We woke up at 6. Our tee time at the golf course was for 7:35. While I made coffee I checked the news online, thinking I would find out who won what at the Oscars. BUT THEY WERE STILL GOING ON! Our 6am is 10pm at home, and only 8pm in California. Well, we didn’t have time to sit around and wait for all the winners to be announced — we had some golfing to do.
We were paired with the O’Reillys from London. John and Irene were very good golf partners. John retired from a career in mining and that had given him opportunities to live in many interesting parts of the world. (He was even stationed in Lynn Lake in the early 60s!) They had lived in several African countries, as well as Australia, India, Papau New Guinea, Oman, and Iran. They still have a second home in Oman. They’re here in Cape Town for another week, before flying back home to London.
We finished 18 holes and were home for lunch at around 12:30. Now I could see the complete list of winners and losers at the Oscars. Sue and I have had a good time watching as many of the Oscar-nominated films as we’ve been able to. There have been quite a few very good films, lots of ‘okay’ films, and a couple of “meh!” or “huh?” films. We hadn’t really picked our own ‘play-at-home’ winners, so we weren’t really cheering for any particular movie or actor. Still, finding out that “Mad Max” won 6 Oscars, although not surprising based on some of the predictions we’d read, made us scratch our heads a bit. I SERIOUSLY tried watching that movie three times. The third time was on the plane ride here — lots of time, nothing better to do, I’d seen the beginning half hour twice before (before turning it off in utter boredom), so I was determined to watch at least the ‘middle section’. After all, Charlize Theron was nominated for best actress, and she’s a good-looking woman — surely I can watch the movie just for that! But no, I’m sure I didn’t make it through the first hour. Oh well, like I said, we had fun watching lots of movies, and if after all that we still don’t recognize a ‘great’ film when we see it, so be it.
After lunch I had a bit of a ‘meddach-schlaup’. I worked on some web stuff again, had happy hour, then went out for supper at around 7:30. We had Thai food at the ‘Simply Asia’ tonight — very good. We picked up a new container of ice cream from Woolies and came home to eat it while we watched 2 more episodes of Homeland. (only 2 left). After watching (yesterday’s) CBC National news it was time for bed.
Scrambled eggs for breakfast. I worked on another website on my computer while Sue read her Nelson Mandela book. Another gorgeous day here at Green Point — lots of people here this morning. The annual Sunfoil Cape Town Big Walk was happening today and the route followed the Sea Point promenade. Hundreds, if not thousands, of people in red t-shirts were doing the walk. We could see them from our balcony, and smell the barbecues and hear the marching bands all morning.
What should WE do today? How about we take the Cape Town city bus down as far south as it will go, all the way to Hout Bay? We have the bus ‘cards’, it’s really very cheap to ride it, and it would be a great day to visit the beach towns along the way. We could have lunch in one of those towns.
The view from the Blues Restaurant overlooking the beach at Camps Bay.
We left our apartment at around 11:30. Caught the bus just down the road from here. The Sunday traffic along the one road that goes down along the beach slowed things down a bit, but we were in no hurry. Sue had a 2-for-1 coupon for a restaurant in Camps Bay, so we decided to get off the bus there and have lunch.
Sunday lunch at the Blues Restaurant in Camps Bay: Yellowtail fish for Rudy, prawns with risotto for Sue.
The Blue Restaurant opened at 12 noon, and we were there not long after that. It quickly filled up. The restaurant was on the second floor, right on the main beach road, and we got a table outside on the balcony overlooking the beach. The food was very good.
After lunch we wandered back to the bus stop and waited for the next bus to come along. The distance from our place to the beach at Hout Bay was just over 20 kms. It was the last stop on this bus run so when we got to the final stop we got off the bus. We walked down to the beach. There was a busy restaurant overlooking the beach. We went upstairs to the bar and sat down and ordered G&Ts. They were large! And the place was hopping here too. We spent about an hour there, enjoying the warm afternoon sunshine and looking out at the big surf rolling in on the white sand of the beach.
Dunes Beach Bar in Hout Bay — G&Ts for Happy Hour.
The ride home was a little more complicated! First we found out that the bus station where we got off the bus was NOT the place to catch it going back to Cape Town. We ended up walking about a kilometre to another bus stop on the main road. We sat there for about 5 minutes until the bus showed up. We got on, and took the back seats. As we made our way (slowly) up the coastline the bus gradually filled up. By the time we got to Camps Bay, about halfway, the bus was packed and continuing to pick up more people! And it was moving very slowly — traffic now was just barely crawling. And the late afternoon sun was reflecting off the ocean and heating up Sue’s side of the bus pretty good. No air conditioning here! By the time we got CLOSE to the stadium in Green Point Sue had had enough. We’re getting off. We’ll WALK an extra stop or two just to get out of that hot bus!
