We were privileged to have dinner this evening with marketing expert and authorJoseph Jaffe, plus a small group of dynamic South Africans who're all involved in some way in marketing, social media and tech stuff. Joseph, who's a South African living in the USA, is a really cool, laid-back guy, and clearly still has a lot of affection for his homeland.
We ate at Primi Piatti in the V&A Waterfront - what a fantastic view there is from their new balcony section! Stormhoek sent along a few bottles of wine, as is their custom (and oh how we love them for it), and all in all we had a fabulous evening in lovely surroundings, with great company.
For our South African readers, the delectable Stormhoek wines are now available at Checkers stores, and to celebrate, Stormhoek is running an awesome competition. Part of me doesn't want to tell you about this, because I'd really, really like to win it myself (the main prize is a year's supply of Stormhoek wine!), but since you've been kind enough to visit our blog, I'll give you a little info: 3000 bottles of the Stormhoek stocked by Checkers have neck tags explaining how you can win (you'll need to find Stormhoek Big-Love on Facebook and add it as a friend), and apart from the main prize, there will also be weekly giveaways of t-shirts and wine until all the tagged bottles have been sold. Visit Stormhoek's blog for more info. But, um, don't rush now; there's really no hurry... no hurry at all... ;-)
I'd have to guess that most South African men love motorbikes, even if they don't own one themselves. When visiting Cape Town you're bound to come across many, from new to old, Harley to Honda.
"Think Bike" is a campaign run by motorbike enthusiasts in an effort to remind drivers of the presence and vulnerability of bikers on the road. Having lost a friend to the negligence of a truck driver, I'm always cautious when there's a bike around.
While I'm a superbike fan myself, as a motorist I love Harleys... they're easy to hear approaching and hardly ever whizz past in a superbike-like blur of colour and sound.
Today was the second day of StarCamp. After driving around for a while looking for a breakfast spot, we decided on Balmoral on Beach, just around the corner from the StarCamp venue.
The food was excellent (perfect poached eggs, beef sausage, plenty of bacon, and toast with homemade preserves) and the service really impressed us. As we sat down, before we'd even looked at the menus, we were each given a glass of ice-water with lemon slices - very welcome on a hot day like today! Our coffee and food arrived quickly, and so did our bill when we asked for it.
So, if you're ever in the Muizenberg area, do drive down to Beach Road and pop into Balmoral on Beach for a snack. Just say we sent you... :-)
Groot (translated as "Great") Constantia is one of the farms established by the governor of the Cape, Simon van der Stel, in 1684. Back then the purpose of the farm was to produce food and wine for the Cape colony - and by the look of things this national monument is still producing wine today.
We had dinner at Groot Constantia's Simon's restaurant with a few friends from *Camp this evening.
We spent the afternoon at my company's end of year lunch, held at La Provence Wine Farm on the Polkadraai road between Stellenbosch and Kuils Rivier. The weather was hot, the view spectacular and the food... oh, the food...
Keen-eyed-Kerry spotted this Dragon Fly sitting first on a discarded cigarette butt and later moving to this piece of grass. My colleagues found Grant and I amusing as we lay on the ground trying to get the perfect photo.
One of Kerry-Anne's clients invited us to their end of year function at Moyo, an African-themed restaurant on Spier wine farm outside of Stellenbosch.
Visiting Spier in the late afternoon followed by dinner at Moyo is highly recommended if you're visiting Cape Town. Moyo is an open-air restaurant and while guests can dine in huge marquees, it's way cooler to sit up in the trees. Yes, I really mean up in the trees. We sat at a long table about 7 metres up in the air on a solidly-built platform. It's quite difficult to explain properly in this short post, but believe me that it's a really great experience and something you really should do if you're visiting.
Half-way through our absolutely huge meal, this man and a few friends came around to serenade us beating on drums, and wearing colourful clothes and ostrich-feather hats. Don't you think he has an awesome smile?
Oh, if you decide to visit Moyo, just be sure to reserve a table in the trees, I imagine that the best spots get booked up pretty quickly.
I don't have much to say about this photo except that for some reason I really like it. It seems so lonely amongst the dead brown leaves, but soon it will be just like they are - it's kinda sad don't you think? Would anyone like to take a stab at telling us what type of flower this is?
