La Petite Ferme Franschhoek

... future for the children and work with parents to convince them of the need for education to hep their children to a better life. A humbling experience.<br><br>In complete contrast we went straight from there to golf at Pearl Valley. A golfing oasis. Beautiful golf club and spa. The morning was cloudy but he rain held off and we had a great game. Possibly the nicest game so far. Again to show what a small world it can seem: we had arranged to meet Paul Jones ...

... in a greatly dramatic swooping theatrical style which was entirely his own. Through the jokes he also told of the hardship and in particular at the limestone quarry where Nelson Madella spent 13 years of backbreaking labour at ruining his eyesight with the reflections meaning to this day nobody can use flash photography on him. Sometimes they moved the rocks from one side of the quarry to the other just to keep them busy, surely enough to send most people ...

... yet after several minutes of intense pushing a few large contractions, the head grew bigger and bigger and then all the sudden this massice face appeared! MASSIVE!! I had no idea we women could stretch that far!!! The midwife had to put her hand over the anus and the paranium as she guilded the baby's face out so that the last of the feces that came out of the mother would not contaminate the baby, as it layed face down. Then the miracle happened, just as the full ...

... t consider the "soil" we were going to be digging in. You can't really dig clay, you have to use a pick axe. Seven hours in African sun doing physical labor is not a way I pictured my Saturday... but it was worth it. The best part of the experience was the children. The children are typically free to roam as they please, and as soon as they see white people they become instantly curious and follow. We had several children follow us to the school and sit watching us intently and curiously ...

... d seen during our time here, it was certainly spectacular. A whole day was spent on top of Table Mountain. The two Norwegian girls who I told you about in a previous blog said that they'd spent a whole day up there as well. At the time we'd been a bit incredulous, "Why would one spend a whole day up there?" But I tell you now, with the weather the way it was, I can see no better way of spending my time, which seemed to fly by. Before long, and with the sun still sinking, the ...

... we'd been warned never to do. It was not until our trainee driver threated the baboon with a catapult that it leapt off the car, taking the top of the side panel with it as it swung off. The people sped up and drove off as quickly as their car could carry them, I think they'd learnt their lesson. A little further down the road after we'd entered the nature reserve proper, we stopped the bus and broke out the bikes that we'd been towing behind us. After kitting up in awful helmets ...

... Our guide also called the cave the "true South African parliament" as he said that more than half the constitution had been thrashed out right there in that cave. Another feature in that sparse quarry, where the men had to carry rocks from point A to B and then B to C and then back to point A again, just to break their spirits, was a pile of stones by the entrance. Kelly and Craig told me about this pile of stones and now i have seen it for myself. the story goes that when ...

... us, she took us back to her home and gave us an over site as to the clinic it's self. In truth, Vicky was killing time until she could speak to a certain person at the hospital and get Malishwa (the patient) released into her care. When we did get to the hospital, Vicky asked for 2 volunteers to assist her, it was myself and a girl called Lauren that stepped up. We were led into the hospital (which had a stronger smell of disinfectant &amp ...

... them take jerky seriously, for me, is like watching NASCAR. I just don't get it. The next day we did a wine tour. It was a really ****** day, so sitting inside and drinking wine was a perfect thing to keep us occupied. Plus we had a driver, so score one for the good guys. We went to lots of different kinds of places, all of which had Better Homes and Gardens kinds of grounds. We tasted lots of kinds of wines and made up associations. "I think this one ...

... like many others, was established in the 1600's. The property was beautiful, it had many views of the close by mountains. We got to do a cellar tour at this one. It was interesting to see how the wine goes from grape to bottle. The french oak barrels the wine is aged in cost over a ...