We got home and showered. Whew! Then we watched a bit of the Sunday morning American talk shows. It didn’t take long until we were tired of that. Sue made supper. After supper we started watching a German movie I’d downloaded — but we both had trouble keeping our eyes open (and we needed to have our eyes open so we could read the subtitles!). We switched to a couple of episodes of Homeland and managed to stay awake with the help of a dish of ice cream and some chocolate.
By ten o’clock we were ready to call it a day. We have to get up early tomorrow for our weekly Monday morning golf game across the road — and the forecast is for a warmer day again tomorrow.
Woke up at around 6. Made coffee. We checked devices. Then Sue made bacon and eggs for breakfast. It was a beautiful sunny day — the forecast was for about 23 degrees, but it looked like it might get hotter. Out on the street I could see masses of people of all ages running on the sidewalk beside Main Road — another ‘Family Run’ day here in Cape Town. Sue was itching to go for a long walk.
Lion’s Head from the Promenade
But first I had some computer work that I wanted to finish. So Sue sat there patiently, reading until I was done. And then we hurried out — had to get this done before the midday heat. We headed out past the stadium to Mouille Point where the lighthouse is. Lots of people out today — families, couples, kids, cyclists. There were a lot of parasailors coming down from Signal Hill, landing in the Green Point Park. We ended up walking to Sea Point and back, about 12 kms. When we got back to the lighthouse we stopped in at one of the many beachside cafes for lunch.
Lots of parasailors in the park today
On the way home, as we walked through Green Point Park, we saw a mass of people coming INTO the park from the other side. As we got closer we realized that we were walking into a giant GAY PRIDE parade! Yikes! We hurried through the first part of the parade and got across the street. As we walked by the Spar grocery store, we stopped in to pick up some bread. I bought a big fat weekend newspaper from Benjamin, the guy who works our street, selling papers to cars while they wait for the traffic light to change.
I had a snooze in the afternoon. Sue read. After happy hour we had a Facetime call with our kids, so we had a chance to see how their home renovations are progressing.
We watched 2 ‘Best Documentary Feature’ films: “Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom” and “What Happened, Miss Simone?”.
Sue made a great chicken salad for supper. We watched a few TED talks and went to bed at about eleven.
I phoned the golf course to see if they had tee times available today. They did not, so we didn’t go golfing. Instead we sat around and frittered the day away. We watched the last of five Oscar documentary feature, “The Look of Silence”. We read. We went for coffee. We had happy hour. We had pizza for supper. We watched an Oscar animated feature, “Inside Out”. We had ice cream.
Woke up at around 6. Made coffee. Another beautiful day here. It’s not supposed to be so hot today — maybe this would be a could day to go hike up to Lion’s Head? Double portion of mangos, bananas, and toast — we’ll need the ‘fuel’.
Sue got herself lathered up in Coppertone, put on her hat, filled a bottle of water. Running shoes for both of us. And shortly after eight, we’re marching up the street behind our place. My phone, with Google Maps, is directing us up on High Level Street, up a little side road, and then we’re walking on a gravelly, rocky path through the trees on the side of Signal Hill. Not too tough a climb — but steady upwards, through the trees, out onto the grassland, still on the shady side of Signal Hill. It’ll be hot on the way down. The GPS says it’ll be 5.7 kms to the top and it should take us just under 2 hours. Up. Another time as far/long coming down.
Conditions are excellent. We meet only a couple other ‘hikers’ on the trail. When we come to a fork in the trail we take the one that goes more ‘up’. Gradually climbing, zigging and zagging LONG distances at the bottom, then gradually the turns come more frequently as the mountain narrows towards the top.
Mumtje all ready for an early morning hike up Signal Hill and on up to Lion’s Head.
Okay, so how do we actually get UP there?
Oh, okay. There’s directions!
Sue’s got the walking stick — and Cape Town city bowl and the harbour in the background.
Selfie: Sue’s not that excited about it — or is she just pissed at Rudy wearing her hat?
I’m still not sure I know exactly how we’re going to get up there!
We’re finally past the ‘grassland’ section, the path is more rocky again, sometimes big rocks laid down as steps, sometimes small logs tied to keep the steps from washing down the hill. And it’s getting steeper. But the air is not too hot, and the higher we go the more breeze we get. I sure hope we don’t have to carry that full water bottle all the way UP the hill, and then back down again. Better drink a bit. No, it only bloats me and then I have to pee. Okay, how about we leave it here beside the path and we’ll pick it up again on the way down.
