Our first free weekend. What to do? Time for a girl’s weekend/excursion adventure. While the boys were off hiking in Hogsback and the flat upstairs drove to Coffee Bay, we headed west along the southern coastline to Tsitsikamma (pronounced Teet-see-comma) National Park and Plettenberg Bay.
My flat and three of the girls next door rented two cars and left around 9 a.m. Friday morning. Steph and Britney drove, which I’m grateful for, because driving on the left side of the road would be very difficult for me. The one map we did have was not very detailed and we ending up getting all turned around just in Port Elizabeth. It took us about an hour to finally get on N2, which was the main road all the way to Cape Town.
Our first stop was Tsitsikamma Falls Adventures. There we suited up and went zip-lining over trees, waterfalls and beautiful rock formations. There were 8 zip-lining tracks total. Each one got faster and faster. It was one of the most daring things I have ever done and was a good preparation for the bungee jumping if I decide to go.
Along the way to Plettenberg there were a few more touristy stops. Next was the Storms River Bridge. As you can see in the picture of our feet, we were extremely high up. The rocks, rivers and nature scenes along our drive were absolutely breathtaking. The mountains go on forever and are covered by green bushes and trees. There was a bit of mist that covered some of them which looked really neat as well. I have never seen anything like it before. At the bridge we ran into a tour group from the US. One of the women had a cabin on Leech Lake, Minnesota. It’s crazy what connections you can find half way around the world!
Then we stopped at Tsitsikamma National Park. It was by far the most vast and amazing park I had ever been to. We drove through a winding road under trees and came upon the Indian Ocean. The whole coastline was unique and had huge rock formations. I have never seen waves so big in my entire life. They splashed up to at least 40 feet high. Then we went on a hike to a suspension bridge that overlooked the mouth of the Storms River. On one side we saw a cave that I would have loved to kayak into. The combination of the vegetation, beach and mountains all together in one scene was indescribable. It is something you have to see in order to grasp the real beauty.
The rest of the girls wanted to continue hiking to the top of the mountain, but I had a slight headache and decided to go back down by myself. I was quite alright with that though, because I laid on a rock and fell asleep to the sound of the relaxing waves and distant seagulls. We ate dinner on the deck with a view of the ocean. I had hake, the popular fish down here, and a side salad.
We hopped in our cars and finished our drive over to Plettenberg Bay, which is just a couple hours away from Port Elizabeth. Just passed Main Street, we arrived to our hostel, called Amakaya Backpackers. Except for one person, it had all been our first time in a hostel. The worker who checked us in was a middle aged woman named Mary who wore a mini skirt and cursed in every other sentence. She was absolutely hilarious. We met people from England and New Zealand that night while huddling around the bonfire Mary made us. I absolutely loved my first time in a hostel. In my opinion, hostels are much cooler than hotels because of their uniqueness and the homey feeling you get.
On Saturday morning, we woke up and got ready for the beach. Our first stop of the day was a cute little French café/bakery on Main Street. I had French toast with yogurt and apples and a mocha. We even got to eat outside under an umbrella. The shops were much too intriguing to pass by, so we took a few hours to go shopping. I purchased an elephant necklace and my new favorite accessory, a boat hat, which is a style I have been seeing frequently in South Africa.
The Plettenberg Bay beach was unbelievable. Bri and I walked up and down the coastline and encountered about 15 different jellyfish on the beach. The biggest ones were up to 1 ½ feet in diameter. At the end of the beach we climbed some rocks and had a photo shoot. That was really fun. We had a very early dinner (around 3 p.m.). I had a chicken salad at The Lookout, which was a restaurant overlooking the bay. Then we treated ourselves to some gelato at Ice Palazzo, a small little ice cream shop on Main Street. I had a peanut butter and banana ice cream cone. It was a great way to end our amazing weekend.
The drive home went fast, making some nice conversation and stopping for gas. We came home to a potluck dinner and braai, made by Bruce and Norma and some of the girls that had stayed back. They had extra food and we were hungry so it was perfect. I’m looking forward to the excursions coming up. Next weekend is Frontiers and after that, Grahamstown. It should be a really fun time. Hope you enjoyed and thanks for reading!
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