Exploring Swellendam and Around

After quadbiking at Hermanus, we refueled and set off for the next destination: Swellendam.
This journey was the most nerve-wrecking and most challenging for both of us.
Fortunately, we purchased maps from a local bookstore at Hermanus(just in case anything happened!)

towards swellendam

Curious 

Lining up!

Indeed, incidents of such do happen! So we strongly advise people to print out maps(well..even Google maps are not really accurate at times)..better is to buy maps from bookstores there..

The initial intention was to take Route 60 towards Swellendam. With our GPS, we also saw R60 is the only way out. However, after on the road for 1.5hour, we came to the entry of R60 and it was blocked. There were no alternatives given on the signboard. We clicked the detour function of the GPS. It suggested us another route. So we took that..after 1.5 hour of travelling on gravel road..(we were really praying tyres are not punctured..none of us know how to change tyre except for brief intro by the people at Avis)..we came to a point where it said "Only private entry. All intruders will be prosecuted."..At that moment, both of us were lethargic and stressed up. The GPS provides no other detour routes..

So..we turned to our purchased maps.. turned calm..and worked our way around those highways..finally..after 1.5h..we reached Swellendam! Cannot emphasize how relieved we were when we were at Swellendam and thank goodness our car is still in good condition except being dirtied by those gravel roads.. Not all routes are tar road..many are gravel roads..especially mountain passes..so be careful..

Old thatch Lodge

toilet

Cuddle Dog

We checked in at Old Thatch Lodge, located at Moolman street. Swellendam is a really small place and they dont have many attractions interesting to us unfortunately. At the period when we were at Swellendam, temperatures soared to 40C to our dismay. And, our accomodation has no airconditioning..if the temperature is at about 20C, we may still take it..but at that situation, we were very unhappy there was no airconditioning and would rather stay in the car than to be in the room as it was quite stuffy. But, this lodge has its plus points..Karin the owner, is extremely friendly and gave us many tips on travelling around Swellendam..she's the one who suggested us to go De Hoop Nature Reserve and I'm really glad we did as we saw far more wildlife at De Hoop, than at Bontebok National Park or Marloth Nature Reserve, though is much further away from Swellendam. Karin also has 5 dogs..and we took particular interest in Cuddle..the small and cute dog, which always come by my side in the morning, hoping I will give her some bacon. The other dogs are too huge to my liking, in fact, scary at times when they tried to lick me!

Attractions at and around Swellendam
1)  Powell House
This is not really an attraction but it is a very worth to mention restaurant, having at the moment, I think..the best customer service, as compared to other restaurants we were in..Dear has a Cape Malay bobotie dish..while I have tiger prawns and avocado salad..followed by a super yummy choc dessert..The serving for all dishes was huge and we had a very happy meal that day.

Yummy Prawn avocado salad

Brownie with vanilla icecream

Langeburg Mountain

2) De Hoop Nature Reserve
This is the reserve, that wins hands down for its beauty, its beach, the scenery, the flora and fauna,and the wildlife spotted. We managed to spot snake, tortoise, bonteboks, various type of antelopes, while driving around the reserve. The beach over at De Hoop and the sea was amazingly clean, as depicted in the photos.. THey also have huge areas of white sand dunes that is extremely fine to walk on.It can easily take you a day including travelling time of course.

De Hoop Beauty

Watch out for snakes

Antelopes spotted at De Hoop

3) Bontebok National Park
It wasnt a fruitful journey to Bontebok as we only caught sight of interesting birds, and one antelope..the bushes were too high to spot anything..As it is in summer season, when the amount of vegetation is the greatest, animal spotting becomes tough. But surprisingly, this is still manageable at De Hoop, but not at Bontebok. So our trip to Bontebok wasnt very interesting :( Maybe it will be better in some other seasons like the winter season when the vegetation is sparse.

Bird Portrait

Snake!

4)Bonnievale
A small town that is famous for wine, for Parmalat cheese..We reached Bonnievale along the way en route to Swellendam.. There are many areas in Bonnievale that boost beautiful views of the wineries and the mountains. The soil must be very fertile and ideal for these wineries.If you are a wine lover, Bonnievale is a must to go..for us, we are just average drinkers and not really into wine..so we didnt stay long there.

5) Mattsen Restaurant
We had some really good steaks and grilled chicken at Mattsen. This place was recommended by Reveplanner.. and we decided to have a try on our last day at Swellendam. The ambience was great and everywhere was decorated in Xmas mood..service was also not bad, but we still think Powell House wins hands down. Also, there were many mosquitoes although we sit inside the restaurant..so that's not very nice while having dinner..

As the weather was excruciatingly hot when we were in Swellendam, we reckoned we need some place to cool down..and naturally we decided to head to the sea.. As we looked at the map, we were very interested in Mossel Bay. Although it was a good 2.5h drive, it was still manageable travelling on the N2 tar road..and we enjoyed great scenery along the way.I'm glad we made it to Mossel Bay as the sea over there was stunning!

6)Mossel Bay
We relaxed on the beaches of Mossel Bay.."Mossel Bay is situated exactly half way between Cape Town - the provincial capital of the Western Cape Province – and Port Elizabeth (both 400 km away" it's quite like Hermanus..series of shops lining the beach..but really nice apartments and bungalows along the coast..really envy those folks..jus imagining waking up to the Indian Ocean in front of you..We reached there at about 4pm..and spent 3hours walking around, appreciating the sea view and sea breeze..and also..we spotted seals swimming freely..Dinner was settled at Two Oceans Restaurant.. and you bet really fresh seafood was served since it's near the sea..

Mossel Bay

7) Berry picking at Wildebraam

Our harvest for just 4Rand!

Sweet Berry to be the darkest

Busy finding berries

We didnt have much time to explore everything that's offered at Mossel Bay..I knew from travel brochures that you can have scenic cruises to spot whales and dolphins, go for a safari at one of the nearby game reserves, do golf, and much more shopping than Hermanus perhaps.. it will be really great to revisit this place if we are to do the garden route again in the future!