After a good nights sleep and another excellent breakfast we packed up our things, loaded the car and were ready for the longest drive of our trip to Oudtshoorn – 381km. We also rang Granny to wish her a very happy 86th birthday!!

We had a great time in Boschendal at Cottage 1685 but I have to say I am not entirely sure how I feel about it. The cottage was absolutely amazing and Maxwell our host was incredible and could not do enough for us but there was definitely something about being a white family in an old colonial cottage being looked after by a man of colour that didn’t sit well with me. I guess we had a taste of what life was like being Cecil J Rhodes in the old imperial days and I am certainly glad that life these days is not like that, at least not in the UK!

After checking out we headed out of Franschhoek on the R45 and then onto the N1 and for a while the landscape was quite featureless as we drove on the motorway. One thing that has really fascinated me as we drive is the many Townships. Every time we drive through a beautiful town, shortly after we leave it behind we then come across a sprawling township. I have to say it makes me really sad to see people living in this manner, South Africa is such a country of contrasts.

From the N1 we then turned onto the R60 and then after a short while onto Route 62, South Africa’s equivalent to the States Route 66!. At this point the scenery took a dramatic change for the better starting with the Montague Pass where we drove through a carved archway in the mountains. It was the most beautiful drive worth very little traffic of any note. For long spells we seemed to be the only car on the road and we crossed numerous bridges over non-existent rivers which must be a concern given it is currently winter here and the rainy season! The halfway point of our drive today was a town called Barrydale where we stopped to stretch our legs and have a drink at a roadside café. 

Long straight roads followed with undulating scrubland until we reached Ladismith where suddenly the mountains rose up and we reached the Huisrivier Pass which took us through numerous dips, hills and hairpin bends, all with staggering views. Finally we descended out of the mountains onto what seemed to be just one completely straight road approaching Oudtshoorn, which is apparently the Ostrich capital of the world and home to numerous ostrich farms.

We are staying at the Rosenhof Boutique hotel in the beautiful Birds Cottage which is absolutely lovely. We were all tired after the journey so I had a hot bath which was amazing but Becky and Tessa hit the Gym!! We had supper in the hotel which was very pleasant if a little quiet with just us and another couple dining there. I ate Ostrich!! It was surprisingly good, similar to duck but a bit meatier like a steak.

Tomorrow we are up early and off on a Meerkat Safari!

We awoke this morning to our first really chilly day. The rain and mist had descended and visibility was limited with no sign of the beautiful mountains that surround us. Maxwell, our host, and the chef really cheered us up with the most unbelievable breakfast though to really set us up for the day.

After breakfast, we were picked up and taken to the heart of the Boschendal Estate, the second largest wine estate in South Africa, for a walking tour of the farm. Yo-yo, our guide, walked us around the many plants that are grown here and talked us through the history of all of the buildings from their Dutch origins to how they are used today which was really interesting.

Afterwards, we walked the couple of kilometres back to our cottage and then drove the 15 minutes or so into the centre of Franshhoeck which is a really lovely town, obviously dominated by the wine trade. We spent a good couple of hours wandering up and down the Main Street and to our delight, as it was Saturday, they also had a lovely market which we visited. We then drove through Stellenbosch just so we could see it from the car before returning to the Boschendal Estate for wine tasting with chocolates!

We tasted 5 different wines all made by the estate from sparkling through to rose, white and red and each was matched with a delicious chocolate also made locally. It was absolutely delicious although we felt a little squiffy by the end!!

We then caught the safari bus back to our cottage which was great fun and had pizzas delivered for supper. We also had a power cut which was very exciting. South Africa has daily electricity cuts that are scheduled and known as ‘load shedding’ as they cannot currently create enough electricity for the demand. Although our cottage had backup batteries, even those sometimes power down for brief periods and they soon came back to life once we had turned some light switches off!

Tomorrow we are heading west and have a long drive to Oudtshoorn for the next leg of our South African adventure!

