Wrap-Up and Off to the Wild!

A fun final few days with our trusty Nissan Tiida (more on her later) along the Indian Ocean coast. We are now in Plettenberg Bay, a lovely beach town where the sun finally came out after a few cloudy days. Yesterday we took a spectacular hike along the Robberg Peninsula, where we saw whales, seals, and plenty of bird life. The views of the churning Indian Ocean were amazing. Other sightings included a pair of eccentric British bird watchers, whom we met at our hotel in Wilderness--they even brought binoculars to breakfast and peered out the windows at the elusive blue-tailed booby-fringed monkat, or whatever they saw! They were potential subjects for the "Best in Show" crew's next movie. We wanted to stay and just watch them, but we thought it rude.

After the hike, we checked into our lovely guesthouse and headed out for dinner. At dinner, our waiter asked whether we wanted to change tables to watch the US-South Africa rugby match for the Rugby World Cup. We said that (a) we were unaware the US was participating in the first place until about 10 days ago and (b) we'd rather not watch the US get pummeled after South African radio talked about what a bunch of patsies we were all week.

Today we're off on the final leg of the Garden Route, to Port Elizabeth. On our way, we may stop at Monkeyland and/or Birds of Eden (where Sarah will continue her ornithophobia treatments). The guest house owner told Sarah to take off her earrings because some unfortunate elderly American tourist just a few weeks ago was set upon by a monkey anxious to grab her hearing aid! Yikes! Needless to say, Thomas put in his contacts.

We're off tomorrow on an early morning flight for Kruger National Park for our first safari experience. Not sure on Internet access at our lodge there, but we will of course update the blog ASAP!