Nederburg Winery

This week Scotty booked us on a tour (and tasting, of course) of the Nederburg Winery (see picture above), situated beneath the Drakenstein mountains on the outskirts of Paarl. And how much is this tasting and tour costing us?  25 Rand per person (about £1.75).  :)

Pretty Rands

Pretty Rands, originally uploaded by nataliej.

I got some Rands this morning and they're really quite pretty. The
notes feature the 'big five' game animals (lion, elephant, buffalo,
rhino and leopard) although I haven't got the rhino in my little
collection yet as M&S didn't give me any 10R notes.

Incidentally, you've gotta love M&S for getting your currency -
commision free and a great exchange rate too. Marvellous. x

Work finished

So that's work finished for a few weeks. Woohoo! The holiday
starts..... now!

I might start packing tomorrow, but first, I really must take down my
Christmas tree. I think I'm leaving just a bit late this year...

Webcams

From a rainy, wet winter... ...to this :) Keep up to date with the weather in Cape Town here.

Candy Queen

Candy Queen, originally uploaded by nataliej.

(More on the fly photo processing courtesy of CameraBag on the
iPhone)

I really must stop buying Reese's Pieces. Since last Friday I've
managed to buy 20 bags and almost single-handedly emptied the shelves
of my local tesco.

I've resisted the urge to split open a bag today though as this
evening I made another batch of Rocky Road. Woo!

So that's it, one more day at work and then I get a few days off to
pack before the big adventure in South Africa begins. Yay :)

Dreary

Dreary, originally uploaded by nataliej.

A tree on my way to work on this damp, grey, cloudy Wednesday morning. Roll on South Africa!

1085m

1085m. That's the height of Table Mountain. Coincidentally, that's exactly the same height as Snowdon in Wales. Fingers crossed Table Mountain isn't as shrouded in mist as Snowdon was on the day I climbed it.

Addo. Wowzers. That's big.

There I was hunting on Google Maps, looking for a suitable location to put a pushpin for Addo Elephant Park.  Then I read on their website just how big the park is - 120,000 hectares (~500 square miles).  Haha, so no, won't be putting in just a pin for that.

So instead I added a big shaded area, which is roughly the size of the park.  Man, it's big.

VERY excited

Wow. I'm really starting to get VERY excited about this little ol' holiday thing. I'm gradually getting myself organized, gathering together the bits and bobs I need to take with me. Passport? Check. Suitcase? Check. Toothbrush? Check. Ten more sleeps to go!

Google map of accomodation

View Larger Map

Travel book

Unlike my previous research trips to Borders, last night I actually
bought a travel book. Although as per usual I did spend two hours
reading the big expensive ones and taking lots of mental notes :)

Hello there!

Testing, testing, 1... 2... 3...

Flag

South Africa. That's where I'm heading!