Hotel John Montagu Inn

... the tourist information centre and we went for a stroll along the main street stopping for a beer in a local pub. Several white locals were watching the start of the South African rugby tour match against Italy. We stayed see, amid great cheers, RSA go into a convincing two try lead before driving down the other end of the street to Bloomenhuis, tonight’s accommodation.

Another lovely place! Patio doors open from our room onto a beautiful well kept garden and small pool. The ...

... we get to Swellendam it is a quiet little town nestled in the mountains; the place we are staying at has a huge garden with a tree house, hammocks and plenty of space. Eden finds a ride on tractor which she calls a choo choo, she asks to ride it and the boy there says she can. She has a nice ride and Marianne sits in a hanging chair, whilst I relax in a hammock and enjoy a bottle of the vine dessicated Shiraz that I bought from Solms-Delta.

At seven o'clock we are served a meal ...

... eclectic with stalls including from furniture, pancakes, books and alpaca products. We headed back through the hole in the wall and then on to take brief look around Swellendam which I thought was not so attractive as Montagu being somewhat more commercialised. Our route back took us over the spectacular Sir Lowry's Pass just out side Cape Town and so home in time for Helen to treat me to a lovely birthday meal at a fish restaurant called Millers Thumb.

We set off for Montagu and Route 62, calling in at the Olympia Cafe in Kalks Bay for a take-out coffee and a quick look at the harbour and the local fish. Then we hit roadworks for 30km.... Finally arrived in Montagu late afternoon, which is a beautiful little village set in a gorge. We found a very nice place to stay, wandered around a bit and then found a very nice place to eat dinner, in the courtyard of a Cape Dutch mansion under a 100-year-old pear tree.

... is, and I realized that I would love to come back one day and spend a week there - particularly during the South African winter, when scores of right whales can be spotted right off the coast. De Hoop is easily one of the most strikingly beautiful places I've been - untouched, immense sand dunes (called "Koppie Alleen", or "Head Alone") that contrast with a crisp blue sky, fynbos and rocky coast pounded by turquoise water, many ...

... they proudly explained the long process of producing a good bottle of wine. They are keen to let you taste the wine and when they produce twelve types, it can take hours. Sometimes the staff would be too busy with other customer and so they came up to us with six different bottles of wine and asked "Would you mind if we just left us with the bottles to taste at your own time"? "Not at all" we happily replied. Cooper Out Love Dan & Kat

... zebra and Steve came across the smallest frogs in the world. We thought they were insects but proved not to be and they were all over the grass. When the temperature dropped we headed over to the jacuzzi and opened a bottle of bubbly from the mini bar and had that whilst enjoying the other bubbles! The hotel recommended a few restaurants and we opted for the closest one which was conveniently across the road! It was like ...

... dokler ne bo kakega dezja - le vhod je malo neroden :o) Za brezplacni servis koles je poskrbljeno, imajo tudi pralnico in vsak dan kako ograjeno tenisko igrisce, ki je vso noc nadzorovano in v katerm je koles, katerih vrednost verjetno presega proracun kake revnejse afriske drzave - v grobem lahko recemo 1200 x 3000 EUR, naprej pa racunejte sami. Nic, navijejte se naprej, da bi ble jutr vse stiri nogce mocne, da obrneva tale negativni trend. T'n'T

... though he didn't get to play much. The physios managed to get Eddie on for our big game against Wales and he set me up for a great score with a sweet, massively deep switch pass which was fully appreciated! Unfortunately though Eddie had to go off mid-game because of his ham-string again but he contributed a lot from the sideline to keep us going! I didn't get to see as much of the Women's Team as I would have liked with all the excitment with the Mens Team, but the games I did ...

... able to see up close Lions, Cheetah, Tigers, Burmese Tigers, Crocs, Alligators, & Jaguars. In africa if you have enough money you can actually be put in the cage to pose for a photo with any of these animals. I don't think I want to get in a Lion's cage in a country that still hand-digs all their roadways & breaks their rocks by hand. This morning we woke up early to a nice breakfast and off to the Cango Caves - in the spirit of adventure we ...