Fields of daisies

As soon as the rain stops, I would recommend a trip out to Postberg - which is part of the West Coast National Park near Langebaan. It is just under two hours from the city centre and the flowers are absolutely spectacular this year - when the sun shines. The Postberg section is only open to the public during spring and there are several wonderful walks there, or you can just take a gentle drive through.
This photo is one of the park's Bonteboks.

Noble cultivar

A lazy Sunday lunch in the winelands. Cosecha Restaurant and some wine-tasting on Noble Hill estate.

Mother Goose

The Helderberg Nature Reserve on the slopes of the Helderberg Mountain is owned and managed by the City of Cape Town with the support from the Friends of the Helderberg Nature Reserve. There are a number of interesting trails and walks to suit all ages, and a very nice tea room and visitors centre. This gate depicts Peggy, the one-legged Spur-winged Goose that made the reserve famous in the adjoining town of Somerset West. This famous goose is even depicted on the Christmas lights in the centre of town each December.

A taste of Heaven

Last Friday we lunched at Jason's Hill Bistro on the wine estate of the same name in the Slanghoek Valley near Worcester. It was a really hot day and we sat on the balcony under the umbrellas - the most spectacular view spread out below us. The food was good - particularly the creme brulee - and we thought the price of the wines was per glass but it turned out that it was per bottle! We had the Viognier, described as "an elegant wine with spice, orange peel, citrus and honey flavours complemented by four month French Oak maturation", and it was divine.
The only thing that brought us down to Earth again was when the neighbouring table lit up and started fouling the air with cigarette smoke. They should have been told to stop, but we had nearly finished and did not want to create a fuss.
So we went downstairs and bought a few cases of the award winning wines, and took them away to enjoy in the Cederberg where we were headed.

Wine for the southern tip of Africa

Flashback to our short holiday in Cape Agulhas a week ago. We stopped at a fantastic wine shop in Agulhas and bought some Lands End Sauvignon Blanc to quaff at the southernmost tip of Africa - just past the lighthouse depicted on its label. Very good! Especially with smoked salmon from The Little Fisherman at High Constantia. No wonder I can't get back into real life ...

Picnic at Allée Bleue

Driving up to the picnic lawns of the Franschhoek wine estate, Allée Bleue, you are aware of layers of history, layers of vines, and layers of fences. White iceberg roses ramble over the fence that lines the driveway, each row of vines has its own fence to climb along, and the white wall of the original homestead is the final fence - and behind that whitewashed wall is your destination - a fabulous picnic place. And it takes just under an hour to get there from Cape Town.
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Braai for South Africa

Saturday was Heritage Day and for a few years now, it has also been known as National Braai Day. A braai is a unique South African word that means "cook over fire" - from Afrikaans. Barbecue is about the closest one can get to its meaning. We spent the weekend at Cape Agulhas and managed to braai some boerewors in the wind on the southern tip of Africa.

Breakfast at Dave's

Breakfast en route to Cape Agulhas at Dave's Country Kitchen at the Red Windmill - a lovely old farmhouse just on the other side of Napier. Great food and a happy, child and pet-friendly ambience. About an hour and a half outside Cape Town. This is going to be a regular stop-over from now on ...

Flower trail

An hour outside Cape T0wn along the West Coast Road (R27), is the West Coast National Park. Yesterday we hiked the Steenbok Trail to catch the first flowers of the season. The Postberg section is only open in the "flower season" which is from now until the end of September. This is a most beautiful place and well worth a visit even if you are not intending to hike or look at the world famous spring flower displays. There are lovely drives, picnic spots, game, bird hides on the Ramsar site wetlands surrounding Langebaan lagoon and a really good restaurant and coffee shop.

Wish you were here!

The long road home. A postcard to remember a fantastic trip. (See previous posts.)
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Road trip to the Orange River - Quiver Trees

You know you are nearly there when you start seeing Quiver Trees - these amazing Aloe dichotoma trees that grow in the semi-desert areas of the Northern Cape. Legend has it that the Bushmen used the hollow branches as quivers for their arrows.

Road trip to the Orange River - Pella

We stopped briefly to marvel at the Catholic mission church at Pella - close to the Orange River. This isolated, grindingly poor little mission settlement in the middle of nowhere managed to build this magnificent cathedral-like church under the direction of two priests who only had a photo of a church to work on! After 7 years it was completed and consecrated in 1895.

Road trip to the Orange River - flowers

The road to Pofadder was lined with flowers - daisies and delicate blue, fragrant Heliophila flowers all enjoying the winter sun. The generic name heliophila means "sun-lover".

Road trip to the Orange River - the journey up

Apologies for the gap but we were away for the week - and deadlines and frantic planning left me with no time for leisurely blogging! But now we are back, having had the most amazing camping and 4x4 trip in the Northern Cape province. We were on a tour with Peter and Ian of Cape Diversity Tours - friends of ours who take tours into rugged and little-known areas of South Africa and Namibia - so if you have any interest in 4x4-ing, this is the ideal tour. They have done all the spade work and know the area and the people - and are knowledgeable, reliable, very eco-aware and jolly good company (and provide jolly good food!).
So for the next few days, you will have to sit through some highlights of the tour ...
starting with our trip up the N7 which is the main road to Namibia. At Citrusdal there is always a mandatory stop at one of the many characterful little roadside stalls in the orange orchards which are legendary. Here are Ian and Peter stocking up. As well as oranges fresh off the trees they have sweet potatoes, dried fruit and rooibos tea. Mmmmm. And in the background, the mighty Cederberg mountains with just a hint of winter snow left on Sneeuberg.

Pebble Beach

A weekend at Suiderstrand - which is Afrikaans for southernmost beach - is about two and a half hour's drive from Cape Town at the southernmost tip of Africa. You can see the little holiday village catching the sunlight in the distance.

Weekend away

Weekend in Greyton - and glad to coincide with their famous and fantastic Saturday morning market. - and enjoyed the wedding with my Anglophilic and royalist mom.

A Faraway Place

Escaped from reality today - on a "biodiversity tour" of Vergelegen, the historic wine estate that belonged to the infamous Willem Adriaan van der Stel. After the tour and lunch, we lingered in the late afternoon sun in the Octagonal Garden that was apparently once a vege garden laid out by WA in about 1700. Years down the line, its shape inspired the new winery on the estate and landscape architect, the late Ian Ford, restored and developed the grounds around it so that lucky us, the public, can visit it for the princely sum of - wait for it - R10 per person! The art and antiques in the homestead are also amazing.

Weekend at Agulhas: The wine

Just outside the enchanting village of Elim, near the southern tip of Africa, the vineyards produce surprisingly good wine. Apparently the cool breezes that blow off the nearby ocean allow the grapes to remain on the vines just that little bit longer to develop their flavour. We called in at The Berrio, to taste some of this wine. The Berrio has a stylish tasting centre with views over the beautiful Agulhas Plain. Children and dogs are there to welcome you, and Franchen Pratt came out to guide us through the Estate's gorgeous wines - each one more tasty than the next. She and her husband Francis are the owners of this magical estate and Francis is the winemaker. My favourite wine was the figgy flavoured Weathergirl 2009 (33% semillion and 67% sauvignon blanc blend).

Kloofing

Kloofing down the Bobbejaans River near Wellington. Good fun! But hard work.
(A kloof is a South African word for gorge.)

Tea and scones

Yesterday I was in Greyton, and really, sometimes it is too pink and pretty to believe! But is was very hot. In search of shade, the Vanilla Cafe looked hopeful.