(or Annie & Sheila “do” South Africa…….).
Monday 22 January 2007
Left cold, grey. miserable Heathrow and flew Virgin to Cape Town – what a relief to escape soggy weather, don’t mind cold but the “sog” – no thank you! Arrived next day in Cape Town to be met by Sheila’s friends, Jenny & Ian. They have a house about an hour’s drive out of CT in the Reibeek Valley in Swartland (which means black country) . Weird driving through places with names such as Malmesbury – and it is hot hot hot….. Their house is ab fab (photos attached) with a pool, plenty of wine and beer, we felt like we had arrived in heaven….. That takes care of Monday AND Tuesday.
Photos:
* Jenny's and Ian's House
* The Pool !!
* More of the Pool !!
* View of Jenny's & Ian's Garden
Temperatures soared today to over +46 degrees (yes, I kid you not!) and we slowly (or should I say quickly) wilted. Eating lots of fruit and salads (aren’t we good?) and the white wine and cold beer just slips down beautifully. But of course we can’t waste any time so headed off for the wineries (all air conditioned of course which helps) sampling as we went.
Interestingly we had an olive oil tasting which sounds revolting but was actually really informative, I may not know my wines yet, but I can tell you whether you are using cheap olive oil or not….Smell of mown hay has a lot to do with it! Had a look around Reibeek Wes and of course found some shops. Luckily for me Sheila and Jenny love to shop, (not sure about Ian???) so by Day 3 we had already purchased many items which we couldn’t resist. Just been told that I can take home 23k not 20k as originally thought so I am a happy bunny. Ended the day with a swim, supper on the stoep (verandah) and bucket loads of wine.
Photos:
* Olive Oil Tasting
* Jenny & Sheila at our first winery
Thursday 25 January
An early start today as we are off to the Cape of Good Hope, having done Cape Horn a month ago it was a MUST! Ooooh, listen to me…..The temp again soaring to over 40 so to head towards the coast was a good plan as it would be cooler and breezier there. Fantastic countryside, vast plains mainly dry and brown now, good roads, cheap petrol and not much traffic. Interestingly they drive on the same side as the UK. Stopped at some truly beautiful spots along the way, through Simons Town where the SA Navy is based until we got to Boulders Bay where we stopped to meet some Jackass Penguins (yes, I know, more b…. penguins but these were really cute and quite small compared with the Antarctic version). Smell the same though!
Reached the Cape, passing troops of baboons, ostrich and the odd tourist or two. What I didn’t realise was that the Cape of Good Hope is not as far south as Cape Point so no point in getting a t-shirt as none had Cape of GH on (as did Cape Horn…)
Arrived home 12 hours after leaving, absolutely exhausted to find that we had limp dick syndrome which is what happens when the candles in the candlesticks get so hot indoors, well they flop over – need I saw more about how hot it is here?
Photos:
* Jackass Penguin
* Another Jackass Penguin
* A baboon in the mist!
* At the Cape of Good Hope
* Stunning scenery at Hout Bay
* At the end of a 12 hour day!
Garden centre day today with a man called Jack. Jen and Ian managed to buy lots of exotic plants for their ever-expanding garden. They have only been here a few months and after having the pool put in, are now working on creating a garden. In this heat you can imagine how long it takes to water everything. Oh dear, I seem to be saying “in this heat” rather a lot – still it makes a change from “so damned cold” I suppose!
Now typing this up on the stoep and looking forward to a quick dip before we have a braai (BBQ - am picking up the lingo slowly) and tomorrow we head off for Tsitsikamma National Park for the weekend.
Photos:
* At the garden centre!
* Jen and Ian and their braai
Saturday 27 January
Up at the ungodly hour of 4.30am for a very long drive through Paarl, Worcester, Robertson, Swellendam, Heidelberg, Mossel Bay, George, Knysna and finally arriving at Tsitsikamma Lodge after an 8 hour drive. Needless to say Ian was pretty tired but a swim and a kip put him back in order whilst the girls went for a wander along the nature trail surrounding the lodge (not too adventurous as snakes abound here we were told and Sheila has a particular aversion to them) before returning for another braai outside our beautiful wooden lodge and then bed, listening to the stridulation of crickets, before falling asleep. No roar of lions yet……
One interesting (maybe) fact was that Paarl was the town where Nelson Mandela took his final steps to freedom when he left Drakenstein Prison on the 11 February 1990 – not Robben Island where I thought he was for the whole of his imprisonment.