We were up promptly this morning as we were checking out of The Crystal, our home for the last 4 nights and leaving for Franschhoek. We had a car delivered by Avis at 10am, bang on time, and my initial worries about it not being big enough for the 5 of us and all our luggage quickly changed to delight that we had a VW transporter, just like our van at home. Having a right-hand drive and driving on the same side of the road to the UK was also a real bonus!

We made our way out of Camps Bay and into Cape Town before saying our farewell and final goodbye to Table Mountain as we left on the N2 for Hermanus. The taxi strike had thankfully finished so life on the roads around the Cape were back to normal. On our way out of Cape Town we passed the Nyanga Township, one of the oldest and most dangerous Townships in Cape Town. We were shocked by the sheer size of it. It went on for miles and there must be millions of people living there.

The drive to Hermanus was 125km and took just over 1hr40m. From the N2 we turned off onto the R43 which then took us all the way to the coast and Hermanus. We parked up and had time for a stroll along the coastal path.

It was beautiful and we were able to see whales in the bay which Hermanus is famous for and the reason we wanted to visit! We also came across lots of Rock Hyrax’s that live on the clifftops and seemed very tame, although we didn’t get too close!!

We had booked lunch at Bientang’s Cave restaurant which had tables overlooking the bay and spent a lovely hour looking out for the whales as they came up to breathe. Catching them on camera was more of a challenge!!

We then set off on the journey to Franschhoeke, another 122km, which took us up and through the Mountains and the scenery was absolutely stunning, particularly through the Franshhoeke Pass, with lots of hair pin bends, steep climbs and sharp descents.

We arrived mid-afternoon at our cottage on the Boschendal wine estate – Cottage 1685. It’s very colonial and apparently one of the former homes of Cecil J Rhodes, a controversial British imperialist who was a former Cape Prime Minister and also conquerer of Matebeleland, later named Rhodesia after him and now known as Zimbabwe. We settled in and had supper in the Deli restaurant on the estate before returning to Cottage 1685 ready for bed!

The day started with a 9.00am pick-up and finished at 10:45pm after a superb meal in Camps Bay and I almost can’t believe the amount we crammed in but I do know we are all absolutely knackered!!

We were collected promptly for our trip to Cape Point this morning and made our way to our first stop, Hout Bay Harbour, where we caught a boat to have a trip out to Seal Island. We were slightly thankful it was only a 45 minute trip as the seas were very rough and we all felt a little queasy!! Having said that Seal Island was quite a sight with a large colony of seals on rocky outcrops in very rough sea.

We then drove on round the coastal route towards Cape Point which really reminded us of driving the Pacific Coast Highway in California as it was a very windy road with incredible sea views!

Our next stop was close to Cape Point at a working Ostrich Farm. Whilst it was really beautiful and home to 200 ostrich’s which was amazing, the girls were more impressed that they had a tiny Dachsund puppy they they could cuddle!!

We then moved into the Cape Point National Park which was absolutely incredible. We took the funicular railway up to Cape Point Lighthouse which was largely redundant as they built it too high for ships to see!! They subsequently built another lighthouse much lower which is in everyday use. There were baboons wandering about just looking for trouble but thankfully they left us in peace! We had a take-out lunch at the restaurant but like everything this week, service was limited by the strikes and the food took forever to arrive!

We ate our lunch back on the bus to the Cape of Good Hope, the south-western most point of Africa. It was originally called the Cape of Storms but the Portuguese were worried that sailors would not want to travel there so they changed the name so people wouldn’t be aware of the danger it posed. It is a wild place and very clear to see why over 800 ships were wrecked on the way around the Cape!!

We left Cape Point and headed back to Boulders Bay to see the penguins via Simons Town where we were held up by a whole colony of Baboons blocking the road! Seeing the African penguins on Boulders beach was quite something!

