Chinese New Year is a special holiday for the Chinese as our Christmas is for us. It is all about family and traditions. For all of us expats, it is about the get-away holiday as the children and the fathers have a week off. This year we decided to go on a big adventure to South Africa with our friends, the Humes (John, Mary, Kelly & Erin). As it is a long way to Africa, so we decided to tack on another week to give us a full two weeks to enjoy the Country.
It is the Year of the Tiger, but Eleri will be the first one to tell you there are no tigers in Africa. Elle’s class represented Tanzania for UN week earlier in the year.
Travel Day to South Africa – February 11:
We left Shanghai on a cold, raining day. I picked the girls up from school after lunch and headed to Shanghai Pudong airport for our 4:20pm flight. Upon arriving at the airport, we left our much needed winter jackets in the car – Mr. Nie would take our coats and school bags home for us.
We arrived in Singapore at 10:00pm. Just as we were getting close to the end of the flight, Erin and Elle fell asleep. No Jim, which means I was going to be the one carrying Elle off the plane. Emmy is always my big helper when we travel, lending a hand to carry Elle’s backpack. Once off the plane, the sleepers revived and all four kids were ready to play. We met up with Jim as he was waiting for us. He had spent the week at a business meeting in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia. We grabbed some food for the girls since they didn’t eat the plane food. After paying $30 for two chicken quesadillas, we were off to play. Singapore airport is a great place to be stuck. The kids were having fun at the tracing tables. Elle couldn’t reach standing at the table so she solved the problem by climbing onto the table to trace her sheets.
We finally board our next plane at 2:00am for our 2:30am flight. Everyone was asleep before the flight took off. I don’t know what the women assigning seats was thinking, but she had us all over the plane – Emmy was sitting across the aisle from me and Elle behind me. Jim got moved to be with Elle. I had a couple sitting in my row. The man took the middle seat next to me. He was a larger, tall man. I never realized how much space I gain when I am sitting next to the girls. Since he couldn’t get comfortable, he was up about five times during the flight. Needless to say, I didn’t get much sleep.
We had the cheap tickets, therefore, we had to fly to Johannesburg first. One hour wait on the plane as the crew cleaned and boarded passengers for the two-hour flight to Cape Town. We arrived at 10:30am (South Africa time +6 hours from China time). Finally, after 24 hours of travel time door to door, we arrived. All four girls are excellent travelers. They all know the airport drill, as it is part of traveling in Asia. We don’t drive anywhere…we fly everywhere. China has the worst record for on-time flights so the girls have all done many hours of airport sitting.
Day 1 – February 12 – Hout Bay:
Luggage collected, cars acquired and we were ready to go. We filled our wallets with South African rand from the atm machine. The rand is 7.60 to the US dollar – close enough to the Chinese rmb to make the conversion easy for us. We drove the 30 minutes to our “home stay” for the four nights in Hout Bay, a suburb of Cape Town.
We arrived at the house that has bars on all the windows and doors after entering the secured gated area. We have read and heard about the high crime rate in South Africa. The owner, Ian, was very nice. He said he put the bars on after one break-in, but they don’t have a problem. Interesting as the bars make me feel unsafe AS IF there is a problem. The security system for the house had all the bells and whistles. He gave us a quick lesson on the security system. It was a quick one, so I hope Jim was paying attention! He pointed out various buttons in the house to NOT push. These were emergency buttons, which will bring the fire and police instantly. Ok, it sure seemed like a lot of security for one break-in AND NOT having a problem. The neighborhood seemed nice. The house next door had no bars, but most of houses did have bars. Maybe this is the way of life in South Africa.
We unloaded the cars and assigned bedrooms. Emmy and Kelly wanted to sleep together; Erin and Elle were happy to share a room. With lunch time upon us, we were directed to a place on the beach with a play set in the sand for the girls. It sounded perfect after all that sitting time, our girls needed to run.
We drove down to the bay of Hout. It was a beautiful bay with a clear blue sky. We just left grey, rainy Shanghai. We didn’t take any of it for granted!
It took us a bit of time, but we found the lunch spot despite the fact we thought Ian said “Junes”, but it was Dunes…that accent thing. We enjoyed a nice long lunch at Dunes. The adults enjoyed the drinks. I was enjoying the mango daiquiri made with “no sugar, preservatives, sweeteners, thickeners or colourantsâ€. Through out our trip, we began to realize this is how most food is prepared in Africa. The local cuisine tends to be meat dishes with various tasty sauces. The lunch did not disappoint the hungry travelers. The kids had fun playing in the sand and the play set. However, they were ready to go to the ocean. We told them we needed to finish our drinks. Emersyn being the problem solver asked for plastic cups for our drinks to go. We got the bill, 1, 200r/$158…Ouch, we were no longer in Asia!
The girls had fun dipping their toes in the Atlantic Ocean. They were enjoying the chase with the waves. Emmy asked if they could get wet…of course, we were at the ocean!
Mary and I left the boys in charge at the beach while we went for a grocery shop at Woolworth. Mary and I were kids in a candy store. The fresh fruit was amazing. The “no sugar, preservative or colourants†were in all the foods. We hit the “Whole Foods” world of choices for healthy foods. We grabbed some take out food for dinner as no one wanted to go out for dinner. We found chicken potpies and a roasted chicken. We stocked up on a box of grapes (seedless such a treat), a bag of apples, pineapple, breakfast food, milk, coffee, fresh dried fruits and snacks for the next four days. We also stocked up on wine…oh, it was so cheap! Our bill was the same as lunch, 1, 200r/$158…a much better deal with our two carts overflowing with food and wine.
We picked up our sandy kids from their fun in the ocean and took them home to jump in our pool. They went in fully clothed since they needed to get the sand off them and the clothes. Emmy had read about skinny-dipping in her book, “Twelveâ€. Emmy tends to read books a bit ahead of her grade level, which introduce her to new concepts. She convinced Kelly it would be fun to skinny dip. Emmy, Kelly & Erin had their first skinny dip. Elle didn’t want anything to do with it. We were not sure if someone was in the other part of the house. Yep, they came back during the skinny dip time. A family from England with two kids, ages 6 & 4. Since it was an unusually cool day, the swim was short and in for hot baths. Dinner in the kitchen and all four kid had happy bellies, then off to bed early.
Day 2 – February 13 – Drive to Cape Point:
The day began at 4:00am with the two little mice running around with their flashlights. Elle and Erin were up and ready to play. Jim sent them back to bed, but they were back at 5:00am. Jim played scrabble with them until the rest of the gang aroused. Emersyn was right behind them at 5:30am followed by Kelly at 6:00am. We had a nice leisure breakfast (since we had the time). We got ourselves out the door at 9:00am.
Today’s adventure was driving to the Cape of Good Hope. I brought walkie-talkies for the two cars to stay in touch as we drove. The girls were on the walkie-talkies right away…all the time! They were singing and talking competing for airtime. We stopped at the various look out points to enjoy the beautiful country.
