Road Trip Day 47. Towards Storms River Mouth

We didn't get going as soon as we had planned this morning. One of the reasons was that, because of the wind, a seam had torn at the top of the gazebo and the central pole was sticking out. We had to take off the canvas and I sewed it by hand, doing two rows of back-stitch.

We made a tea stop at Jeffrey's Bay at a quiet beach. We were just discussing whether to make sandwiches and eat them in the cab or whether to find a suitable coffee shop nearby when we were approached by an elderly man with long curly grey hair under a floppy fisherman's hat. He seemed very interested in Cubby and started asking all kinds of questions about it. Then he started to tell us what seemed to  be his life story. He used to work for the SA Blood Services as a plumber and sheet metal worker, setting up all the installations for the labs and the complex. After about half an hour of polite listening without a chance to get a word in edge-ways, we finally managed to ask him if he knew of a coffee shop nearby. He offered to lead us to Nina's in his double cab. It turned out to be a cross between a coffee shop and a Portuguese restaurant with a pleasing mixture of Portuguese and Jeffrey's Bay decor.

Even the bathroom was in theme

Surfboards on either side of the TV screen with a strip of Portuguese repeating pattern below. The long strip contains a Bible verse 

After a delicious cappuccino and two slices of special banana loaf drizzled with honey and sprinkled with nuts and icing sugar (all for R20 per person), while watching some of the highlights of the 2nd cricket test, we made our way towards Plettenburg Bay but we realised that we weren't going to make it by 4pm so we decided to aim for Storms River Mouth instead. 

The scenery was amazing -  along the sides of the road we saw Proteas and other wild flowers.

At one stage we passed a wind farm. It reminded us of our trip to New Zealand, especially as we saw cattle from the other side window.

Wind turbines in the mist

By the time we got to Storms River bridge it was 5pm already.

By the time we got to the Nature Reserve at Storms River Mouth it was 6pm. We bought a wild card and paid for two nights and barely managed to set up before sun set. It was very windy and slightly drizzly so instead of a braai we had tuna rolls inside.

The camp site was busier than we expected 

Tomorrow we'll explore and set up properly with our chairs and tables outside and maybe our side walls although there is a weather warning for the Eastern Cape including hail, floods and strong winds......