Blog update 20 March 2013

We left Cintsa with horns blaring and hands waving….scheduled arrival time in Coffee Bay…..2pm.  We had been warned about the terrible condition of the roads to Coffee Bay, after turning off the N2, however we still needed to travel the N2 and were not sure what to expect.   Shew, what an experience.  There were lots of roadworks taking place, looked like a new tarred road under construction.   Boy oh boy one thing the Eastern Cape roads department forgot was signage warning approaching vehicles of speed bumps.  Only when you were almost upon them, did we notice them in the road……thank goodness my eyesight is good and the campervan doesn’t go very fast…otherwise I would hate to think what could have/would have happened….!!!!!!  Speed bumps in the most obscure places…not sure who the person was designing these roads, perhaps he had smoked too much dubie hehehehehe.   Jokes aside, it was really quite nerve wracking to say the least.   Another warning is to watch out for cows, goats, pigs, horses and sheep that seem to be everywhere along the N2.  We had also been warned about dead animals left lying on the side of the roads…well…we only experienced one dead animal, a horse, poor thing….probably ridden over by a speeding car and left to rot.

So, we arrived in Butterworth.  The last time John and I were there, some 14 years ago, it was an eyesore.   Pleasantly surprised were we to see that the Butterworth community had really taken pride in their city and cleaned up all the rubbish that was lying around last time we were there.  Lots of development going on, new houses, shops and plenty of activity around the hub of the town.

We arrived at the turnoff to Coffee Bay…here is where I needed to be on full alert, all the time as the potholes were everywhere.  There had been or was some activity around filling some of them in, but then it sort of stopped, almost like the roads department had forgotten about the last bit of the road leading to Coffee Bay.  We had one really terrible experience where we bounced in a huge pothole which I failed to see as I was busy looking at the scenery.  After a tongue lashing from John, I once again remained on high alert….it truly is a very poor road and the condition is shocking….I am so surprised as this is a destination that tourists would come, but i’m not sure how many would chance their vehicles on this road, unless of course it was a 4×4.

Coffee Bay Camping is 700m from the entrance to Coffee Bay.  It is/was a municipal campsite some 3 years ago, until Corrie and Bucks from Port Edward were asked by Corrie’s sister to take it over, clean it up and provide rustic camping to tourists.  Corrie and Bucks did just that.  50% of their profit goes back into the community.  Our campsite no. 45 is the largest and most open, surrounded by natural vegetation. loads of trees and shrubs.  The sea is in front of us separated by a lagoon.

We set up camp and took the dogs for a quick walk around to check it out.  It is a very large campsite, but each campsite is sort of hidden away, so if its privacy you want, privacy is what you will get.  Unfortunately not many of the sites are electrified, due to Eskom’s inability to provide additional power which Bucks and Corrie have been asking for, for about 3 years now….so what’s new in Africa!

On Saturday the 22 March 2013, John and I and the dogs, took a drive along the dirt road to Hole in the Wall.  It is about 20kms from the entrance to Coffee Bay Camping.  We arrived at the Hole in the Wall Hotel where we had been told to park our Zook.  Bucks told us, under no circumstances to use the public parking as this was manned by the locals who more often than not stole from the vehicles parked there.  We had a really nice walk down through a forest, onto the beach, all the while pestered by local youngsters to buy their necklaces made out of shells.  Lots of competition amongst them, but I had already seen a nice one I wanted and made the fatal mistake of telling them that I would buy one on my way back.  Lo and behold coming up the hill towards the hotel, on our way back, we were surrounded by about 7 entrepreneurs selling shell necklaces, all  vying for my business.   R20 later, and I was the proud owner of a shell necklace, a bit different to the others that they were selling.  Look out for it on my campervan cooking programme, soon LOL.

We had a really nice lunch at Hole in the Wall Hotel, sitting on the outside deck which is also dog friendly and then made our way back to Coffee Bay.  When John and I entered our boma just outside the campervan, he noticed his trommel had been opened and also that his toolbox was missing.  Funny cause John slept in a bit that morning and I was sitting outside having my tea, when I noticed smoke rising from the vegetation next to our campervan….thinking I was seeing things, I thought no more of it until John woke up.  Once again I saw smoke rising, I mentioned this to John who also looked, but he decided I was seeing things……oops how right I was, as when John and Bucks scoured the campsite for his missing toolbox, they discovered exactly the spot where these wretched individuals had been sitting observing us.   John took a walk around the outside of the campsite and found a huge hole in the fence where these bods had climbed through.   Angry, yip to say the least as all our tools and plumbing for the van, as well as our silicone etc, was in his toolbox.

