A scrap of balloon has found its way across the Atlantic ocean from Martinsville, Virginia, USA to Plettenberg Bay, South Africa and inevitably found its way into the record books as the balloon that travelled the furthest in a geography competition held for the students of Collinsville Primary school. 281 helium balloons were launched with the nearest rival for the title travelling 144 miles, so the delighted 5 year old winner easily grabbed the attention.

The luggage-tag style attachment read, “We found the remnants of your balloon on the lawn of our hotel here in South Africa. What a trip the balloon took. We live in Cape Town and were vacationing here.” What a great place to vacation!
Having been released on the 15th September, the balloon seemed to make good progress with students at the school speculating that gentle Bermuda trade winds blew the balloon over the Atlantic, with another theory being that somehow the balloon found its way into the luggage compartment of an airplane!

I hope that the competition will have piqued a number of the students interest in visiting South Africa when they are old enough, because I am sure that Plettenburg Bay will more than live up to its billing. Long, sandy beaches with warm water lapping its edges, Plettenburg Bay lies on the Garden Route and is a must-visit destination on your travels.

Jewel of the Garden Route, Plettenberg Bay has a plethora of lagoons and estuaries as well as golden sand beaches, towering indigenous forests and unpolluted rivers. Explore, watch or just laze - the choice is yours.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 19th, 2006 at 1:05 pm and is filed under Adventure, Garden Route. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.