I don't suppose that anyone can guess what we spent the afternoon doing? Of course, driving from wine farm to wine farm (in a rather fun vehicle) tasting wine!
Besides for the mode of transport and the fact that we didn't know 4 of the 6 people we went with, what was awesome about this particular expedition was that we didn't do the traditional and well-worn Stellenbosch wine route. This time we stayed close to home (in fact, only 5 minutes away from home) and toured around the Durbanville wine area. I took a moment to draw the short route that we drove - click here to see the map.
The building in the foreground is the Kristo Pienaar Environmental Education Centre, and at the bottom of the pathway you can see the main gate of the Tygerberg Nature Reserve.
Kristo Pienaar was a well-known (and popular) South African botanist, probably most famous for encouraging South African gardeners to make use of indigenous plants in their gardens. He was a multi-talented man, though - some of the best South African reference bookson gardening were written by him, he was a university professor, he presented Veld Fokus on SABC's 50/50 (a TV programme that covered all sorts of ecology-related topics) for a few years, and he was even the mayor of Bellville at one stage!
I don't know exactly when this sign was put up at the top of Tygerberg Hill, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't there back in 2002 when I was, in fact, pushed up the hill in a wheelchair.
Allow me to take you on a little trip down memory lane. I sustained an unfortunate moshing-related injury at my graduation party in April 2002 - I tore a ligament in my knee and ended up on crutches for 6 weeks (and believe it or not, there was absolutely NO alcohol involved in this incident).
Sometime during those 6 weeks, our friends Nicholas and Chanel phoned us up one Sunday and suggested that we all go up Tygerberg Hill for a picnic. Of course, hiking up the hill on crutches, while not at all impossible, was going to be annoyingly slow and extremely tiring. So, ever resourceful, Nicholas borrowed a wheelchair from one of his family members (yup, apparently there are people who have spare wheelchairs lying around :P), and the three of them took turns pushing me up the hill in it.
It's a memory I really treasure - particularly since we lost Nicholas to a stop-street-jumping truck driver in May 2004. Paul's dad's recent heart-attack scare reminded me once again of how fragile we are, and how important it is to build up a storehouse of memories for the future. What are you doing today to make memories with the people you love?
Apart from the album that I've uploaded, this is the last of the photos that I'll post from our visit to The Giraffe House. Boa Constrictors aren't native to Africa, but I thought that I'd post this photo because the snake show/educational was so interesting. I'm not a parent, but what was nice was that the snake handler in the photo engaged with and invited kids forward to touch and hold snakes - yup, even this large Boa Constrictor.
One of the interesting things that I learned was that Boa Constrictors are often kept as pets and each year several owners are killed by their friendly slithery snakes. Boas are classified as constrictors, and contrary to what you may think, they don't actually crush their prey, they suffocate it. Each time the animal (or... erm... human) breathes out, the reptile tightens its grip so that the prey is unable to fill its lungs properly. Eventually the victim is unable to catch a breath and suffocates. So... DON'T BREATHE OUT! :)
One of the other interesting things that we were taught is that if a snake is coloured with red, yellow and black, the rule of thumb is that if the red scales touch the black scales then the snake isn't poisonous [*see edit below], but if red touches yellow... you should probably back off. The handy rhyme goes:
"Red touching black - poison lack; red touching yellow will kill a fellow."
EDIT: Please see my the comment below which corrects what I understood the handler was meant by red/black and red/yellow.
Pete (that's our name for the camel we found at The Giraffe House) is a Bactrian camel - meaning that this fellow is of the two-humped variety.
The Bactrian Camel is apparently one of only two species of camel, the other being the Arabian, or Dromedary, camel. What I found interesting is that there are only very few camels in the world that are not domesticated. The weirdest thing of all is that it seems as though the camel is the only land mammel able to drink salt water without suffering ill effects!
One of the fun things you can do in Cape Town is to take a ride on a camel: Imhoff Farm offers short rides around the farm as well as a 2-hour-long "Bush Ride", which I hear is loads of fun.
If you've ever taken a ride on the Imhoff Farm camels, please leave a comment and tell us what your experience was like (as well as any tips that one may find useful on a 2-hour-long camel ride!). The only camel ride Kerry-Anne and I have taken was a short one on an Arabian camel while on honeymoon many years ago.
