Etoile Guest House Hermanus

So much has happened. So much we have experienced as a family. The tears of missing our friends mixed in with the joy of seeing old friends and family. Wow! What a ride.

Last time I wrote on this blog, we were visiting the South Cape (Swellendam) and on our way to see the elephants at the Elephant Sanctuary near Nature's Valley. It was truly the most amazing experience I have had. My youngest son only refers to this epic adventure as - oh yeah, we saw ...

We left Cape Town on our own adventure. We rented a car, a Tata Indica, and headed off to experience the beauty of the Garden Route. Chris did the driving (since he is much more adept at a manual transmission) and I navigated. It didn't take us long out of Cape Town to see the beautiful landscapes of South Africa. Our first stop was in Hermanus. Hermanus’ claim to fame is that it has the best whale watching in the world. Well being a west coast ...

... we then went for breakfast at the Seamans restaurant overlooking the bay followed by a little shopping at the market.

It was then back to the cliff tops to do some more whale watching and sunbathing, again they didn't dissapoint and we sat on the cliff point, soaking up the sun for approx 3 hours and we watched numerous whales and their calves go by and caught a glympse of the worlds only ...

Yes, Travis really did write that incredibly lame title. Trouble is, we couldn't think of anything better. It's always something... So, we're in Hermanus. If you mention this place to other travellers, about half will look at you with a blank stare as though you have just named a town in Siberia, whereas the other half are going there, too. Hermanus is where one goes to watch whales. Every year in the spring they come to Walker Bay to calve, due to the relative ...

... out that it's vital to the young in the township that they had football (ra-ra and cricket being seen as for the richer white folk.) She then took us to the end of the street where thigs started to get a bit heavier. We were shown a makeshift shack on the corner without running water or electricity, they used the street light for illumination at night and there were a couple of chemical toilet shells that had buckets by the side of them for sanitation. My heart ...

... t get my camera out fast enough. Yeah I paid over the odds for the food, we should have known better (but M's sister recommended the fish), but the baboon made it worth it! Food Note: I noticed that everyone seemed to fry their fish in South Africa (even the nice place I went to in Jo'burgh), but as a point of note, most will grill it if you ask them. Healthier, tastes better and really, apart from any restaurant that's not the cape point tourist trap ...

... backgrounds and political views. It is such a complex place that in 2 months we only have a very basic understanding of its history. They call South Africa the world with in a country. It really is, both because of its people and its landscape. In 2 months we have seen a lot, but we could easily spend a year here trying to take it all in. We hope to come back some day. There are so many other countries in Africa we want to explore. The ...

... picked up Alex who also wanted to go to dinner. We went to a pizza place right on the pier in the Mall. It was called St. Elmo's and it was mainly a Pizza Place. Everyone got pizza except me, I got Spaghetti Bolognese, because I LOVE that. We also got a really good garlic bread type appetizer. We tried the house wine in semi-sweet and dry, they were okay, although my wine jugging abilities aren't very good since I have never actually drunk wine before. I liked the Semi-sweet one ...

... and we were just ready to go back to the house in Hermanus for lunch when the guy said "lets try one more time" and i'm so glad he did! although i got to see the others up close this was something else! the shark was tempted in by the tuna head and chased it to the side of the boat with its mouth wide open to take a chunk out of it and the boat! it was literally 2 feet away from my face and i was soo terrified i didnt take a photo! clare did ...

Well I am healed! Thanks to 4 days of heavy rest I was able to go out on Saturday night, my last night in Stellenbosch. I ended up out and about meeting locals and uni students. The band was not bad and I had a good time trying to figure out my way home at the end of the night. I was just about asleep when bang bang bang, my "neighbours" came home from the bar and but ofcourse, do not ...