Travelling along the Garden Route, you tend to be quiet, you are just mesmerised and being seduced by the landscape. Car playlists on repeat, it is good to have music on, as seduction is more elevated with a background tune. The South African Garden Route is one of the world’s best coastal trips you can ever do.

It is a mind-blowing two and a half hours moving landscape gallery from Port Elizabeth to Plettenberg Bay. I have been to Plettenberg Bay twice, and it feels like coming home. With this sense of belong I’ll call it Plett from now on. I have gone one notch up from travelling to visiting homes.

Plett is a popular resort town at the end of the drive, a treasure chest, filled and surrounded by all types of gems, nature, cultures and people. One of the most sparkly gems in the chest is Suzie. She opens her heart in her store named “The Old House Shop”. I am like a girl in a candy store. It has everything from homewares, clothing to accessories, as well as a beautiful coffee shop on the side.

Photos by @keyurbs — *Photos by* *@keyurbs*

I love being in her store. And now that Naudic has found its place in it, Suzie’s heart and mine beat together. Suzie has an amazing history in Plett, but this is for another day; beauty blooms with patience. She bought this property out of nowhere, with no plan in mind, far before ‘owning a lifestyle store’ was a thing. Every week, she would be withdrawing cash from the ATM and paying it off. It was a building embedded in time and history. You can usually tell by the entrance of a place how it is going to make you feel. This shop is the kind of place you don’t want to leave, the kind of place which stays with you, which becomes a part of you. The flowers there are soft, gentle and swing freely in the breeze; just like Suzie and her voice.

Out of great circumstances, through the web, Suzie found Naudic, connections were made. It was right after I had gone out, tricked out on my own, for the first time in business. Well, I thought I had gone out all by myself, confused, as was I. Giving a try to the “Business World”, I was merely learning, the fun stuff was about to happen.

The driving hours from Shamwari to Plett gave us some time to digest and replay. Arriving in Plett at night, we headed to Rick and Sidney’s who had organised a dinner party. It is eye-opening to meet people who can gather a bunch of strangers together around a table for a Saturday night of laughter. It says a lot about the kind of person you are. Though, we were a bit spaced out and on another plane, due to the safari and the drive, we were having an experience out of time.

Some of their friends were new to me, they had come to meet us and would potentially stock Naudic in their stores. It was a table gathering shared food, new people, new ideas and questions about India, Naudic, films and travels. I looked around and saw lots of interest in what we are doing. Here we were, all strangers from different parts of the world, and there was so much activity, sharing and genuine interest.

In between, Suzie promised to come to India and travel with me in 2020. She is at the end of that “educating your kids” chapter, be prepared, news pages may now be written. It is going to be the year we will be remembering as “when Suzie came to India”. I think we will hear the sound-waves of our laughter which will merge with the Pacific, and will definitely reach the shores of Australia and South Africa at a point in time. Suzie is a live wire, she is as sharp as a tac, does not miss a trick and has the most beautiful voice I have ever heard. When she says something, her voice is so heart-melting that you automatically smile back, before realising she may have just said something that you shouldn’t be smiling about.

Thanks to our wanderlust, India, Australia and South Africa became one, and so were we; who may never have met if I hadn’t taken the plunge of following my gut instinct and listened to my heart. All five of us have that instinct, and this is exactly why we have been drawn together. But what was next I wasn’t sure, I just knew it was changing.

Once the Naudic sale appointments were done, we started our adventure. Wandering around Plett, we booked an Ocean Safari with the aim of filming whales and dolphins in the wild, a real shame the weather wasn’t good! The ocean swell was too big and the “rock you out of your boat” waves were out, so the excursion was cancelled. Instead, we drove down the mountain pretending we were flying with the car in neutral, just to see how fast we could go. The view from the top of Plett to the beach carpark was so stunning that we repeated this gliding adventure over and over. Sorry car-hire-lady for behaving like teenagers.

It was a rainy day, I love rainy days. And this wild landscape was simply intensified by it. After a few donuts around a roundabout and realising that we have gone too far for the day, we headed back to ‘The Oyster Beach House”. There, we hung out with Sidney and Rick and listened to their stories. They had another roaring fire going. I love South Africa. Everything is so strong and wild. Moving from being outside in this wet weather to being indoors with the fire burning, it was beautiful.

The Oyster Beach House is listed on Air BnB. Consider it a place to rent if you go visiting, it has the best views of the Bay and it feels like home. Everything is in walking distance. The next day, the sun was shining but the ocean was still too wild, so no Water Safari for the South Africa 2019 visit.

We completed a stunning nature walk along Robberg Peninsula, climbed up the mountain, along the ridge, looked down at the seals, before eventually sliding down the sand dunes. It was a comfortable 5km walk, but you can go harder and do a 10k-er, with a pack water, sunscreen and a hat, as it gets hot in the sun.

I practised cartwheels down the sand dunes and pulled a muscle in my leg. Note to self: always warm up before launching into gymnastic activities. We walked through caves where the bones and remains of a cave girl were found. She had the right idea, living in the cave, on the beach, eating fresh fish straight out of the ocean, and enjoying the view. Very nice! After this walk it was time to head back to the beach-house, pick up the two boys and go for an afternoon drive to Keurboom, another seaside village not far from Plett’s main town.

My heart starts to get the sinking feeling right about now, because I know the trip is coming to end. Tomorrow we are saying our goodbye’s to each other for another year. The five of us went out for a wonderful last dinner in Plett, eating burgers and drinking beers on a pub deck right on the beach. Plett’s beaches are dotted of relaxed restaurants and chilled vibes.

The next morning was the last one in Plett and at The Oyster Beach House. I tried to stay busy with packing up. This place has become another home to my heart because of the friendships, support and love. After tricky past events which luckily changed my path, I am feeling over the moon to have come across Suzie here. It is the place where I had the first inkling of where I wanted to take Naudic further; to grow and be purposeful, but also fun and enjoy life along the way.

We all drove to George, which has a domestic airport, Sidney and I flew to Johannesburg to continue selling, Rick and Keyur drove back to Cape Town and Suzie stayed in Plett. Another yearly catch up has finished, between treasures and friends for life…

Plett is full of strong and fun memories. And every time I meet people who have been there, they all have a similar feeling about this place: it draws out the real in you.

Fun things to do in Plett are: Robberg Nature Reserve, Stay in Oyster Beach House, Ocean Safari if weather permits, eat out at any of the beach side restaurants and cafes, long beach walks, hang out at The Old House Shop, walk the shopping streets, and of course look and see the bright stars. If you need more, Google has a great list.

Exploring Africa,

Emma x

South Africa Part 3 - Plettenberg Bay – there’s something in Plett