There we were, at The Giraffe House, and unbeknown to us we had a famous actor in our midst. According to iAfrica, baby Gerry is a star in the soon-to-be-released movie Free Willy 4. At the time I wondered why she immediately rushed over to us when I pulled my camera from my bag! To think that she's only just over a year old and already a star! Kids grow up so fast.
On a more serious note, it's worthwhile taking your kids to see the few animals at The Giraffe House, especially since they have "animal encounters" each day at 11h00, 13h00 and 15h00, showing snakes, birds, tortoises, a speedy caracal (called Felix) and the perhaps the coolest of all, Gerry’s 16-litre bottle-feeding.
Not only does The Giraffe House have this bouncy plastic giraffe (don't you love his smile? :) ), but they have a real one too! Right here in Cape Town, just down the road from Stellenbosch! I did catch a few (well, actually plenty of) shots of the tall and timid animal, but that I'll show you in Monday's post.
We've been meaning to visit The Giraffe House for some time now, so when we were given the choice of going to our godchild's 6th birthday party HERE or a "boring adult cake-and-tea"... erm... there was no contest. Definitely, The Giraffe House! The cool thing about the place was that they don't only have a giraffe, but also an assortment of other animals, some of which I'll show you on Tuesday and perhaps Wednesday.
Thanks, Ethan, for having a birthday and convincing your mom to take us all to The Giraffe House!
Now if Mavericks were spelled with an apostrophe-s then I'd say your chances of finding Tom Cruise here would be small to good. In this case however, there is no apostrophe, and Mavericks is indeed - as I'm sure you can gather from this billboard - a strip club.
I've no idea how many such clubs there are in Cape Town. The only two that I can remember ever seeing are Mavericks and Teasers... and I guess this is because they're the only ones that I've ever seen advertised.
I clicked on over to the Mavericks(careful, PG-rated content) website to see what it's all about, and noticed two things. The first is that the place looks stylish and has a red Moulin Rouge feel and atmosphere. The other thing that was apparent is that most of the ladies working at the clubs are from Eastern Bloc countries like Russia and Lithuania. In fact, the "dancer application form" is downloadable in two languages, English and Russian!
Constantia Nek Restaurant, the oldest in Cape Town?
According to their website, the Constantia Nek Restaurant is the oldest restaurant in Cape Town. I think that my mother would contest that as she often feels like her kitchen is the oldest restaurant in Cape Town. ;)
Seriously though, I can't confirm whether or not it's true, but based on the fact that the restaurant is in a spot secluded from the city's development I guess that it's possible that the restaurant is the oldest surviving restaurant in Cape Town. I have to be honest and say that we've never had dinner there, but I do remember stopping by for a couple of beers while watching a friend of mine play guitar in a band.
Back then the inside was decorated old-style, with benches that you'd expect to find in an old English tavern. What was really cool about the place was that they had extra-warm (that's slightly warmer than warm) fires burning inside to keep the place nice and toasty during winter evenings. While I stood outside taking this photo, I could hear voices and laughter emanating from the building - it would seem as though that warmth lives on, fire or no fire.
At least one of our UK readers in particular will immediately recognise the inside of Wakame, a popular tapas and sushi restaurant in Mouille Point, located very close to the Green Point soccer stadium. In fact, the stadium is precisely what you can see brighly lit out in the darkness.
While we were enjoying really (very) good sushi, I watched welding sparks dropping to the ground from the structure in the distance. It would seem the stadium's construction workers are putting in some serious overtime to catch up after last week's wage dispute.
A week or more ago (while we were away in Bloemfontein watching the soccer) one of the Tidewater Marine guys emailed me about chartering a helicopter and taking photos of two boats due to pass by Cape Town's Table Bay. The two boats were the Gubert Tide and Desoto Tide, en route from Singapore to the West Coast of Africa (somewhere near Côte d'Ivoire).
I read a little about the boats and found that they're reasonably new vessels, launched only this year and now being deployed to their new home near Côte d'Ivoire. Apparently, these two are Diesel-Electric-powered boats, which I understand makes them a little special in that they're not quite as bad for the environment as many other ships - they reduce CO2 emission by 30% and are lighter on diesel than traditional diesel-powered vessels.