We drove straight through Simon Town, but then realized we missed a cute spot. With a walkie-talkie conference, we were quickly turned around and parked by 10:30am. We had coffee while the girls played at the water in False Bay. The British Royal Navy base was established here from 1814 until handover as the Bay provided sheltered from the winter storms.
The girls played in the Atlantic Ocean yesterday while today it is the Indian Ocean. We have now seen the Indian Ocean on both sides…from South Africa and from Thailand. The girls walked to the pier with the dads while Mary and I went for a quick shop. While at the pier, the girls saw some other children fishing and they really wanted to join in. Jim and John and the girls walked through town looking for hooks. The town was a small one street downtown. The six of them got to the end of the street with no luck of finding a fishing line or anything to use for fishing. Emersyn was so disappointed. Jim said, “let’s keep lookingâ€. The two of them went on looking to find hooks, string and sinkers. The four little girls were so excited when Jim and Emmy came back with fishing line in hand. The two big girls (Mary & I) were so excited to have more shopping time. In our short shopping time, I managed to bag two light sweaters. Mary bagged a dress and scarves.
Jim dug water bottles out of the trash to make fishing rods, wrapping the fishing line around the bottle. The other kids had some mussels for bate – which was crushed to get the “guts” to bait the hook. The fish were quite small and everything was a “throw-back”. Emmy had the luck in our group and caught the only fish. Since John was getting tired of the fishing, he came looking for Mary. While looking for Mary, he found a pastry class. They were selling Valentine cupcakes for 8r/$1. He boxed up four for the girls to have after lunch for a surprise.
We left Simon Town for Boulder Beach to see the penguins. It was just outside of town. We grabbed lunch first as everyone was hungry. While we were waiting for lunch, the girls and Mary went climbing on the rocks. They found a penguin hiding in the rocks. I went with the girls climbing on the rocks as they were so excited to show their penguin find.
After lunch and cupcakes, we walked through the penguin colony at Boulders Beach. It cost 30r/$4 an adult and 10r/$1.50 a child.
The penguins are called the Jackass Penguins. They get this name for the loud braying noise they make upon courting the female.
The penguins are in their natural habitat. The bridge walkway is for people to view the penguins without disturbing them. However, they seem used to all the people walking about.
We left the penguins, as it was time to drive to the cape. It was 4:00pm already; the day was getting away from us. The drive is beautiful. We were looking for the Chacma baboons as everyone has warned us about them. They are very mischievous. They open the car doors when people get out of the cars to see the views. They are known to open the doors and take items from the car. We were told many times to lock the doors as they will snatch anything from you…be careful! But no baboons!
We enter the National Park to the Cape of Good Hope. The cost to enter the National Park was 170r/$23. We could see the two oceans on both sides as we drove. It was very beautiful. Along the way, we saw our first zebras right off the road. Now, we are in Africa!!
We walked to the top of the lighthouse. It felt great to walk after so much time in the plane and now in the car. And this is a driving vacation contrasted to most of our Asia trips were we walk all over the city.
The original lighthouse is no longer used, as it was always swathed in fog. In 1911, a Portuguese liner was wrecked on Bellow Rocks, directly below the lighthouse. As a result the present lighthouse was constructed lower down on the Cape Point.
After enjoying the view, we started to walk out to the point. However, it didn’t seem the safest path for the kids. So Mary and I took the gang down to the gift shop…Closed! We sat feeding the birds waiting for the boys, who made a quick jaunt to the point.
As we were driving home, we finally saw the baboons everyone was talking about. They were sitting in the middle of the roads. The girls were funny, as they quickly made sure all the doors were locked. Jim was not allowed to roll down the windows to take a photo. I guess they were listening to all the warnings!
We arrived back into Hout Bay around 6:30pm, time to go home for dinner. The two little mice were asleep in Mary’s car since they stated the day at 4:00am. We were going back to Woolworth to get take out dinner, but closed. We are getting the idea that the sidewalks roll up before 6:00pm! We got pizza to go for 200r/$26 and we had four (small) large pizzas. They were tasty. We had a California pizza with avocadoes, chicken, feta and garlic. We also tried the tikka chicken pizza…tasty! Mark this one down for another night!
After arriving back at the house, it was time for a little unplanned excitement. I asked the girls to help set the table. The next thing I hear is a siren. My first question to Kelly, “what button did you push?†Yep, the one we were told to NOT push. She thought it was the light into the kitchen. Jim was calling the security to tell them not to come. But if you know Kelly, it is so Kelly…and to know her is to love her…such a personality!
The adults enjoyed a couple bottles of wine with dinner. Wine is so expensive in China. You pay 150rmb/$22 for a bad bottle. The wines in South Africa are good and cheap. We have noticed some of the same wines we get in China. Hum, the bottle that cost 20r/$3 in South Africa is 150rmb/$20 in China…not one of our favorites! We did some stargazing. We don’t see the stars in China. Living in China, you appreciate the blue skies and the stars. The end to another fun day.
Day 3 – February 14 – Table Mountain:
Since we were going to be on the road for Valentine’s Day, I put together a little gift bag for each girl. Each bag had some candy, heart necklaces and a watch and a pocket flashlight from my favorite store, Decathlon.
We managed to get the crew feed and out the door by 8:45am, not bad for 8 people. Today’s adventure begins at Table Mountain. Table Mountain was formed from sandstone sediment estimated to be deposited about 450 million years ago.
We arrived to the entrance area around 9:15am. The boys parked the cars while we queue for tickets to ride the cable car to the top. We had tickets in hand by the time the boys walked up the hill, about 10 minutes. The cost of tickets for our family was 460$/$63. Another 10 minute wait to get in a cable car. The cable car is unique in the fact it is round which allows the floor to rotate as it goes up the hill giving everyone a 360 panoramic view. The round car also is excellent for aerodynamics in high winds. The cable length is 1, 200m/4, 000ft. The height of Table Mountain is 1, 085m/3, 560ft. It was a beautiful view on a gorgeous day. The sky was blue and free of clouds, but most importantly free of any fog. The weather is similar to Northern California. The fog can hang low and roll in over night.
We walked around the top enjoying the views. We went on a small hike to the next ridge. Elle being the big girl didn’t want any help even though some of the rock steps had a span as big as her.
After our little hike, we walked back to the Gift/food Center at the top of the mountain. We got water, homemade marshmallows and carrot muffins to enjoy outside on the tables looking over the City on this beautiful day. We visited the gift shop, but it was small with nothing exciting. I did buy one children’s book, “How the Zebra got His Stripesâ€, an African forklore. I enjoy buying children books when I can find them in the different countries we visit.
When we got to the bottom, the line to just buy tickets must have been over an hour. We were so glad we made a morning run to Table Mountain.
It was then on to Camps Bay for lunch. Along the drive, Emmy read the book to Elle about the Zebra which both girls really enjoyed. It gives me such a smile to see the two sisters together getting along so well. Camps Bay is a one street waterfront town. Jim dropped Elle and I off to meet up with the Humes to find a lunch place. Jim and Emmy were going to drive back to the house to get the camera battery. Jim arrived to the top of Table Mountain with a dead camera battery. The second battery he put into the camera this morning was not charged. Emmy was riding along to take a quick nap. Her roommate, Kelly, woke her up at 2am because she was afraid of something. Then she woke her up at 6am because she was up. Emmy is beginning to realize her sister isn’t such a bad roommate!
