After the day in the vineyard and checking out Plettenberg bay, I figured it was high time to head back to Tsitsikamma in search of food.
We’d been so so eager to cram as many sights as possible into the day that, save for a mid-afternoon gorge on beef biltong, we’d pretty much forgotten all about food!
Back at Tsitsikamma, we decided to venture out in search for food instead of staying in – which meant going a whole two doors down to the Marylin’s 60s Retro American Diner. 🙂 (Tsitsikamma village is a very small community!)
I was itching to get on these roller-skates and shimmy on down the street but alas, my dignity got the better of me!
As the name suggests, it was filled with all things 1960’s along with a lot of Marilyn Monroe and Elvis memorabilia. I do love a good old fashioned diner!
The lights are bright and colourful here (almost psychedelic) and a very welcome distraction when you’re waiting for your meal to arrive (waiting for food at a restaurant when you’re starving is not something I’ve learnt to gracefully deal with).
It’s really strange, I’m not a morning person at all but waking up knowing what adventures await made me jump outta bed as quick as a flash and gleefully plan our strategy as much as possible.
One thing that I really wanted to do is go back to Bramon’s Wine Estate, where you can actually sit down and eat within the vineyards themselves! We barely had enough time for Yaya to have a glass of wine (and me a coffee – I was driving) the day before so I was most definitely looking forward to having lunch here (and yes, I’d only just had breakfast…)
Bramon was once again basking in the glorious South African sunshine. Just the way I like it!
Every good trip to a vineyard starts with a proper sampling of the wines and this was no exception. The region is well known for it’s sparkling wines so we started with that…
….before moving on the reds. *licks lips*
The menu consists of lots of tasting dishes, which means you can order 3-4 meals without any judgement. 🙂 Okay, maybe some people might have judged me but I was too busy stuffing my face with baked camembert to care!
After eating our weight in cheese and wine (amongst other deliciousness), we decided to head over to Bloukrans Bridge Bungy – the highest bungee jump bridge in the world!
The drive took an hour or so and my heart was in my mouth the whole time… matters only got worse when I actually realised the height – 216m (700ft). I felt like fainting just looking at it, let along bungee jumping off it!
This was the first time that fear had actually made me feel physically sick, it was so high! After a few minutes, Yaya piped up ‘Right, lets do it’ – I froze! I just couldn’t do it! I’m usually up for anything but this took the biscuit! Paralysed by fear, I choose to be a good chaperone to Yaya and watched him take an almighty plunge.
Watching the jump seemed almost as terrifying as doing it! I heard the screams, then the jubilation as the jump happened! Yaya said that for a solid few seconds he was terrified but that it was over in a flash!
After Yaya caught his breath and we had another beef biltong binge (wherever we find them, we binge – those are the rules! 😉 ), we decided to do something which involved keeping our feet on the ground (Phew!). ;-). We headed straight for Big Tree in Tsitsikamma National Park to see one of the oldest trees on the planet.
This beast of a tree was over 1,000 years old… I actually had no idea that trees could live that long!
The walkway through to the tree is also quite serene and a great way to ‘get lost’ in South African nature.
Seeing Big Tree was such a great excuse to stretch our legs before our 2-3 hour drive West to Port Elizabeth. (Had to walk off the biltong, wine and huge lunch after all). It’s a great pit stop if you need a little break on the long drives between as it doesn’t take too long to complete the trail.
Next stop – Port Elizabeth!
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