Knysna Executive Summary

• The Reinertsens hit bizarro world landing in Port Elizabeth and driving to Knysna - a complete change of environment and pace from the previous 10 days

• Traffic calming speed humps hamper efforts, but otherwise I started to get this driving thing down

• The garden route...we're still trying to work out if we missed it

• Sailing through Knysna heads, a gorgeous way to spend an evening!

We flew from Durban to Port Elizabeth in the morning to pick up a hire car and drive the garden route to Cape Town over the next week. We were quite happy to get rid of the Audi at the airport because, after a week of driving that around, we had mastered turning it on but I'll be damned if I ever figured out how to turn that thing off and take the key out of the ignition.

So you can imagine our delight when the Avis counter at Port Elizabeth were delighted to inform us we had received a free upgrade to an Audi A4 and handed over the keyless ignition starter thingy.

Port Elizabeth was a lovely town - we didn't see much of it because, as is our practice after the Swaziland Experience, we just wanted to make sure we got to where we were going by sundown! But it was a complete change of environment from Jo'burg and Durban - there were no 10 foot walls and electric fences barricading the houses, whites and blacks were out and about doing their business, the roads were in better condition, hardly any hitch-hikers or pedestrians on the highways (and no cows either). It seemed as though we were in a different country.

The drive was relatively easy as a consequence, and I was an old pro at this South African crazy road rules thing by now. Not only was I passing with both ease and the death wish required to do so, but I had worked out that you're supposed to thank the person that pulled into the shoulder for you by flashing your hazards.

We had heard the Garden Route was something special to see, which is why we drove from Port Elizabeth to Knysna (...4...hours...of...driving...). I think it's safe to say that, after a few days in the Knysna area and driving to Stellenbosch from there, we must have missed it. There were glimpses of spectacular coastline but they were few and far between. So, at risk of sounding like an 'ugly American' I'm going to say the Garden Route is no Great Ocean Road - and not worth the 4 hours to drive it, unless maybe you're going to take a week and stop in at all the towns along the way.

Knysna itself was a lovely little town, based around tourism, oysters and yachts - it could have been somewhere in Cape Cod or south of Perth. We passed several beautiful golf courses on the way and had a great view of the ocean from our hotel room on the top of a cliff. The oysters, I will say, were among the best and sweetest I'd ever had (sorry, South Australia...). Desperate to get away from the confines of the hotel and the food that went with it, we drove into the centre of the city to walk around. All I could think was "well..we found where the white South Africans are". It was clearly a holiday town for the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces to escape the city, and is a stark contrast to the eastern half of the country in terms of wealth and race.

The next day we went for a hike and then on a sunset sail through the heads and into the Indian Ocean. The sailing was definitely a highlight, with perfect weather and a window of opportunity to get through the heads (apparently they are the most dangerous in the world and a half hour one way or the other and we wouldn't have risked it). I was a little unsure when, prior to our attempt to clear the heads, we were all instructed to put life vests on. Thinking this was a precaution for liability reasons when you take tourists out, I wasn't too worried...till the crew put them on too. Hrmmm.

All was fine of course and the view was well worth it!