Our next venture away from East London was a 4 hour journey along the wild coast to a place called Coffee Bay. The journey to Coffee Bay was an interesting one – the wild coast has its name for that very reason, the terrain is extremely mountainous and ‘wild’. The roads would wind around the steep mountain, with very little room for two way traffic, but somehow there are no accidents, which is extremely surprising considering the crazy South African driving!
The final part of the journey consisted of dodging large pot holes, sheep, goat and cows which roamed aimlessly every where without a care in the world! And not surprisingly we saw some road kill!! But the crazy journey made our first glimpse of Coffee Bay even more spectacular – it is a touch of paradise.
Coffee Bay is a small village set on a hill, which looks over the sea view. We were recommended a place to stay by a lady who does mosaics at Kim’s mum’s house and she put in a good word for us so we were given a beautiful place to stay, with a sea view! Life couldn’t get much better! Coffee Bay has two backpacker joints so it’s a popular place for young travellers to visit where people head to the beach and surf and play volley ball. Once again, in this very chilled out hippy place the local people come up to you, trying to chill you out even more by selling weed and magic mushrooms! The natural beauty gave us enough of a high.
Close by to Coffee Bay is a place called ‘hole in the wall’ which we visited. Erm how do I describe it – it really is a hole in a large rock/wall, but what makes it amazing is the stunning back drop and coastal walk to it. Although we wanted to make our own way there, two persistent young Xhorsa boys wanted to show us there (for a small fee), and we soon gave in. Along the journey we noticed a stray dog was coming with us, and 3 hours later the dog was still with us,
after walking to the top of a hill and on the rocks where waves crashed over and people were fishing. If we could have had our way we would have taken this very friendly dog with us, but our paths parted. The lady who we rented our room from, ran an orphanage and allowed us the visit the children. We were greeted with smiles and we were shown around the place, including the pre-school they run there and a vegetable garden where they grow all their food. Although the deprivation is far and wide in South Africa, it is great to see places like this that make a huge difference to children in need. The rest of time was spent hanging out with a group of South African guys we met at the backpackers bar and walking along with beach – and watching the most breathtaking sunrises. On the last day we got up early to catch the sun rise and were very lucky to see a school of dolphins. Our time in Coffee Bay was far too short – but we will definitely try and visit this place again.
On Saturday we went to a local Lion Park with Kim’s mum, Aunt and Uncle. It’s a lovely little reserve which allowed you to feed all the animals. Our favourite was Jenny the giraffe who would come up to you and stick out her long black tongue and grab the food, leaving a slim ball on our hand : ) The most pushy animal was the goat, which even stood on a large tortoise to reach for the food! Lots of rabbits jumped around the park, and all the animals mingled together. Well except for the Lions, cheetahs and wild dogs, w
ho chilled out happily in the sun.
Sunday was our last time helping out at the Sunday school and the children sang and danced for us, with far more rhythm than we’ll ever have! We blew bubbles around the room, much to their amusement and they each got a lolly pop, which inevitably made their tongue change colour – which got a lot of laughs.
Although our time here has been short it’s been very rewarding seeing the smiles light up on all the children’s faces when we sing songs and hand out food.
We have very little time left in East London, and we head off on Wednesday along the Garden route, where our next destination is Cape Town to see Kim’s dad and step-mum, Dave and Marlene.
The final part of the journey consisted of dodging large pot holes, sheep, goat and cows which roamed aimlessly every where without a care in the world! And not surprisingly we saw some road kill!! But the crazy journey made our first glimpse of Coffee Bay even more spectacular – it is a touch of paradise.Coffee Bay is a small village set on a hill, which looks over the sea view. We were recommended a place to stay by a lady who does mosaics at Kim’s mum’s house and she put in a good word for us so we were given a beautiful place to stay, with a sea view! Life couldn’t get much better! Coffee Bay has two backpacker joints so it’s a popular place for young travellers to visit where people head to the beach and surf and play volley ball. Once again, in this very chilled out hippy place the local people come up to you, trying to chill you out even more by selling weed and magic mushrooms! The natural beauty gave us enough of a high.
Close by to Coffee Bay is a place called ‘hole in the wall’ which we visited. Erm how do I describe it – it really is a hole in a large rock/wall, but what makes it amazing is the stunning back drop and coastal walk to it. Although we wanted to make our own way there, two persistent young Xhorsa boys wanted to show us there (for a small fee), and we soon gave in. Along the journey we noticed a stray dog was coming with us, and 3 hours later the dog was still with us,
after walking to the top of a hill and on the rocks where waves crashed over and people were fishing. If we could have had our way we would have taken this very friendly dog with us, but our paths parted. The lady who we rented our room from, ran an orphanage and allowed us the visit the children. We were greeted with smiles and we were shown around the place, including the pre-school they run there and a vegetable garden where they grow all their food. Although the deprivation is far and wide in South Africa, it is great to see places like this that make a huge difference to children in need. The rest of time was spent hanging out with a group of South African guys we met at the backpackers bar and walking along with beach – and watching the most breathtaking sunrises. On the last day we got up early to catch the sun rise and were very lucky to see a school of dolphins. Our time in Coffee Bay was far too short – but we will definitely try and visit this place again.On Saturday we went to a local Lion Park with Kim’s mum, Aunt and Uncle. It’s a lovely little reserve which allowed you to feed all the animals. Our favourite was Jenny the giraffe who would come up to you and stick out her long black tongue and grab the food, leaving a slim ball on our hand : ) The most pushy animal was the goat, which even stood on a large tortoise to reach for the food! Lots of rabbits jumped around the park, and all the animals mingled together. Well except for the Lions, cheetahs and wild dogs, w
ho chilled out happily in the sun.Sunday was our last time helping out at the Sunday school and the children sang and danced for us, with far more rhythm than we’ll ever have! We blew bubbles around the room, much to their amusement and they each got a lolly pop, which inevitably made their tongue change colour – which got a lot of laughs.
Although our time here has been short it’s been very rewarding seeing the smiles light up on all the children’s faces when we sing songs and hand out food.We have very little time left in East London, and we head off on Wednesday along the Garden route, where our next destination is Cape Town to see Kim’s dad and step-mum, Dave and Marlene.
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