November 2016

And now there were 2Cape Town, South Africa Cape Town, South Africa Today was Richard and Martha’s last day, and as the weather was once agin really lovely they were determined to get a last bit of sunshine before they headed off to the airport. We said our goodbyes in the early afternoon, and then I went back to Skye Ways to meet Lawrence for a trip to the accountants ( I know how to live!) Some good progress on the house, but a tall order to be finished for Christmas! Karol and I then had an impromptu trip back to Kitima, which was greatRead More →

Boys fishing tripCape Town, South Africa Cape Town, South Africa After much anticipation and numerous false starts because of the weather we were off! We had arranged to meet our skipper Roger Bossman at the harbour at 6 o’clock, so we’re all up bright and early to make sure we were ready. Having all taken our sea sickness tablets and packed our provisions we set off, met up with Roger and Lawrence, and sailed out of Hout Bay at six on the dot. We were told we were getting coffee and muffins, but these were now promised for when we arrived at our fishing point,Read More →

Roben Island and Big BayCape Town, South Africa Cape Town, South Africa We all split up today – the Pryor’s and the Staines’s all took the boat to Roben Island whilst Karen and Geoff did their own thing. Karol and I took a ride out to Big Bay which is a beach that overlooks Cape Town from the other side of the bay. We then called in to the Century City shopping centre on the way back. We’d booked a table for that evening at Hout Bay Manor as they were doing their ‘Beer and a Burger’ offer for R99. Lawrence and Amanda joined usRead More →

Picnic at VergelegenCape Town, South Africa Cape Town, South Africa Having been close to home for the last couple of days, we set out to Somerset West today to visit the Vergelegen wine farm and gardens. They do a wonderful picnic under the trees, and Karol had booked us a late lunch there a couple of days earlier. We took two cars with Geoff and I the volunteer drivers, and set off along the N2 past the airport. Karol suggested that we take a small detour up the Helderberg Mountain, from where there are stunning views of False Bay, so this is what we did.Read More →

Lazy day in Hout BayCape Town, South Africa Cape Town, South Africa As it’s Sunday, we decided that we’d like to walk down to the local market first to browse around the stalls there, and then a bunch of us walked to the Harbour market and met the rest there so we could sample the food court once more. Karol was hoping that Katherine would be at the local market, but once again she wasn’t there. Still, we had a good browse and bought a few bits and then set off across the beach to the harbour. Richard had been bragging that he was goingRead More →

Shopping, Constantia Glen and tuna braai at homeCape Town, South Africa Cape Town, South Africa Although some of us had sore heads this morning we were all up bright and early and we sent the men to buy fresh fish at Fish 4 Africa down on Hout Bay harbour. We hadn’t realised that the high winds would have a massive impact on the types and quantities of fresh fish available as it was too rough for the smaller fishing boats to go out to sea. Despite this the boys bought a fantastic piece of tuna, plenty for 10 (with left overs) for R400 – justRead More →

Lazy day around Hout BayCape Town, South Africa Cape Town, South Africa Everyone has now got a better idea of the geography of the area so some couples decided to venture off on their own today, either down into Hout Bay or to explore the Camps Bay Area, while we opted for a quiet relaxing day at home. All was going really well until about 4pm when a crew of tree fellers turned up to take down the dead conifer tree from the verge on Broughton Close, just by our deck and garden. The total absence of health and safety precautions was unbelievable, the treeRead More →

Ladies Spa Afernoon and Lads Wine TastingCape Town, South Africa Cape Town, South Africa One of the ‘main events’ for the lads holiday was to be a day out at sea, fishing for tuna. Unfortunately so far the weather hasn’t been suitable as it has been incredibly windy – not what you want when you’re 50k out at sea. A period of 5 days was allocated in the hope that one day the wind would be calm enough for them to go – this made it difficult for us to plan other things, so to make sure we ladies didn’t miss out we booked aRead More →

KirstenboschCape Town, South Africa Cape Town, South Africa We woke to another fine day, still a bit windy, but a good temperature for a group of us to visit Kirstenbosch, which was high on Jenny and Phil, and Richard and Martha’s list of ‘must do while in Cape Town’. We left Karen and Geoff to have some peace and quiet and set off for the short drive. We stayed together at first and walked on the Tree Canopy Walkway, a wooden bridge which sways through the tree tops and gives fantastic views of the gardens and Cape Town itself. After walking round for an hourRead More →

Skye Ways and the V&ACape Town, South Africa Cape Town, South Africa After a more leisurely start the team split up a bit today. Karen and Geoff took Richard and Martha, with Jenny and Phil following on behind, to the V&A. This gave them their first glimpse of the beautiful drive down the sea front from Llandudno to Sea Point, and also showed them the Clocktower where the boat leaves for Robben Island as their trip is booked for next week, weather permitting as it is still very windy! Grant and Karol had arranged to meet Lawrence and Amanda for lunch at Mano’s on SomersetRead More →