Spier Stellenbosch

Stellenbosch is beautiful university town that looks like Clifton village, all street side cafes, chai lattes and shops selling expensive souvenirs. We had come to explore the area and spend a second day on the CooperTrooper wine tour. After learning which wines we liked in Robertson, and what to look out for when you buy wine so you don't end up ...

... afternoon was had by all.

Following a shower and change, we met up with our 2nd guide Suzanne and off for dinner at the Nations Kitchen. Shared a bottle (or 2) of Sauvigion Blanc with Jane (we are becoming creatures of habit) and had a lovely dinner of Karoo Lamb cutlets which were excellent. Following dinner, it was back to our accomodation for Kir royals at our place, followed by 2 bottles of champagne and lots of chat, looking forward to a good sleep a 6am start tomoz!!!

... I will try to explain as best as I can. Table Mountain is huge, 1073 meters tall, but the beauty of the mountain was seeing the thick mists floating over the top from the ocean. The clouds spilled over the peak like dry ice billowing out of a caldron on Halloween. Unforgettable. Anyway, on to the Robben Island tour. Touring the island on a dilapidated bus we heard a well-practiced oration on the history, the geography, and the geology ...

... us down to the cellers and let us taste a load of different wines. There was every kind of wine you could imagine. We learnt the difference between wine matured in woodbarrels and stainless steel barriers, filtered wine and unfiltered wine, port etc. The couple we were with were going on about tropical fruits and asparagus and all kinds of complex flavors and wine making techniques we'd never heard of. It was definitely educational. I like the sweet wines ...

... Town via minibus instead of the more dangerous train. I actually LOVE riding the minibus. I love that we're all packed in there, zooming down the streets, part of such a shoddy operation that somehow works so well. Even when our minibus ran out of gas and we sweated out the twenty minute wait in the hot minibus, I didn't stop smiling. This week has been business as usual. Routine is finally setting in and class is becoming part of everyday life ...

... Town to Johannesburg for my 3 day camping safari. On arrival we will be taking a 6-hour bus ride to the camp we will be staying in at Kruger National Park, fabled to be the best place as far as national parks go in Africa to see the Big Five. I hope that my safari is all I imagine it to be. My first day in South Africa was pretty great! I visited Robben Island - where protesters and political prisoners were jailed during the apartheid era in South Africa. There was a half an hour ...

This morning started like every morning. I was the first one up again, so I tip-toed around the room gathering my things and slipped out the door and down to the kitchen for some food and much needed coffee. Today, was my Township tour - the enduring evidence of the not so distant apartheid. For an in-depth look at the background of this horrendous event, we first stopped at the museum dedicated to the rememberance of this part of South African history. The museum ...

... een dansvoorstelling geweest 'bloudruk van de afrikaanse dans' dit was opzich wel mooi maar erg apart. Verder zijn we nog naar een muziekvoorstelling geweest van twee vrouwen, de ene speelt viool de ander piano. Ze zingen afrikaanse liedjes, ik kon niet alles volgen maar het was wel erg leuk. Van maandag op dinsdag zijn we bij Norval's broer en zus blijven slapen. Dit zijn enorm aardige mensen. Toen we daar aankwamen op maandag hebben we in een dam gezwommen, er schoon ( groen ...

... morning we were off on yet another early start for a dawn bush walk, and spotted our herd of Buffalo again. We were literally meters away from the ugly buggers. Luckily it was en route so we were still in the lorry because Buffalo are one animal you do not want to be up close to. After the walk it was time to pack our bags and head off. After a few lightning speed stops at some panoramic viewing points we were delivered to our luxury game lodge. And believe me ...

In a nutshell: we drove to Cape Town from Stellenbosch first thing in on Wednesday morning. The weather was really good, clear skies and warm sunshine. We checked into the Zebra Crossing Backpackers in the City Bowl area of CT - it's a really nice backpackers, we liked it very much, and it's right at the bottom of Table Mountain so you get a really good view of it (when it's not cloudy...). As it was such nice weather we decided to climb the mountian which was hard ...