George Things to Do

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If you are seeking a family-friendly beach, look no further than beautiful Buffels Bay!

It is probably a long time since a buffalo was last sighted in Buffalo Bay, to give it its English name. Nonetheless, it is a great place for kids as it is a vast expanse of golden beach punctuated by rocky outcrops. They have endless space to run riot and explore, and there is a cafe which provides limited eating and ablution facilities.

As with all of the Cape beaches, the water is bloody cold, but that's unlikely to deter them! As the beach is long and straight, it is fairly exposed, and wouldn't be the best beach option under windy conditions - otherwise, it's nigh on perfect!

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Unlike the other reviews for this magical steam train (for the George-Knysna route), we did a return trip between George and Mossel Bay in mid 2008. The weather was idyllic, the train and destination were wonderful, and overall it was one of the most perfect family outings we've ever done.

The rolling stock is superb and the carriages are classic South African Railways vintage, complete with hartebeest SAR logos on the windows and leather seats upholstered to promote straight spines rather than comfort! We also found the bar so cheap that the prices could almost have been considered as being vintage!

The journey takes about 2 hours each way and rail line hugs the cost for most of the route. The scenery is postcard picturesque, especially at the river crossings, where the bridges span beautiful gorges, and one of the unexpected bonuses was to spot whales just offshore.

The station at Mossel Bay is literally on the waterfront if you feel like chilling out on the lovely sandy beach. However, the more interesting thing to do is to take the footpath up to the Mossel Bay museum (only a few hundred metres). This has a small but interesting range of exhibits, including a reconstruction of Bartholomeo Diaz's ship and the first 'post tree' in South Africa, where early explorers and settlers would leave mail to be collected by the next party coming through (there is an admission fee, but it's very little). There is also a partial skeleton of a whale laid out on the lawn, which kids found fascinating, and a small aquarium - not outstanding, but good for keeping little people occupied and a good refuge on a wet day. There are also a couple of good cafes and restaurants within easy walking distance of the station.

The Choo-Tjoe leaves from the George Transport Museum, which is well worth spending some time looking around (see my travel tip)

Update (December 2011): Sadly the Choo-Tjoe service has been suspended until further notice - a real touristic tragedy!

One of the smallest and most hidden beautiful bays on the Garden Route. Traveling along the N2 National Road it is 3km off the N2 and situated between George and Wilderness. Victoria Bay, a cove enclosed by cliffs.

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The Cape Floral Kingdom is one of the richest, smallest and most threatened floral kingdoms on Earth.

The Garden Route Botanical Garden therefore, has a vital role to play nationally and globally in the conservation and study of what is arguably proving to be a rich diversity of plant life in this area. In addition the garden's position at the heart of the Garden Route, an area of the country named after its fantastic flora and famous worldwide for the beauty of its natural environment, makes it ideally suited to this vital role

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When you go on the Outiniqua Tjoe Tjoe or the power van, you have to go through the museum to board. It houses a variety of steam locomotives including a narrow gauge, the Emil Kessler (Johannesburg’s first steam locomotive), the impressive GL Garrett together with carriages such as a coach from the Royal Train of 1947, Paul Kruger’s coach and private saloons. Various models of steam locomotives, a brilliant collection of steam locomotive number plates, makers plates, a model train room, road motor vehicles and a private vintage car selection complete the impressive display

Opening hours: 1 September to 30 April (Summer season): Daily excluding Sundays from 08h00 to 17h00. 1 May to 31 August (Off season): Monday to Friday from 08h00 to 16h00 and on Saturday from 08h00 to 14h00. (Closed on Sundays).

I was lucky they had an art exhibition at the Masonic hall, so I could go inside and see what it looked like. the are exhibition was of local artist and extremely high quality stuff was on sale there.

I was not able to visit as they are currently working on the museum. Apparantly what one sees in the George museum today has grown from the private collections of one man, Charles Sayers. He was the owner and long-time editor of the George & Knysna Herald, a newspaper established by his parents in 1881. Sayers collected and preserved all aspects of his hometown's history, with a specialist interest in old mechanical musical instruments and typewriters which today form the nucleus of the museum's important collections.

In 1967 he opened his "Mini Museum" to the public, housed in a single room adjoining a café in Courtenay Street. The people loved it and much encouraged by local authorities he moved to the original George Town House – the administrative building next to the market square which dated back to 1847. By now the Sayers Museum had attracted the attention of officialdom and barely six months after the move it attained provincial museum status as a fully-fledged cultural history museum for the region, with indigenous timber and its allied industries as its main theme. The growing popularity led to another move, this time to the building, which had been the original drostdy (magistrate’s residence and office) in the young town. The original "Mini Museum" has been re-created within the present George Museum.

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The outenique power van is a fun way of exploring the railway line between George and Oudtshoorn. The building of the railway line began in December 1908 from the George side and in 1911 from the Oudtshoorn side. The track was blasted out of the rock, and seven tunnels were excavated. At one stage some 2 500 workers were employed. During April 1913 this most scenic railway line was completed. Sir David de Villiers Graaff performed the official opening on 6 August 1913. The line was built at the enormous cost of £465 000.