Our trip culminated in a visit to Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens before we were dropped off safely back home in Camp’s Bay as the sun set just after 6pm. We had an excellent meal at Zenzero on the Camps Bay strip before retiring to bed exhausted! Tomorrow we are off to Franschhoek and the next leg of our journey!

Unfortunately we were unable to go to Robben island or visit a Township as originally planned today which was really disappointing.

To cut a long story short, there have been taxi strikes all this week in Cape Town because the Government have imposed a requirement that all taxi’s have to be road worthy or they will be seized and destroyed. Sounds good in theory but the reality is that people in the townships run taxi’s for others to get to work that are not roadworthy. This new legislation means that the township taxis will be unfairly penalised so as a result they are all striking in protest, meaning that lots of roads are blocked, tensions are running high and lots of township workers can not get to work.

The result of this is that we couldn’t visit a Township due to raised hostilities and that the Robben Island ferries aren’t running due to a lack of staff for this whole week.

After getting over the disappointment, we still ended up having a great day in Cape Town. We spent the morning learning more about the history of the city on a guided tour and really now feel we understand Cape Town and all its political issues much more.

We also got to go to Bo Kaap which was a part of Cape Town we really wanted to see but probably would not have ventured to without a guide. It has the most beautiful brightly coloured painted houses which are an expression of freedom. Initially all the houses were leased and had to be plain white but when rules were passed enabling slaves to buy properties, they painted them in vivid colours and they really are an incredible sight!

We had lunch back at the V&A waterfront which gave us a chance to sample a Gatsby sandwich which is apparently a Cape Town speciality. It’s basically meat, salad and chips all in a massive baguette and its really very good!. We then took a boat trip round the harbour which had some great views of the city and Table Mountain.

The weather was absolutely glorious after yesterdays chilly winds so we then headed back to our apartment and spent some time soaking up the sun by the pool before heading down to Camps Bay for dinner at Bo-Vine Wine and Grill House where we all had amazing steaks.

Tomorrow is our last full day in Cape Town before we move on to Franschhoek on Friday. We are supposed to be heading down to Cape Point and Boulders Beach. Fingers crossed this trip goes ahead as scheduled!!

After a much needed good night’s sleep all round, we made our way to the Table Mountain Cable Car this morning. It was blue sky and bright sunshine but very windy with a chill to the air so we had to wrap up warm. As its off-season in South Africa, there was very little queue for tickets and we found ourselves on the cable car vey quickly and ascending the mountain. Table Mountain has one of only 3 cable cars in the world with revolving floors which ensures that everyone gets a full 360 degree view during the 4-minute ascent to the top.

It was incredibly windy at the top but we were treated to some stunning views across both Cape Town and Camps Bay. We walked a small circuit around the top but due to the wind chill soon sought refuge in the Cafe where we had some lunch. It really struggled to meet the demand of the numbers of people wanting to eat/drink and was pretty chaotic. I have no idea how it copes during peak season!

We did another circuit around the top after lunch, had a look in the gift shop and then made our way back down the mountain. We realised at this point that they had stopped bringing people up the mountain due to the high winds and were only running the cars to take people down so we were glad we had taken the decision to go up this morning, otherwise we may not have had the chance to reach the summit at all which would have been a real shame.

At the bottom, we hopped onto the City Sightseeing bus which took us on a great route around Cape Town to the V&A Waterfront via Camps Bay, Clifton, Bantry Bay, Sea Point and Green Point. It gave us a running commentary along the way, which really gave us a good insight into the history and culture of Cape Town.

We spent a lovely couple of hours walking around the shops at the Waterfront as well as stopping for cocktails and milkshakes at the Life Grand Cafe!

Not sure if it was the alcohol’s fault but we ended up spending a small fortune in the African Trading Port before catching the last bus of the day back to Camps Bay.

After a long day, we rustled up a meal in our apartment and watched ‘Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom’ ahead of our trip to Robben Island tomorrow.

