13 July –
Today we're heading off to Stellenbosch (very well known for its vineyards). We finished our lovely breakfast at the rooibos farm and now it's time to say good bye to our hosts, Annette and Chris.
On the drive to Stellenbosch we had to drive through several road construction sites (and stops because of the road construction). At one such stop a small passenger came screaming in front of us and to a sudden halt. One of the passengers from that truck stumbled out of the truck and somehow managed to crater into and fall over a barrel standing next to the road. The other passengers and driver in the vehicle didn't get out of their truck to help but drivers and passengers from other other vehicles got out to help this man. It looked like he was VERY drunk. Extremely drunk. With some help he got back into his truck and they drove off. WEIRD!
Views from the road:
We saw lots of fruit orchards. I think these are orange trees:
Driving to Stellenbosch we close to a town called Ceres. I've heard of this name before as it is a brand of fruit juices we can buy here in China. (The Ceres brand juices ARE from Ceres, South Africa and they're some of the best juices out there).
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Passing by other fields…not sure what these crops are so we thought we'd stop to
Croydon helping Juandre climb through the fence to get a sample of one of the plants:
Hmmm…still not sure what it is. Do you recognize it? Could it be millet?
Back on the road. Check out the beautiful mountains:
Driving through a long tunnel:
We made it to Stellenbosch. According to the GPS our guest house is just down this road:
At Groenvlei Guest Farm:
Lovely green yard for Ava to run on (that's our rental house Ava is running towards):
A look inside the bright, clean and slightly unusual rental house. I'm calling this style of decor "Utilitarian Dutch". It's very modern.
Very pretty rooms and decor. There is only one space heater available and sadly there is no central heating system here (just as we've seen in other places in SA). It's a little chilly but at least the beds have heavy, warm blankets on them).
Here's Annika standing in the car park…our little rental house is on the left:
Enjoying a little down time with snacks we've brought with us:
Debbie and I went grocery shopping at the local supermarket for breakfast supplies and I picked up some cough and cold medicine for Annika and me.
Check out this bag of charcoal I saw in the store:
I can't tell you why but even though we're in South AFRICA it amazes me to see something labeled as "African". Silly, I know. Here at least it's very likely to actually be from Africa!
We've decided to go out to dinner tonight. Just in case I haven't been clear – today is Sunday. As we're driving around Stellenbosch (it's getting dark now) we're realizing that very little is open. We found ONE restaurant open. Why oh why are things shut down on Sunday???? Does that make sense?
Here's a quick peek at part of the menu. Have you ever heard of Dros sauces….how about monkey glands???
The grown-ups are enjoying a bottle of lovely red wine. Of course from SA!
Ava and Juandre are having fun browsing the menu (I think there are games on the kid's menus):
After dinner we took a short drive to the coast to see the ocean. In the dark. In the middle of winter. Why not???? LOL!!! The beach is most certainly lit up by lots of lamps.
Very pretty (and chilly!):
No, we did NOT jump into the ocean. I'd rather not have that numb feeling that comes from being too cold.
Croydon took this photo of us at the beach….in the dark…because we could!:
It was a great day! It's time to call it a night and crawl under our warm blankets. Tomorrow we're heading up to Table Mountain. Yippeeeeee!!!!!!