Camps Bay was an upscale beach promenade. It reminds me of a small Carmel. Many restaurants with high-end shops lined the one street. We settled on a nice place called Blues for our Valentine’s Day lunch. We have only had lunches out at this point. Food is costing from 400r/$50 to 600r/$80 a meal, per family. Many of the meals we are sharing between two people. We are Asia spoiled to eating cheap. Mary did not eat because she wasn’t feeling well…something she ate. After lunch, John, Mary & Erin went back to the house for a rest. Erin dropped to sleep during lunch and Mary was looking paler and paler.
We took the three girls, Emmy, Elle and Kelly to the beach. It was a beautiful day; the sea at Camps Bay had big waves that were pushing you in so it was fun and safe for the girls. They had a great time.
Elle doesn’t go it with out Jim, which is just fine with me, as I know she is safe.
At one point, two couples from Zimbabwe asked if we could take a photo with our camera using their memory chip. They had no camera battery. Jim said he could not as his SLR camera has a large chip. But being Jim, he remembered my pocket camera (in my pocket) took a normal chip size. It was so fun watching these four people at the beach. They had never been to the sea and they were like children in the water. I would guess they were in their mid-twenties. They had their photo taken with Elle. Jim only got one photo of them with Elle with OUR chip in the camera.
Jim and I had piled our “stuff†up against a short wall next to the sea. With all the crime we hear about, one of us kept an eye on our stuff. To the right of the wall was another white family that lived in South Africa. At one point, the Dad asked if I would keep an eye on their stuff while he went to get his son. The black couples left their purse, clothes and all their stuff while they played in the sea. Interesting! At one point, the sea came rushing all the way up to our wall spot. Jim and I rushed to get our belongings onto the wall, especially the camera bag. After we got our stuff up, we worked on the Zimbabwe couples stuff. We managed to save all of it but one shoe. They were so appreciative that we saved their belongs, also.
We went back for the girls to jump into the pool. Jim and I did a quick run to Woolworth for dinner and other breakfast/snack needs.
We all enjoyed homemade guacamole and chips and grapes during pool time. Jim and I bought another box of grapes. We debated if we would finish a box before we left Hout Bay. By the time pool snack was over, the girls ate half the box. I guess they do miss good SEEDLESS grapes!
Emmy loved the chicken potpie and Elle was happy with the roasted chicken. Kelly and Erin ate both. I made a nice salad for the adults. Mary was still not feeling well. John began to feel sick along with Jim. No one had salad, but me. I could have saved myself the time in the kitchen. With three adults sick, the only thing that could be attacking their stomachs is the raw mussels from lunch at Boulder Beach yesterday. Of course, this Nebraska girl does not eat anything raw, so I was fine. After dinner we watched the highlights of the winter Olympics. The Olympics began today, February 14.
Day 4 – February 15 – Cape Town V&A Water Front:
Today we are visting the V&A Waterfront which is known for it’s shopping and the aquarium, Two Oceans Aquarium.
We started the day with a visit to the Two Oceans Aquarium. It was much smaller than the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Emmy was our personal guide, as she knew so much information from her visits to Monterey with Terri and Andy. Terri buys a family pass each year to The Monterey Bay Aquarium. She takes the girls about 3-4 times a year, based on what she can squeeze in during our visits in California. The touch zone was one table…the girls are spoiled by the touch zone ROOM in Monterey. However, it was interesting to see the diversity of sea life which occurs in the ocean around the Cape coast.
This was one of my favorite displays. The warning sign is for the sharks.
We grabbed lunch at a brewpub outside the aquarium. The food was “mama hoohoo” (so-so). Ok, time to shop!! The fun of shopping with four kids and two Dads. Jim is great about taking the girls to give me my little windows of time. They went down to explore the waterfront. Set the watches, we have one hour of kid-free shopping! One day in the future, I know I will NOT have to pressure shop…I do have TWO girls and they will want to join me for the fun of shopping. They will be leaving Jim at the waterfront by himself…reminds me of my Dad!!!
Mary and I found a store called The Africa Trading Post. A mask, a large weaved basket/plate (going to be fun on the plane), a Zulu weaver pot, wood balls for the basket and a few extras for one stop shopping, whew! I have this ball fetish thing all my friends are having fun joking about. It started in Jingdezhen when I bought small porcelain balls. I then purchased a decorative steel birdcage to put the balls in. The cage was bigger than my collection of balls, so I needed more balls. Now, I am buying wooded balls for my basket. I even got Mary into the ball thing! She bought three large woven baskets and wooden balls.
We met back with the family to search for soccer world cup shirts Jim wanted. He doesn’t want much in the shopping department so I wanted him to find them. They were hard to find. We decided to split up. John took Elle, Kelly and Erin back to swim. Jim wanted to see more of downtown Cape Town and Emmy decided to be Jim’s co-pilot and go exploring with him. Jim was pleased to have some time with just Emmy. Jim and Emmy hit a few shops on their way out looking for the shirts and scored!
Mary and I were given another hour to shop as Jim and Emmy would pick us up after they finished exploring. Pressure shopping, again, but we will take it and run!
We drove back to the house to have leftovers for dinner and pack. We needed to repack to only one bag for our safari with the remainder of our bags to stay in the car. Upon returning to the house, Emmy joined the other three for a long swim, baths, dinner and to bed for the kids. The adults had the fun of packing, but at least we had a glass of wine in hand!
Day 5 – February 16 – Flight to Port Elizabeth for Our Safari
We left Hout Bay at 7:30am which gave us plenty of time to get to the airport, drop cars and check in…we thought. We didn’t plan on the commute traffic. Cape Town is easy to drive around as it is well marked with few roads to navigate around. That would explain the traffic back up as everyone was on the same road to get to the main N2 on Monday morning. The boys dropped us off with luggage. We used a porter who took very good care of us to get us checked-in…quickly. We were all done by the time the boys arrived from checking-in the cars.
The flight to Port Elizabeth is only one and half-hour. Emmy being Emmy has been working on her extra homework for the week of school she is missing. She spent the entire plane ride working on her spelling.
Luggage collected, cars acquired and we were ready to go, again. We headed toward our safari north of Port Elizabeth. We decided to get lunch near the park so we could judge the time better thus we stopped at a farm-stall recommended by the safari. Excellent in every way! A great shop with food, biltong (South African for jerky) and a restaurant with homemade food. Biltong has become a favorite of Jim and Emmy. It is dried beef, kudu, ostrich or any other meat. We buy all the difference kinds we see along the way. We had homemade meat pies for lunch…excellent!
