Travel Tuesdays - My favourite City in SA...Cape Town!

For our honeymoon Riaan and I decided to go somewhere that we had both been as kids, but we had never gone to together...Cape Town! The mother city!

I love Cape Town, it is beautiful, stylish, and so laid back.
When Riaan and I got back from honeymoon we were seriously considering moving to Cape Town, it just suited us so well. We then decided to wait a while and see how we felt about it after a couple of months, in May we were seriously considering making the move but then in July London became a real option for us with me getting a job offer.

It was a no brainer, we had to give London a try! We can always come back if we don't like it and move to Cape Town...

Anyway, lets get back to Cape Town. There's a plethora of things to keep you busy in Cape Town, from the wine routes, to the mountains, the beaches, the city sights and not to mention ocean activities!!

We decided to play tourist in our own country, we hired a car for the week and just explored the Cape.
We stayed in Bloubergstrand, across the road from the beach, we spent our afternoons here watching the locals windsurf as the sun set and the sky turned pink over Table Mountain .

On day two we ventured in to town, visited The Castle of Good Hope and City Hall.

On day three we took a Cable car up Table Mountain and went on a 3 hour long exploration of the top of the mountain. This was followed by a visit to, The Houses of Parliament, The Crypt, Saint George's Cathedral and The Company's Garden.

On day four we visited the Two Oceans Aquarium and did a little shopping at the V & A Waterfront.

On day five we did the Constantia Nek wine route, that was our day spoken for!

 Yuuuuck! That wine was gross, it had asparagus in it!!

On day six we took a boat ride from Hout Bay to Seal Island...and then we went on the Constantia Wine Route AGAIN!

On day seven we took the scenic route all the way to Cape Point and made a stop along the way at Boulders Beach, home to hundreds of penguins.

On day eight we went kayaking at Sea Point (a honeymoon gift from my Aunt Kim and the gang), after which we had a mini picnic on Clifton Beach.

After that we moved on to the Ambassador hotel for the night, we had dinner at Salt and enjoyed the breathtaking sunset.

And with that we ended of the most amazing holiday to date and were more than a little sad to be going home the next day.

I would love to hear if you've been to Cape Town, and what was your favourite part of the visit.

My Best/Worst Vacation...#Blogtober14 Day7

I really don't think it is possible to have a bad holiday - the fact that you're not at home doing the same old thing is reason enough to smile. Bonus points if you're in another town/city and double points if you're in another country!! Unless some natural disaster strikes or you end up re-living the likes of "Taken" and "The Impossible", then you're having a really bad holiday!

I, however, am lucky enough not to have re-lived said movies, and in South Africa besides the occasional flash-flood we don't have natural disasters, we do have unnatural disasters though (The government, The SAPS, Parliament...I could continue but I'm sure you get the point).

I have had many wonderful breakaways and holidays, some involved sleeping in tents at music festivals, others involved fancy hotels and lounging about by the pool - from one extreme to the next - you cannot compare!!

Anyway, my absolute best vacation (so far) was our Honeymoon, it was awesome! We spent it in Cape Town and behaved like tourists in our own country. We bought souvenirs, saw almost all of the main attractions, ate way too much, drank great wine and enjoyed a sunset on the beach overlooking Table Mountain almost every afternoon. It was absolutely perfect in every way.

Beautiful sunset from The Ambassador Hotel

On top of Table Mountain

Wine tasting at Groot Constantia

Relaxing on Clifton Beach

 

Boat ride from Hout Bay to Seal Island

At the Cape Point National Park

Bloubergstrand with a view of Table Mountain! Oh my soul the water is cold!!

Wine tasting at Constantia Glen

The view at Cape Point

The lighthouse at Cape Point

Kayaking in Sea Point

Kayaking in Sea Point

When I think about leaving South Africa and the things I will miss, Cape Town is definitely one of those things. Every time I have gone there I come back to Johannesburg with a heavy heart, I love it there!! There is a place for everyone in Cape Town, it's diversity is what I love most! If you haven't been, you need to add it to you travel agenda!!

So I'd like to know have you been to Cape Town? And what is your favourite thing to do there? If you live in Cape Town feel free to share with us some local tips and hot spots!

I'm sorry for my unplanned hiatus

I am sorry! No, really, I am!!
I know I've been a bad little blogger for the past few days, 9 days without posting...it's getting on my nerves, but I just haven't had a break! It's been crazy! What with work and family commitments. Since it was so busy I have quite a bit to say so this post might end up being a bit of a long one...I'll try my best to keep it short and sweet!

