It's just sublime

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Well this last week we shared our 12 year anniversary with the 1 year anniversary of the death of Nelson Mandela. The newspapers were full of pictures and statements from senior officials to local people all voicing there positivity of the legacy of the great man. The church bells around the country all rang out and a three minute silence was held in rememberance. I don't think any party leader anywhere around the world has ever been held in such reverence and with such adoration and love than Madiba was and still is in this country. A family rememberance service was held and the sacrifice of a cow was made.

We had a lovely little break away to a nice b&b with an award winning restaurant. The position was lovely overlooking the river and there was a large deck area to sit and sip champers, which we did of course. The meal was nice but I have to say as the food is so good here I was expecting something rather divine and it fell a bit short. We tried warthog for our main course which was nice, a bit like a sweet pork. The breakfast the next day was limited as there has been a lot of power shedding these last couple of weeks but hey ho! We hiked all the next day covering two trails, one was to the waterfalls which we have done before except we canoed up the river last time. We walked along the river and had to cross it pulling ourselves across on a little pontoon. This was ok as long as nobody was paddling down the river as garrotting someone was likely on the ropes. I think in all we covered around 20km a very good days walking was had.

Apparently we have picked up a speeding fine, the car hire people have advised us that as we are tourists it will probably be waived after consideration. The fine if it stands is £10 so it's no biggie but the fact that being a holidaymaker means you can get away with it is wonderful. The local councils here are obviously not into screwing with the motorist like the uk councils who have bagged millions this year from parking tickets. Another thumbs up for SA.

Yesterday was very hot and we went to the beach for the day, we had a walk and lazed in the ocean, we again spotted dolphins and a lesser know creature called "the belly flopping breaching Bazzi fish" strange phenonoma only seen on rare occasions. It is a sight to behold! We had a night out which was lovely, we sat at a lovely bar, drinking a nice cold glass of Sauvignon blanc, watched the sun go down and listened to live music. It is all so very relaxed and easy.

We learned last time we were here the meaning behind the SA flag. It is a new flag and only came into existence in 1994. The black represents the black people, the yellow represents the gold and the sunshine, the green is for the lush green landscape, the white is for the white people, the red stands for the blood shed and the blue is for the blue of the skies and the ocean. I just thought as it has such a lovely meaning I would share it with you

Think we are becoming known as locals, we went for coffee the other day to our favourite cafe in town but it was closed and they were clearing up. However after spotting us they welcomed us in and made us our usuals. Other people came asking and they were turned away. Last time we visited our favourite lunch spot which is on Knysna Heads with fabulous views we got hugged and told we were part of the family. Lastly the other night we went to an Oyster and Tapas bar to watch a band, they were called "Free Beer" and apparently are the support act for all the big bands in SA. Anyway whilst the band were having a break the lead singer came over to us and gave us a bottle of beer each and thanked us for being an "enthusiastic audience". I will leave it up to your imagination as to why we singled out as enthusiastic!

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