We arrived at 2:30pm to check in at Schotia Safari. Schotia Safaris is the oldest private game viewing reserve in the Eastern Cape, bordering on the eastern side of the Addo Elephant National Park. Jim was assigned the task of finding the safari. He spent many hours researching. We had all agreed on a larger safari for one night, as the cost is not cheap. Jim found this smaller safari through Trip Advisors. Every comment was raving about the place. Since it was cheaper, we could do two nights for the price of the fancier safari. We were here to see the animals not enjoy a fancy room. At check-in, the owner Mrs. Bean said to pay later as she would give us a discount for being a large group. We were staying in the home of the Beans as other rooms were booked. From what we read on trip advisors, everyone wrote great comments about the owners, the Beans.
We set off with our guide, Barbara. She would be our guide for the entire stay at Schotia. She had a degree in Nature Conservation. Her husband, George, works as a guide at Schotia and has the same degree as well. She was a delightful lady in her late 20s with so much information. She knew the answers to everything this group threw at her. It was also nice we had a land rover with the two families. If our children caused any issues, it was just us.
We drove through the gate in our land rover safari truck to see the zebras. Barbara pointed out the grey striped in between the black stripes. These are Burchell Zebras which different from Cape Zebras. The difference in the zebras is noticeable if you refer back to Day 2 to Cape Point.
Barbara had informed us that Zebras have very good eyesight, which is why other animals hang close to them. The Blue Wildebeest, Impalas and Grey Rhebok were staying close to the Zebras.
The next stop was to see Steve, the crocodile – named after Steve Irwin, the “Danger, Danger, Danger” guy. The croc was hanging out sunning. It was a cooler day so the animals were out. Barbara had said it was over 40C/100F last week, but that the weather we were having is much better for animal viewing. There are two crocodiles at Schotia. The crocodiles are not native to this area, but Farmer Bean wanted them on his reserve.
Next we spotted the giraffes eating. They seem to be doing this all the time. There had been four baby giraffes, but the lions had them for dinner. Barbara had said the giraffes are good at protecting themselves from the lions because they kick very hard. The baby giraffes don’t have the right timing down when they kick. For this reason, they recently move two giraffes to another area on the reserve away from the lions.
We were seeing birds, bugs, and termites. We stopped at one of the large termite hills. Since it was a cool day, they were busy digging and building their mound. John picked up one and ate it. Barbara laughed and said they can be eaten. So, Jim had one also. No photo as I was video tapping them eating the bugs.
We had a tea break at 4pm. The girls were enjoying the biscuits of a local bread. All the safari groups meet up at the teahouse for this break. We enjoyed visiting with other safari groups. Tummies full and ready to go!
Since this safari has not disappointed us yet, the next animal was the rhino. Now, we can check the first box for the Big 5 (lion, elephant, rhino, leopard, cape buffalo). We will only be able to check four of the five boxes, as the leopard is not in this area and they are very elusive. There are two rhinos on the Schotia property. They live to be about 40 years old.
The sun was beginning to set as Jim got this great photo of the Zebra and Blue Wildebeest on the ridge.
It was getting close to dinnertime. As we were driving to the lapa, we spotted two lions. It was the father lion and son, about 3 years old. They were “hanging†on the ridge. Barbara said they like this ridge as the Addo National Park lions and their lions are always prowling their “territoryâ€. They were close to the truck, about 60 yards. The lions had the most beautiful mane. Barbara had informed us this is from hunting. When lions hunt, they release testrastone, which creates the beautiful main. Zoo lions will never grow this mane. Male lions can weigh up to 240k/530lbs. After we clicked away on the camera, we need to go to dinner.
Dinner is served at 7:00pm. Dinner is held in an open roof, circled walled area with two fire pits called a lapa. The lapa on the Schotia property is the largest one in South Africa. The walls are reed and sneeze-wood with a thatch roof on the outer edge. Inside the lapa are several large Schotia trees.
They served us a delicious meal of kudu steak, mash potatoes, corn, peas, carrots and wine. Great food, great friends and a great day.
Oh, but the day wasn’t over – back to the truck for our night safari. They gave us fleece ponchos to wear, which were needed. We saw a herd of springbok. It was a little eerie driving around in an open door truck with the lions out there. We came upon the lions. They were not hunting tonight. Barbara had said they ate a couple nights ago. They will eat the entire kill and rest until they are hungry again.
It was 9:30pm, so we headed back to the house. Elle and Erin were asleep in the truck. Barbara showed us our rooms where they had put our bags. We had three rooms. The four girls were sharing a room with a double bed, a single bed and a mattress on the floor. It was perfect, as Elle had said she wanted the floor mattress. Emmy took the single. We got the girls into bed after a long, exciting day. The adults were right behind them.
Day 6 – February 17 – Safari day 2:
Barbara was picking the crew up at 7am. We had a morning drive until breakfast at 9am. On this morning drive, we spotted the same Father and son lions. Jim was standing on the outside of the truck taking photos. He had the truck between him and the lions. Suddenly, Barbara heard a growl on the backside of the ridge – she said, “Time to get in the truck, NOW”. The cubs were coming over the ridge behind Jim. All four cubs were followed by the female, Mother lion. The cubs are 16 months old and the two male cubs are beginning to grow their mane. The Mother is teaching them to hunt since the cubs and the mom stay together. It was fun to see them coming over the ridge chasing and playing with each other.
Then it was back to the Lapa for breakfast. Breakfast included cereal, fruit, yogurt, eggs, bacon, sausage & fried potatoes (almost fresh hot chips). No one was going to be hungry on this safari.
After breakfast we drove back to the check-in point to get in a van to go to Addo Elephant National Park. We drove the 40 min to Addo. The girls enjoyed the time to play games in the back of the van.
Upon arriving at the park, Barbara gave the crew 20 minutes to shop at the gift shop…she doesn’t know this gang; we need more than 20 minutes! Elle found nothing she wanted. Emmy found a book about animal facts called, “Signs of the Wild, a field guide to the spoor & signs of the mammals of Southern Africaâ€. It cost 240r/$31. We gave the kids a 200r budget to buy anything they wanted. The 200r did not included items we were willing to buy…it covered the “junk” they wanted to buy…things we did not approve of, but they wanted. Emmy was concerned it was over her budget. However, Jim had said the book was on his expense because it was a book. Emmy picked out a great book. The girls sat in the back reading facts about all the animals we had seen yesterday. The book had a photo on each animal with diets, footprints, poop, etc. I am using the book to make sure I get the right name to each animal.
Since Barbara was in control of our time, we left after 20 minutes. We started into the park when Barbara got the radio call from her husband, George, that the elephants were at the watering hole. We saw a herd drinking water, watering themselves and then sanding themselves as they left the water hole. The elephants throw dirt on themselves to keep the water moisture in their skin to remain cool. It also helps to keep the bugs off there skin, information courtesy of Barbara, of course. Elephants live in a matriarchal society where the females are dominate, in family groups. Female young will remain with the family group but young bulls leave of their own accord when they reach puberty.
We saw many warthogs. They are a funny looking animal. We saw a baby warthog about a week old.
Then, Barbara spotted a big bull walking towards the road. She drove to get ahead of the bull to park right in his path. The bulls do NOT like to go around. When he got close to us, he put his nose up to smell. When he got closer, Barbara moved the van out of his path. All of Barbara’s knowledge added so much to our safari. We would have never done that.
