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Published: December 20th 2008
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Last night, after my treatment at the spa, we headed down for pre-dinner drinks (it was a drinking day!!) so G had his favourite wine from the night before and I had my champagne. G commented that it was a “monster glass” so I was super chirpy!
We then sat and watched the sunset and the waves crashing in in front of us before sitting down to eat another lovely dinner. There was a guest chef from Monaco over who made my risotto and came out to meet me after - he didn’t speak good English so had a translator with him - I think that was needed even with me trying out my standard grade French - Pam would be proud! He did however give me his card this morning when I met him and assured me that I must visit his hotel in Monte Carlo the next time I am in France and he will make me some more “special” risotto - I think he may live to regret that one day!
After dinner we retired up our candle lit stairs to our candlelit room and I watched another 5 minutes of the Christmas film - I am sure
it will be nearly finished by Christmas Eve!
We laughed at breakfast again this morning because as soon as you finish something, the plate or glass is whipped away in record speed - I practically had to make G sprint to get me more juice before the man came for the glass to save me using another one - G said it is just like Selkirk (although has now chipped in to say that this is not to say his mum is slow at the tidying up!) After breakfast (more yummy smoothies on offer) I sat watching the waves while G loaded the car (albeit this time he had 2 helpers so he only carried one little bag). The poor little helpers however had to carry the suitcases and bags, the large beers, small beers, ega and the complimentary champagne and wine we took from the hotel (the list does seem to get bigger every day G commented, frantically wondering where it is all going to go for our internal flight from Port Elizabeth back to Cape Town). We then said bye bye to the lovely hotel and were waved off by 4 people (G commented it is just like
home) and were given a travel bag, with water, chocolate and sweets - a really nice touch.
The weather this morning was quite cloudy (ideal driving weather) which pleased G as it meant that I was not missing the rays on the super long driving day. I have never seen G so happy at a non-sunny holiday morning. The drive to our first stop at Mossel Bay (about 325km) took us just over 3 hours and by the time we arrived the sun was breaking through the clouds. This was an ideal excuse for me to sit outside the museum overlooking the beach while G toured the museum and maritime museum. He also saw the famous Outeniqua Choo-Tjoe train (Homer would be jealous) and then we visited the Post Office Tree (obviously outside), which is a famous tree where 16th century mariners used the leave messages for passing ships in an old boot (factual point for the day).
After this, we grabbed a coffee for G and an ice cream for me and headed up the mountains to Oudtschoorn, towards the Cango Conservation Wildlife Ranch. On the way, we passed literally thousands of ostrich - I don’t think I have
ever seen one before and now I have seen thousands. Apparently Oudtschoorn is dubbed the ostrich capital of the world and I can see why.
After about an hours drive, a petrol stop (I was worried the light would come on - G said we could get to Cape Town virtually on what we had) and a very happy petrol attendant with his 15 rand tip (about a pound) - who also waved us away with a huge grin, we arrived at the wildlife ranch.
We were really lucky as literally 5 minutes after we arrived the guided tour began and we walked around looking at lots of different species of African animals, many of them endangered species (and hence the purpose of the conservation ranch. We saw limas, junior nile crocodiles and huge big crocodiles, the smallest antelope in the world, lions, orange tigers, white Bengal tigers, cheetahs (another fact for the day - they go from 0 to 70 mph in 2 seconds - G added that this is quicker than Homer going to the bar for this first drink) and my favourite, the 3 month old cheetah cubs.
After this, we headed back down the mountains to
George, where we are staying tonight and got checked into our hotel, where I am writing this before we head out for dinner. We are heading to an Italian recommended to us by the owner of the hotel, as they have their mozzarella delivered directly from Italy, so I think it will be my first Caprese of the holiday tonight!
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