Enough about Tidewater and the boats for now, and back to the helicopter trip. If you have the opportunity you absolutely HAVE TO take an early-morning flip in a chopper around Cape Town. I now understand why this city is often considered the most beautiful in the world. But, don't take my word for it - visit again tomorrow, because I'll be posting a few more early-morning aerial photos of Cape Town. Early morning is a beautiful time to see the city and its mountains.
Take a look at this article to read more about the two vessels.
Although this photo was taken on Sunday, today's weather was pretty much the same; I thought it appropriate to share this photo because it gives two clues as to something fun I'll be doing early tomorrow morning... before heading off to work. Have a guess, and remember, I did say two clues. :)
Today is Kerry-Anne's birthday and at this stage she's received so many messages from people on Facebook, Twitter, on her cell phone, and in her mailbox that she's spent the whole day just getting through them all. I never knew that she knew so many people! So, believe me, if she hasn't yet responded to your message, it's not because she's ignoring you.
Thanks to the people who've contributed to the "Drummer-girl project" that I started for Kerry-Anne; we're up to R700 already! One of the contributors even offered to let her use his electronic drumkit every now and again! Why didn't I think of that!? An electronic kit with headphones! ;)
I just can't believe the weather that we're having this year. I'm sure it's usually cold with a fair share of rain in July!
We took a drive out to Blouberg beach today to take a few photos and have some ice-cream at the seaside. Clearly similar thoughts about ice-cream at the seaside went through many people's minds. It seemed as though wherever I looked there were people eating ice-cream!
The only sad thing about the weather we're having is that most tourists only visit the city in the summer months and so miss out on these clear and sunny winter days. What I hope for is that next year we have similarly good weather for the 2010 Football World Cup - it'll make our visitors' stay in Cape Town extraordinarily awesome!
I mentioned in the previous post that we visited Kink Bar Boutique for a birthday get-together. What I didn't mention though was that the bar's name contains the word Boutique because, while most people socialise downstairs, some people wander upstairs to the little lingerie and... well... toy shop. ;-)
Before fully realising the nature of the shop I took a walk upstairs to see what it was all about. Needless to say I was quickly scared off by the beautiful garments and the ladies browsing them. :P I didn't even have a chance to take in all the goods that were for sale. I've since taken a quick look at the catalogue on their website (rated 18+), so I have a pretty good idea of what I missed out on...
We, together with a number of other friends, joined Catherine and Joe to celebrate their respective birthdays at Kink Bar Boutique - a popular hang-out that we'd never actually visited until the party.
Kink is a small bar, with a dark and red Moulin Rouge feel about it... and in fact, at one point I noticed scenes from the movie playing on the projector screen in the photo. We had a couple of drinks inside and then wondered out the front to chat with friends for an hour or two.
The people enjoying the vibe at Kink seemed unpretentious, friendly and easy to talk to. The girls were pretty, and I'm led to believe that the guys were generally not too bad looking either. :) Even the waitresses mingling through the crowd were friendly and seemed to appear at the right time, just as another drink was required.
Kink's a nice place to enjoy a couple of drinks with mates before heading off to one of the local dancing spots. I'm pretty sure we'll be visiting again sometime soon.
Bennie managed to snap this photo when a member of the Cannon Society fired this half-pounder cannon. I'm surprised not to see the cannonball floating in mid air! :)
Some time ago cannons fell under the Firearms Act, which meant that they were governed by the same restrictions applying to modern firearms. The Cannon Society petitioned the authorities, and to satisfy the South African Police they drew up an official safety handbook, set up a code of conduct, and agreed to training courses for gunners. Today cannons and antique muzzle-loaded firearms have been deregulated and no longer fall under the Firearms Act (although a competency certificate obtained through proper training is required).
Roots in Observatory, a bar with its own man-made beach, is quite unlike other bars in the city. Take a look here and here to see what I mean - isn't it awesome when people play with fire?
Apart from the beach-away-from-the-sea feel, at Roots you can have a few drinks with friends while watching sporting events on a big screen. They also host live music acts catering for a wide variety of tastes, from Reggae/Rock/Fusion bands like Tidal Waves to Afrikaans metal bans like Fokofpolisiekar.
If you're not sure where to find Roots, they're at 96 Station Road, which is right here on the map.
