Travelling up to the Harmonic Resonance party to help promote my mums event The Little Green Gathering , we discovered many hidden treasures amongst the otherwise isolatingly spacious and overgrown landscapes of the Garden Route.

Wild Sprit lodge& backpackers (photograph by Julan Briant)

Friday Night:

After a long-winded and rather dramatic 6-hour ride in the dark and rain, we arrive at our friend's off-the-grid home, greeted mercifully by a cup of Organic hot cocoa. This is the kind of house where you take a flashlight to the loo and have to stand in a certain place in the lounge to receive any morsel of cellular phone reception. I slept like a baby.

Saturday:

We stop off at Global Village, a lovely little crafty/cafe spot I remember clearly from my childhood. We used to live in Plett once upon a time - those were the days of climbing trees all day and laughing at the Vervet monkeys...

Now off we go to the party. I admit I am over trance parties, but this is a different species completely to the kind you find in the Cape. At least 40 minutes off the beaten track, we are surrounded by breath-taking beauty and while numbers are low the trance music playing is rather gentle and relaxing.

Sunday:

We visit eco-village Kathumba on our way out to pick up an old tippee my mum wants to use for her kids area, heading on to the Wild Spirit backpackers to meet up with old friends. A stunning place, I swear to myself I shall return again soon.

Wild Spirit Lodge: This awesome eco-toilet was apparently purchased at Penny Pinchers! (photograph by Julan Briant)

Monday:

Did I mention going anywhere around here takes ages? Fortunately The Heath offers a welcome stop off on the N2. I buy myself some yum natural bath salts at the curio store and we get back on the highway, headed for a child's birthday party. We arrive to find the parents immersed in a conversation about ideal community living - I opt to play with the kids and eat carrot cake instead.

Tuesday:

Seeing as winter is looming, mum wants herself a ceramic fireplace, so we hit the beaten track in the search of the Hot Art studio .
Before heading home we enjoy a delicious healthy open sandwich at The Venus Ear Cafe, as suggested by a friend. Goodbye Garden Route!

Hot Art: beautiful ceremic fireplaces (photograph by Julan Briant)

Other cool events happening up the Garden Route at the moment:

• Eden Walking Festival
• Sedgefields Slow Festival