As I sit here in our apartment in Cape Town, there is no doubt the last 24hrs have been a bit of a whirlwind! We got to Heathrow in plenty of time yesterday evening for our night flight to Cape Town. The M25 was quiet and we could not have had a better run to Terminal 5.

We had a leisurely drink in Cafe Nero, checked our bags in, got through security quickly and then had a lovely meal. At this point, it was all a bit too good to be true!. We boarded on time for our 22:25 flight to Cape Town and all was looking good. Then Niger closed it’s airspace due to the military coup that was happening and suddenly we couldn’t fly over Western Africa!! A 2hr delay followed sat on the plane whilst we got rerouted and we eventually took off at 00:35. It didn’t feel it at the time but I think we got quite lucky as lots of other flights to SA were cancelled!

After 11 hours and not much sleep, we eventually landed at 12:55 local time after a very smooth flight (although it was slightly strange having our inflight meal at 02:35!) and proceeded seamlessly through immigration, customs and baggage reclaims to meet our pick up who was ready and waiting despite our delay.

A relatively quick transfer saw us arrive at The Crystal Apartments in Camps Bay in next to no time. It was amazing to take in our first views of Table Mountain and drive through Cape Town itself.

After we settled in, we took a walk down to Camps Bay beach and bought some supplies before heading back to ‘The Crystal’ and taking in the most incredible sunset from the balcony of our apartment.

In the evening, we had a reservation at ‘The Codfather’ seafood and sushi restaurant for supper. This Camps Bay institution has no menu so you literally have to go up to the fish counter and choose what you want to be cooked. After numerous sushi dishes to start, we then chose King Prawns, Sea Bass, Calamari, Salmon, Sardines, Sole and Kingklip, all served with potato wedges, rice and vegetables. It came in the most amazing platter and I have to say it was absolutely incredible!

With full tummies and not much left in the tank, we headed home for an early night ahead of what hopefully will be another exciting day tomorrow!!

Summer 2023 sees the five of us heading to South Africa to celebrate Becky’s 50th Birthday!! Follow our blog over the next 18 days as we fly to Cape Town and then travel along the Garden Route before finishing on Safari in the Eastern Cape!

“To travel is to live”

Hans Christian Anderson

After a final breakfast in the hotel room, we checked out of the hotel and made the short drive to Avis car rental, just outside the airport. After 1589 miles, it was quite sad to return our Ford Edge which had served us so well over the last 28 days.

We then caught the shuttle bus to the Airport for our flight home. We had a light lunch at the airport and then managed to get rid of all of the rest of our dollars in the duty free! Before we knew it, we were boarding the plane and on our way home.

The flight itself was good, apart from an hour of quite hostile turbulence just as we were served our lunch! Not much sleep was had by any of us but we arrived at Heathrow in good spirits and looking forward to getting home. We were picked up promptly by Addison Lee and made good time back to West Byfleet.

After 28 days, 8 different locations, a mixture of hotels and condos and nearly 1600 miles our trip is finally over. Thanks to everyone who sent us messages or followed us across the last 4 weeks. We had a fantastic time and have so many wonderful memories from everything we have experienced. We are looking forward to spending some time at home with our families, catching up with friends and enjoying the last couple of weeks before all of our schools go back.

We all laid in this morning after yesterdays exertions at Universal Studios. When we were eventually all up and about, we set off for Hollywood Boulevard and the Walk of Fame. It was really busy but we enjoyed walking and spotting various names on stars on the pavement. We also stopped off at the famous Chinese Theatre and saw all the footprints and handprints in concrete.  Below are just a few of our favourite photos from the morning.

We spent the afternoon on Santa Monica Beach and enjoyed playing in the surf and soaking up the last of the Californian sun for this trip. The sea was as rough as it has been throughout our time here and it was great fun crashing and diving into the waves!

We ended our day with a final walk along the pier and a lovely meal in ‘The Lobster’, a seafood restaurant just off the pier. After we check out tomorrow morning we will be off to the airport for our flight home.