Last night in South Africa at Jan Harmsgat Country House in the wineland area north of Swellendam. This delightful couple Brin and Judy Rebstein made our last night in SA a warm and pleasant finale as they plied us with wonderful chardonnays cabernets and pinot noirs from their favorite wineries that accompanied their beautifully prepared dinner and we talked for hours about African wine and politics.

We had a wonderful time in SA and although we are happy to be back home the memories will last along time. Pat and I can absolutely recommend a visit to South Africa.

Shopping!Shopping in Knysna

Huge numbers of handmade crafts to sell.

Craftsmen making tin-can lizards-ubiquitous car parkers-lunch by the bay.

Knysna on the Garden Coast

After Addo we drove the 400 km to the vacation coast of South Africa on the Indian Ocean. If you look on the map this area starts in Plettenburg Bay and the extends 600-700 km to Cape Town and the Atlantic Ocean. This area has been the play ground -beach resort area for many gernerations of wealthy S Africans and Europeans it features huge long beaches with mountain backdrops.

Here a view of the channel that connects Knysna Bay with the Indian Ocean

The N2 - the main road in these parts is mostly a two lane road. Driving can be a little nerve racking because there is the constant need to pass very slow moving trucks and cars. This means the the passee moves as far over on the shoulder so that the passer is not going to far over into the oncoming traffic. Some alertness is required. Everyone seems to get the idea so that if you find yourself on the wrong side of the road the oncoming just pull off onto their shoulders. In the hills there is the old 3 lane system that operates on a first come first in basis. The most difficult part for me in driving on the left with the steering wheel on the right side is that I keep using my windshield wipers to signal turns!

We stayed in a B&B called Elephant Hide that is up in the northern hills overlooking the Bay. The room was great and relaxing a perfect way to spend our last few days here. A view off the deck to the Bay beyond. One of the reatured activities here besides

eating, dringing, boating and golf is nature walks. The best one is the Featherbed Tour which starts with a ferry boat ride over to the headland a ride up to the top and a liesurely walk down through what is called the Feynbos (scrub-forest) with an incredible number of plants specific to this area of the world.

The resataurants are a little more sophisticated than in the other parts catering to an international clientel. Most of the chefs are the "coloured" -these are very young mostly girls-women who are very well trained, but also bring the cooking of there forebearers such as malay, indian, african and some european. we had somedelicious curries, relishes along withe beef and lamb - the staples of SA diet.