John took off in his Zook to see if he could spot anybody carrying his toolbox, while Bucks scoured all the hiding places he knew they might have stored the box for fetching later, but to no avail.  John flagged down a local police vehicle and  told him about the theft, not that the policeman took much interest, merely told John he had to report the theft to the local police station, some 5 km away….ho hum.  So that taught us a valuable lesson, ‘LEAVE NOTHING OUTSIDE YOUR VAN’.

Corrie and Bucks told us that we could hire the services of a local lady for R50 day.  She would sit at our campsite while we went out for the day.  Included in the price, she would do our washing, our dishes and sweep outside our van. We didn’t think that was necessary, we just had to be more organised and lock up everything if we were to go somewhere with the dogs.  LESSON LEARNT 🙂

On the Sunday evening, we decided to treat ourselves to a meal at the local Ocean View Hotel.  John had enquired on his way back from hunting down his toolbox.  Their Sunday evening speciality was ‘Seafood Extravaganza’.  So that evening, minus the dogs and dressed in our ‘Coffee Bay Best’, we spoilt ourselves with a mound of oysters,prawns, calamari, linefish, mussels and crayfish, as much as you could eat.  That’s not all…for starters there was asparagus soup, then all that seafood, then roast beef with roast potatoes and veggies, finished off with a dense, delicious chocolate mousse and icky sticky chocolate pud with custard, cheese and biscuits and coffee.  Oh boy,  just looking at all that food made me put on weight LOL.  All this for R120 a head, what a steal!!!!   All in all a very yummy dinner and fab evening with my hubbie.

Monday dawned, overcast and rainy, so we spent most of the day in the campsite, doing our blog, going for quick walks in between the rain with the dogs and getting to know our Host and Hostess better.  We also met Mike, the camp manager and his little dog Amore.  Mike is big into history and books, so it was really interesting listening to his stories about Coffee Bay.  He is also a very able fisherman and presented me with a handwritten script of the ‘best fishing spots in Coffee Bay’ which I offered to type up for him, so as to give the guests at Coffee Bay Camping an idea where to fish and for what.

John and I took the dogs for their first beach walk and bought some crayfish and mussels from the local fisherman for supper.  Unfortunately the heavens opened again and we rushed for cover and back to the campsite.  It was miserable couple of days, it rained and rained.  So glad we had  our campervan and weren’t stuck in tents like some of the other campers were.  Next morning, we noticed lots of campers leaving and going home, apart from the rain, the fishing was terrible.

I had been chatting to Corrie in the office, when a bakkie drew up at the Reception area of the campsite and gave us some pamphlets.  Apparently a Brazilian band was in town and was playing at the local backpackers up the road that evening.  Sounded like a nice evening out, seeing we had been ‘campervanbound’ for a few days.  So, leaving the dogs at home, after a good meal and walk, John and I hit Bomvu Backpackers.  Oh boy, as we arrived I just knew this was pushing me right out of my little closeted comfort zone….John and I, apart from Paul, were probably the oldest toppies there…most of the visitors were youngsters staying at the backpackers from Germany, Sweden, America and UK, to name a few..what they were doing all the way in Coffee Bay….beats me.   We were entertained by the local drumming band, then the Brazilian band took over.  Definitely not my kind of music, was too much of a headbanging sound, monotonous and boring, however very entertaining to watch everybody.  After about 2 hours I felt a really powerful headache coming on….probably from all the dubie smoke that was wafting around me….so begging John to be a gentle-man to his gentle-woman, we made our way home…must admit it did take a while to get the ‘smell’ out of my clothes and hair.

We have made several trips to the ‘local general dealer’ some 20kms away, being the closest ‘shop’, def nothing in Coffee Bay that looks remotely like a Spar or Woolies LOL.   Catering mostly for the local residents, I would suggest anybody coming to Coffee Bay for an extended period of time and camping, to bring everything with you, including your wine, beer, bread, veggies and meat.  The prices charged wine, beer, veggies and meat are horrendous, I’m not entirely sure how the local folk actually manage to pay for these.  The bread is produced by the bakery and is made to eat on the same day….this would give you an indication of the quality of the produce!!!    Luckily for us Mandy and Zillah arrived on the 2 April, loaded to the brim, including my shopping list.  Thank you ladies!.

So, life carries on in Coffee Bay.  Walking, bird watching, blogging, skinnering with Corrie hehehe and skypeing the kids.   We are off to Hole in the Wall over the weekend as John and I celebrate our 29th wedding anniversary on the 7 April 2013, yes……..29 years :).  Until next time, cheers