Port Elizabeth – The Friendly City… NOT

Arrived in Port Elizabeth after battling a howling headwind all the way from Port Alfred. The Fiat Ducato engine made life a breeze by providing enough vooma to keep us averaging about 80 kays an hour. Driving into PE from the North East is a nasty experience. It’s all industrial and urban decay. The “freeway” runs along the industrial area and passes the harbour, neither provide any welcome to a traveller from out of town. Tina had found us a great sounding campsite in the heart of the city, Hume Park. The GPS didn’t miss a beat and we finally pulled up a steep drive and into… a dump. The place was littered with old decrepid caravans that had seen better days. No thank you ma’am. We too one look at each other and reached for the campsite guide. Anywhere would have been better that this. We found a great sounding place called The Willows 20km out if town past Summerstrand that just happened to be dog friendly, although we had to provide a seven page motivational letter, proof of ownership, copies of their pedigree and my grandmothers unabridged birth certificate (thank goodness I always carry one).

As we approached The Willows along the winding coastal drive, I could see smoke billowing up from the distant bush. Click. I remembered hearing radio reports of several raging fires around the PE area. Yikes. Were we heading from the frying pan into the fire. On signing in, the lady at reception informed us that the fire engines had been at the fires for a few days and we wouldn’t be in any danger. But the smoke was wafting across the campsite. Most of the campers had vacated over the preceding few days as schools in the Cape start on Tuesday, so we were again spoilt for choice. A spot with a sea view. That’ll do me just fine thank you.

The dogs will be off to the kennels for a few days as we plan to visit Addo. We picked up dog food from the local Dogmatters supplier for their stay and headed down to the beachfront in Walmer in search of a decent place for sundowners and a pizza. You wont believe how difficult it is to find a dog friendly establishment, even though the places were virtually empty and had loads of tables outside. After five refusals, we decided that PE was the most un-friendly place we had visited so far. What a dump. we certainly won’t be spending any more time here than we have to.