You stuff isnt that much safer on you or in your house !

Cape town is probably the only place you can get away without renting a car assuming you get some accommodation across the road form kite beach. Everywhere else you are going to need a car to get to the beach.

I usually traveled with a 12 & 8m however need a 6m for capetown. Will likely be kiting by yourself at a lot of the spots between Durban and CT. PE and Plett you will get some company.

Safety is not as bad as everyone makes out, but different world to Australia. Just plan ahead and confirm next nights accommodation before you leave. Its a long drive and the driving is shocking so take it slow. We used to do 10 days CT and back and have never driven that stretch without driving past at least one fatal accident.

Great kiting. Durban wind like QLD, CT like WA

If you going to Durban, try and stay at Ansteys beach Backpackers. It is across the road from the beach, and works well in a NE. You will most likely need an 11 to 14 m kite for that time of year.
try these two Kite shops for more info : ocean2air.co.za/
and www.facebook.com/TsunamiSports?fref=ts

Others have mostly covered it. Baz bus is great service for backpacking round in small hops, very convienient, but a bit slow as it does the milk run, up to nearly twice the time it takes to drive direct. Maybe not so useful for a kite holiday. There are also greyhound buses, freaked me out once they insisted on putting my kite gear under a different coach to the one they put me in, despite massive protest, but it got there and was delivered to my hands when I got off in a small town at 2am.

My 2c. . think carefully about how much you love kiting. There's enough to do in SA without it - just go, eat, drink, safari, dive, bungee, parachute, hike, abseil, whale watch, shark dive, party with backpackers every night and do it all with a carry on bag. Then kite at home. It's worth considering.

Otherwise just go on a kite holiday. Just go Cape Town, stay across from beach, kite. Then go Langebaan, stay on lagoon, kite. Then back CT. Kite. Go home. See rest of SA another time.

Wind is lighter the higher you go up the coast line. Durban has great winter kiting, Cape Town has the best summer. There are lots of great kiting spots between Plettenberg bay and Cape Town so I would do a road trip in that area. Water starts getting cold from that area so take a wetter. You should be able to get away with a 10 and a 7 but Cape Town will be mostly your 7. Wind starts early morning at builds up through the day until it's 35 knots.

Crime - don't walk around at night, don't leave stuff visible in your car, don't leave your key under a tyre or something like that.
Booze - cheap, take advantage of it
Foreigners - generally pretty friendly, but some of the cape town kiters are tired of the euros, much the same as the aussie kiters have become with tourists. short answer is that if you're polite and find out the local rules, nobody will hassle you. If you're arrogant, some of the kiters may feel nothing to throw a punch your way on shore (not that common but does happen)

Thanks for all the tips and advice guys, much appreciated and keep them coming!!

By the sounds of it I might leave the kitting to Cape Town and just tour and surf the east coast. But doubt I'll be able to separate myself from my gear while traveling the coast.

We flew into cape town, hired a car for a week for about $270 Aud, then just drove. Roads are great, average speed is bout 120-150 but there is a side lane you can go slower and keep out of the way if you want. We missioned from cape town to Jefferies bai for surfing in about 7 hrs straight.
Was safe everywhere we went. You just avoid walking anywhere after dark.
Knysna is a beautiful spot with a large flat waterway also, it's about half way to Jefferies bai and Durban is about another 5 hrs from Jefferies I think.

Luckynato said..

We flew into cape town, hired a car for a week for about $270 Aud, then just drove. Roads are great, average speed is bout 120-150 but there is a side lane you can go slower and keep out of the way if you want. We missioned from cape town to Jefferies bai for surfing in about 7 hrs straight.
Was safe everywhere we went. You just avoid walking anywhere after dark.
Knysna is a beautiful spot with a large flat waterway also, it's about half way to Jefferies bai and Durban is about another 5 hrs from Jefferies I think.

Knysna is great I lived and worked there 8 months, best time of my life, literally shed a tear leaving. Have some good mates there to this day.
Lagoon is poo for kiting though, too gusty. Better to drive 15 mins to buffels and kite in the open ocean.