Tri-Nations rugby

I, shamefully perhaps, haven't been paying too much attention to the Tri-Nations rugby matches. South Africa is currently third on the log after being solidly thumped (16-0) by New Zealand at the Newlands stadium on Saturday.

Our next match is against Australia on 23 August where we really need to pull off a victory. After such a disastrous loss on Saturday, we fondly think back to our past glory during the 2007 World Cup, hoping that our boys will take courage, demonstrate their skill and find the determination needed for victory on Saturday.

We're behind you all the way, guys!

Location, location, location

Lyonesse Villa is located on the slopes on Table Mountain, close to Constantia Nek (for those not too familiar with the layout of Cape Town, this is the back of the mountain - the side you usually see in photos is the front).

The views are absolutely incredible from here, and there are balconies all along the front of the villa to take advantage of this.

If you click through to Cape Town Daily Photo Extras, you'll see a whole lot of photos of the 2-acre indigenous garden. Seeing the wealth of colours and textures in the garden made me realise again just how diverse and beautiful the Cape Floral Kingdom is.

This is the last in our series of posts about Lyonesse Villa (see #1, #2 and #3, and visit Cape Town Daily Photo Extras for more photos of the house and garden). Thanks to our hosts, Ric and Robyn, for treating us to a superb weekend away!

More of Cape Town Daily Photo's mini vacation

As you might have seen yesterday and the day before, Paul and I spent the weekend at the gorgeous Lyonesse Villa in Constantia. At last, Paul has finished processing most of our photos, and we can show you the rest of the property. Today we're doing the interior - the accommodation and living areas - and tomorrow we'll show you some outside shots to give you an idea of the villa's location.

Each room is furnished in its own particular style and colour scheme. This lounge is one of my favourite rooms in the house (probably because I'm rather partial to pink!), and I spent part of Saturday afternoon curled up on the corner couch with my book.

Visit Cape Town Daily Photo Extras to see photos of some of the other rooms, as well as a few close-up shots of the furniture and artworks that give the villa its character and style.

This luxury villa: ours for the weekend

As Paul mentioned yesterday, we were badly in need of a break, and so we were thrilled to be invited to stay for a couple of nights at what must surely be one of Cape Town's top accommodation establishments: we're spending the weekend at Lyonesse, a jaw-droppingly beautiful villa in Constantia.

This is just one of the bedrooms in the 850m2 house; there are eight in total, as well as eight bathrooms. I've lost count of the number of TVs... and I've lost Paul several times too.

We had breakfast served to us at the 12-seater dining room table this morning; we spent the afternoon wandering around the 2-acre indigenous garden (photos of that will follow in the next day or two); and we spent the evening playing Wii Sport in the downstairs room. Apart from all the bedrooms and bathrooms, there's a fully stocked bar, an extensive library, a huge swimming pool, and a kitchen full of Gaggenau appliances.

I can't wait to show you the rest of the house, but it's taking Paul some time to resize and watermark all the photos we've been taking, so you and I will have to be patient, I'm afraid.

Getting away for the weekend

This weekend has started pretty well. It's been a long time since Kerry-Anne and I have been away for the weekend, so when the opportunity arose, we took it gladly. I'm not quite yet going to tell you where we are, but it's safe to say that we're still in the shadow of our beautiful Table Mountain and quite literally in the lap of luxury.

It's pretty late in the evening, so I'm about to head off to the huge four-poster bed shown in this photo. Watch this space tomorrow to find out more about where we are and how absolutely beautiful it is.

Best coffee in Cape Town

It really is. I wasn't entirely convinced by all the hype... until I had a cup, and discovered to my delight that it was perfect.

I spent the evening with a group of bright, enthusiastic and creative women at Origin Roasting in De Waterkant. It was my first time at Origin, but it won't be the last - the atmosphere was great, the staff were friendly, and the coffee was absolutely awesome.

If you're on Facebook, have a look at their group, and if you're in the Green Point area, do yourself a favour and pop in for a cup of coffee.

Watching the tide rolling in

I stopped at Three Anchor Bay this morning on my way to a seminar, and spent a bit of time watching the waves rolling in. The swell seemed unusually large, and it reminded me of this article I read the other day about the potential effect of climate change on Cape Town's coastline. It seems to validate our theory of buying property a few blocks up from the beachfront... ;-)

Cape Town's tech community

We went to another bloggers' party this evening at Long Street Café (look for the red neon sign in the photo). There's quite a thriving (and growing) tech community in Cape Town. In fact, two Cape-based start-up companies have just been nominated for Industry Standard Innovation 100 awards: Synthasite, the free website builder, has been nominated in the Community-Social category, and Springleap, the t-shirt design company, was nominated in the Retail category.

If you think they're worthy, do vote for them!

Welfare photo

I took this photo as Kerry-Anne drove past the Kayamandi settlement (on the outskirts of Stellenbosch). I'm not sure what precisely the text is trying to convey, and if anyone can help and explain I'd be most appreciative.

From what I've been able to find out, Gilbeys Distillers used to bottle alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks in Devon Valley, near Stellenbosch. It would appear as though Gilbeys closed its doors some time back and that a couple of its senior executives bought much of the bottling equipment, hand-picked many of the good Gilbeys staff, and started Rostberg Pty(Ltd), a company specialising in the bottling of wine.

Now, this still doesn't explain what the text on this wall is all about - but for some reason I really like the photo. Perhaps it's simply the colouring and incomprehensible black text... I'm not sure.

Cat's Eyes

Even though this little device (known for its reflective ability as a Cat's Eye) was developed in Britain in 1933, Cape Town's roads only had them installed in the 1980s. I remember one night as a kid being fascinated by the hundreds of newly installed reflective eyes watching us as we drove home along one of our national highways.

Since then they've helped keep me, and many others, safe on poorly-lit roads. I only wish that there were more of these little helpers on more of our back-roads, as they're often the most poorly lit areas.

I find it really disconcerting not being able to see bends in the road ahead, or, when it's raining, not knowing whether I'm veering over into another lane or not. Well done Percy Shaw, this really was a simple yet brilliant invention.

The Landy

The Land Rover, affectionately know as the Landy, was one of the first "all-terrain" non-military 4x4 vehicles to be sold. Introduced by the Rover Company in 1948, the Land Rover concern was sold to several companies over the years and is currently owned by India's TATA Motors.

I've been told more than once that if you're planning on travelling up through Africa then an old Land Rover is probably the best vehicle that you could take. The reason is simple: the Land Rover is so pervasive in Africa that no matter which village you end up in, you're bound to find an old Landy from which you can salvage parts to fix your broken-down vehicle.

The Blue Gum tree

The Blue Gum tree is part of the Eucalyptus family. This Australian tree was originally introduced to South Africa by a British botanist, Sir Joseph Banks. The Blue Gum grows extremely rapidly and is able to consume 2,000 litres of water per day! Interestingly, I believe that the tree was originally introduced into the Johannesburg area for the production of timber for our mining industry.

I've noticed over the past few years that many large Blue Gum trees have been removed from the area in which I live. The negative impact that this tree has had on our environment has caused it to be regarded as an invader that should be removed.