Once we start the more ‘serious’ climb we are joined by more trekkers. It’s a pilgrimage. We’ve heard there are ladders and chains near the top, but Sue has also read that there is an ‘easier’ route. We don’t find it. When we get up the first ladder and we encounter a section of ‘hand-over-hand’ climbing Sue loses her enthusiasm. And now I have to endure a constant haranguing to “be careful” and “we don’t have to go to the top”, etc. Well, I haven’t walked all this way to NOT climb to the top!
Cape Town below — and still a long way to go to the top.
The road in the background goes to the parking lot at the top of Signal Hill — the path Sue is on is getting trickier.
From here we can see the Clifton Beaches below, and Camp’s Bay out in the distance.
Now we’re getting close — Table Mountain with a cloudy top in the background.
Sue’s still feeling great about this — but the best is still to come.
Snakes and Ladders! Once we got to the ladders and chains and hooks, Sue was less excited about summiting.
I’m relieved when Sue finally decides that she is going to stop. She will sit and wait for me. I will carry on — after all, I think I must be very close to the top.
But I’m not. Now I’m following a path that is basically a ledge! and climbing up more ‘ladders’. And at a fork in the path with a sign warning one way is the ‘recommended’ way, the other (pointing up to a system of chains linked to walls of rocks) is ‘at your own risk’ (at whose risk is the rest of the way?) I choose the ‘recommended’ path. Zig. Zag. More up. Steps. Up. I’m happy to see more people, so at least I know I’m on the right path and if I twist an ankle there will be people here to give me a proper burial.
Rudy’s going up — and although Sue’s not with him, he’s NOT alone!
Now we’re at the hard part — hand-over-hand climbing to get to the very top.
It’s steep — and a L-O-N-G way down.
I see the first marker near the top.
Green Point Park, our golf course, and the big soccer stadium on the right, with the road to Signal Hill. Sea Point below in the foreground. Robben Island out in the bay.
And this jerk beat me to the top! A family of Capy Hyrax (or Dassies) were sunning themselves near the top of Lion’s Head.
I won! I made it!
And finally I approach the very top. This is the Lion’s Head. We’ve walked up the ‘rump’ (Signal Hill) and crossed the ‘saddle’, and now I’m heading for the crown. I clamber up the last 100 metres. And I’m on the top! Along with about 20 others. Congratulations they say. I say it back.
Made it! My first panorama shot from the summit. The marker, the ocean, the city, the mountain.
The ‘Seven Apostles’ (mountains) on the left, then Clifton Beaches, the marker at the 669 metres above sea level.
Now what? Knees are a like jelly, my feet are killing me, and Sue is waiting for me on a ledge down below, about 25 minutes from here!
I get a Russian guy to take my photo standing on top of the tallest rock. My camera (I didn’t know it could record all these things!) says I’m at 666 metres above sea level. Wow! That’s quite a bit higher than the hill we climbed in Hermanus (330 metres, I think). I take a couple of ‘panorama’ shots. And one of the Dassies (mountain rats?) sunning themselves on the rocks. I eat the trail mix in the baggie in my pocket. And then it’s time to go back down.
I decide to follow a couple of climbers who are taking the ‘at your own risk’ chains route. Good choice. Much shorter. Sue must be very worried about me by now. She’s been waiting half an hour since I left her — sitting patiently at about the 519 metre mark, NOT sipping her water. Now we’ll carry it down with us!
And this is the way down.
Hang on the chains and find good footing as we make our way down.
Yep, there she is. Waited here for at least 45 minutes — and Sue was in better spirits than you might guess from her expression here.
On our way down — and the perfect day for hiking was also a perfect day for parasailing off the top of Signal Hill (350m).
But we miss a turn on the way down and end up near the parking lot on the road going up to Signal Hill. And there’s a canteen selling “cold” cokes there. So we sit and have a coke. And then punch in ‘home’ on my GPS and walk right back ‘over the saddle’ of the lion, and eventually back on our original trail, down, down, down, to Green Point.
We arrive at our apartment at around 12:30, hot, sweaty, aching feet, tired, happy, hungry, thirsty. Shower and lunch.
After lunch we sat down to watch another Homeland episode. Sue went to ‘Woolies’ for some groceries and in the meantime I FaceTimed with Max and Alex. When Sue came back we watched another Oscar movie, “Amy”, considered the best bet for Best Documentary Feature.
