Nestled away in the Langeberg mountain range you find a beautiful and relaxing natural spring. Not much known about the spring’s history but due to the amount of bushman paintings in the greater area it’s assumed they have been known about for a long time. The best dated history comes from the graffitied walls, one dating back to 1812 though unfortunately today the caves are covered in spray paint.
The spring is a true wonder, rich in natural minerals and near perfect PH, the water always flows consistently no matter whether there is a drought or flood. When it reaches the surface it’s 43°C, though the water is being taken to different pools and naturally cooling down on the way. It’s quite convenient being able to find your own perfect pool inside, outside or even at your own back door.
The facilities are very diverse and can cater for all sort of needs, the area itself has day visitor facilities where you can swim all day, braai and picnic on the lawns. There are also self-catering units, timeshares and hotel rooms. Accompanied with a restaurant, shop, coffee lounge and a stunning bar by the main pool giving you no excuse to not sip a cocktail whilst relaxing.
There are many other things to do to entertain yourself whilst taking a break from the pools, there is a water slide, spa, putt-putt course and a cave hiking trail on-site. The cave hike is really an eye opener, it is rather a steep climb consisting of many man-made stairs, and sometimes a bit of a scary drop off view, and the caves themselves were not quite what you would expect.
At first I was really disgusted and horrified as it is spray painted and graffitied all over with names and dates, thinking to myself how could people do this and what if there was real rock art vandalised, but I look back now and I realised that some of these are relatively old and maybe that this is history in the making already. I’m still not sure on my view yet of what I saw, but it was new and unusual and gave me a different perspective, which is maybe why we go on holiday in the first place.
Montagu, a quaint town is only a short drive or if you are feeling braver and more energetic, there is a walk from Avalon springs to the town. Montagu is filled with small antique shops, market and local restaurants, we stopped at the mystic-tin and had a wonderful meal including kudu carpaccio and impala steak that was so good we made a second stop later that week. A bit further away near Robertson is Four Cousins wine tasting, and many other wine tasting places are in the area too.
Avalon springs has a lot to offer, it is a place where a week is not hard to fill with a combination of relaxing and different activities.