As our holiday in Bloemfontein and Johannesburg draws to an end, thanks again to Mandy for helping us out with our daily photos from Cape Town!
Substitute photographer, Super Sleuth Watson, attended the opening of the These Four Walls fine art gallery in Observatory. While this was the opening, the gallery is certainly not new, and has in fact been running from a small flat in Woodstock for some time.
The idea behind These Four Walls is for it to be a gallery with a semi-informal atmosphere where "average people" are able to purchase original works of art at affordable prices. What I like about the gallery is that their website's homepage has a link to photos of the works displayed in the current exhibition.
These Four Walls is at 169 Lower Main Road in Observatory, and is open Tuesday through Friday from 10h00 to 17h00, and Saturday from 10h00 to 13h00. Most artists don't paint to make money, they paint to express something for others to enjoy. So, if you find yourself in the area, if you love art, and even if you're not shopping, visit the gallery and stimulate your creativity.
Mandy discovered this block of concrete demarcating the location of an old heliport close to the breakwater, just behind the V&A Waterfront parking area. The photo reminded me of an adventure helicopter trip offered by the Huey Club in one of their famous Huey HU-1 military choppers - which we often first hear (they have a distinctive sound), and then see flying over the city. You may remember these helicopters from movies like Full Metal Jacket or serials like M.A.S.H.
Quite some time ago a friend told me of an adventure helicopter trip, called the "Combat Mission", that he went on in one of these choppers. What they do is take passengers on a trip that involves low-flying over the city, Waterfront and up the West Coast. Pilots put the choppers into steep climbs and hard banks... WITH THE DOORS OPEN, to simulate a real combat situation. Thankfully there's nobody shooting rockets or machine-guns at this joyride!
The Huey Club lists the cost of the trip as R1500... but I haven't been able to find out how long the flight-time is. At that price, I can't believe that it's more than about 30 minutes, though.
Jet Skiing is one of those sports that I think many people would love to try, but either it's too expensive, or they live too far away from the ocean and its waves to make one of these water bikes a worthwhile investment.
I'm sure many people know that you can hire a Jet Ski for the odd bit of fooling around, but what's always bothered me with this is that jet skis are dangerous and I don't know how to read the ocean - I do know that it's not something to toy with, though. A colleague of mine, who rides his jet ski regularly, told me of an incident where he helped someone who had paralysed themselves by landing incorrectly after jumping the ski... that's not a place I'd like to be!
But there is another option if you're visiting Cape Town and would like to take a tour of the coastline on a jet ski (and want to drive the machine yourself). Bugaloo Adventures have a Seafari jet ski package for R600 that puts you on a jet ski with a guide on a separate ski. The guide rides alongside you, keeping one eye on the ocean and one eye on you to make sure you're staying safe, and helps you learn how to ride the ski. It's a pretty cool idea, don't you think? I'm just waiting for Bugaloo to offer us a free ride, so that we can review the actual experience! :D
To help us out while we're on vacation, today's photo was taken by Bennie Vivier - the guy who, when I started getting into photography, was kind enough teach me about the subtle technical aspects of the art.
Tigresse, which can carry 60 passengers, is, according to its owner, the largest sailing catamaran in African waters, rivalled only by the Fujicat, a sister catamaran.
At R110 for a one-and-a-half-hour cruise, it's not at all expensive (in my opinion). If I were you however, I'd consider doing the sunset cruise with champagne for R180. Their website notes that they offer a champagne cruise, and even though I know they really mean sparkling wine, please insist on REAL champagne from Champagne... just to make the point! ;)
We're currently on vacation so credit for today's photo of Tigresse goes to Mandy from brainwavez.org.
I mentioned in yesterday's post that we spent a great evening tasting BenRiach whisky, but I didn't tell you that the event was held at Sinn's Restaurant at Wembley Square. (You might recall us blogging about Sinn's in the past).
It was the first time we'd eaten a meal at the restaurant - previously we'd only been there for snacks and drinks (very good snacks and drinks they were, though!).
Our food was absolutely excellent (French onion soup, filled chicken breasts on a bed of mushrooms, and malva pudding with koeksuster/Amarula ice cream were a few of the options on our set menu), and the service was great. The waiters were incredibly polite and very efficient, and the portions of food were impressively generous.