We had a great supper ‘at home’. I spent a bit of time deleting about a thousand photos that the Russian guy had taken of me on top of that big rock on the hill! (Yikes!) And then it was time for (what else?) another documentary feature nominee, Cartel Land, a story about vigilantes vs the drug cartels in Mexico. Not bad, although Sue nodded off for a bit during the show. It was 10:45 when it was over, and not a minute too soon — bed time!
After breakfast I worked on some files on my computer while Sue continued to read the Nelson Mandela “Long Road to Freedom” book. We had an early lunch and just before noon we headed to the V&A to see a couple of movies. They were showing 2 “packages” — the first was all 5 films (plus a couple of bonus films) nominated for Best Animated Short Film followed by the 5 “Best Live Action Short Films”. We’d never gone to see the short films before, so this was a first. Sue and I both are not really fans of animation, but most of the films we saw were at least interesting if not exactly life-changing. I was surprised at how many of the short films had very simple animation — like Family Guy or even ‘flatter’ than that — nothing like the Pixar Toy Story ‘realistic’ animations (or the silicone models used for the Oscar-nominated Animated FEATURE Film, “Anomilisa”. And plot was not the most important component in quite a few of the films. I’d say my favorite of the group was “We Can’t Live Without Cosmos”, a 16-minute Russian film.
We had a 20-minute break before the next film ‘package’ so we had a cappuccino in the theatre’s cafe. While sipping our coffee we got a text from Robert and Arlene — their flights were delayed and after a total of FIFTEEN flights for their visit to Africa, they ended up having to stay overnight in Toronto before getting an early flight to Winnipeg this morning!
The second set was completely the opposite of the first: each of the five short “live action” films was incredibly good — gripping stories and great acting and well worth the seven bucks we paid to see them. The films represent work from Germany, Kosovo, USA, UK, and Palestine — my favorites were the German “Everything Will Be OK (Alles Wird Gut)” and the film from Kosovo, “Shok (Friend)”.
Sue and I were both cold from sitting in the nearly empty theatre for 4 hours — so we went for a long walk along the coast in the late afternoon sunshine to warm ourselves up and to get a little exercise. We walked to the lighthouse and then through Green Point park, ending up at Rocomama’s hamburger restaurant near our apartment. We’d had an early lunch, so why not an early supper!
When we got home I Skyped with my parents. We sat out on the balcony and read until the sun set. More reading inside until after 8 o’clock, when I set up the TV and we watched another of our “Homeland” episodes. That was so good we watched another. A little CBC News and it’s time for bed!
Another beautiful morning (after a ‘full-moon’ night). Very little breeze and sunny and around 19 degrees when we got up, with a high of 24 forecast for the day. Sue got up and put in another load of laundry.
Horse-racing at the Sea Point Promenade.
After our morning coffee and fruit it was decreed that we should go for a long walk today. And so we did. We walked out to the lighthouse and then as far southeast as we could along the promenade in Sea Point. There were paragliders, joggers, cyclings, and walkers out in full force.
Hey, looks like our illustrious senator from Landmark has fans here in Cape Town!
When we got to the end we turned around and walked back the same way — for a total of just about 12kms. Now that’s a walk!
By the time we got back home clothes drying on the laundry rack on the balcony were all dry. And it was time for lunch!
After lunch we decided to get serious about all the movies we still have to see before the Oscars this Sunday night. The five ‘Best Foreign Films’ and five ‘Best Documentary Feature’ nominees may well be some of the best movies we’ll see! I had been busy downloading but there are still a few I need to ‘find’.
Considering it was early afternoon and we’d likely be able to stay awake through the movie, I decided we’d start with one of the ‘Foreign’ films; one with English subtitles — that would demand our full concentration. We watched ‘Theeb’, a film from Jordan. We had no trouble staying awake — the story took a few twists and turns and we really enjoyed it.
It was getting close to 4pm and we were expecting a Facetime call from Alex and Max. They were just eating breakfast, seemed happy, although both had lost their voice! But they said they felt much better than they sounded.
After the call we watched another foreign ‘Best Feature’ nominee, ‘Mustang’, a movie from France, which takes place in Turkey. Once again we had to follow along with the English subtitles, but again it was no problem — another gripping story.
Sue and a seafood platter for 2.
It was 6:30, time to go for supper. We walked to the V&A. We ordered a big seafood platter for 2 and watched sailboats and seagulls as we ate our prawns, mussels, calamari, and fish dinner. After dinner we went to check out what was playing at both cinemas. We also stopped in at the big Pic’nPay department store in the basement to get a few supplies.
