De Kloof Luxury Estate Swellendam

... gentle wine slopes of Stellenbosch heading towards Paarl and the Worcester into the much more dramatic scenery of the Drakenburg mountains. These very sheer mountains are not unlike the Sierra Nevada mountains of southern Spain: the same grey granite rising almost vertically clad with sparse vegetation.

Through the mountains, a late lunch stop on the plains heading towards Roberson was welcome – the wine tasting was taking its toll and we were both just a little sleepy. The ...

... chicken pie, rice and salad;they said it would be served with mash and pumpkin, but as we are the only ones eating I guess they decided to just do microwaved rice to save time. During dinner, while we a helping Eden to eat her rice a glass gets tipped over, it must be cheap because it smashes to pieces!

After dinner the boy lights a fire in the garden and a few of his friends come over. They smoke a home made hookah pipe which they call bubbly. It has flavored tobacco in and ...

... would now be considered middle class and their life style was surprisingly comfortable and sophisticated in spite of the remoteness of the area. We were fascinated by the floors in the kitchen and pantry which were made of peach pips set into beeswax, apparently an old local method which creates a very hard wearing surface which was as good today as it was when first laid. We spent the next day at the local hot springs whose healing properties are said to ...

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.

After ditching our plans to head to Knysna for the night since we learned we could never realistically make it there in a day (thankfully Irene had asked someone for directions), we headed for Swellendam, one of the first European settlements in South Africa. From there we would be able to easily visit the De Hoop Nature Reserve, a place heralded in our guide books as one of the most peaceful places on Earth. The drive to Swellendam ...

... we thought he had convinced Duncan to partake, but after too much opportunity for reflection (and seeing the pictures of the difficult bits on a poster), Duncan came to his senses and bowed out. He said he would be more inclined to do it when he had a pretty girlfriend he needed to impress - at least that was his excuse. Andy prevailed and did the tour, later he said that there were some sketchy bits that I definitely wouldn't have liked (even with Ativan for courage).  Maddie was ...

After the lavish meal at LQF, you'd have thought we'd have had enough food but oh no, we had a lie in and then breakfast. Steve made sure he had one of those tasty yoghurt and granola things just to keep the hunger at bay! We decided to take the route to Swellendam via Franschhoek having not had the chance to stop off there prior. We looked into a few shops but Steve stopped me from bringing a wooden elephant back. Drove ...

... but we decided to move on because we still had a lot of ground to cover if we wanted to reach The Garden Route before the end of our trip. So we said goodbye to the Whale Coast and on into the area known as The Overberg. We ended up in Swellendam and found a beautiful country estate to stay in for the night but, when we got there, we were turned away at the inn because we had a child with us and they had a no ...

... ride with this american dude who had the opposite problem. He just had no clue when to shut his trap. And he would say things like "hey driver, what's your name? fayaaz? Fayeez, that's such a cool name! Fayeez, the word of the day is nicely. Nicely." What urges people to say such things? I'm sure you know people like that. Anyway, he was harmless, kinda annoying at first, but then kinda endearing after a while, like an ugly pet or a fat girlfriend. alright, anyway, when we got ...

... the street, but they only ordered out for food, and from places that were closed until 6 also. So, we wandered around some more. We stopped at a small gift/antique shop and were stunned for a bit. They had some gorgeous armoires for only 1500 Rands (about $200!). We started to drool, and think about how much shipping might cost. The one frustrating thing though was that all the gorgeous furniture was stripped!! Didn't they know any better? In the US ...