It's relatively easy to spot the Durbanville area from the air when approaching Cape Town International Airport from a westerly direction. The vineyards and rolling hills can be seen for many miles and are undoubtedly the greatest attraction of the area.
It must be wonderfully relaxing to take a leisurely stroll through the vines - although, by the way half of this poor fellow's shirt is pulled out and considering his flushed cheeks, I'd bet that his "best friend" took him for rather a brisk walk.
The OBZfestival is held every year on the first weekend of December, celebrating the start of the summer and the festive month to come. The streets of Observatory buzz with party-fever over this weekend with all shapes, sizes, colours and cultures gathering together.
If you're planning on visiting the OBZfestival next year - I'd suggest the Saturday evening as being the best time to go - we were busy and only managed to get out to Observatory this afternoon when the fun was starting to tone down some. :(
For today's theme, we could have shown you one of the covered pedestrian bridges over the highway, or a pretty little wooden bridge over a forest stream, or the romantic old Woodbridge Island bridge... but instead we decided to post something that would bring a smile to the face of every Capetonian reading this: a collage featuring the unfinished highway bridges on the Foreshore.
We love these bridges - they've become a feature over the past 20 years, and despite what we may say to the contrary, if the truth be told, we'd all be rather sorry to see them completed. Where else would bands shoot cool music videos? Where else would graffiti artists go to express themselves? How else would you explain to people how to get to your guesthouse? And, honestly, what else could have been an appropriate setting for the final scene of this little movie?
No, there's nothing to be debated: the bridges must stay. ;-)
There are 128 blogs around the world participating in today's theme day. Click on the links below to visit them:
See the window on the right? It's the same one that was featured in yesterday's post. On the left is Mitchell's Brewery and on the right is Ferrymans, the Waterfront's oldest tenant. These two together are something of a Cape Town institution - I honestly don't think I've ever seen either of them empty (or even not-too-full). It's the perfect spot for a quick drink after work, or a pub lunch with friends, especially in summer.
And on that note: as you can see, someone has finally summoned the courage to tell the weather people that it's actually November, and thus some clear skies and sunshine would be rather nice. At last I can announce that it's summer in Cape Town.
We spent last night with friends and fellow IT professionals at the fifth Cape Town GeekDinner held at Ferrymans Tavern in the V&A Waterfront. There was LOTS of food, plenty of wine (kindly sponsored by online wine cellars, wine23.co.za) and a good amount of interesting conversation.
If you consider yourself a computer geek, and want to join the in-crowd, then Google "GeekDinner" to find if meetings are held near you.
Heading from Table View to Durbanville through this kloof, you'll be awestruck by the beauty of the rolling hills and bright green vines. This is my favorite route back from the beach to our house for two reasons - the magnificence of the landscape and the fun of racing around corners and flying over the steep hills in Kerry-Anne's Mini.
Disclaimer: Although this mountain-pass-like kloof is one of my weaknesses, I'm actually pretty well behaved on the road - promise - please don't flame me ;).
Well, while taking yesterday's photo of the sad and lonely cone, I heard some shouting and laughter emanating from behind me. Evidently these guys had never seen someone taking a photo of a poor disregarded ice-cream cone, and found the whole episode rather amusing.
I wonder who you belong to and why they threw you down. I wonder, did they just drop you, sadly - without a sound? I wonder if you're crying as you lie there melting down. I wonder if they'll fetch you and scoop you from the ground.
The story of a sad and lonely cone lying in the gutter across from Blaauberg Beach.
Kerry-Anne and I woke up late this morning to a hot and stuffy house. So, with the temperature still rising, we did what any clear-thinking individual in Cape Town would do... we went to the coast for lunch (yes, that's how late it already was). The air was perfectly clear and there was a cool sea-breeze blowing. I haven't seen the water looking quite so clear and quite so Turquoise in a long time - it was very deserving of this photo.
A friend of ours celebrated her birthday by inviting a few of us around for an evening straight out of the 80s. Mini-skirts, big shirts, primary colours, side ponytails, teased hair and headbands all made an appearance, while the sounds of Transvision Vamp, Abba, Bananarama, Michael Jackson, George Michael and Madonna took us back to our younger days.
AA, in this instance, stands for Automobile Association. The Automobile Association of South Africa offers a whole range of products and services to motorists - things like roadside assistance, pre-trip inspections, pre-purchase inspections and driver training. Their website has loads of useful info on all things motoring (but I suggest you take care if you're prone to migraines - there are an awful lot of flashing, moving graphics on the site too, which nearly drove me crazy).
