Friday 20 February 2009
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Thursday 19 February 2009
Goodbye South Africa!
Well, the holiday's almost over. Blimey. I'm pretty sure I'll be back
though. South Africa is an amazing country and one that's surprised me
so much.
Everyone over here is really friendly and they almost always seem to
go about their business with a smile on their face. Even the guy who
waves a red flag for 8 hours a day to warn oncoming traffic about
roadworks, does his job in the most enthusiastic way possible.
It's a great vibe. I'm sad to be leaving if behind, but not that sad
as I will defintely be back x x x
Premier Lounge
We pre-booked a seat in the Premier Lounge at Cape Town departure
lounge before we left the UK. It's fab. Free drinks and snacks,
Internet, wifi, showers. Very swish.
We had a little bit of fun and games at check-in though. We were SO
over our baggage limit! It was comical. In total we were 8kg over and
Scotty definitely didn't get away with taking his 3ft giraffe on the
plane under his arm! Haha, and my rock sculpture definitely could be
classed as a weapon, so that couldn't go as hand luggage.
But the check in lady was really nice and helped us jiggle things
around to somehow get us under. I have no idea what she did but we
managed it and didn't have to pay by excess. Phew!
Anyway, we're through all the checks and just chilling out. Gonna do
some shopping in a bit. Need to stock up on Amarula :)
Top of the mountain
It's the last day so I wanted to get one last view from that mountain.
After a cloudy start the skies cleared and I got a great view at the
top of Table Mountain.
In a minute we're off to the airport and our adventure will almost be
over.
This time tomorrow I'll be home! Crikey.
Up the mountain, one last time
The skies have cleared, so while Scotty and V enjoy a steak, I'm heading back up the mountain one last time to see that view. Love it.
Last day
We're just off for a quick explore around Llandudno before having a late lunch x
Wednesday 18 February 2009
Tuesday 17 February 2009
Gorgeous
The sunset tonight in Cape Town was just lovely.
After staying to watch the sun disappear below the horizon, we left to
meet up with Scott's cousins for dinner. Kim, Jason and his girlfriend
Katie were all really nice. We went to a sushi restaurant in a bit of
Cape Town we hadn't been to before and had a great meal for a total of
about £30. Bargain.
The wine tasting and cheese eating this morning was really good, but
drinking wine before lunchtime is a really bad idea! I think I was
starting to feel the after effects by late afternoon. I bought three
bottles at the estate (a riesling, a rosè and a sweet wine) and I look
forward to drinking them when I get home.
Cape Town Sunset
We're sat on the lion's rump, watching the sunset. There are lots of people up here with wine and picnics. Top tip if you cone to Cape Town: watch the sunset from here with take away chips and some nice plonk.
Paarl Monument
We stopped here on our way to Fairview vineyard. The view is amazing, you can see the entire valley and in the distance, Cape Town and Table Mountain.
Tasty
We're at Nederberg tasting wines. Just done the tour (it's like a massive big wine factory) and now we're tasting the different wines. Rather stupidly, the tour lady had gone off for lunch and left us with a whole bottle of sweet wine. Haha, foooool!!!!!
Monday 16 February 2009
Road tripping
After leaving Cape Town last week via the very scenic Route 62, today
we drove the 500km return journey from Knysna along the Garden Route,
which is basically just the N2 national road.
The mountains weren't quite as spectacular today, but they were still
stunning and beautiful on their own distinct way. I really do love
driving long distances across country like this.
The best part of the journey was towards the end when we negotiated
Sir Lowry's pass to be greeted by the greater Cape Town area and the
whole of False Bay stretching out in the distance just as the sun was
getting low in the sky. Beautiful.
Tomorrow we're off for some wine tasting :D
Nice Knysna
Taken this morning from a viewpoint near a golf course. In the
distance you can see the Knysna heads.
