Garden Route: Day 1

We are winding down from our first day on the Garden Route here in Hermanus, South Africa.  We left Cape Lodge this morning around 8:30 after Ms. Bernie and Ms. Anita cooked us our last meal.  It has been such a blessing to have gotten to know them over the past several weeks.  I will miss both of them dearly as well as her daughter, Amy.  I have gotten to know Amy from Ms. Bernie bringing her along in the afternoons.  She is such a beautiful little girl who I have loved spending time with at the house.  We would go out in the street to run a couple of laps... I may or may not have told her that exercise is very important so she would ask me when I got home from club, "Ummm, Katherine, could we go on a jog?"  Why yes, yes we can.  Soooo, we ran around outside and then did some "aerobic" workouts in the driveway.  So fun.  I always enjoyed Amy time.  

3 incredible generations
Ms. Bernie, Ms. Anita, and Amy

AMY!!!!

We left the house after saying our goodbyes and were on our merry way.  Hermanus is about 2 hours or more away from Cape Town, and the drive is absolutely gorgeous.  We stopped along the way at a beach and I discovered that Natasha is also a shell nerd.  So, we looked all over the shore for different shells and found some beautiful ones.  Once we left there, we had another 30 minutes before arriving at the backpackers lodge where we are staying, which looks similar to beach houses in Florida.  We are only staying here for one night and then packing up in the morning to keep traveling!  I love it!  Here is a map of South Africa to see where Hermanus is in relation to Cape Town. 

Abandoned cross on a secluded beach- beautiful

Awesome rock: spotted

Today, we split up in the town square area along the coast to explore.  Berrit, Mama K, Mia, Becca, and myself ate lunch and then walked along the rocky shore.  Most of us climbed up and around different boulders to get closer to the waves crashing.  Hermanus is famous for whale watching, so we were able to see several out in the water from a distance!  Really cool area.  We also discovered some places to sit along the water (at our own risk of getting soaked).  Worth it.  

Just a little afternoon shower. 

Holden holding on for dear life. 

We left the beach around 4:45 and headed back to the lodge to settle in.  We also ordered take out pizza for dinner, which was really great.  Then, OLYMPICS!  All of us love watching them, so that's definitely a plus!  Mama K and Berrit are always cheering on their fellow Brits, while David and Natasha and Tim are rooting for South Africa.  The rest of us... U-S-A!!!  I love it!  Tomorrow morning we are leaving really early and driving about 7 hours to the next stop, Oudtshoorn.  We are visiting some hot springs tomorrow, so I am super excited about that.  It's been a great day of fellowship with everyone here and I am so thankful to be able to experience all of God's beautiful creation with these incredible people.  Looking forward to the rest of the week!