Sat 10 Oct This morning I went with Maggie and her friend to a local tourism award ceremony at a really nice lodge with a long bar, comfortable sofas and warm open log fires at each end of the room. They served champagne and excellent canapes and gave two Golden Tusk awards to outstanding local businesses. From there we went to the Addo Rose Festival to see local craft stalls and food vans as well as several tents displaying roses of all types. The event was quite small - about the size of a large village fete - but was interesting [View Full Entry]

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From Cape Point we continued onto Hermanus. A small town along the coast of Africa that is famous for whale watching. August and September are supposed to be the peek season for seeing the Southern Right Whale. We spent the afternoon having lunch at a very over priced seafood restaurant watching whales jump. These whales were so big that you could see them while they were swimming under water. It was pretty exciting every time a whale jumped, and at one point there were two whales jumping together, one right after the other. There were some kayakers out in the water [View Full Entry]

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Hey guys, Well after spending some time on the coast we decided to head in land and into the hills to the town of Oudtshoorn. Oudtshoorn is known for two things - the Cango Caves National park and Ostrich Farms! This area in the Swartberg Mountains is super nice and again has almost a Canadian Rockies feel to it with the mountains and tree'ed areas although the Baboons on the roads are a constant reminder of where you really are! In the morning we decided to take a drive to some waterfalls in the hills and then up to the Caves. [View Full Entry]

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so back on the road again, the itrip working its magic and the tunes a blasting. off we went along the 'alternative garden route'... the Route 62. very pretty it was too. up hill, down dale, through vineyard and around the mountains. we even stopped for a spot of tea, scones and cheescakes at a farm shop in a village along the way. so beautiful was the landscape that it was again a testament to the humour of the south africans to find 'ronnies sex shop' plonked in the middle of nowhere. now a backpackers stop off and a thriving pub [View Full Entry]

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30/01/09 (cont.) - After the last Addo safari we began our trek back to Cape Town via a different route. We had lunch at a very small town called Steytlerville and stayed the night at a lovely guesthouse in Willowmore. 31/01/09 - The next day we headed off towards the mountains via a quaint little town called De Rust. After lunch we drove to the Cango Caves via Outdshoorn. They were fascinating and reminded us of Jenolan Caves. We stayed at a town called Calitzdorp that night. [View Full Entry]

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The last day in Cape we went to Robben Island. It actually wasn't as good as I was expecting. I'm glad I went, but it could've been more informative. They basically just walked us through the prison. The bus tour of the island was better, but everything was rushed and the group was huge. It was still worthwhile to see though. The buildings and everything actually looked a lot nicer than I expected! I'm sure with a bunch of people there in the heat without much food it was terrible, but it wasn't as run-down as I expected. The rooms were [View Full Entry]

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It's been sometime since I've had the opportunity to write little something to you on the travel blog. I've had some connectivity issues and just plain busy having a great time. Let's see since we've last talk, I've moved onto to the Garden Route which includes Outshorne which is famous for Ostrich farming; Knysna which is a beautiful seaside community, a quick stop in Port Elizabeth and then I just flew into Johanesburg, where I will settle into this hotel before transferring onto my last leg of this fabulous vacation tomorrow am, which is the Mala Mala Safari. Can't wait. Attached [View Full Entry]

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Spent most of the day travelling from Hermanus by Baz Bus to a town called George where a shuttle picked me to take me up inland for an hour to place which is practically impossible to pronounce correctly...Oudtshoorn. I had heard this place was all about Ostrich farms and therefore for some reason had in my head some kind of small hick town with dusty ranches with ostrich running around instead of horses...but its actually a really beautiful and very green lively little town with nice shops and restaurants...quite a suprise. The hostel - Backpackers Paradise - was equally suprising..the na [View Full Entry]

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We are in Swellendan in West Cape tonight for our second Wedding anniversary. Was great to be together after spending our first anniversary apart last year. We flew into George yesterday and stayed in a cool place called Wilderness on the coast. We did a bit of tiki tour to Knysna east along the coast which was OK but a bit touristy. Very similar to the Great Ocean Road in places. There are two parallel ranges of mountains inland to George which are fairly steep and rugged. We headed north through the first range (Outenitua Range) to a wee town called [View Full Entry]

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Flew into Joberg on Saturday and met up with Geoff's brother Steven and his wife Marna who were excellent company and very hospitable. Spent the first day drinking beer, watching rugby, eating biltong and having a brai (BBQ) all of which were excellent. The next day we went for a wee drive to a Cheetah Reserve/Conservation centre with 90 cheetahs and 70 wild dogs. It was pretty cool and we also got to see our first antelope (Nyala and Impala) and pat a purring cheetah called Byron. We are in Swellendan in West Cape tonight for our second Wedding anniversary. Was [View Full Entry]

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