Now, the whole van was using Emmy’s book to find facts. We stopped on the way out to buy the book for the Humes.
On the way back from Addo, John had Barbara stop to pick up some prickly pears being sold along the road. The prickly pears are not native to the area as they were brought over from Mexico for feeding cattle. The prickly pears do look out of place in Africa. They are now growing wild and out of control.
The ladies pick the fruit and clean off the prickles. They sold a bag for 10r/$1.33. John pealed off the skin of a couple pears. Elle being the fruit eater was more than willing to be the first one to try it. When we pulled into Schotia gate, she was eating her pear in the parking lot. Then she announced her tooth fell out. Elle lost her first tooth on a safari in Africa. She was so excited. At lunch, we wrote a letter to the tooth fairy, as we would be home late tonight.
Back to our truck to see more animals for the afternoon safari. As we pulled back into the fields, another guide had a dead snake for us to see. He said it was a non-poison one. All the girls held the snake. When Barbara saw George, he said it was a Brumslinger, a very poisonous snake.
After lunch, we found the hippos lying in the road. Barbara had tried to find the hippos in the morning, but could not. The one advantage of a smaller park is the ability to find the animals. We have seen so many animals on this game drive.
The Springbok is the mascot for the South African Rugby team. Barbara told us he escapes predators by bouncing very high and very quickly to get away. The lions tire out easily and give up the chase.
Afternoon tea at 4:00pm. After tea, the girls wanted to walk over to the pile of bones. Baraba said the bones are collected so the area doesn’t look like a battle field!
After tea, we stopped to see the rhino bones. This rhino died of old age. Mr. Bean took the head (which the head bone is at the entrance of the tea house) so the horn would not be an issue. He left the body for the “circle of Life”. Barbara comment Mr. Bean does a good job to keep the life at Schotia as much as possible “natural” on this game reserve. She commented some games reserves will feed the lions because it is cheaper than buying a prey stock.
After seeing the bones, we saw the live animal. They were busy eating the grass with no concern we were near them.
Dinner was again served at the lapa at 7pm. We saw both of the crocodiles on the way to dinner. Steve always seems to be out, but not the female. Tonight, we were not late for dinner so we were able to enjoy pre-dinner cocktails around the fire.
The meals are very good with a menu of beans, pumpkin, chicken, rice & warthog stew. The stew was delicious. Mr. Bean said he had four warthogs giving him trouble. They kept going under the fences…so they were dinner.
After dinner, Jim told Barbara it was James Bond time, “View to a Killâ€. Barbara drove around looking for the lions. She drove to the back ridge of the property near the Addo fence line. There were many different animals hanging together – a buffet of prey stock! She had said they stay together for safety in numbers…hoping someone else will be the slower one! While sitting and scanning the animals with a spotlight, suddenly all the animals were running towards and past us. Barbara swung the spotlight toward the son lion thinking he would be the one to take down dinner. At about the same time, we heard this big growl (“GRRRR..thud”) to the right of the truck. When Barbara put the spotlight on the sound, the father lion had taken down a blesbok. He has his mouth around its throat, holding the buck until it was dead. The son began eating while the dad held the buck. Then the both teared into it. We could hear the crunching of the bones. Barb moved closer to the kill, about 50 feet. Amazing. Elle slept through it. I tried to wake her, but she was out.
We got back to the Bean house after 10pm. Barbara was picking us up at 7:30am and we needed to be packed and ready to go. Whew, what a day!
Day 7 – February 18 – Schotia Safari wrap-up to Camp Figtree:
Ready to go at 7:30am! Amazing, as this crew has never been this on time! Mr. Bean wanted to fire his old cannon for us. While we waited for two other groups to join us for the demonstration Jim and John got to fire his old black powder pistol.
It has been fun staying in the owner’s home. We spend very little time in our rooms on this safari. This safari is about being out in the fields and seeing the animals.
Our first stop was to see if we could find the lions and the kill. The blesbok was not visible. The two lions were lying under a tree. Barbara pulled in close to them, about 30 feet. With their full bellies, they were too full to move. The son lion raised his head and then went back to sleep. I found it interesting the blood on their faces was gone. Barbara said just like a house cat, they lick themselves clean. She said they will lie around today, but the buck was small so they will need to hunt soon.
We drove back to the Lapa for a full breakfast meal. We took a walk around the Lapa, as we have been sitting in the truck. The lack of exercise and eating too much is being felt by the adults.
Yesterday, Barbara found a land snail shell. It is big and Elle would love to add it to her shell collection. We had talked about a drawing to see which girl could take it home. Today, as we walked around the Lapa, John found another land shell. Oh no, John left the shell on the side of the truck while taking a photo – lost!. But, Barbara has those eagle eyes to found another land snail shell as we drove to the main gate.
After breakfast, we drove slowly out to the front gate. We settled up our bill. Ms. Bean gave us a group discount of 15% off. Elle was half price…got to love that!
George’s truck pulled into the yard as we were settling our bill. He had a Cape Cobra snake under the hood of his truck the maintenance crew was trying to get out. They warned us to keep the girls away from the truck. The king cobra is another very poisonous snake. The safari guest and George were watching it when it climbed in the hood. And on that note, it was time to leave our safari adventure!
We had about an hour drive to our next stop, Camp Figtree. Located on the top of the Zuurberg Moutain ridge outside of Addo Elephant National Park, Camp Figtree sits on top of the mountain peak overlooking the valley. One word describes this place…FABULOUS! The staff is wonderful! Gift, one the staff members from Zimbabwe, is a delight to talk with and so helpful to make our stay the best.
Camp Figtree has been designed around its original 1920’s traditional colonial building style. Historically, this includes the distinctive use of corrugated iron roofing and wide, sweeping verandas which provide areas for relaxing.
We have two different types of rooms. I thought we had two family rooms with bunk beds in each room. The first accommodation was one family house with a sitting room along with two rooms with bunk beds and a third large room for the master bedroom. The other accommodation was a room with a small room for a twin bed. The Humes girls are up in the night, so Mary and John took the large room with all four girls. Both of our girls are great sleepers so no worries about waking up in the night.
We changed the girls in to their swimwear. The staff fixed pasta for the girls for lunch, free of charge. The adults were not hungry from the huge breakfast at Schotia. The girls had the pool to themselves. They did report the water was cold.
The adults sat on the veranda talking, relaxing and drinking wine. We did go through two bottles this afternoon. This is just what we needed after two full days on the safari.
On one trip to the room, Jim almost stepped on a snake. It was a baby poisonous black adder. The poisonous snakes are beginning to “freak me out’. My internet search I did prior to our trip informed me what makes the snakes so deadly was the amount of poison the bite puts into the body…. especially deadly for children.
The girls swam from 1pm to 3pm. They were ready for showers after a couple of hours of the cool water. We went back to the room for showers and a little down time. Emmy is reading Harry Potter, book 5. The 870-page book she had to bring with her that doesn’t go with packing light! She was 3/4 through the book and there was no way she was leaving it at home. Elle enjoyed watching a movie on her itouch. Jim & I enjoyed a short nap, maybe it was the wine. Then, Emmy attacked some of her math homework. She did homework two nights in Hout Bay and on the plane to Port Elizabeth. She was steadily chipping away at it. She is focused and does her homework with no complaints.
