Fairy Garden

About halfway between the towns of Sedgefield and Wilderness on the Garden Route is a spot called Timbervillage.  Having never stopped there before, I decided to pull over and check it out.  It consists of a number of shops and eateries housed in timber buildings similar to those the woodcutters and gold miners in the area used to live in.  One of the shops is a fairy shop selling little fairies and other mythical creatures while they also maintain a fairy garden next door.  Here are a couple of photos from the fairy garden.

Purple jellyfish

Drama Princess has developed a fascination for jellyfish washed up on the beach.  She was even more intrigued when we found this peculiar purple one on the beach in Mossel Bay.

Santos Pavilion

I often wonder how many people realise the significance of the Santos Pavilion on Santos Beach when they see it on their way through Mossel Bay.  This beautiful Pavilion is one of only two beach pavilions still in use dating back to Colonial times.  The other one is the famous Royal Pavilion in Brighton.  The Pavilion was built in 1916 after a local architect of the town travelled to Brighton to get ideas.  It was a very popular spot during the 1920's and 1930's as a social meeting place for the townsfolk who regularly gathered there to listen to the Band and to exchange news and gossip. 

In l925 the then Prince of Wales even stopped by the Pavilion during his visit to South Africa.  Unfortunately a fire destroyed the roof and woodwork of the building in 1979 and the remains was nearly demolished.  The building was later taken over by a private company who restored it and today there is a restaurant operating from it.

Mossel Bay War Memorial

Just about every town seem to have a war memorial of some kind (I don't mean anything bad with that, I'm just saying) and Mossel Bay is no different.  This Mossel Bay War Memorial stands at the Point below the Cape St Blaze Lighthouse on the rock formation known as Frog Rock and was unveiled on 28 September 1928.  It was designed by W.J. Delbridge of the Royal Institute of British Architects (ARIBA) in the style of the art deco period and was probably modeled on the Cenotaph in London.

The cenotaph commemorate combatants from Mossel Bay who fell in the First and Second World Wars as well as in the Korean War, and in the South African Border War with Angola.

Dana Bay

The area of Dana Bay is a suburb of Mossel Bay and is located 10 kilometers or so west of town.  In addition to being a residential area, the whole of Dana Bay is a conservancy, home to fine examples of coastal and limestone varieties of fynbos where bush buck, steenbok, mongooses and over 85 bird species roam freely.  Dana Bay boasts miles and miles of sandy beaches where visitors will also find the protected black oyster catchers.  On my visit I really enjoyed sitting on the beach at low tide watching the oyster catchers taking mussels off the rocks and opening them up with their strong beaks.  The Damselfly actually commented how she has to pay a fortune for a meal like that while they seem to get them off the rocks with very little effort. 

Dana Bay has two main beaches which was quite clearly named using as little imagination as possible.  First Beach and Second Beach.  First Beach, seemingly very popular with fishermen, is closest to Mossel Bay and stretches from the end of the rocky coast line westwards.  To me Second beach is the "romantic beach" where you can take a long quiet walk with your loved one and see very few people the further you move away from the residential area.

Mossel Bay Shell Museum

The Mossel Bay Shell Museum forms part of the Dias Museum Complex and is housed in the old Shirley Building built in 1902.  Some people may think that it could be a bit of a boring spot, but museum houses a fantastic collection of shells from all over the world along with shell related artifacts and things like whale bones.  The kids probably enjoyed this more than some of the other places have have taken them to in the past.

The museum also contains a number of aquariums with different fish and marine life in them.  Here the Damselfly and Chaos Boy has a look at an octopus in one of the tanks while the tank with Nemo the Clown Fish was also a hit.

Drama Princess had more interest in the interactive tank at the counter though.  A staff member of the museum is always on hand to point out all the interesting bits and pieces in the tank and kids are encouraged to touch and feel.

Dias Museum Complex

The first European to set foot in what in now South Africa was Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias.  He inadvertently rounded the Cape in a storm and the first went ashore in present day Mossel Bay in 1488.  Due to this Mossel Bay has a close association with Dias and this is where visitors will find the Diaz Museum Complex.  The complex is made up of different components, one of them a statue of Dias himself looking out to sea.

One of the best known attractions in Mossel Bay also makes part of the Dias Museum Complex and this is the Post Office Tree.  In 1500 on a return voyage from the East, Pedro de Ataide left an important letter in a boot hanging from a tree, probably the old Milkwood Tree on the site.  The letter was found in 1501 by another ship heading to India  and so the first "post office" in South Africa started.  Sailors usually heading East started leaving letters to loved ones in the tree for ships going home to take along. 

Walking from the tree down towards the sea the fresh water fountain Aguanda de Sao Bras (Watering Point of St Blaze) can be seen.  The fountain was first documented in 1512 and was where the ships took on fresh water.  It is said that the fountain has never been dry and still runs today.  These days fresh water doesn't get sourced there anymore, but I did notice that the pond is now home to a couple of ducks.

The biggest attraction at the complex is the life sized replica of Dias' caravel.  The replica was built and sailed from Portugal to Mossel Bay in 1988 to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the arrival of Dias.  Visitors to the museum can actually get onto the boat to have a closer look.  The building it is housed in was originally built in 1901 as a grain mill and was also later used as a saw mill. 

Other than the replica of Dias' boat, the museum also houses a very good collection of paintings, artifacts and information about early explorers.  The one room contains a exhibit with life sized figures representing the Portuguese and indigenous Khoisan people meeting and interacting on the beach.  This was quite a hit with the kids as it included the sounds of the Khoisan people's bells and music along with the trumpets of the Portuguese.