If you missed Day 1 and want to read it before you start this one, click here!
Today we’re heading to Mossel Bay for the *actual* beginning of the Garden Route.
On our drive through Swellendam, there are several little homemade signs leading us towards a “Faerie Sanctuary.” We were just going to stop in this town for a quick road coffee, but we obviously had to follow them. They lead to a house with a colourful gate and the sign that reads “The Continent of Sulina,” and we ring the bell. A woman practically floats to the door to let us in and gives us the quick spiel before setting us free to explore the garden on our own.
The property doesn’t look like much from the gate, but it keeps going and going. The wild and overgrown garden is full of gnomes, fairies, dragons, angels, and other mystical garden residents. There are fairy castles and mushroom-shaped playhouses for kids and benches to sit and relax. We breeze through and have to exit through the gift shop, where we aren’t allowed to take photos. But believe me when I tell you this several-room home is filled wall to wall, floor to ceiling with faerie-related trinkets.
I’m literally obsessed with things like this. Not the faeries specifically — though it does remind me of my childhood because my Mom used to hide fairies around our backyard. But I live for all the random gems you find in small towns on a road trip.
Once again we’ve hit a road block, but fortunately today it’s not totally rerouting us like it did yesterday. We’d wanted to drive the Berrydale Pass through the mountains and come back, but the road is crumbling and rocks are coming down from the mountains so it’s closed. A perfect example of the infamous South African infrastructure, lol.
Some of the landscape on our way to Mossel Bay looks just like New Zealand with its rolling hills and farm lands.We even drive by several paddocks of sheep! And several paddocks of zebras and ostriches, which remind us of where we really are.
We arrive in Mossel Bay and head straight to our Airbnb, which I’m confident in saying is the cutest Airbnb we’ve ever stayed in at this price. It’s also gotta be one of the cheapest. For just $33 USD, we are sleeping here:
The property also looks out over the ocean. Even though we can’t see it from our window, it’s nice to know it’s there. The shower design is giving rainforest vibes, but the only risk is the pretty significant gaps in the floor boards which means creepy crawlies could definitely get in here. Though honestly, the bug situation in South Africa has not been as dire as I would have expected. Anyway, it’s the perfect place to sleep for one night.
It’s the early afternoon so we head into town to find a hiking trail to the lighthouse we saw on Google Maps. The lighthouse itself is closed off, but there’s a set of rickety wooden steps leading up to this giant cave beneath the lighthouse. We also see dussies! Which are like gophers tbh, but when I sent a picture to my mom she did some research and tells me they’re distantly related to elephants???? See below, you tell me if you can see the resemblance lol.
P.S. I’ve never really understood why anyone cares about lighthouses — like some are cool I guess. But why are they landmarks we like to visit? (Sailors/captains/pirates who need them to find shore when they’re navigating at night excluded.) Don’t get me wrong, I always go, I just don’t know why we care.
Following a stone pathway up past the cave leads to an epic viewpoint of the coast where we stay until it’s time for dinner. On tonight’s menu? Grocery store charcuterie. All the grocery stores board up the wine section and liquor stores close after 5pm on Sundays, so we’re out of luck for a good pairing.
As this is obviously a good and equal alternative, we get one of these nuclear-green cream soda flavoured milks. Milk, y’all. What is going on in South Africa that someone was like, hey I have a good idea…
But it’s low fat, so it’s healthy.
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The fairy memory made me cry a little …