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Published: September 28th 2015
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Two years ago Lindsey and I got married in Cape Town and held our reception in a gorgeous resort called Monkey Valley. This collection of treehouses sits amidst the Milkwood forest overlooking Noordhoek beach, on the Atlantic Coast of the Cape Peninsula. We had a lovely celebration in a fairy-light bedecked wooden room with a Hungarian Trio playing some of our favourite music. After our reception we stayed in Monkey Valley for a couple of nights and have wonderful memories of that time. We have wanted to go back and thought our anniversary would be a great opportunity to do so.
We started our first day in Kommetjie, as Lindsey was playing in a school there. We lunched in the sunshine on the white sand of Kommetjie beach, looking out to the mountains across the bay. It was a lovely start to our romantic getaway.
From Kommetjie we drove the short route to Noordhoek. After a couple of kilometres we came across the Imhoff farm shop. The shop had some really nice food products which we treated ourselves to. Behind the main shop was a ring of other shops. It could have been such a nice location but each
of the shops was strange in its own unique way. The chocolate shop looked under-stocked and not particularly clean. We were also served by a child in there. The tiny book shop was run by a surly man (think a much smaller version of Black Books and you've got the picture). The sculpture shop just had weird products... for example bowls that couldn't be used for anything and weren't particularly pretty.
The drive through Noordhoek to Monkey Valley brought back lots of happy memories. We checked in and went to our room, "Ladybird", in a huge treehouse. The accommodation was just how we remembered it and the view from the room was just as incredible. The sun shining on the beach and the bright blue sea, contrasting with the dark mountains in the back ground and the green trees in the foreground is just idyllic. Drifting up over the trees was the distant boom of the waves mingled with the sound of the wind rustling the leaves. There was a bottle of champagne waiting in a bucket next to the open fireplace with the stack of firewood next to it. We felt calm and at peace, suddenly completely relaxed.
In the evening we went down to the restaurant, first for coffee and then dinner. It was lovely to sit out on the verandah overlooking the beach drinking coffee. Sadly the restaurant wasn't up to the standard we remembered. Our starters were nice but my pizza was dry and tasteless, despite the jalapeƱos. Also, as they got my order wrong, Lindsey and I ended up eating separately. We didn't stay to be disappointed by dessert. We also found that breakfast didn't meet the standard we remembered - gone was the lavish buffet complete with freshly squeezed orange juice and freshly baked scones. Instead there was some fruit, cereal and the option to order a cooked breakfast. In fairness it was a decent breakfast (except the juices), just not what we had been looking forward to.
The next day, we woke early and went for a walk on the lovely clean sands of the beach. The wind was strong but it was lovely to wander in the early morning sunshine. Lindsey discovered the water was too cold for swimming so I didn't bother trying myself.
Later we went to Simon's Town, the former Royal Navy and current SA
Navy base. The town is quite a strange place. On one side of the street is the imposing base which blocks the view of the bay and on the other is what was once a lovely arcade of shops but many of which are just architectural reminders of their former glory. There were some nice coffee shops and a very good second hand shop and used book shop, Pickpockets, but aside from that I wasn't really impressed. On the other side of the town from Pickpockets is a charming little toy museum. We thought it was well worth the R10 (50p) entrance fee. Inside was a wonderland of old cars, dolls, model railways, toy soldiers, mechano and Noddy memorabilia.
That evening we went up Chapman's Peak to watch the sunset, recreating our first night of marriage. It was a beautiful sunset and we enjoyed it a lot. After the sun was over the horizon we continued along Chapman's Peak Drive which we hadn't done previously. This incredible cliff-top drive connects Noordhoek with Hout Bay. In the fading light the mountains silhouetted against the sky were amazing. We dropped down the other side of the mountain into a wind swept
Hout Bay where half of the beach appeared to be on the road. Here we went to a Chinese restaurant for dinner.
Next morning we checked-out and then went for a leisurely breakfast again. It was almost lunch-time by the time we finished! Here we bumped into our wedding coordinator, Mireille, and it was lovely to catch up with her.
After breakfast we went back to Hout Bay, again stopping at all of the viewing points on Chapman's Peak Drive. We wandered around the shops at the harbour and saw a man feeding a seal by holding a raw fish in his mouth... not a nice way to earn a living. We wanted to get an icecream so we wandered in the direction Google suggested. I was quite convinced that we wouldn't find one given that the surroundings were becoming more and more industrial. What we did find was a lovely area on the sea front with old cannon pointing across the bay and some pretty flowers. The birds here were struggling to fly into a wind which just pushed them back in a huge swarm. Also around here were a lot of beggars, though why they should
expect many people in that spot was a puzzle to me.
We had to leave and go home to pack for our trip eastwards to Sedgefield. After two months of being in one place we'd accumulated a lot of stuff. I squeezed in chatting to my parents on Skype and then when we had finished we had a panic... we'd forgotten to take the hire car back to the airport! We had 15 minutes before it was due back. I rushed out and got it there a minute late. Lindsey followed and I was hoping she would be able to find me. Fortunately she walked in as I was finishing the transaction. It was a panicked end to a lovely few days and the end of our Cape Town adventures... for now.
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