We drove through George to the coastal town of Knysna.
We were able to contact the NZ High Commission in Pretoria about getting a new passport. We were able to download and print off the passport application forms from the internet and fill them in. Fortunately, we had regulation passport size photos with us which we had done before we left NZ as they are often needed for visas. We were able to send Lil's passport and paper work to John's brother in NZ. Our daughter would usually have done this for us but she was headed for Vietnam for a familiarisation trip. The NZ High Commission are able to have the passport sent with the diplomatic mail to Pretoria where we will have to arrange to pick it up later. Fortunately I don't need a passport everyday to get about the country so it will not be missed. As long as it arrives before my visa to stay in South Africa expires it should be fine. We did want to go to Lesotho but will change the order we do things to be sure we can do it later.
Knysna is a pretty organised modern holiday place on the coast. Before the world cup games the Danish and French teams stayed in the town to train and work on strategies. The streets and many shops were decorated with the Danish and French flags and colours. According to news reports the French did not enjoy the place and fought amongst each other. The Danish, we were told by some of the locals, helped fund 3 sports fields for the local black youth teams and got involved in the community. There were several comments from store keepers that they had not made as money as they had been lead to believe they would because the French didn't move out of their camps.
We were able to meet Wendy's uncle Stephen and aunt Olga and enjoy a meal with them at their place in Knysna. Stephen had done a motorbike trip through Botswana, Zambia and Malawi and John was able to get a lot of tips from him on places to go and things to do, which was a big help.
Stephen and Olga both enjoy mountain biking in the forest near their place and we enjoyed hearing about their adventures.
We were told that only about 10% of residents are contributing to the national tax pool so infrastructure support and development is difficult. The country doesn't produce enough electricity and shortages are common, even though some electricity is exported to Zimbabwe and many informal settlements hook illegally into the national grid. The price of electricity will rise by 23-25% per year for the next 3 years.
As the weather was warm we were able to do a long walk from Brenton-on-Sea to Buffalo Bay.
We were lucky to see dolphins playing in the surf. Further out to sea we could see the whales blow spouts but unfortunately they never came any closer to land to be able to see their bodies.
Knysna has many oyster farms so we were able to find a place on the waterfront to have a wee taste and they were delicious. The week before there had been an oyster festival and we seem to arrive in places just after their festivals. At least when we do this we can find somewhere to stay at a reasonable price.
Knysna has the largest Rastafarian community in South Africa. We were told that they grow enough marijuana for their religious needs and we have only seen a few Rastas with their typical dreds and green, black and red hats. Bob Marley is alive and well worshipped in Knysna.
We have had a lot of problems getting good internet access and every hostel charges a lot to access their networks. This pushed us into buying a mobile internet stick which works out more
economical for us. It is easier to read emails but the strength of the network is not always enough to do my blog so we are getting way behind and need to find somewhere to catch up.