Dinner was served at 7:30pm. On the Internet, I saw the photo of dinner at the burma. Upon arriving, I asked about dinner at the burma. They said normally they serve dinner the first night in the dinning room and the second night at the burma. I asked if we could eat both nights at the burma. No problem! No problem is the answer for everything at Camp Figtree. Such a difference from China where the answered is “Mei banfaâ€, which translates to “nothing can be done”…you are stuck with the problem.
Dinner at the burma is a big fire pit with eight tables around the pit. Fancy! Dinner was a set meal starting with butternut squash soup, homemade bread, lamb, potatoes and veggies. Finishing with an African cake, maylva. Everything was delicious!
Gift and a few of the staff came to sing us some African songs. Gift told us they plan the “official†sing tomorrow night. Our girls than performed “Working for the Clause†from Emmy’s Christmas performance. The staff had a fun time watching them and laughing.
We got our girls ready for bed to walk them to the Humes for sleep. We were given lanterns as there was no outdoor lighting. The lights go out at 10:30pm. No worries as all were in bed. Another great day!
Day 8 – February 19 – Camp Figtree & Addo National Park:
We woke to a beautiful day at 7am. We were going on a walk before breakfast – not that I am hungry after last night’s meal! Unthinkable, we will need to skip lunch to save room for another great meal at the burma tonight at Camp Figtree.
We went on a loop trail around the property for our walk. It took us about an hour. The older girls brought their books so we could look for tracks and poop! The younger girls found sticks for the walk.
We were back about 9:15am for a full meal breakfast. More excellent food with homemade muffins, eggs and bacon. By the time we finished breakfast and were ready to go, it was already 10:45am. We drove to Addo Elephant National Park. Cost to enter was 330r/$44 for our car. The Park is a self-drive park. Barbara was our driver and guide yesterday. Today, we were on our own.
On the way to Addo, Elle threw up. She asked for a bag, but some of her barf slid out the handle holds. No worries with a quick stop at the gift shop to buy a fresh shirt. She borrowed Emmy’s t-shirt to go in the gift shop to pick out a shirt. She wanted the same African bush print Kelly got yesterday. It has photos of all the different African animals foot prints. It was a quick stop as we planned for a better shop at the end.
We drove to various water holes in the Park. We saw large herds of elephants mudding, playing, and drinking.
We were on the search for the Cape buffalo. We wanted to check the box for 4 of the 5 big animals of Africa. Buffalo, elephants, rhino, lion and leopard make the Big Five. We drove to all the watering holes, but no buffalo all day. We went back to the gift shop to feed our hungry children. It was 3pm, already. The adults eat more at breakfast so we were not hungry AND we knew dinner would be big again tonight. We went to the cafe to get food while the boys walked down to the watering hole lookout. They came to report the buffalo was there. We drive all over the park and the buffalo is at the busy main entrance watering hole!
We ordered the kids food and went to the lookout to catch a glimpse…Gone. Someone said to walk down to the hideaway. He was walking in that direction. He was there!
After the girls finished lunch, we went back to the gift shop. Emmy found another book she wanted – “Tales and Tailsâ€. A very nice book with photos of the animal, some facts and African tales. I found a warthog stuffed animal. Against my stuffed animal ban, I offered it to Elle. It was cute and where else will you find a stuffed warthog. We grabbed another larger African mask to go with the smaller one purchased in Cape Town. Emmy also got the shirt, Bush Prints of Africa.
We went back to Camp Figtree for pool swim for the girls and wine for us. By the time we got back, it was already 5pm. The kids enjoyed the pool to themselves. We enjoyed another two bottles of wine while we soaked in the view. We moved from the veranda to the overlook by the pool.
It was after 7pm when we took the girls in for a quick shower. Dinner was at 7:30 at the burma. Tonight the Finland couple was joining us at the Burma. We talked to the girls about respectful behavior, as they were very silly last night. Another beautiful night and great classic African food. Again, our bellies hurt from over eating.
The staff came to sing and dance for us. The girls got up to join them. It was a “priceless†evening watching the girls singing and dancing to the African music with the staff. The staff truly made this an exceptional experience.
[quicktime]http://lyonfamily.tv/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Camp_Figtree_Dancing.mov[/quicktime]
Our girls also taught the ladies their sing, clap, chant songs. What an amazing experience!!
After we put the girls to bed at the Humes, Jim and I sat on our porch enjoying the night stars. Jim had a port and cigar. To bed at 11:00pm after another full day in Africa.
Day 9 – February 20 – Drive to Mossel Bay:
Packed and an early breakfast as we were trying to be on the road by 8:30am, but it was 9:20 before we got on the road. We had to settle up the bill prior to leaving and we forgot to tell the staff we wanted an early breakfast. Our only extra on the bill was 240r/$32 for all the water we drank. The dinner was included in the cost of the room. They didn’t charge us for the pasta lunch for the kids. Since we had taken six bottles of wine to the safari, we still had all six bottles due to late nights of animal watching. It was “no problem†to open our bottles and get us wine glasses as needed. The Camp Figtree philosophy is “no problem†or “hakuna-matada, no worries”
Today we are driving to Mossel Bay. One freeway stop for Elle to get sick…hum, she has been doing so well on her car sickness. The girls enjoyed a little quiet time in the car after full days.
Along the drive, I took these photos of a Shanty Town. We have seen them all over South Africa. Generally, the Shanty Town will be located a few miles outside of town. These people will walk to town for work as there is no bus services provided. The politics and government of South Africa are interesting. During aparthied, there were three groups – the Whites, the Colored and the Blacks. The Colored and the Blacks will let you know which group they belong along with which tribe. I found this interesting as in American to call someone “Black” is a racial comment. The Colored are generally from South Africa and are of lighter skin tone. The Blacks come from the North. Colonization of Africa began around the 1600 by the Dutch. The names of the towns have this influence. The language, Afrikaan, is formed from the basis of the Dutch language. An Afrikaner refers to a South African born white speaking person.
Amazing to think the aparthied ended in 1994! On April 27, 1994, all South Africans voted for the first time. The result of the vote was the first Black President, Nelson Mandela. In May 1996, the new constitution Bill of Rights outlawed discrimination on the grounds of ethnic or social origin. Apartheid began in 1948 when the Afrikaner-based National Party came to power and enforced a series of harsh laws that stripped the black Southen Africans of their basic human rights.
One would think that an export economy would be booming based on the natural resources, quick access to European markets and available labor. With a 25% overall unemployment rate, 44% in the Black population, one can only image the business opportunities. One can only hope that with the coming World Cup soccer tournament in South Africa, it will help turn things around.