Sunday 15 February 2009
The luxury
After checking in to the Waterfront Lodge we headed to Swartvlei beach and walked out over the rocks to the point. On our way back we had a dip in the sea and Scotty impressed us with his human surfboard impression. On our way back to the car we saw a gigantic jellyfish. It was easily the size of a car hubcab and totally clear. Yikes. I still don't 'get' jellyfish. Weird.
For dinner we went to a restaurant ar Knysna waterfront. I tried my luck at Oysters, followed by a catch of the day special. The food was gothtous and the waitress was really helpful and friendly - a good thing when you're trying Oysters for the first time.
I'm now back at the lodge and ready for bed. We've had our Sundowners and Scotty and V have gone to bed so I've got the giant deluxe suite to myself. It's fab. :D. The shower has two heads, I've got a whirlpool bath and believe me, the view is to die for
Wine / Oysters
Nice wine. Vaughan has just informed me that when we stopped to get some air in our way to Knysna, he pee'd near the vines at Robertson vineyard. Niiice.
When in Knysna...
...eat Oysters. You have to (I think if may actually be law) as Knysna is a big Oyster place. Tonight we all ate Oysters. First impressions? I like.
We all ordered another one each (with sparkling wine). Second one was just as good, although part of me thinks it kinda seems pointless when you just swallow them whole. Hmmm.
Mika and Vaughan
Enjoying our last breakfast at the Conifer B&B. We sure are gonna miss Flo's cooking.
The other day we took breakfast outside and a huge insect landed on Vaughan's face before falling into his food. Somewhat put off his breakfast, Vaughan fed most of it to Mika, the B&B's dalmation.
So now Mika knows exactly where to come for breakfast :)
Saturday 14 February 2009
Last night in Port Elizabeth
This morning we went to the PE aquarium and museum. The highlight was seeing the dolphin show. The museum was great and chock full of crazy things.
This afternoon we just chilled out a bit and went to the boardwalk (a pretty shopping and entertainment village). Scotty made us play on the go-karts and it was really good fun. We had lunch at Wimpy (or knife and fork burger as I call it) to appease Scotty and it was nice, but as SA fast food goes, I definitely prefer Steers burgers and shakes.
Tonight we had dinner with Scotty's mum and nan (she's 89 you know!) at Guidos, a mix between an Italian restaurant and a sports bar.
Rather worryingly it's now dawning on me that the holiday is entering it's closing stages. By this time next week I'll be home, but that's probably just as well because all this food and wine is taking it's toll...
Racing go-karts
Scotty on the start line for the go-karts at the Boardwalk in PE. Note his new Oakleys (bling bling!)
Friday 13 February 2009
Braai
Unusually, it's pissing down with rain in PE. Luckily Patrick and Sarah have a covered braai area :)
More sweeeeeets!
Tonight we're round at the house of Patrick and Sarah (old school friends of Scott) having a braai. Gareth, one of their friends, has been following the blog so tonight he brought along more sweets for us to try! Awesome :)
Tragedy!
Whilst cooking food on the braai, Scotty performed an impromptu rendition of Tragedy by Steps...
Thursday 12 February 2009
Elephant at Addo
We've been to Addo Elephant Park today. Scott's mum and nan joined us so we swapped the hire car for a van to provide a bit more space.
The park is VAST, covering 164,000 hectares and houses the big 5. We only saw elephants out of the 5 today, but boy did we see a lot of them. Must have been at least 40.
This is a photo of a bull elephant that walked right past our vengabus. Bloody scary when it's just feet away from your window.
Aside from huge elephants we also saw baby warthogs (so, so cute), kudu (which tastes like woody blue cheese - I'm not a fan!), herons, a buzzard and lots of snakes in one of the waterholes.
And that pretty much concludes our animal spotting for the trip. But that's probably a good thing, anymore animals and I might start getting a bit jaded. "oh look, MORE elephants. Wowwww"
We're now heading back to PE for a braai (BBQ) and to play on the beach and the rock pools.
City Golf
A classic example of the City Golf. This one was quite old and adorned with various surf, country and university stickers. A nice colour scheme too.