It’s April fools day and I am up at 5.00am to travel to Kleinbai about 40km east of Hermanus to go out on a Great White cage diving boat. I’m nervously excited as I drive through the dawn to arrive just after 6.00am. We (me and a load of Germans including kids!) were welcomed with a light breakfast before being introduced to the events of the day and provided with oue equipment. It’s really foggy this morning and we arrive at our boat for our 3-4 hours excursion just after 7.00am. After our short 20 minutes trip to an island [View Full Entry]

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Woke up to another beautiful day in Hermanus at the “16 reasons” Guesthouse. SA is having a mini heat wave with temperatures reaching 38 Degrees inland. After a delicious breakfast of fresh fruit and a fry-up we pack our day sack in preparation for our walk. It’s been a while since we’ve done some exercise so today we’ve decided to walk the ocean trail between the old harbour in Hermanus and Grotto beach about 7km east of Hermanus. We set of and wandered down into the old harbour in Hermanus where we wandered around a craft fair (where I buy [View Full Entry]

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After packing our bags again to move onto our next location, a process which we are shortening each time, we wander down for breakfast at 8.15. Not sure why but at Mooriplass breakfast is only served between 8.00am and 9.00am which doesn’t allow you time to sleep in! Breakfast this morning is something called a “Bobotie” which is a Malay influenced spiced Ostrich mince with sultanas topped with Dutch milk and egg and grilled. It was served with baked banana and was surprisingly pretty good. Today we have an appointment to keep with “Fanie” from the Ostrich [View Full Entry]

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Today we have decided is going to be a chill out day. Yesterday was a long drive and we were both a bit grumpy. We have been racing around for the last 10 days and there really insn’t much to do in Oudshoorn other than the Ostriches and the Cango caves. Oudshoorn is the Ostrich capital of South Africa and they are bred mainly for their meat and skins. Kirsten is a little disappointed with the Mooiplass guest house which in her opinion seems to have lost the family feel. We leave the room early for breakfast where we have [View Full Entry]

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Today we are traveling to Oudshoorn about 400km east from the Stellenbosch along the R62 (SA equivalent of route 66 in the US). After saying an early farewell to Marli we packed and got ready to go. Before we left however we had arranged a cellar tour and tasting of the wines from the Marianne Estate. It’s weird but in the last 2 days we have driven about 200km and visited 8 wine farms but the best wine we tasted was from the farm we were staying on. Hasten to say we bought 12 bottles! In total we bought 62 [View Full Entry]

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We did manage to get up early for a walk and left the room at 7.15am. It’s another beautiful morning and after a quick chat with Frank (our French host) we head off into the wine farm. This area of the Stellenbosch reminds me of Tuscany with soft early morning light rolling over the floating hills. Our aim is to build up an appetite so we point ourselves towards the highest part of the farm. On the way we come across the pickers collecting a late harvest of Cabernet Sauvignon. I must say the grapes looked well past their best, [View Full Entry]

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Woke early to say goodbye to Marius and Linka who were driving to Cape Town. They had been wonderful hosts. We are driving to the Paarl and Stellenbosch wine areas today which is about 100km south east of Langebaan. Although I’m 6ft1” and Kirsten is 5ft3” I seem to travel in the back. Oh well! Only joking! On the way just outside Malmesbury we stopped at the Swartland wine estate where we sampled some wines. They were not the best and all seemed to be slightly acidic. We then traveled onto Paarl a very attractive town with a really long [View Full Entry]

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Woke up later about 9.30 to another beautiful morning in Langebaan. Today we have a lot to do, mainly updating the blog and copying pictures from our cameras to the memory stick. We sit on the balcony drinking coffee while Marius prepares a Braii (BBQ) for lunch. Lunch was extra special today, the best meal we have had in SA so far. We had Boerewors (a SA Sausage), Pork Kebabs, Lamb chops & Chicken with creamed corn potatoes (which I got the recipe for from Linka as they were delicious!) and salad. This was followed by Ice Cream with prickly [View Full Entry]

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Saturday 24th March Woke at 8.30 to start packing. Harley needs to be returned by 10am. After returning Harley and walking back to Guest House we finished packing and Marli picks us up at 12midday to travel directly north up the Atlantic Coast, approximately 120kms to Langebaan. On the way we stop off at Blouberg Beach to take some great pictures of Table Mountain and the Lion’s Head and Devil’s Peak from across the bay. We also stop off at Darling, a wine area that has had recent temperatures of 50 degrees Celcius. We visit a wine farm called “ORMONDE” [View Full Entry]

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Friday 23rd March Early start this morning to ride the 140kms to the private Aquila game reserve. We are up at 6.00am and start the bike at 6.30am. The morning is overcast but the forecast is good. After leaving Cape Town we pick up the N1 motorway to travel North East heading for the Hex mountains. After about an hour in the saddle the weather starts to clear ust before entering a tunnel at the base of the mountains. 3kms later we emerge into bright sun and spectacular scenery that continues to amaze for another 70kms to Aquila. I’ve got [View Full Entry]

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