If you're a fan of value for money, then don't miss their winter specials - R99 for a 2-course meal or R125 for a 3-course meal, both including a glass of wine. If you're looking for a cosy but stylish spot for dinner, I can definitely recommend Sinn's.
I'm sure it will amuse you to know that when we were leaving Kerry-Anne and I spent five minutes trying to work out why on earth the pay-on-foot parking machine wouldn't take our parking ticket, till we realised simultaneously that I was, in fact, trying to put the parking ticket into the automatic teller machine, conveniently located next to the pay-on-foot machine. And I can't even blame the whisky - its effects had long since worn off. :D
I'm not sure how many of our readers drink whisky, but if you do, then you'll understand when I say that our evening out at a whisky tasting was fantastic... especially when the BenRiach guys served up, amongst others, their finest 20-year-old!
The BenRiach Distillery in Scotland was first established in 1898, and only 5 years ago purchased from the Chivas Brothers by three entrepreneurs, two of whom were South Africans... which is how I imagine this bottle of 16-year-old gold received its name. In total we tasted five bottles, ranging from the 20-year-old, to a fine 10-year-old (which I actually enjoyed more that the 20 year old).
The most interesting things that I learned from the evening were (a) that a "single malt" is a whisky that comes from a single distillery and is made from a single type of malted grain, and (b) that most of BenRiach's casks (the barrels in which the whisky matures) are second-hand bourbon casks purchased mostly from the USA (thank you, Jack Daniel's!). :)
The Lower Deck Bistro at the Blue Peter has never been one of my favourite spots in Cape Town, although it seems a lot of our friends like it - I know this because we keep getting invited to things there. :) Usually these "things" are informal lunch-time meetups or sundowners, but this time it was an evening birthday party.
Although the birthday party itself was lovely (we got to see a whole lot of old friends we hadn't seen in ages), the experience pretty much sealed my impressions of the Blue Peter as A Place I Don't Want To Go To Again. As you may be able to tell from the photo, there weren't a lot of other people at the venue. In fact, there weren't really any other people at all. In fact... yes, I think you get the picture. This struck us as rather odd, given that it was a Saturday night.
Apparently the first members of our party to arrive had been told (at 6pm, before they'd even placed their first drinks orders), "Last rounds are at 21h45... as long as you know that." An odd start to the evening, wouldn't you say? By 20h00, after we'd finished our pizzas, it had become clear that the manager and his waitrons were rather keen for us to move the party elsewhere. We were obviously the only customers there by that time, and they'd presumably decided that getting an early night was a better option than wasting their time serving just one table. They hovered near the entrance, glancing over at us constantly, and the waitress passed a remark at one point that she was "just worried, because no-one's drinking", which wasn't true, of course - we just weren't drinking much alcohol. ;-)
All in all, it became pretty weird and uncomfortable, until we eventually left at around 9pm; and Paul and I certainly won't be going back if we can help it. If you don't mind being watched by the manager while you sip your latte, or having the waitress raise her eyebrows in disbelief when you order your whiskey without ice, then you'll probably enjoy it more than we did. :)
I'm not sure if it's a specifically South African thing, but check these swings out. Which brightspark (and I do mean that) thought of turning a car tyre inside out and fashioning a bucket-like swing seat from it? Most playpark swings I come across in and around Cape Town seem to use these kind of seats... the only difficulty with them is that if you're all grown up, and if the tyre was from a small vehicle, it's kinda difficult to get it off your butt once you've plopped in. :D
I used Google Image Search to see if I could find swings like this in other countries. I have to admit that I only checked the first four pages of results, but what was interesting was that the only similar ones that I found appear to have originated from South Africa. Others were full tyres tied to a rope... which is cool, but just not the same. ;)
Delheim is an old wine estate in the heart of Stellenbosch wine country. It was on Tuesday night that my palate encountered Delheim Merlot for the first time - and I have to say that for a 2006 wine it was pretty darn decent!
Delheim's tag-line is "Worth The Journey", which I guess conveys that even though Stellenbosch is a little way from the City (about 40km I'd guess), a visit is well worth the journey. I browsed their website a few minutes ago and discovered a little nugget of information... it seems as though Delheim's estate restaurant is having a special from 8-12 June. From the advert it sounds as though they will reduce their price to dollar numbers, but charge in rands. Could they really mean that a R150 meal will cost only R15? That's just crazy! I may just have to check if the journey is in fact worth it. ;)
Delheim, this sounds unbelievable; it would be awesome if you'd leave a comment clarifying what's meant by "Come and enjoy meal at Dollar rates!".