Birders please note: I saw a Hadeda Ibis (so called cos it goes haa-haa-haa-de-dah when flying from or to its nest so there!), White Stork and Helmeted Guineafowl along with various sunbirds and bee-eaters too quick for either Ian or I to identify…
Photos:
* Tsitsikamma Lodge 01
* Tsitsikamma Lodge 02
Up early again for leisurely drive back through George to drop in on friends of Jenny and Ian for lunch. Tsitsikamma was wonderful, very reasonably priced and quiet – wish we had had another day to explore but hey, this is a big country and so little time, so much to see – you know how it goes…… Before reaching George we stopped at Storm River Mouth, about 50k from Plettenberg Bay where the Storm River (surprise surprise!) surges through a gorge to battle with the surf. Excellent place, would love to bring Doug back here as there is plenty of walks and birds.
Met Farni & Chrisma for a lovely lunch at their home in Great Brak River – all the Afrikaners we have met so far have been extremely hospitable.
On the drive back we saw (what we think) was an injured caracal (pretty rare here now I’m told) which had obviously been hit by a speeding car – very upsetting to see and know that we couldn’t do anything to help it. Should mention that speeding seems to be a major sport here - although the main roads are very good - the driving isn’t! Sheila was particularly upset as she is a great cat-lover.
Photos:
* Hadeda Ibis
* Definitely not for swimming!
* Storm River
Sat around all morning reading and resting, temp down to 31 today! In the afternoon we headed out for Tulbach to the wineries (again) for more tastings and of course to buy some. We keep buying to bring home but somehow it always ends up getting drunk and we have to go to (yet another) to sample some more to bring home. I know you are all sad to hear this news!!! This evening Jenny cooked Bobotie, a traditional Cape curried mince dish topped with a sort of savoury custard, well that’s what it looked like to me – Miss Veggie!
Photos:
* Winery in Tulbach
* Sunburnt landscape
Up early again today for a drive to Worcester so Sheila and I could visit the Fairy Glen Safari Game Reserve. Naff name, great place. Not so hot today and for the first time we actually felt chilly in our t-shirts and shorts but it warmed up as the day progressed. Started with breakfast at the Reserve where we met our game warden (Deon, and no, no relation to Dion and the Belmonts for those old enough to remember…). Saw rhino, giraffe, lions, wildebeest (also called gnu), zebra, eland, springbok to name some. Lunch and then headed home – Jenny and Ian spent most of the day in Worcester.
Drove home through Bains Kloof Pass (kloof meaning gorge in Afrikaans) the road being built a long time ago (can’t remember the date sorry) by a Scot called Bains (well I never…) and at the top there was just the most amazing view – you could see for miles and miles – absolutely stunning.
Photos:
* Dion, our Game Warden
* Giraffe
* Up close and personal (bit close for comfort?)
* Sneaking up behind him!
* Zebras and wildebeest
* View of the Reserve
Up and off again around 9.30 to head for the beach – hurrah – passing through Moorreesburg on the way to Langebaan. Temp up in the mid 30s today and I finally managed to get my dip in the Atlantic Ocean and damned cold it was too! My tum hasn’t been right for a few days now (typical, probably too much sparkling wine but who knows…) but the others had what looked to be a fab seafood lunch at a restaurant called The Driftwood, situated right on the beach. I was extremely envious.
Drove back through the West Coast National Park which was interesting – another place I definitely want to bring Doug to. An amazing amount of birds, however I never realised how hard it is to try and remember what they look like and then look them up when you get the chance. Needless to say I don’t really know what I saw, but there was a hell of a lot of them! We also saw a big colony of dassies (hyraxes to give them their proper name) which look like outsized fluffy guinea pigs.
Now is probably the time to mention that Sheila is totally freaked out by snakes, or even the thought of them, so when the scream went out, we knew what she had found! Never did identify it but I got a good photo of it retreating swiftly from her!!!
Birders: Saw a cape (what else of course) Francolin, African Fish Eagle, Pied Crow, Red-Winged Starling and many more including one sitting by the road that, even with the book, we could not identify! Have to admit that Ian helped out a great deal here.
