South Africa - September

September was supposed to be Spring, but it took a while to arrive. We managed to find a few beautiful, sunny days between the rain and cold and took full advantage of it.

Road trippin'

Andrew, Laura and I did a road trip up the West Coast for a mid-week break. We took the scenic route via Darling and of course had to stop at the Darling Brewery.

My late father bequeathed bound books of his magazine, South African Shipping News and Fishing Industry Review, to the Fisheries Museum in Velddrif. So our first stop was to off-load a ton of books to the museum.

Boot full of books

We recognized some of his work on display

Excerpts from dad's books

Inside the museum

Some of dad's books were already on the shelf

Books we delivered

I was worried they would not take the books but the lady in the office said the curator would be so excited to have them. Thank goodness we didn't have to lug them all back home again!

We stayed in a quaint BnB very close to the sea and beach. Yes, I know, maybe we should have done a trip into the bush, but we missed the sea!

Rondebosch Boy's High School, E'83, celebrated their 40th reunion in September. Much fun and reminiscing was had by all who attended.

A 30th wedding anniversary is quite an achievement, is it not? Well, this year was our 30th but sadly we did no celebrating at all. It seems that some dreaded lergy was passed around over the weekend and Andrew took his fair share and more. He spent three days in bed and once he was better it seemed the moment had passed.

We joined Matt, Kay and Moira, Kay's mum, on another of their favourite haunts,  Babylonstoren. It is R100 per person to get in but it is so worth it. The gardens are beautiful and there is so much to see.

But first, breakfast under the trees.

Croissant and scrambled egg

Scones, what a treat

Boerewors roll

The ducks are let out daily and they wander the orchids looking for grubs. When they are ready they waddle back to their enclosure and wash off the day's dirt in their pool. It was amazing to watch and they knew exactly where to go.

Returning after slug hunting

Long dusty walk home

Oh dear! The gate is shut

Thank you kind Kay

We found some strange bird species who had build massive nests in the bamboo.

Zen

Bird's Eye View

Beautiful Clivia

All the flowers were out in full bloom making the landscape colorful and sweet smelling.

Blossoms

Matt and Kay

Matt, Siobhan and Laura

Matt and Andrew

Babylonstoren is really beautiful. If you are anywhere near there, I definitely recommend a visit.

Love these two

Father Christmas got a pom-pom

We had a wonderful afternoon at Peal Valley visiting our friends Paul and Tracy Clark. Matt and Kay were in the area so popped in to say hi. And at the end of the afternoon Tracy's kids arrived. It was so good to see them again.

Beautiful views in Pearl Valley

James, Laura and Robyn

I leave you with pictures of the cows we saw daily walking past our house.

Our time in South Africa was coming to an end. Andrew had already been dreaming about Calypso for weeks, stressing about all the boat jobs that needed to be done before we could go in the water.