Before You Come — 431 Kusweg, Tergniet, Mossel Bay

If you are coming from abroad

A few things that are obvious here and not anywhere else.

The seasons are the other way around

December and January are the middle of our summer, not our winter. They are also the South African school holidays, which is why they are the busiest and most expensive weeks of the year, and why the minimum stay is seven nights.

The weather itself is famously kind: Mossel Bay, twenty minutes away, is widely credited — via the 1992 Guinness Book of Records — with the second mildest all-year climate in the world after Hawaii — rarely under 10°C in winter, rarely over 28°C in summer. There is no month here that punishes a visitor.

You will need a car

There is no useful public transport here. Hire a car at George Airport, just over twenty minutes away. We drive on the left. The roads along this coast are good, the drive from the airport is easy — and the December traffic that clogs the holiday towns never reaches Kusweg.

Power cuts, and why they will not affect you

You may have read about South African load-shedding — scheduled national power cuts. The house runs on solar backup, so your holiday is not planned around a timetable.

The house is looked after at night too

The house has an alarm linked to armed response, and security cameras outside. Between that, the neighbours who live here all year and the road with people on it at both ends of the day, this is a place families sleep with the windows open in summer.

Arriving is simple

A host welcomes you at the house and shows you around — no key safes, no hunting for a lockbox in the dark. Arrival times are flexible: tell us when you land and we arrange around it, late landings included.

This part of the country is malaria-free

The Western Cape has no malaria. You can visit the game reserve up the road with small children and no tablets.

The practical bits

Currency is the South African Rand (ZAR)
Tipping is around 10% in restaurants
English is spoken everywhere; Afrikaans is the local first language
Time zone is UTC+2, all year — no daylight saving
Tap water is safe to drink
Plugs are the South African three-pin type — bring an adapter

Getting here

George Airport (GRJ) — 26 km, about 20 minutes. Direct flights from Cape Town and Johannesburg.
Cape Town — 404 km, about 4½ hours by road along the N2.
Mossel Bay — 22 km, about 20 minutes.

Early light along the beach at Tergniet, seen from the air above Kusweg

Life on Kusweg

A road with just enough going on.

Kusweg runs along the front, and it strikes a balance most beach roads get wrong. It is not a thoroughfare — nobody is using it to get anywhere. But it is not deserted either.

From first light there are runners on it, people walking dogs, someone heading down for a swim before work. In the evening it fills up again for the hour before dark. You can walk the road or drop onto the sand and walk that instead — either way, you are never the only one out.

That matters when you are far from home. The neighbours live here all year, the road has people on it at both ends of the day, and someone will notice you and say good morning. This is a street that is looked after, not one where you are on your own.

First and last light

The morning walk, and the evening one.

This stretch faces south-east across the bay, so you get the sunrise coming up over the water — early enough in summer that you will catch one whether you plan to or not.

Evenings are the other one. The light goes long and gold along the beach, the surf drops, and the whole village seems to end up outside. Walk far enough in either direction and you have the sand to yourself.

The sun coming up over the water at Tergniet

Before you come.