This photo was taken from the inside of a house we visited in Woodstock last week. This is certainly the most attractive burglar-proofing I've seen in a long time - if you have to have burglar bars, then you might as well make them a feature!
Today has been terribly rainy in Cape Town. It's really strange because yesterday was really really hot and I remember thinking that my garden looks terribly dry. It's been raining for most of the day so I haven't ventured out with my camera.
I took this photo at a small art gallery (The Exposure Gallery at The Old Biscuit Mill) a little while ago. The simplicity of the way the photos were hung drew attention to their absolute beauty.
Yes, you guessed it. Kerry-Anne and I were treated to a day out to watch the annual King Of The Mountain race over the Gydo mountain pass. The day was filled with fast cars, plenty of sun and an absolutely divine spitbraai (skewered whole lamb, cooked over an open fire).
The purpose of the race is to see which car (or bike) can get over the mountain pass the fastest. There was fortunately only one minor incident on the day in which a go-cart that entered the race flew off the side of the mountain. The driver fortunately abandoned his chariot just in time, suffering only minor injuries (or so we were told).
I think the eventual winner was either the black Chevy Lumina in the photo or a white Nissan Skyline. What I do know for sure is that both drivers absolutely can drive.
This is the scene that stretched out before us on Sunday from the Gydo mountain pass located near the small town of Prince Alfred’s Hamlet. I'll reveal exactly what we were doing on the pass yesterday, but in the meantime Google the words "Gydo Pass King" to see if you can work it out.
Okay, so somehow I managed to lose Sunday's post, so I'm going to sneak it in today - perhaps nobody will notice.
Our electricity supply has been a contentious issue for the last few years. Eskom, our national supplier, miscalculated the amount of electricity a booming economy like ours would require and now find themselves a little short on capacity. So, I guess I won't be buying that nice big air-conditioning unit :(.
Nope, this Woodstock has nothing to do with the 1969 Woodstock music festival.
Woodstock, South Africa, is an old suburb of Cape Town on the slopes of Devil's Peak and currently an urban development zone with property owners enjoying tax benefits for upgrading buildings. This street hasn't been upgraded yet, but give it ten years and perhaps we'll see the face of Woodstock somewhat differently. See Woodstock's community website here.
Nothing is so beautiful as spring - When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush. - Gerard Manley Hopkins
It was a blustery day today, and I imagined several times that my house might actually blow away with me in it. I heard strange crashes and thuds from outside all afternoon, but we seem to still be where we were this morning. This photo was taken as the wind began to settle down for the evening, from Bottelary Road near Stellenbosch.
Joy has been standing on the side of this Long Street building in Cape Town for some time now. She looks happy to be lonely, so I guess it's okay. I did some searching on the web, but can't find who Model Network is. Come on locals, does anyone out there know who Model Network is?
Ads like this weird me out a little. They're a bit like those ads for "wobble" parties that we see stuck on the sides of electricity boxes and walls around the suburbs. They have no address, no contact details, only a date. It's almost like they're saying, if you don't know where the party is, you're not cool enough anyway.
We found this bird perched on the branch of a tree in our garden. Okay, no, that's not true; although we'd love to be more like Sydney in this regard, birds like this aren't commonly found in our suburbs. If we had found one it would quite likely be a neighbour's bird gone walk-about.
Kerry-Anne and I were driving around late this evening looking for something new to show you. Within seconds of each other we both thought of the old Dutch Reformed church in Durbanville, so here it is.
According to the Afrikaans wikipedia page (take a look here) people in the surrounding area lodged a request with the governor, Lord Charles Somerset, that a local church be established. The request was granted and the cornerstone was laid in 1825, where after the first pastor was appointed in 1826.
I visited the church a year or two ago when a friend's baby boy was christened. It was an interesting experience being in a traditional Afrikaans church. As an English-speaking person I felt a little out of place, yet strangely not.
Deer Park lies in the middle of a residential area on the slopes of Table Mountain. I didn't see many, I mean any, deer around - perhaps they're all up on the mountain away from mean children and noisy cars.
Disclaimer: I didn't see any mean children either, I'm just hypothesising. ;)