I remember posting a photo of a Jungle Gym late last year. At the time one of our readers from the USA commented on the fact that they used to have metal and wooden Jungle Gyms too, but that these had been replaced with plastic ones as it was believed that the others were a health hazard. Another reader commented that he had once damaged his windpipe on one. However, the common thread running throughout the comments was that Jungle Gyms are fun!
So naturally I was excited to spot this hybrid of a Jungle Gym crossed with a slide. I came to a screeching halt when I noticed it on my way home from work - to get a few photos of course. The awesome thing that I discovered about this slide is that it was made with kids like me in mind. It's big enough that it doesn't make me feel like a giant - not only the stairs and the landing spot at the top, but also the slide itself.
After taking a few photos from the top, I tested the slide.... and by Jove, I fitted! It wasn't one of those annoying plastic slides, it was genuine stainless steel, and was wide enough that the sides didn't act as brakes to slow my descent! It was phenomenal! (And I guess that after reading this Kerry-Anne will want to be taken there to try it out :) ).
Every now and again Paul gets a craving for waffles, and although I don't actually have a particularly sweet tooth, I never object, of course.
When we were younger, the best place for waffles and ice cream was undoubtedly Milky Lane. Well, either our tastes have matured, or Milky Lane's waffles have deteriorated considerably...
Sure, it might look yummy, but that's just because Paul takes such good photos. ;-) I actually have no idea what was in the centre of this waffle (you can't see it in the photo) - the poster on the wall said "chocolate mousse", but (a) it didn't look anything like the filling on the poster and (b) it was surprisingly... chewy. Apart from that, the service was iffy, and the waffles were a lot smaller than I remember them being.
So, since we probably won't be visiting Milky Lane in a hurry again, where do you suggest we go next time Paul is bitten by the waffle bug?
Just two days after Cape Town's huge rain storm, we're back to sunny blue skies!
I took this photo in the gardens of the Vineyard Hotel in Newlands. The hotel is a beautiful structure, reminiscent of a previous era of grace and elegance. We knew that the gardens were beautiful and well kept, but taking some time to walk through them gave us a perspective on how much larger they are than we had first imagined. The gardens are made up of large, carefully trimmed lawns, huge beds of neat shrubs and bright flowers, large trees, winding paths, small rivers, quaint bridges, and convenient benches perfect for two. Phew! I think I just depleted my weekly adjective quota.
What I found surprising is that the hotel's website, including the sections about the restaurants, doesn't make mention at all of packed picnic baskets being for sale. I found one sketchy reference on another site, but it is strange to me that such a perfect picnic spot isn't being leveraged. :-/
I think what we'll do is pack our own picnic and find a semi-secluded corner of the garden to have our private picnic... and to make us feel like we're not abusing the hotel's facilities, I think we'll end off our picnic with a cup of tea at the garden lounge.
Shhh... we'll keep this our CTDP-readers' secret, okay? :D
As I mentioned, Kerry-Anne and I were invited to a friend's birthday party at fashiontv on Saturday evening. The theme was to dress like something or someone related to the famous Jackson family. Soon after arriving, I looked around at the stylish patrons in the club and realised that perhaps I'd taken the theme an inch or so too far... but, I'll leave that up to your imagination (and those with access to my Facebook photo gallery). :D
Needless to say, Kerry-Anne complemented the other exceptionally beautiful and sophisticated people. The music was loud, but not loud enough to make my ears uncomfortable; and what was pretty awesome was that while the DJ played, a guy walked around the bar area playing a saxophone in harmony with the DJ's tracks. It really was pretty darn impressive and created an interesting blend of hip-hop and pop music crossed with a live sax performance.
All in all it was a pretty good experience - the club wasn't too crowded and the dance-floor opened fairly late, giving people a chance to socialise. The drinks weren't cheap (about R20 for a 330ml beer), but not unreasonably expensive either, and there were plenty of places to grab a seat if you got tired of standing.
I think we'll have to visit again some time (so let us know when you're looking for a party ;) )!
