We now had a week left and were now basically on the way back to Jo’burg. We had read great things about the ‘Wild Coast’ and were looking forward to experiencing the wilder coastline. We had decided to stop overnight at Chinsta but we couldn’t pass Kidd’s beach without popping in for elevenses. Why? Emma’s Mum’s maiden name is Kidd so we would have to report back. It is a nice little place and had a café on the front so we got coffee and cake with a sea view so that’s not bad.
To get to Chinsta you pull off the main N2 drag and head for East or West Chinsta, basically the small town is split in two by a river. The place is ok but basically a nice beach with a lot of residential housing. We found a decent guest house (Le Petite Provence) but there weren’t any restaurants or cafes so we set up camp at Le Petite.
Not much to keep us in Chinsta so we went back up to the N2 and found the turn off to Coffee Bay. The 80km road down to the bay was supposed to be tarred, it was in between pot holes and the increased traffic and population in this region made the drive unpleasant. We had read amazing things about Coffee Bay and booked a room in Sugar Loaf Backpacker. We thought all backpackers were good after our stay in Plett, but Coffee Bay had the Asian standard. The whole place was scruffy and when we were shown a room/cell with nothing but a bed in it for R400 we said no thanks. Might be ok if you are 20! All the other places in the bay were overpriced and minging. We had to drive all the way back to the main road as there was only 1 road in and out, joy.
We didn’t really have a plan B but decided the best or only plan would be to try and get to Port St Johns before nightfall. At least there was a different road out of there. The road in was better and more scenic than the drive to Coffee Bay but the town when we eventually arrived was unattractive. We ended up at Umzimvub Retreat and the man wanted R1000 B&B, we have had whole houses for half that. We got him down to R700 and it was an ok room but nothing special. The people here think they are something special though charging those prices.
We were now starving after the long drive and walked into town as the restaurant at our place was shut – Sunday again! It wasn’t far to Steve’s Pub and with a name like that we had to go in, oh and it was the only place open. We chatted to the English owner and had some decent pub grub and few cold beers.
We were really not impressed with the wild coast, the sunshine coast is much more beautiful, accessible, affordable and with more to do and see. We decided to head into the mountains first thing.
