My South Africa adventures continued with a 2 night stop in Knysna, which is a harbour town on the Garden Route. Our accommodation continued the ongoing theme of being totally different to any of the other placed we’d stayed during the trip so far, and we checked into the Knysna Lakeside Guest House, and our apartment – known as “The Guinea Fowl Room.” Guinea Fowl was a quaint wooden apartment on stilts, that consisted of two bedrooms, a bathroom and a mini kitchenette area. The owner, a batty but brilliant lady called Lynette, couldn’t do enough to help us settle in and we were soon feeling at home in Guinea Fowl, and doing the typical English thing of brewing up a nice cup of tea in the kitchenette!
While Nichola and Hannah slept off the excesses of the day’s bungee based excitement, Honor, Jenny and I decided to explore a little, and headed off to check out the Waterfront area. Knysna Quays is a lively place with plenty of boutique shops and restaurants looking out to the busy harbour. There’s a statue dedicated to Bondi – a bulldog belonging to a British naval ship, who got off his ship while docked in Knysna and promptly died of heatstroke! I love a random story like this, and was happy to donate a few rand to the collection box beneath Bondi’s statue, which raises funds for animal welfare charities. After a lunch of delicious sushi and a glass of beer on the waterfront, we headed back to Guinea Fowl to get ready for the evening. A friend of Hannah’s had lived in Knysna and we’d heard good things about the nightlife...
Bondi. Obviously a dude.
All dressed up with somewhere to go, we headed back to the Waterfront, and treated ourselves to a lovely dinner at the Drydock restaurant I tried springbok, and enjoyed eating it almost as much as I’d enjoyed watching them leap around in the Kwantu reserve a few days previously. One word: yum.
After our feast we stopped off at a bar for a new flavour Brutal Fruits (the hunt was on to try all flavours of the new-found alcopop before we left SA!) and then to a “club” recommended by the waiter at Drydock – a place called The Lounge, which I can only describe as a... unique experience. I never thought I’d be able to say I danced to trance mixes of Adele and Goyte songs while my friends got increasingly hyper due to the large amounts of luminous green drinks they’d consumed, but I can now – thank you, The Lounge.
The next morning - on a come down from the Brutals and the green beverages, and treated to our first proper day of sunshine since we’d arrived in South Africa - we decided to hit the beach. Nearby Brenton-on-Sea came recommended by Honor’s guidebook, so we piled into the car and headed off. It was a winding route along cliff paths and we couldn’t resist stopping off en route to admire the amazing views and pose for some fantastically cheesy jumping photos (the best kind of photo IMHO).
Brenton-on-Sea was a lovely beach – very pretty and clean, and not at all busy despite the beautifully warm weather which we’d expected to draw in the crowds. We settled down in the ideal spot for our group – close enough to some rocks that Honor and I (the pale faced, factor 50 lovers) could hide in the shade, but with perfect ray catching opportunities for sun loving Jenny, Nichola and Hannah (who was “going for the burn” despite our pale faced offers of factor 50 and warnings of skin cancer, sun burn and the like...) – and enjoyed a relaxing afternoon of paddling, ice-cream eating and general relaxing. Lovely.
That evening Honor, Jenny and I had booked tickets for a sunset boat cruise to the Knysna Heads – sandstone rocks protruding into the sea protecting the lagoon that makes up Knysna Waterfront. It was a lovely, relaxing way to spend the early evening and we really enjoyed watching a beautiful sunset with a glass of champagne. Personally, I regretted ordering the oysters we’d decided to try – local Knysna speciality they may be, but if you ask me, they’re disgusting. Oysters – tick. Never again though...
Me at The Heads. I'm smiling because I haven't tried the oysters yet..
Back ashore, we met up with the landlubbers for another lovely meal on The Waterfront before settling down for our last night in Guinea Fowl. It was an early start the next day, and onwards to Oudtshoorn...
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