As soon as I had finished breakfast I had Adrian on the stool for his first haircut by his father. He was a difficult customer as he kept shifting his head around and at one time I thought I had nipped his ear as he said “you hurt me Daddy”.  I quickly had a look for any sign of bleeding and was relieved that there was none. The haircut looked OK and I believed it was acceptable as Alison didn’t comment on it.

The South African couple camped next to us was a little inconsiderate with the man utilizing the ladies ablution just because no one else besides us were camped there. Adrian as usual asked loudly what the man was doing in the ladies and must have been heard by one of them as the man went to brush his teeth in the men’s.

The rain didn’t last for too long and by 1230 hrs I was hungry and decided to stop at one of the picnic site under a flyover (there are many of those on the N2). It must have been odd to the South Africans to see a family actually having a lunch break in one of the picnic sites provided as we had not seen any one utilizing them even the ones under shaded trees along some of the routes. All the car occupants passing had a look at what we were doing. We kept our ears and eyes opened though for any signs of mischief by anyone including the guy who appeared from nowhere to rummage in the dustbins.

I kept asking Alison if we were on the Garden Route as yet but the same answer came back with the starting point being the Storms River. I didn’t even know that the Storms River existed! But exist it does as we neared it there was a signage to the village and the river mouth.  We first went into the village which was well represented by all the facilities one ever needed in a jungle. There were restaurants, curios shop, Tourist Guides, Guest houses, and camping facilities. I thought to myself why can’t we do the same in places like Taman Negara?

Next we went to the Storms River mouth but it is inside the Nature reserve which meant that we would have to pay to get in. I casually asked if we could have a look around before deciding to come back later and the guard was kind enough to let us in without paying which saved us Rand 88. The river mouth is rocky and kayaking and tubing is organized up river. There are chalets for rent and camping sites with a shop restaurant available.

We got into Plettenberg Bay early enough and saw a camping site at the entrance of the town and drove in confidently. Plettenberg Bay is a beautiful modern village set out on a hill surrounded by good looking houses. I was awestruck by the house designs and immediately imagine living there, knowing very well KL will be my final destination. But what the heck, why not dream once in a while!

We went to look for the Ocean Safari office but it was closed so Alison rang up and booked for tomorrow’s safari. I had a good look at the house prices which was quite reasonable, I thought. Before going to the campsite I went to a camping shop to see what they had in stock while Alison had to attend to Adrian’s whining. We did contemplate on buying a cast iron pot but decided to wait till tomorrow as we were coming through town again in any case.

The campsite was enormous with good facilities and not many campers. We went in after calling the number displayed on the notice board and told that payment could be settled in the morning.