If you live in PE, are visiting for the summer holidays or are thinking of visiting Nelson Mandela Bay, this one is for you. The cosmic gods of adventure have aligned and bestowed upon us lucky friendly city people a whopping 5 incredible brand new family activities to delight and entertain us all.
So round up your kids and get ready for a holiday full of fun, new things to do for the whole family!
One of PE’s hottest new adventure activities takes place on two wheels and it is sure to delight kids, teens, parents, grandparents and everyone in between. Wild X Adventures’ Segway Tours is located opposite Bayworld and there are several routes to choose from – East towards Shark Rock Pier and Something Good, West onto Kings Beach or inland up Happy Valley. We chose to do the beachfront tour to Something Good and then up into Happy Valley. None of us had ever ridden a Segway before and it was quite something to experience this silent, self-balancing scooter that you can command by subtly shifting your body weight. Most of us got the knack pretty quickly and as our convoy rolled past the pedestrians, we managed to turn every head with our wide smiles, happy hearts and impressive wheels. Segway Beachfront Tours gets six massive thumbs up from the Chasing the Rainbow team!
www.wildx.co.za / 066 004-0767 / Cnr Beach Rd & Brookes Hill Drive, Humewood, PE
Cost
From R300-R600 per person, depending on the tour, with a special rate of R250 for children.
Operating Hours
Every day – Summer 7am-7pm, Winter 8am-5pm
Port Elizabeth’s first indoor climbing centre recently opened in Baakens Valley and it is mountains of fun! Valley Crag’s warehouse is filled with brightly coloured man-made rock faces, caves and boulders and the atmosphere inside is electric. You can pair up and rope climb to the top, or attempt a bouldering course where you follow a series of lower routes with no safety harness. We did an introduction to ropes course which was highly entertaining and our boys are now thoroughly hooked on indoor climbing.
Valley Crag is a perfect activity for teenagers and kids from aged 7 up. It is fun, social and a great healthy workout at the same time. And don’t just leave it to the kids – give it a try yourself. It will bring back childhood memories of scampering up trees and boulders and even if climbing is not really your thing, belaying your kids is truly awesome (keeping the climbing line taught from the bottom to prevent them from falling while they clamber up the walls).
www.valleycrag.co.za / 082 576 4623 / 16 Lower Valley Road, Baakens Valley, PE
Fill out your online waiver on their website before visiting
Cost
An intro to ropes course is R150 per person, thereafter access is R60 per day + equipment rental of R50. There are lots of discounted monthly and bulk pass options on offer as well.
Operating Hours
Monday (12am – 9pm)
Tuesday – Friday (9am – 9pm)
Saturday (9am – 5pm)
Sundays & Public holidays (9am – 5pm)
We have often wondered about the process of making honey so were thrilled to hear of a brand new family beekeeping tour by the Apiarist Farm Shoppe in Colleen Glen. Although we were intrigued, we did not expect this to be one of the highlights of our family adventures. We absolutely loved this hands-on interactive experience – from donning sci-fi like full body suits with mesh veils, to puffing the bees with smoke, and removing and processing the honeycomb into sticky, sweet honey. It was terrifying to stand amongst the deafening buzz of swarming, angry bees trying to find their way into our suits to deliver a deadly sting, but we learned to trust our protective gear and carry on with the job regardless.
Owner, Xander, talked us through every step and made sure each one of us got to do each process and it was such a rewarding and interesting outing. The cherry on top was spinning our freshly harvested honeycombs to release the sweet golden syrup which gushed into a bucket below. And we got to take our sweet little bucket of self-harvested honey home with us.
www.apiarist.co.za / 079 868 9062 / 4 Murray Park, Draaifontein Rd, Colleen Glen, PE
Cost
A family bee tour takes 3 hours and costs R375 per person, half price for the 5th & 6th person (min 4, max 6 per group). This includes protective clothing, tour guides, soft drinks and honey
Operating hours
Family bee tours take place at 9am on Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays and 12noon on Mondays and Fridays. Bookings are essential.
The Apiarist Farm Shoppe is open Mondays-Fridays from 9am -3pm and Saturdays 8am – 12noon.
Note – The Apiarist Farm Shoppe will be closed from 21 December 2017 – 3 January 2018
PE boasts incredibly beautiful beaches and a perfect way to enjoy the more remote ones is with a fat bike – a mountain bike with big fat tyres that glide easily over sand and rocks. Red Cherry Adventures recently launched Fat Attack Beach Trails with packages to suit all levels of skill and fitness. Their most popular trails are a 15 km Lighthouse trail from Something Good along the beach to Cape Recife with a tour of the lighthouse and the 12 km Sacramento trail between Schoenmakerskop and Sardinia Bay. But if that sounds like a bit too much mileage, Red Cherry will customize a tour to suit your fitness level. We are not regular bike riders, but we found the fat bikes very easy to ride and loads of fun – riding along the beach with the salty breeze in your face really feels amazing!
www.fatattack.co.za / 041 581-5335 / team@redcherry.co.za
Cost
R500 per person includes bike rental, a guide, permits and concessions, drinks and a lighthouse tour.
Minimum 6 people.
Operating Hours
Every day, starting at 10am (tours last 2-3 hours). Bookings are essential
The Campanile (meaning bell tower in Italian) is a distinctive tall brown brick tower at the entrance to PE’s railway station and harbor. It was erected to commemorate the landing of the 1820 Settlers on the exact spot where they landed. It was opened way back in 1922, but has been completely renovated and reopened a few months ago. We loved climbing up the 204 narrow spiral steps, separated with landings full of interesting things – from beautiful artworks to interactive ghost bells (with a metal piano that lights up the corresponding bells above). We even spotted a little silver plaque on the 67th step that represents the start of Route 67. When you get to the top, there is a clear viewing deck overlooking the harbor and magnificent views through arched windows in every direction. The largest carillion of bells in the country chimes loudly on the hour – so try and time it to be at the top as the original 23 bells with a gross weight of over 16 tons belt out the time.
Strand Street, PE (Park in front of the PE Railway Station)
Cost
Entrance is free
Operating hours
Monday – Friday 9am to 4pm
Saturdays 9am to 3pm
Last year we introduced 5 New Things to Do in PE in December 2016, but this year’s list knocks the socks off that one. This makes me very excited to see what happens in our little neck of the woods in 2018!
Some of the activities are a bit pricey for a whole family, but we can guarantee first hand that the magic family time and memories are very much worth the spend. Also, its Christmas time – how about gifting experiences rather than things this year? The Segway tours and Valley Crag are both available with a Nelson Mandela Bay Pass, which is a great way to experience adventure activities at a discounted price.
Please remember to share your favourite things to do in PE in the comments section below – we would love to see what you get up to this summer.
And spread the word with your friends and family by sharing this post and tagging #sharethebay in your holiday photos. Let’s make sure these fabulous activities are well supported so we can carry on enjoying them and help create jobs by attracting lots of tourists to our beautiful Bay.
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