I could have stayed at Umngazi for another month but we would have exploded with all the wonderful food. What a special place. Definitely coming back.
We left at 9:30 for our 260km, 5 hour trip to Trennerys Hotel, further south, along the wild coast. From Port St Johns, the GPS said, we had 40km to Mthatha – it was more like 90 (eekkk Doris). There were major roadworks along the route.
Mthatha is a big bustling town with shopping centers, malls and hotels. There are lots of tributes to Nelson Mandela in the town, the main road is named after him, there are 2 museums and even the left up Christmas lights have his face depicted. Qunu, Madiba’s birth place is nearby. Mthatha is also home to the Walter Sisulu University.
From there we took the N2 East London road. We were again plagued by roadworks and detours but there were beautiful areas of giant aloes filling the mountain sides. We passed through Dutywa, the birthplace of Thabo Mbeki. This area has clearly produced some of our top ANC stalwarts. From Gcuwa, formerly known as Butterworth, we took the road that leads to Mazeppa Bay, Wavecrest and Trennerys. Not a great road, full of potholes.
At Trennerys we received a warm welcome and were shown to our hut. This is a touch more rustic than Umngazi but it is clean and comfortable and the staff are super friendly. The grey huts are situated in beautiful gardens. The view from our stoep is into dense coastal forest and we were treated to a litter of tiny piglets basking in the afternoon sun.
The hotel has a great swimming pool and tennis court. After checking out the amenities, the old pub – the Barrel and Gecko and the comfy lounge with a big fireplace we took a stroll down to the beach.
Another spectacular, endless beach, all to ourselves. Much as I enjoy children, holidaying out of school holidays is a real treat. Besides the long stretch of swimming beach, there is a nice rocky section, with rock pools that I can't wait to explore. There are also lots of shells on the beach. Reminds me of our wonderful Sheffield Beach holidays. We also saw two oyster catchers on the rocks.
Dinner was excellent; springbok carpaccio, Gray had lamb shank and I had the chicken pie, followed by malva pudding, washed down with some nice red wine. So much for trying to lose some weight here.
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