Shelly Beach
The next Stage Of our Durban trip. The start is in the Durban Holiday 2016 post
Shelly Beach. We last stayed there in 1991. Of course, the are has changed massively. A big new mall and general expansion were very visible. One place we did recognise, which doesn’t appear to have changed in all this time, was the bridge and the estuary at St Michaels Beach. This is still one of the best beaches on the coast , in my opinion. We stayed in the holiday flats visible in the picture above in 1991. The picture above, with its night view below, are taken from a friend’s veranda. I could live with this view!
One welcome addition to the beach is the C Bali restaurant. They serve great seafood, including an excellent fish potje.
Oribi Gorge
For all the time I lived on the kwaZulu-Natal coast , Oribi Gorge is one place I never visited. Staying at Shelley Beach afforded us an opportunity to go there.
The road to the gorge, inland of the coast, climbs and descends and twists and turns through some hilly country, giving a hint about what’s to come. Pulling into the Leopard Rock Lookout Chalets you are presented with the sight of the gorge, literally dropping off the cliff below the restaurant.
The Oribi Gorge. Where all the adventure fun happens. Here’s where you get to bungee jump, cross wire bridges or look over the edge of overhanging rocks, like Leopard Rock.Photos from our Durban Trip, 2016. 
The Oribi Gorge. Where all the adventure fun happens. Here’s where you get to bungee jump, cross wire bridges or look over the edge of overhanging rocks, like Leopard Rock.Photos from our Durban Trip, 2016. 
The Oribi Gorge. Where all the adventure fun happens. Here’s where you get to bungee jump, cross wire bridges or look over the edge of overhanging rocks, like Leopard Rock.Photos from our Durban Trip, 2016. 
The Oribi Gorge. Where all the adventure fun happens. Here’s where you get to bungee jump, cross wire bridges or look over the edge of overhanging rocks, like Leopard Rock.Photos from our Durban Trip, 2016. 
The Oribi Gorge. Where all the adventure fun happens. Here’s where you get to bungee jump, cross wire bridges or look over the edge of overhanging rocks, like Leopard Rock.Photos from our Durban Trip, 2016. 
The Oribi Gorge. Where all the adventure fun happens. Here’s where you get to bungee jump, cross wire bridges or look over the edge of overhanging rocks, like Leopard Rock.Photos from our Durban Trip, 2016. 
The Oribi Gorge as seen from the Leopard Rock Lookout Chalets restaurant, on a very hazy day.Photos from our Durban Trip, 2016. 
The Oribi Gorge as seen from the Leopard Rock Lookout Chalets restaurant, on a very hazy day.Photos from our Durban Trip, 2016. 
The Oribi Gorge. Where all the adventure fun happens. Here’s where you get to bungee jump, cross wire bridges or look over the edge of overhanging rocks, like Leopard Rock.Photos from our Durban Trip, 2016. 
The Oribi Gorge as seen from the Leopard Rock Lookout Chalets restaurant, on a very hazy day.Photos from our Durban Trip, 2016. 
The Oribi Gorge as seen from the Leopard Rock Lookout Chalets restaurant, on a very hazy day.Photos from our Durban Trip, 2016. 
The Oribi Gorge. Where all the adventure fun happens. Here’s where you get to bungee jump, cross wire bridges or look over the edge of overhanging rocks, like Leopard Rock.Photos from our Durban Trip, 2016.
A bit of refreshment at the chalets and we headed off to the exciting part of the gorge at the Oribi Guest Farm – the bungee jumping and swing, and the Leopard Rock itself. An extremely vertigo inducing spot, this is a great place for the more adventurous. We were content to have a look and take some photos. Sadly everyone else seemed to be doing the same so we had no exciting pictures of people jumping off the cliff.
The Oribi Gorge area would be a great place to stop for a few days and just enjoy the countryside. Starting from Shelly Beach our little trip only took a few hours so it would be a reasonable day trip, though a long one from Durban.
Back to Durban via Ramsgate – The Blue Lagoon & Old Memories
Moving on, with a stop for a pleasant late sea food lunch at the Blue Lagoon at Ramsgate, we headed back to Durban.
As a youngster on holiday, and later at university, Scottburgh and Park Rynie were places I frequently visited. We frequently took family holidays in a little cottage which an aunt had inherited from my grandfather. We took a detour past the old cottage. It’s still there, though much changed. That did bring back back memories of steam trains passing by and the sea right there. Driving up the old road through Umkomaas was interesting with all of the development.
Durban Beach and Umhlanga
Next day saw us packing up to move to Umhlanga. Finally we had a sunny day so went there via a couple of hours on Durban’s North Beach, much changed for the World Cup Rugby in 2010, from what I recalled. Next instalment – Umhlanga for a week.
Hairy 1 Travels 
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