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Garden Route to Mossel Bay

5th-8th May 2012

The night of 5th May, full Moon, when the moon was at it’s nearest to the earth – photo received via Brian Avery, our friend’s Dad who sent it to us via email, the day after we witnessed it through the binoculars from Neil’s flat in Cape Town.

Cloud formations in early morning, swiftly gather around the headlands as we head East along the Garden Route South East of Cape Town

At Hermanus, we walk along the beach and wtiness the strength of the waves rolling in all the way from the Antarctic

The fishermen out in force on the beach at Hermanus, the fish is just about the best we have tasted anywhere in the Southern Hemisphere, so many varieties of white fish I’ve never been able to buy anywhere else, like Kingsklip, Hake,

The guest house we stayed at had a view right over the beach

And a fabulous wine cellar full of wonderfully well made wines from the area, which is the premiere wine growing area for Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc in South Africa, being cooler than the inland wine areas.

The view from the top of the hill behind Hemanus gave us a sweeping view over the bay, and at the same time wonderful wild proteas in the protected park we were in on the hills.

The hilly coastline behind Hermanus, where we’re getting the view from

The long white Sandy beach close to ‘Cave Beach’ at Hermanus, the winds picked up now, throwing the waves crashing on to the beach, and the sand is being whipped up

Thankfully the wind dispereses the blanket of fog awaiting our inland journey across the inland

Lowlands to reach Cape Hermanus

The colours are like a painting with the sun’s reflection in the fog this is the coastal wine growing area

Very flat and uninsteresting this southern most headland of Africa, but we have to visit it to say we have been to this continent’s Southern tip, even if not in our own boat!

David climbs up pthe rocks behind the spot marking the southern tip, we made it at last!

Like children everywhere, the small boy wants to chase off the kelp gulls on the pier!

Old Dutch Fishermen’s houses along the coast are a style being copied to build newer housing estates, very attractive!

Inland from Algulhas, a very pastoral area is dotted about by Oasis with a drinking hole

Another tapestry of colours, turned over for the new grass to be planted for the grazing cattle and sheep

Destination Mossell Bay, in the evening,is only just light enough to take the photo of the harbour at dusk, with fog quickly filling the area.  This is the view from the guest house we stayed at.

Inland next morning the fog disappears and we head towards the Robinson Pass North of Mossel Bay

Into the Karoo area, between two mountain ranges

First we have to go through the Robinson Pass, you can see plenty of forestry in this area

I cannot believe that the man on the left came out unscathed after climbing out of his car that rolled down this cliff on a bend, when his brakes failed!

It was just as we were climbing up the Robinson’s Pass across the first set of mountains on the way to the Karoo area, which is dry, the mountains acting as a barrier to any rain falling