of little villages and people selling goods on the side of the road.

We arrived in Coffee Bay and headed for the Camp site.  A good friend of mine suggested that we don’t go to Coffee Bay as it is a questionable place, but Im glad I did come here.  The camp site is rather rustic but situated in a forest it is very pretty,  the bird life is amazing…  This includes the mosquitoes.  They are quite happy to feast on you and even when you have killed about 20, they still keep arriving.

The beach on the other side of the fence is a beach =like I have never seen.  The sand has been replaced by rock and pebbles.  No sand visible.  Very interesting.  Will come tomorrow in explore a bit further.  Time to hit the duvet as I am exhausted.  The night sounds are deafening.  I suppose the forest is alive.  Sleep tight.

Mkhambathi to Port Saint Johns

Weather is amazing

Cremorne Caravan Park

162 km

Mom dragged me out of our luxurious accommodation to go and take some sunrise photographs.  The moisture in the morning air was nothing like what we had arrived with.  The scenery here is mind blowing.  I cant express it any more than this … you have to visit this place to experience this place.  It is absolutely awesome.  This particulate accommodation is right on the sea and wave edge.  The waves are breaking over the rocks right in front of the door.  You can feel the spray coming off the waves.

After packing up our very expensive accommodation…. Tent pitched in run down rondaval…. No windows, no hot water, no electricity, we left for Port St Johns.  I was very sad to leave here as I would love to have had some time to explore the area.

It was at this point that I realised that I had taken the wrong road to reach the light house.  I should have gone to Mzikhaba, but this was the best that I could do under these circumstances.  I will return to grab this image of this lighthouse at a later stage.

Here I have waded through calf muscle deep water to see if my bakkie will make it, waded through calf muscle deep water to photograph water lilies in a nature reserve.  This is a first.  I had no idea that they grew out in the wild.  Time to head for Port St Johns.

There was not much to write home about with this leg of the drive.  Pretty landscape scenery with little thatch huts dotted all around.  What a serene landscapes.  I would be happy to live here.

We headed for Port St Johns.  Came across a n interesting  sign advertising a Spar shop ….  “Only 133 bends to go”.  At the half way point we came across another sign saying “You are half way there ….  Only 68 bends to go”  We counted the bends and believe it or not, these people can count.

Arrived at the main bridge and turned left to Port St Johns.  We went through to find the Tourist information center where we found an amazing Caravan Resort …  Cremorne Caravan and resort.  I highly recommend this place. I managed to organise a camping space for 2 pensioners as I have a fair amount of grey hair and they agreed that I could be a pensioner for the day.

We went looking for the Port St Johns lighthouse, but gave up due to evening lights descending  on us.  Went and pitched tent and enjoyed the sunset at the park.