Well that was quite a heavy night in Mossel Bay. The wine had finally conquered me. We didn't get up until gone 10! Check-out was at 11. It was quite a rush and to be honest I was feeling quite fragile! We missed breakfast and I was starving, so before the drive I grabbed myself a whimpey burger! It was pretty gross, it tasted like rubber but it did the job.

The drive to Knysna was only an hour and a half away so not a long drive. The drive was beautiful along the coast, the sun was out and it was finally shorts weather!

There were no animals on this journey, we were hoping to see some springbok, no luck as of yet. I'm sure we'll see one before going home. Fingers crossed.

We drove around this huge lagoon before arriving at our hotel! We parked up and checked in. We asked at the desk if there were any activities she'd recommend to do for the afternoon. She said Whale Watching, as we didn't go out to sea in Hermanus we thought it'd be pretty incredible to see them close up.

She rang up to book us on but there was only 1 space left. We tried negotiating seats. Liz said can they just chuck one of the other people off, it's only one seat! She then said she'd even sit in with the captain. The woman behind the desk just started laughing and said down the phone to the booking office 'she will even sit on the captains lap' haha. While we were waiting for a call back she said 'don't worry girls If there's no room I have someone else we can blackmail.' Unfortunately they were full but we booked on for an early morning trip.

As our afternoon was free we took a walk around Knysna harbour. Such a pretty little place, lots of cute little shops again and many restaurants to choose from to have our evening meal.

As the sun was shining we decided to go and chill by the pool for a little while. Our bikinis did come in handy after all. We got our tan on for an hour or so, (for me that just means burning) before getting ready to go to dinner.

We went to a lovely restaurant overlooking the harbour at sunset. It was beautiful. Liz ordered a steak with mushroom sauce and a different creamy sauce... She turned to the waiter and said 'I do love a bit of cream!' The waiter who was just the cutest, blushed slightly.

The more and more he came over he recommended different things and had quite a bit of banter! We loved him, we even ordered dessert to talk to him more haha. The only problem was he was 17 and still in school. Is it wrong of us to fancy someone almost 10 years younger?

After dinner it was back to the hotel to watch Australia vs England. What an incredible game of rugby, a shame that the hosts were knocked out but great news for Wales! Quarter finals here we come!

Another early morning for us, it was time to get up close and personal with the whales this time. We checked out of the hotel and walked over to the island where the boats departed for whale watching. I thought the boats would be big ferry like boats but they definitely weren't. They were small speed boats. We knew then we were in for a bumpy ride on the sea.

As we we were driving through the lagoon heading out to sea, John (the driver) told us that Knysna heads (the area to leave the lagoon and go out to sea) was one of the most dangerous in SA maybe even the world. That filled us with confidence as we were heading towards it. The waves can get so high and there a rocks everywhere so I can see why it's so dangerous.

As soon as we were out to sea it was a very bumpy ride, the waves were getting bigger the further out we went. It was quite scary to be honest until our first whale sighting, a mother and her calf, humpback whales. We were so close to them it was unreal! It was amazing to see. We watched them for a while just swimming around and chilling, before the mother flipped her tail in the air and went diving. They say that as soon as the whales do that its them giving the signal that they're going and it's their way of saying bye bye.

We also saw some seals out at sea they were all sleeping. Have you ever seen a seal sleep? It's the funniest thing the sleep under water holding their find out if the water. Apparently they do this because the fins act as a radiator. The sun heats the fins up so they keep warm under water.

On the way back to shore we also got to see a huge right back Whale. He was so close to us just casually swimming by. I'm so glad we got to see them, even closer than the ones we saw in Hermanus. A great experience that we'll never forget.

After a lovely morning it was time to leave Knysna. It's definitely been our favourite place so far. We packed up the car and were on our way.

We were only 40 minutes away so a nice easy drive. Everytime we drive we end up passing warning signs with people running on them! We are still trying to figure out what they mean...I'm thinking its a warning sign for hitchhikers. If it's not, it's definitely something they should invest in. I still can't believe how many people we pass on a journey.

Another thing we've noticed is a strong weed smell in certain places, mostly countryside. Is there a plant other than cannabis that smells like weed? Imagine it was weed, the smell is so strong all drivers would constantly be high on their drives.

