Our First Time In Gansbaai

Isn’t it crazy that we stay in such a beautifully diverse country and yet we seem to stay in the same corner of it all the time?

I mean Seth and I were both born in Cape Town and aside from a few trips around the Western Cape and one trip overseas, we’ve spent the bulk of our time wandering around Cape Town.  And let’s be real, you can spend weeks, months and years in Cape Town and and still not see everything you could see.  But as a family we have a real desire to see the whole of our country that’s right on our door step.

So when we recently stopped in Stanford we knew we couldn’t leave the area without stopping in Gansbaai as we’d never been there before.  Which was especially necessary as it was the whale watching season so we were hoping to catch a the tip of a tail or more.  Unfortunately we didn’t see anything at all, but we did spend a few hours investigating rock pools.

We found so many wonderful things.  From starfish to crabs and lots of little fishies.  We also found baby cockroach looking things that basically swarmed the swampier areas and so naturally I didn’t go anywhere near those at all!  In fact I may have let out a little scream as I walked past.

Walking to the tip of the rocks meant that we’d found where the birds sit.  And poop.  Oh my word, the smell!  Photos don’t really do it justice – all the birds swarming around.  I can only imagine of incredible it would have looked at sunset!

Because it was already lunch time on the day before school was due to go back, we didn’t have the luxury of staying and really exploring what this beautiful little town had to offer.  I mean we literally just saw the tip of the beach to be honest.  So I have been doing some research and there are some really amazing places to stay in the area – here’s some of the accommodation options in Gansbaai.  I think we’re definitely adding it onto our list of places to stay in and explore properly.

On our long way back our tummies started rumbling just as we passed Dassiesfontein.  We’d noticed it on our way there because of all the solar panels that literally cover every inch of the roof.  But wow, once we went inside we were stunned.  There is SO many sweet little trinkets and things to buy.  Lots of vintage thing but also a lot of new and handcrafted goodies too.  Guys I was so tempted to drop all my money right there.

We stopped for lunch which was either a three meat Sunday lunch or various forms of farm made bread.  The kids went super casual and had butter and jam.  I went a little more gourmet and had the chicken mayo.  The bread was insanely thick but you could just taste that it had been made on site that morning.  So even though I walked out feeling like I had a lump of cement in my tummy, I think it was totally worth it!

Some more pictures of our little adventure…