Last week was hectically busy!

On Sunday we spent the whole day on set shooting a car advertisment, we were supposed to be background people but Riaan ended up being put front and centre which is pretty cool! It's all pretty top secret because the car hasn't been released yet, so we couldn't take pictures, but it was so interesting! I was fascinated and in awe, by the time we left I was convinced that I could totes have an on-screen day job!!

On Tuesday we had team building, we went for breakfast in Hyde Park and then we went to Acrobranch in Melrose! Acrobranch is an outdoor sort of obstacle course up in the trees, it starts off about a meter above the ground, and gradually gets higher and higher. About half way through you find yourself at least four meters off the ground standing on a ledge, hooking your zip line mechanism to a cable spanning about 10 metres across the grass to another tree, silently convincing yourself to jump of the ledge and zip over the grass to the other side, there is after all no other way down!! With walk ways, chain bridges, cargo rope nets and zip lines to name a few, linking you from tree to tree, it takes about an hour and a half to complete the entire course. At one point I found myself feeling like Jane of the Jungle, I had to take hold of a really think rope and swing from one ledge to a rope net spanned between two trees *insert Tarzan-like yowling sound here*, after grabbing hold of the net I had to climb it to get to the next ledge about 1.5m above. They also have a 200m zip line across a field of grass, it's super fun and quite fast!! This course was a great upper body workout, and we had great fun but if you're afraid of heights and not able to do physical activity for at least two hours then I don't recommend this. If you're an adrenaline junkie and up for a challenge, DO IT!!

Wednesday was National Heritage Day over here in Sunny SA, and the traditional thing to do on NHD is BRAAI of course!! Haha, this year we did not follow tradition, the original plan was to head down to Hartebeesport Dam, ride the cable cars up the mountain and enjoy a late brunch, unfortunately the cable cars were down for maintenance. Oh well, next time right! So we ended up going shopping and after that we met with Riaan's Mom and her sisters, for a catch-up session complete with tea and scones. It was unplanned but a great way to spend a day off!

During the week I also managed to whip up some delicious diet friendly "Ice Cream" which I will post the recipe for tomorrow, I found it on The Londoner's blog, its really delicious but I have altered the recipe a teensy little bit, just to make it easier.

On Friday morning I was up bright and early to catch a flight to the Mother City, although I was going for work, I was excited because I love Cape Town! It's easily my most favourite place in SA!! On arrival we were met with grey skies and a drizzle, but by the afternoon it cleared up and we went for dinner at Shimmy Beach. It's an awesome hot-spot with the locals and the food is divine, not to mention the vast selection of local wines, which is right up my alley!!

On Saturday morning we woke up the most pathetic drizzle, it was fine but the wind was blowing and everything was wet, resulting in our plans to hike Table Mountain being foiled! Luckily in Cape Town we are spoiled for choice when it comes to activities, so off we went to The Old Biscuit Mill, for a morning of Gourmet food, Craft beers, lots of people watching and browsing the dozens of stalls of unique hand made goodies.

Craft Beers

Fresh Oysters

Shrooooms!!

Colourful and very busy dining area

Fresh fruit juices

Delicious Fritata with Smoked Salmon, Poached Egg and Hollandaise Sauce!!

American Style Crepes with Banana and lots of Nutella - These were so so good!!

More Craft Beers

Seafood Paella

Vintage style swimwear

Wooden Jewelry

Pretty Necklaces

Wooden Sunnies and Watches - Pretty Funky!!

Afterwards we went to watch the rugby, SA vs Aus, Rugby isn't really my thing but there is nothing quite as special for me, as a nation that can come together to support their sportsmen the way South Africa does. It literally gave me chills!

On Sunday morning I was off again, back to Jo'burg, Riaan and I had a delicious breakfast at Nice, it's a rustic cafe in Parkhurst 4th Avenue. Their food is fresh, bursting with flavour and well presented.
As you can see we had a hard time making up our minds on what to order!!

We couldn't decide, so we shared!

Open croissant with scrambled egg, avocado and smoked salmon

Left: Toast basket with a poached egg, crispy bacon and tomato relish
Right: Crumpets with crispy bacon, mascarpone cheese and strawberries drizzled with syrup

I promise not to be so quite this week, I am thinking of starting a weekly blog topic, I have a few ideas but if you have any ideas or anything you'd like me to write about, please let me know in the comments!!