After Alysson left from Capetown, I headed to another hostel for one night, where I pretty much rested all day and had a very early night. Two weeks of wine tasting takes its toll!
I had an open ended Baz Bus ticket to Port Elizabeth and about 10 days to kill before my overland tour through Namibia and Botswana left on September 1 from Cape Town. I was going to have to do a bit of backtracking, but didn’t mind. The Baz Bus is a hop on hop off van that takes tourists from place to place, directly to hostels, making it more convenient than regular buses, stops at more places, and leaves at better times.
Being low season, when I was picked up from my hostel at 8am, I was the only one on the bus, all the way to Mossel Bay, 5 hours later! So much for being a social experience! I checked myself into a hostel in Mossel Bay and found myself alone in the dorm room. Turns out there were about 3 others that night. I checked out the beautiful beach with a girl who was just starting to work there and had another early night.
The next day, despite still recovering from the Table Mountain hike, I decided to hike the St Blaze Trail about 18 km along the coast of Mossel Bay, watching humpback whales jump along the coast. It was magical.
The next morning I took the Baz Bus to Plettenburg Bay, an upmarket beach town also on the Garden Route, where I once again found myself alone in the dorm. But I was really there to hike the Robburg Peninsula, which was absolutely gorgeous. By now, I was in pretty good shape, after lazy weeks in Sri Lanka and driving in South Africa.
After Plettenburg, I was dropped off at Wild Spirit Backpackers Lodge, which I had been recommended by Rita. Being low season, the hippy-ness was not in full swing, but still the bongo drums and ponchos made an appearance at the fire that night. I tried to be social, but after the British guy on my Baz Bus snuck off to bed after the conspiracy talk started, I retreated as well for an early and rather cold night.
The next morning I went on a beautiful hike with another guy from the hostel, through yellow wood forests, lagoons and coastal beach. The only hiccup was forgetting to check if it was high tide (it definitely was) and my hiking boots took two days to dry out. Pro tip: stuff them with newspaper and dry them by the fire.
Finally, I went hiking in Tsitikamma national park with others from another hostel along the Garden Route, doing part of the Otter trail and some more forest. I spent one last day in Jeffrey’s Bay, a rapidly growing surf town, before grabbing a very flash Greyhound overnight bus back to Cape Town once again.