We had made it to Plettenberg Bay and arrived at our hotel in the hills, the walk up to Reception was a killer! When we checked in we asked the lady at the desk what was best to do in the area. She was quite shocked at the question and just said, 'what? Other than the beach?' There were definitely more activities to do in the area but she didn't seem to want to let us know what would be best.

We thought we'd explore the area ourselves so jumped back in the car and headed down to the seafront for some lunch. It wasn't very big to be honest. It was a bit like the Barry Island of Western Cape, but slightly classier and definitely warmer. It was very busy there. Sunday must be a beach day for locals.

After lunch we walked across the beach to realise after about 10 minutes we'd seen most of the sea front, so we got back in the car and went exploring. We drove through the high street, which was dead quiet. Things are obviously closed here on a Sunday.

We took a drive over to The Keyrbooms nature reserve, where two rivers meet. At this point it was 3 o'clock so things were winding down. On the drive we had to stop on the road as a huge pig and 3 piglets casually strolled across. It was weird, there had been no animals in sight but then 4 pigs just cross the main road. How bizarre!

At the nature reserve, we were given a 15 minute free pass to drive around, and if we wanted more time we had to pay. As we drove round we realised there wasn't actually much to do there. The views down and up the river were beautiful, the place was so tranquil but after some snaps we headed back to the hotel to chill by the pool.

There was an old couple sunbathing there, who were definitely Welsh. The accent was very strong. They were so comical moaning about how nothing was prepared for them when they arrived, the man just sitting there agreeing as the wife tells him the things that are wrong. Just an old comical people. They should definitely have a slot on goggle box.

The same couple were at the restaurant in the evening. With 4 other people. They were all on some sort of tour as they were shocked to see us in there, we were the newbies. The lady, think her name was Pat, definitely spoke with a posher accent to her friends. It was hard to tell she was Welsh, but she definitely was, we heard it earlier. Dennis (the husband) didn't care though, his accent was as strong as ever.

We were given the table right inbetween two groups on the same tour, and we got the impression they didn't like each other because Pat and Dennis's table were making comments and being quite mean about the ladies on the other table. It was like that table was the 'popular' table and the other was the 'geeks'. I didn't think they knew how loud they were actually talking. I think the hearing aid needed to be turned up a tad.

This was mine and Liz's entertainment for the night, we didn't even need to talk to each other. We just listened to both tables conversations. It was priceless. We definitely weren't in a 18-30's hotel that's for sure.

The popular table had free bread to start their meal. When Liz asked the waiter (who by the way was the creepiest man ever with beads in his hair, that Liz mistook for maggots!) to bring us some bread, he brought us half a slice each. Now there's stingy and just damn right ridiculous. The popular table had loads left over and he couldn't even give us one slice each?

The waitress took some Balsamic vinegar and olive oil over to the 'popular' table. One of the women on there said 'that's definitely not oil or balsamic vinegar.' Wasn't it? I'm pretty certain it was. About 5 minutes later she tried some and said, ' hmmm I think that's olive oil, and I'm pretty certain that is balsamic vinegar...' You think love?

That woman was irritating as hell. She kept name dropping every place she'd been in the world. There was Chile, NZ, Antarctica, Germany, the list goes on. Liz and I started a game to see how many names of places she would say so we could tick it off the map.

Dennis kept coming out with one liners and taking the mick out of the travelling woman. Then kept shouting 'jokes!' He was just in a complete world of his own.

They also kept complaining about the waiting time of their food. They had honestly been waiting about 10 minutes for it before moaning. I felt like we were being punked on 'off your rockers again' it was that funny but also surreal.

The restaurant must have been the quietest restaurant I've ever been to there was no background music, only three tables were taken up, the staff weren't very chatty, it was just weird. It was fine when the tables were talking, especially because it was so entertaining. But when the food came and everyone was eating together, the awkward silences happened. I can honestly say that I've had less awkward silences on a bad first date with someone!

As much as the evening was entertaining us we had to pack an get ready for an early start.

It's time for us to now leave Plettenberg Bay and drop off the car. We are going on safari! It's time to go sing some lion kind songs and spot some lions, cheetahs, rhinos and elephants. Let's hope we see the big 5. Kuzuko Lodge, here we come.

Ah wimoweh ah wimoweh...

Laters

JL
Xoxo