Day 32

Up by 5am to wash, dust out, pack up, walk the dogs, fill the water bottles and hit the road, got to the gate and found it padlocked, clearly my 3 neigbours did not appreciate being attacked by the dogs last night, I had to take out my trusty hammer and hammer the lock off.

great scenery

stopped for a walk in the cold, beanie, gloves, jacket - the lot

I am frozen solid, beanie on, woolen socks and gloves, no fumes are coming into the car so I am able to drive with my window closed, another thing we managed to fix in Winkle, but I am still frozen. Stopped in Bizana for fuel and headed out again, lots of erosion in the hills, not too many cows any more but the damage has been done with centuries of over grazing, we stopped often for very short walks that took all feeling out of my nose, fingers and toes. Drove through Flagstaff, one road less than a km long and it was filled with potholes, dirt, smells, rubbish and cheap shops, the landscape improved measurably the closer we got to Port St John, I was really looking forward to my visit, read some great articles, was told I would get Pondo fever and want to stay, it sounds great, we climbed hills all day and I knew it would be a long freewheeling drive down to Port St Johns coming out of the heights down to sea level, the scenery did not disappoint, winding roads, clean country, a great road, the best so far, lots of affluence on show.

The approach to the town is pretty spectacular, the town is pretty squalid though, dirt everywhere, cheap shops, potholed streets, smell of sewage, sand tracks finally lead me to second beach, again unkempt and eroded, no easy access, lots of rubbish, broken glass and booze bottles everywhere, but a lovely beach, wild waters rushing over the rocks, steep cliffs awash with greenery. We spent a great day playing in the river and surf, long walks, took a hike up the hill and had breathtaking views, even Slicky made it up.

beautiful second beach in Port St John

the mountain we will climb later

taking the hike up

The best was a ‘no dogs’ sign in front of 20 bulls depositing their large cowpats on an empty beach, the wind made sure we got the full effects of the odor as well. I tried hard to equate the article I had read on Port St John with what I was experiencing, but it failed miserably, the shebeen on the beach did not help, the empty beach on a gorgeous Sunday, clear skies, gentle breeze running soft fingertips over my skin, great expanse of relatively white beach interspersed with oil, thundering surf, where are the locals???

no dogs but 20 bulls on the beach seems okay, Africa for you!

Lucky for me I ran into one such local, South African father and German mum, came over from Germany about 6 years ago and loves it here, but finds making a living hard, she directed me further down the road to the wood ‘n spoon restaurant and had me park my camper on a little plot in front overlooking the confluence of the river and the sea at the cliff face, beautiful little enclave, great spot to camp for the night.

Had a great lentil burger at the restaurant and met three guys up from Knysna staying at the local backpackers, all 50 plus and loving the experience, they came via Coffee Bay and said the place has a rundown feel, I was not planning on going to Coffee bay again, I prefer Morgan’s Bay but appreciated their input, we enjoyed a dinner chat.

The dogs were antsy tonight, Josie went back to the camper without me, I think I will forgo my nightly walk, I prefer to trust their intuition when they act strange, we’ll cuddle up and catch up on sleep we missed out on last night.

our campsite for the night

This is not my kind of town, bad vibes, nothing unique to separate it from hundred other African towns, they also need to clean up their act if they want to attract tourism to this pretty little place, especially the river which is a slime pit, it is the town’s main attraction and smells of industrial waste, what a letdown from my high expectations.

I left Gauteng, skirted North West, dashed through Limpopo, limped through Mpumalanga, crawled down KZN and sprinted into the Eastern Cape, from now on I slow down and enjoy the beauty and cleanliness of the fairest Cape, this is my Province.

Part of the reason for this trip was to try and find the beauty in the human race and reinvent the need to save them from self-destruction. So far I have had to deal with 2 people who converted my camper when neither knew what the hell they were doing and should never have taken on the job, leaving me to suffer the consequences, idiots at toll booths, paranoia over my dogs, angry and violent people, ugly places, brochures that lie, dirt and squalor, I am in search of the pretty places, the great views and awesome countryside, the love and compassion, the friendliness and caring the understanding and willingness to learn the positive attitudes and understanding that our earth needs help, so far my search has been in vain, pockets of creativity exist but in the main I am only reinforcing my belief that the sooner the human race self-destructs, the better off this universe will be, very few people have a zero carbon footprint and even fewer care……………………where to next I wonder……………………