I stayed home that evening whilst others went to Moorreesburg for dinner.
Photos:
* Langebaan Beach
* Look closely to see Sheila's mystery snake!!
* Your mission, should you choose to accept, is to identify this bird!
Today we headed off for Paarl and Franschhoek, temp +31. Paarl seems to be a prosperous farming town with coloured townships around it bearing American names such as Chicago and New Orleans!! We were going to specifically visit the Taal Monument which is a modern structure built as a memorial to the Afrikaans language –strange to have a monument for a living language but there you are!
This is also the place Sheila and I finally got to a Mr Price – shop extraordinaire – full of wonderful goodies that only truly devoted shopaholics would appreciate. Spent almost as much time here as we did at the Monument which says a lot for us I guess…
Heading through the wineries we moved on to Franschhoek, this place has a very French feel to it probably as Huguenots settled here to escape persecution around the 1700s. Nice shops, salmon for lunch and then on a huge shopping mall whose name escapes me finally ending up back home totally exhausted. Poor Ian is still driving and WE are exhausted…..
Photos:
* Taal Monument
* Stunning views from the Taal Monument
* Me, on a hot rock!
* More of the Taal Monument
* Bird of Paradise and other flora
Cape Town today and Table Mountain all being well, weather-wise. As it turned out the weather was perfect, so Sheila and I girded our loins and headed for the cable car, neither of us much looking forward to it but determined to get to the top as it was a trip that had to be done! NOT taking in the view on the way up we made it, frantically waving at everything we thought might be a webcam in the hope that Bob and Doug would see us (much to the amusement of passers-by) Of course it was stunning, and a much larger area than we had anticipated, spent a happy hour wandering around.
Back on the ground we headed for the Victoria and Alfred (not sure who Alfred was, I thought it should have been Victoria & Albert but there you go) a redeveloped Victorian dockland area, which reminded me of Darling Harbour in Sydney. The others lunched on Ostrich pancakes and then we headed for the Ice Bar in the hope of getting a cold shot of vodka! Wrong, we got fleecy hooded blankets and spent a while freezing inside a bar which wasn’t open but did have some nice ice sculptures, including bar stools and tables!
Photos:
* Table Mountain from below
* View from top of Table Mountain 01
* View from top of Table Mountain (including Robben Island) 02
* Eagerly awaiting ostrich pancakes!
* In the Ice House 01
* In the Ice House 02
Lie in and a wander down to the local market in Reibeek Wes in the morning. Jenny and Ian off to Cape Town for a Burns Night dinner so Sheila and I were left to our own devices and basically we worked out that we are a pair of slugs! Spent all day lying around swimming, drinking and reading. Ditto Sunday – it was great. Ian worked out that we had travelled approximately 3000km in the time we had been with them, seen an awful lot of the Western and Eastern Cape, for which we both thank him profusely!
No photos – lying around doing nothing all weekend……
Monday 5 February
Our last full day so we headed back into Cape Town for last minute shopping and sight-seeing. Had a wonderful crayfish lunch (yes, tum better now) washed down with beautiful Sauvignon Blanc. We have sampled so many wines since we have been here, especially the sparkling, all being very reasonably priced and mostly delicious. Drove along Big Bay and ogled swanky houses, watched paragliders and windsurfers ending up in Woolworths to buy something for supper. Woolworths I hear you shriek - well here it is the equivalent to M&S…..
Photos:
* Table Mountain from Big Bay
* Interesting advert on van!
* Sea Lion in Cape Town Harbour
* Cape Town Harbour 01
* Cape Town Harbour 02
* A tablecloth on Table Mountain 01
* A tablecloth on Table Mountain 02
Our flight leaves at 10.45 this evening so we lazed around the pool and finally managed to squeeze everything into the suitcases, worrying that there was no way it was going to be under 23kg (as it turned out they were both exactly 22.5kg how was that for superior shopping???)
There is a lot I have missed out of these ramblings but I guess you will get the gist of our trip which was great-a special thanks to Jenny and Ian for putting us up (or putting up with us…)
Photo:
* Looking forward to the next trip....
Thanks for being a great (and easy) travelling mate Sheila xxxxxx
1 comment:
I agree with you about South Africa being a bit hot in January/February (December is slighly cooler but it's too packed). Winter's good for going to the Kruger. Hope you had a good flight from South Africa.
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