Hired a car today to explore the Winelands. Scenic drives over the mountains, away from Cape Town, visiting Speir, Stellenbosch, Tolado and Franschhoek, such a beautiful village, and drove across such beautiful scenery. Thousands of apple trees in blossom, as we drove cross country to our next destination ... [View Full Entry]

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... we drove across from the Winelands to visit Hermanus, a very famous location where Whales can be seen from the Coast in October ... and even though we had a short visit, we spotted some Whales and watched then blowing, and splashing. Even though they were a fair distance, we could still enjoy their sheer size and power and was very excited as we sat in the car watching then playing in the water (it was a bit too windy outside). Went round the corner for a hot chocolate and enjoyed briefly a few closer to the shore ... but [View Full Entry]

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Cape Town is actually a large city and impossible to explore on foot - far too much to see. Today we took a City Bus Tour (with the same company we have used before in other cities) and went round the local city area, therefore seeing a snapshot of the city - we sat on the top of the bus. Definately worth doing this. We jumped off the bus at Camps Bay - beautiful bay which we viewed from the top of Table Mountain yesterday. Had a fantastic seafood platter lunch, in a bar/restaurant overlooking the beach. We then walked across [View Full Entry]

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We arrived after a long 12 hour flight - transfer quick and easy and we were transferred to our Hotel which was (we soon learnt) in a superb location by mid day. The afternoon we wandered around the Victoria and Albert Waterfront area, a plush new welcoming development by the port, and had a few beers and lunch in one of the bars, listening to the African Music and watching the too'ing and fro'ing going on around us. Very cosmopolitan area, friendly, welcoming, plush, new, a really nice place to spend our first afternoon. On the taxi drivers advice, who said [View Full Entry]

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We have always wanted to go to South Africa, but other things have always taken priority. Not this year ... and we are so excited! We have tried to plan our visit to see a fair bit of South Africa, we will be visiting the City, the Countryside, the Mountain Passes, the Game Reserves and the Beach. Just so you can keep a track of where we are, here is our itinery: 15th Oct - Cape Town and area 20th Oct - Oudsthoorn 21st Oct - Kynsna (flight from George to Durban) 23rd Oct - Zululand 26th Oct - Umhlanga (flight [View Full Entry]

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Below is the actual journey we are taking .. http://www.travelblog.org/gmaps/map_57J.html [View Full Entry]

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Spent our weekend visiting family and going to an 80th Birthday party. Autumn is a beautiful time to visit the New Forest. Stayed in Lyndhurst once again - very pleasant. [View Full Entry]

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We enjoyed our trip to Malta, we based ourselves in Mellieha Bay, and it was very easy to travel around the country by local bus and very cheap. We only stayed a week, but travelled around, visiting Mosta (an absolute must), Valletta, Comino island, and was also easily able to walk across to see the Popeye village filmset on the west coast. For a good easy week, it is a quiet, relaxing place to visit. My only recommendation would be to hire a taxi on Comino Island as the bus station is in the centre, and journey's go off in all [View Full Entry]

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We decided to head out and enjoy a fun family weekend away ... Eurodisney was a bit costly ... and therefore we decided to brave a Centrepark. We decided on Elveden Forest and had a fantastic weekend. We had upgraded accommodation and stayed in a perfect spot between the health centre/spa/golf club and the restaurants/main centre. We joined in with all sorts of activities. Next time we probably wouldn't book quite so much, to enable us to enjoy the entire site a little more, and do more cycling. [View Full Entry]

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Liz arranged a surprise birthday weekend, we all met in a pub in Ireland ... and poor Ray thought he had a romantic weekend away with his lovely wife!! [View Full Entry]

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