We arrived at Tsitsikamma National Park around noon. Tsitsikamma is a Khoi word meaning “place of abundant or sparkling water”. The region is boarded on the north by the imposing Tsitsikamma Mountains and in the south by the Indian Ocean. We went to Storms River Mouth for a short hike to the suspension bridges. We decided to pass on the restaurant, as we didn’t have the time to wait for food. We bought cheese and crackers in the gift shop and enjoyed a picnic lunch overlooking the ocean. The walk to the suspension bridges was easy on a wood “trail†to climb the various steps to the bridges. It was about an hour walking round trip. The view was nice along with the opportunity to stretch our legs on a drive day.
At the gift shop, the girl picked out necklaces handmade from clay. Each necklace had a different traditional authentic African symbols pressed into the clay. Eleri chose a necklace with the symbol for abundance – with four cowrie shells pointing inwards, this symbol represents abundance. Emersyn’s necklace was humility – this symbol refers to a readiness to learn and be taught wisdom, it shows humilty.
We climb back into the cars to drive down the road to check out the zip-line and bungee jump – the highest in the world. We stopped to view, but passed on the adventure.
We arrived about 7pm in Mossel Bay. It was a long day and everyone was ready to get out of the cars. As shops close early in South Africa, the grocery stores were closed by the time we arrived. Luckily, we had stopped at a farm stall to get cheese. At the farm stall, they had homemade chicken pies, farm fresh yogurt and milk. That covered dinner and breakfast! Jim and I always bring our New Zealand chilly bin (soft ice cooler). We purchased the bin on our first trip to New Zealand in 1997. It is starting to show age and wear, but it is just the perfect size for packing and using on trips. We still call it the chilly bin, the name from New Zealand – when we went to buy it in 1997, it took awhile to find it in the store since we called it an “ice chest or a cooler”…finally the sales clerk said, “oh, a chilly binâ€. Yes, that was it!
Our stay in Mossel Bay is the penthouse on the 6th floor located on the beach. We have four rooms with ensuite bathrooms. It is a nice apartment to enjoy the view. The covered deck on the main floor has sliding windows to open it up. The waves are surprisingly loud when you are so close.
We watched some Olympic highlights, as we have not seen TV since we left Cape Town. We put the kids to bed and enjoyed a glass of wine on the deck listening to the waves crashing on the beach. This was a nice way to end a long day of driving. Jim does all the driving and I do the navigating. We call me the CoPilot (pronounced Co-pi-low), from the French family when we told them I was the co-pilot.
Day 10 – February 21 – Oudtshoorn:
We woke to a fog-in, wet beach. It was misting, not raining at the beach. The weather reminds us of the Northern California coast. Out the door by 8:30am for this crew is a good start! We drove north over the mountain pass to Oudtshoorn. As we drove over the mountain pass, we left the cold and mist at the beach. Our first stop is the High Gate Ostrich Farm. We went on our tour to learn all about these funny birds. I learned a wealth of information about these birds, as I didn’t know much about them. The one fact that surprised me is the bird is very strong and can carry up to 100kg/220 lbs. One ostrich egg can feed 24 people. The average life span of an ostrich is 40 years.
First, we fed the ostriches corn. They peck it out of your hand. Sometimes they grab your skin, but it doesn’t hurt.
The next stop on this tour was to visit Suzie, the oldest bird at the farm at the age of 37. Suzie is given eggs to watch over since she is no longer produces egg.
We stood on the eggs, as they are very strong. After we left the eggs, Suzie came to arrange them in the proper order.
From there we went to the “riding†birds. The girls sat on Peter. Peter is the calmest bird they have. He was our live demonstration to learn about the bird. Emmy was the first to volunteer to sit on Peter…no fear!
Then the fun began with the riding. The trainers were always near the girls when they rode. They didn’t let go of Elle, as they wanted to catch her if she fell. Jim, on the other hand, the trainer gave the bird a swat on the tail to go faster. A fun way to spend the afternoon, riding an ostrich!
We went back to the gift shop to buy our feathery stuff. We ordered ostrich potpie for lunch. After lunch, we drove through town…NO shopping today as it was Sunday and everything was CLOSED!
Our next stop was a place called Cango Cheetah Park. It was “mama hoohoo”. We all hesitated about going, but decided to give it a go. After seeing the animals in the wild, it was disappointing. Emmy pointed out how the lion’s mane looked so short and not the same as the Schotia lion’s mane. That hunting does change the lion’s mane!
Do our girls fit in the belly of a crocodile?
We drove back to Mossel Bay to the house as the girls wanted to go to the beach. We stopped at Woolworth, but “Closed” as it was Sunday and it closed at 4pm!! We went to Pick ‘n Pay. Not the same wonderful “Whole Foods” style selections as Woolworth, but it was open. We bought steak, lamb, sausage and an ostrich fillet…. everyone was getting what they wanted for dinner tonight. Jim prepared the meat and veggies while Mary and I took the kids to the beach. They had a fun time playing in the sand and the surf.
We came back from the beach to get four girls cleaned. Jim and John had dinner ready for us. The ostrich fillet was so good, tender and lean. We had a nice very large meal and we ended the evening with a glass of wine on our enclosed deck.
Day 11 – February 22 – Costal towns of Mossel Bay & Knysna:
I always enjoy the days when we are not rushing out the door. Today, we went into Mossel Bay at 10am. The boys took the girls to the Bartolomeu Dias Museum, where Dias made landfall 1488 during his voyage of discovery along the African coast.
While they were at the museum, Mary and I did a quick shop (the shopping theme of this holiday) as we had one hour. Our next stop was Knysna. On the way, we stopped at the butchery near our house to buy biltong. Emmy and Jim love the biltong. At the butcher, they had fresh filet of ostrich meat. Jim wanted to cook that up tonight. We had to be back from Knysna by 6:30pm, closing time. Jim had a new goal of the day…ostrich filet on the braai (bbq)!
Knysna is a great place to shop, but not enough shop time available. By the time we finished lunch which ALWAYS takes too long, it was after 1pm. Again with shared meals, we were over 300r/$40 for lunch per family. Now for the fast shop in a town full of fun shops!
First, we went to the craft market just outside of town to see what good finds we could see. Both Mary and I are looking for carved wooden giraffes. I found one I liked, but it was shorter than I had wanted. Jim and I spent all of our craft market time at the giraffe craver’s stall. At one point, we were about to walk away as we were struggling so much to make it “work”. In the end, we purchased the three giraffes, as today was the last chance to get them.
We pulled out of the craft market parking area at 5:15pm…already!! Mossel Bay is an hour drive. The Humes decided to stay and shop. Jim wanted to go home to cook the ostrich filet. Since he is so good about giving me time to shop, how could I say no? Mario began the hour drive back to Mossel Bay to get there by 6:30pm. We arrived at the butchery at 6:15pm. However, all the fresh meat was GONE, only frozen meat. We grabbed some frozen ostrich sausage for Elle, our sausage eater. Of course, we bought more biltong! Then we raced to see if we could get to Woolworth before they closed…NOPE! We went back to Pick ‘n Pay for the ostrich meat. The veggies are lacking so we got corn on the cob, again. Home to cook. Elle is our little chef…she always likes to help.
