An entry in the TFS Travel Journal
Upon waking, we opened the curtains to discover a large, furry housecat (part tabby, part tiger) on our patio table. When Milton then went into the bathroom, the cat climbed in through the window grate. Since we were missing our Max, we bonded with Paddington, as we later learned her name is.
Breakfast was lovely - out on the Lodge’s veranda. We then went for a walk to explore the town, grateful that it was overcast and comfortable. We spent several hours visiting the myriad shops of local crafts, much of which was among the best we’d yet seen. We bought a few funky shirts, some delicacies at the wonderful Simple Simon’s Pie Shop, then walked to and around the waterfront area, which is where the really touristy crap is. Bought only a neat cap from 34 South (the longitude), the Balduccis of Knysna (pronounced nize-nah, for any of you who were wondering).
We then walked home, stopping back at Simple Simon’s for their delicious personal-size pizza, then at the Blue Stairs Gallery to pick up some local artwork we’d admired earlier. While there, Wendy got the added bonus of getting to play with TigglyWiggly, a hyper-active scottish terrier 6-month-old puppy with a new, summer haircut.
As we’d worked up quite an appetite from all that shopping, and had been eagerly anticipating our Knysna oyster experience since we’d first landed on this continent over a week ago, we drove to the Knysna Oyster Company, where we sat out in the back, on the harbor, with the Knysna Heads (the two big bluffs with about a 1/2 mile in between through which the sea comes into the lagoon) in the distance; the perfect setting for a shellfish banquet! The oysters were, frankly, disappointing — small, salty, not too tasty. The mussels, however, were grand! We so enjoyed the order with garlic butter and the one with malay curry sauce, that we got another with tomatoes and herbs. We also loved the local beer (Mitchells), which came in an ale (light and wheaty) and a bitter. We reveled in the perfection of the moment, then drove off, not knowing exactly where to.
We stopped first at a local waterfall, which was pretty, but just not up to our now worldly waterfall standards. Then it was the long dirt road to Noetzie, a tiny beach community. The little cove was absolutely beautiful - a wide beach, with many reddish rock formations of all shapes and sizes rising up from the water, all bookmarked by big red rock cliffs at each end. It was also deserted (two other couples on the whole beach), which was amazing for a Saturday in their equivalent of early August. The other notable feature of the area is that of the eight or so houses in the hills along the beach, four were huge stone castle/fortress looking creations. Really odd. We walked along the beach for a while, dipping our feet in yet another ocean (Indian). On the way back to the main road, we saw two black kids who saw us coming and did some standing back-flips on the dirt road, then held out their hands for money when we passed. Further along, we saw a (relatively) small shanty town, perched on the hillside with spectacular views of the cliffs and ocean, which was a strange contrast to their usual placement in flat, undesirable areas.
We then drove to the eastern Head (the western is privately owned, oddly enough), where we walked a short trail out to the passageway where the water comes in to the lagoon, and where we were afforded a lovely view of the ocean, and of the town of Knysna, South Africa set into the hills. Then, back home (with a stop at a local supermarket to sample more local Cadbury items: a TV Bar, a Crunchy Bar, a Niki Bar) to relax amongst our enlglish-style furnishings of floral and wicker.