We had read that there would be a surf competition at Jeffrey's Bay so we booked into a new backpackers across from the surf area. As the weather, and surf, had been so good the competition started and finished in 4 days so it was over inside the 11 days set aside for it.
Jeffrey's Bay is a lovely beach with some rocky parts and lots of vegetation near the high tide mark as well as little parks with parking. There are also many huge multi-storied holiday apartments which unfortunately spoil the atmosphere. It is obviously a busy place and the locals told us that summer and Easter are their busiest times so many places must be empty for a large part of the year.
The beach suffers quite a bit of erosion and the locals have tried to hold their front yards together by making walls of sand in enormous sacks that look pretty ugly.
We were having a lot of difficulty using the power pack for our notebook and hunted out a computer shop. they tested it and felt that with the fluctuation in the electricity supply the current may not have been sufficient to charge our computer.
Being a holiday place we were able to get a cheap supply of secondhand books to read. There were no shortage of restaurants and were able to try some delicious line fish at a Greek restaurant.
There is a lot of flat land in this area used for dairy farming and we spotted a vehicle covered in signs for 'Waikato milking pumps'. The Waikato is a dairy farming area near where we live in NZ.
While in St Francis we met a couple who had been on a protest march against a nuclear power plant planned to be built in the local area. In Jeffrey's Bay the protesters had signs up asking for more school buildings and better health facilities rather than the nuclear plant. Other signs complained about using an important and fragile flora and fauna area for the plant.
Traveling by car means that it is important that we get secure parking but the backpacker's book that we have doesn't always list the facilities a place has so we have to research them online or ask other travelers we meet.
We relaxed here and bought some provisions to take with us to the Addo Elephant Park, our next stop.