We had a nice quiet meal with the four of us on the enclosed deck listening to the waves. As it was windy and cold, we were not able to open up the sliding windows.
Day 12 – Drive to Franschhoek in wine country:
We spent the morning packing. We were leaving Mossel Bay at 11am. Mary and I went to Woolworth for picnic lunch fixings and extras since we enjoy all the options this store has to offer. We can’t find these goodies in Shanghai. The car was over packed with giraffes and a large mask running through the middle section. Good thing the girls don’t need much room and even less for Eleri.
Today was about a 4 1/2 hour drive to wine country. We had picnic makings in the chilly bin. It was raining when we left, but we hoped it would break along the way. All along the N2 route, we saw picnic stops with tables, but the rain continued. Finally, we stopped at 3pm to feed everyone as we were hungry. We made sandwiches under a tree to protect us from the rain and ate in the car.
We drove over the mountain pass, Groot Drakenstein Mountains, to drop into the valley of Franschhoek…what a beautiful view! Franschhoek was settled by French Huguenot families in 1694. The French Huguenots were fleeing religious persecution in France and were assigned various farms around Franschhoek by the Dutch East India Company. The Dutch name is De Fransche Hoek which means French Corner.
We arrived in Franschhoek around 4:30pm and checked into our Bed & Breakfast, Aubergine La Dauphine, located just outside of town on a winery.
After unloading the cars, we went back into town. We enjoyed walking around the one-charming street of Franschhoek. We found a family friendly place for dinner. Dinner was 530r/$74 per family with no wine. It was time to put some tired children to bed. With girls in bed, we sat in our courtyard to enjoy a bottle of wine. It was a nice way to end the day.
Day 13 – February 23 – Franschhoek:
Breakfast is only served from 8:30am to 9:30am. Therefore, we were at our first winery by 10am. Emersyn is so close to finishing her 870-page Harry Potter book that she can’t put it down. She bought the book with her for the day of wine tasting.
The wineries are small and very personal feeling. Our first winery of the day was Solms-Delta. Steven was our friendly guide at Solms-Delta to tell us all about the wines. We purchased two bottles and two travel boxes to fill. The wine was cheap and good! One bottle was 148r/$20 and the other was 80r/$11.
Our next winery, Boekenhoutskloof, was a bit bigger and we didn’t have our own personal guide like Steven. We tested all the wines and decided on our favorites. The winery did not list the prices, so we were picking blind. We all decided the Wolftrap was the best. When we checked the prices, the bottle cost 40r/$6. I guess it proves the best doesn’t always cost the most. We decided we could put two bottles of The Wolftrap in our boxes. We picked another bottle, The chocolate Block, at 150r/$20.
We decided to go back to our B&B to eat all our picnic leftovers. The B&B has plenty of grass area for the children to run. We enjoyed the cheese, crackers, lunchmeat and all the goodies from yesterday. The girls and dads stayed to play while Mary and I shopped. The girls wanted to swim in the pool. Jim spent the time carefully packing our giraffes in a box he made from boxes and materials he picked up at a local U-pack place.
Mary and I had until 5pm. The plan was we would bring back pizza for the girls. John and Jim would then go into town to the Internet café to do a little work catch-up. However, the Internet café was CLOSED when Jim and John got there. Well, of course, it was after 5pm! All was good as Mary and I stayed on scheduled. We fed the girls pizza and took them on a walk down to the lake.
At the Gazebo, we meet a nice, elderly couple from England. As we talked with them, we realized we were at Schotia Safari at the same time. They remembered seeing our children at the rhino viewing.
After enjoying the lake walk, it was time for baths before the babysitters arrived. Baths completed, Emmy dived into her book and finished it! We had babysitters for 50r/$7 per hour. The adults had dinner out, sans kids, in the wine cellars of Haute Cabriere.
Day 14 – February 25 – Franschhoek:
With an early breakfast at 8:30am, we get the crew out the door. First stop was back at Haute Cabriere to buy a bottle from last night’s dinner. Then, on to Graham Beck winery. Graham Beck had a nice grass area for the children to play while we enjoyed the wines.
The tasty room overlooked the production floor. We were watching the labeling of the bottles. At this winery, you paid to taste, but the amount is reversed when you buy wine. We tasted so many wines here that we asked them to stop bringing the white wines, as we are all red wine drinkers. Our favorite wine was the The Game Reserve for 96r/$13. We purchased our wines as time was getting away, as always. We had a reservation for a picnic lunch at Boschendal winery.
The Boschendal picnic is a beautiful set-up of tables with white clothes. They bring you a picnic basket filled with ham, salami, chicken curry, hummus, pate, bread, and chocolate brownies. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed a bottle of wine with a lovely lunch.
The girls were given their picnic box lunch tie to a pole. They took them out under the trees to enjoy their lunches. The girls had ham sandwiches, chicken on a stick, chips, brownie and gummies in their boxes. However, Emersyn did manage to find the red ants to sit with her.
We drove to Stellenbosch to enjoy the main street shopping. Stellenbosch is a larger, college town. We did a walk through the main downtown street. We also went to the craft market stalls. We did find the toss sticks Kelly & Erin bought in Knysna. Jim had “poo-pooed†them in Knysna. The girls have had a blast playing with them.
The next stop on the road show of shopping was the college. Mary wanted to get a couple Stellenbosch college t-shirts for her nephew. We got to the student center at 4:50, after asking many students the directions. The shop closed at 5pm and was closed for the night. We should have thought about the fact the sidewalks roll up at 5pm!!
We drove back to Franschhoek to stop at the wine shop in town. We needed two more bottles of wine to fill our boxes. We took the gang of girls to the restaurant, Station Pub, for a quick dinner. We had packing and wine to enjoy for our last night. The Station Pub was a cute place with a surprise bonus of a play set for the kids.
When we got back, the kids played while we packed. Jim worked to get the last of our stuff packed, as he is the Master Packer. After the girls were out of the tub, they enjoyed a movie with the Humes girls. We put the girls to bed and enjoyed our last bottle of wine in the courtyard.
Travel day to Shanghai – February 26:
We had determined we needed BIS (bums in seats) at 7:30am due to the roadwork through Stellenbosch.
We arrived at the airport with no problems to take care of our VAT. VAT is similar to sales tax at 14% of the purchase. We didn’t know about the VAT refund until we reached Oudtshoorn. Last night, I organized my receipts by any amount over 250r/$34. Jim dropped us off while he gassed up and returned the rental car. All was fine until the VAT lady wanted to see some items. I had no idea which suite case the Master Packer put the various items. In addition, he had a work call to take. I managed to find the items in questions and I got the Lyon gang checked-in, verifying this time we were sitting together.
Our trip home was the same flight with a stop in Johannesburg. We left Cape Town at 11:30am to arrive in Singapore at 7am, the next day. With a 3-hour stop, we grabbed some breakfast. The adults were on the hunt for coffee. We left Singapore to arrive in Shanghai at 3:30pm. Again, the girls were brilliant travelers. We made it back to Shanghai on a Saturday, February 27, which gave us a day to recover before school/work on Monday.
The End – of our adventure tales in South Africa!