Travelogue: The Garden Route & Jeffrey’s Bay

Jess writes:

Leaving Wine Country, we followed the N2 along the Southern Coast of South Africa – passing signs along the way for shark diving and whale watching in Hermanus, penguin beaches along the bays, and Cape Agulhas – the actual cape where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans merge in a swirling revelry of chaos. The morning drive was incredible, as we took in the most diverse and ever-changing string of scenery as we continued further – starting with the craggy mountains of the Wine Region, leading to long and low-lying plains reminiscent of the Midwest, to Scottish-style green hills rolling alongside rivers, to Southeast-Asian style mountain tops peeking out from mystic jungle vines, and then finally, as the N2 met up with the north-bending coastline, we began to feel the seaspray in the area.

Passing through Mossel Bay, we had officially entered the “Garden Route” – a stretch of road almost 300k long, ending around Tsitsikamma Nature Preserve, that is often described as a “Taste of Eden” , an incredible, unmissable, unbelievably breathtaking, must-do while visiting/living in South Africa. We were so well prepared: I had both photo and video camera in hand, the windows were propped open for clear views, and we sat ready and willing to breathe in all that the Garden Route had to offer…

And that’s when it started to rain. A thick ocean-drawn fog flooded across the road and just as we were passing the first official South African Travel Bureau sign for “The Garden Route”, the skies opened up and poured and we were forced to crawl along the N2 at a miserably slow pace since the driver couldn’t see more than two meters ahead of the vehicle. And as some bad form of misplaced, previous, travel karma would have it, the clouds only parted as we drove through the toll gates at Tsitsikamma… the end of the Garden Route. Awesome.

Nevertheless, we did get to enjoy the last stretch of road from the nature preserve to Jeffrey’s Bay in reasonably good weather, which at least allowed for us to take in the incredible bridge passes over gaping, limestone gorges and the sight of the last remnants of fog as they sat on the tops of the forests of skinny evergreens.

We arrived in J-Bay in late afternoon and checked into the conveniently located Jeffrey’s Bay Backpackers. Lonely Planet and Coast-to-Coast had both described this place first and foremost as “colorful”. And oh my, this was not a joke. The entire backpacker was decked out in the craziest pairings of neon, pastel, and dark matte colors – bright blue on one wall, a neutral pink on another, blinding yellow on the door, and psychedelic drawings, equally colorful, or flowers, trees, landscapes, and animals throughout the entire place. The dorm was adjoined to an outside bar – how capitalistic! – and was a similarly out of control hodge-podge of wooden tables, street signs, fabric curtains, Christmas lights, and walls that had been graffitied and marked across every possible inch!

Fearing an overstimulation of some sort, we dropped our stuff and headed straight to the only Mexican restaurant listed in the whole town, named originally, “The Mexican”. And, must to our surprise, it was some of the best Mexican food we had chowed down to date in South Africa! Yum! And since the rain storm we had managed to get ahead of on the N2 was now barreling down on the coastal town, we opted to finish off the day with a western-style evening up at Fountain’s Mall to see the newly-released Harry Potter 7.1!! I was soooo excited and it was soooo worth it!! (Lots of ‘o’s for dramatic effect!)

We spent the following days lazily meandering around downtown J-Bay and walking along the beaches. The town itself – aside from being the surf capital of South Africa – does not have much to offer as a tourist attraction. Thus, it was the perfect layover along the N2 to lounge away a couple days with absolutely no plans at all. We strolled the streets and marveled at the unbelievable number of surf-related gear and parafanalia shops – Quicksilver, Ripcurl, Billabong, and a whole slew of others – as well as a great little selection of tasty eats for breakfast at Sunflower Café and more than one stop at The Greek for dinners of chicken and lamb souvlaki wraps and the most amazing baklava and ice cream for dessert! We spent the evenings at the backpacker bar, meeting all sorts of people – equally colorful to match the whole backpacker vibe – and chatted with SA-ers and foreigners about everything from local languages, sky-diving, surfing (of course) and perhaps the most entertaining of all, a full dissertation on the “basics” (yeah, right) of the oh-so-curious-and-confusing game of cricket!

On our last day in J-Bay, we made our way back down to “Supertubes” – the famed surfer spot that hosts the Billabong Pro Championship each July. In the offseason of December, the waves are far more tame and it’s a great place to walk barefoot in the sand, look for shells, and stand a while in the shallowest parts of the surf to feel your feet sink. Pepper Street, the primary gateway to Supertubes is home to row after row of dingy-looking surfer hostels and a handful of quirky surf shops – one in particular, a surf-themed photography and art store, captured our attention for over an hour while we perused the merchandise depicting 1960’s VW vans stacked ten boards high and the books on the history of the South African surf industry. Before trekking back to our dorm for a final night’s stay, we indulged – no, let me take that back, overindulged – in a massive platter of the freshest of fresh fish n’chips at Die Vismandjie on De Gama Street. The fish was perfectly crisp, the fries were perfectly un-slopped, and best of all, an enormous container of real (yes, real!) malt vinegar sat at the center of each table! Now that is how you serve a basket of fried goodness!

Okay, so let’s review: Surf stores – check. Mexican & Greek food – check. Cool little surf-inspired art shop – check. Battered seafood – check. Sand between our toes – check.

Alrighty then, on we go…