The sun sets at 7:30. It was still twilight as we walked home at around 8 o’clock. A bit of reading and computing and then off to bed.
I awoke at 5:57, 3 minutes before my alarm was set to go off (how does that work?). It’s still dark outside. The sun came up at 6:30. By then I’d finished my first cup of coffee and woken up Sue. A plate of fresh mangos and bananas and it’s time to go golfing!
We were paired up with Fritz and Gerald. Fritz (German) was a 70-year-old ex-CEO of a health insurance company, and had Suzanne, a 30-something-year-old ‘caddy’ pulling his golf cart around for him while he ‘flailed’ away at his golf ball. Gerald was an 86-year-old English professor (of engineering) who couldn’t hit the ball quite as far as he did in his prime. He too had a caddie, Archie, an old black man who quietly gave him (and me too!) tips as we made our way around the front 9 holes. Gerald and Archie left us for the second nine. Monday is ‘cheap gold’ day at the Metropolitan, so it’s quite busy and our took us 5 hours.
Note the slogan “Champion Men Deserve Champion Beer”! Makes you wonder what kind of beer Champion Women deserve…
We filled the car with gas on the way home. Lunch up in our apartment — I had leftover pizza and a Black Label beer (remember the slogan “Hey Mabel, Black Label!” when we used to have Black Label in Canada?).
Then Sue started a load of laundry and we went to buy more beer and groceries. Back at home we soon had a big drying rack of clothes hanging out on our balcony. I managed to find the same hairdresser I always go to in Canada, and got myself looking cleaned up and spiffy, too.
We’d had so much trouble staying awake watching ‘our shows’ yesterday evening we decided to continue our series this afternoon, BEFORE supper. We watched 2 more episodes of “Homeland”.
I had some fine spicy chili-flavored Biltong with my G&T for happy hour. I was looking at the movie options at our local cinemas and noted that they are showing a couple of those ‘packaged’ Oscar-nominated shorts — live-action and animated. We still had not watched any of the ‘best foreign’ films, and only one of the ‘best documentary feature’ movies. So I looked online to see what our options were and found a couple that I could download. That slowed down the internet pipe enough to make reading Facebook posts on Sue’s iPad nearly impossible! What to do?
Supper was an ‘at-home’ braai today. The temperature wasn’t nearly as hot as it had been here for our first 3 or 4 weeks. In fact, the high was 24 and it was cool enough to slip on a sweater while I stood out on our balcony flipping the pork tenderloin and boerwurst on the Weber. Washed that down with cold (large) Windhoek Draught Lager. And just like that we are right back “in the groove” here!
After supper I ‘paused’ the big movie downloads so we could watch a bit of TV. We hung in there for a while — Sue better than I — but by 9:30 we finally surrendered and went to bed.
Sunday morning, our last day at the Lavender Manor hotel. Might as well have the “full” breakfast again today (scrambled eggs with sausages AND bacon!). After paying our account we loaded up the car (and I mean LOADED UP THE CAR!) and headed outta town. There were paragliders circling over the tops of the mountains — quite a few; probably ideal conditions for that today: a bit of cloud cover, not too hot, and not too much wind.
Instead of taking the direct route to the Cape Town airport, we followed the southern coastline; we did not need to hurry since Robert and Arlene’s flight is only tomorrow morning, and we had all day to kill — so why not enjoy some of the great South African scenery and do a coastal drive. And it was worth it! Good roads, a bit of up and down, lots of motorcycles, cyclists, and expensive cars taking advantage of the weekend. We were lucky to get only ‘GOs’ at all the ‘Stop and Gos’ (single-lane construction roadblocks) just outside of Hermanus.
The scenery along our route, especially for the first hour, was fantastic: the ocean, the sky, the fynbos growing on the side of the road. I was hoping to find a string of ‘beach cafes’ once we hit Gordon’s Bay and the Strand, but surprisingly, we drove right through those towns and couldn’t seem to find a decent restaurant. Finally, deep in a residential area, we stopped and asked another motorist for a recommendation. Without hesitation he suggested a winery-restaurant that he had worked at, the Waterkloof Estate. We put that into our Google Maps GPS and proceeded to drive the 20 minutes UP a hill to the winery.
At the top of the hill was a very modern-looking building. We parked and went inside. Sorry, without reservations we would not eat there — they were all booked. Quite a fancy place it was, too. Okay, what next? Could the lady at the winery recommend something — perhaps even call for us just to make sure we’d get in? Pleasure! Yeah, except every place she called was booked. Finally she found a place on the beach front that did not take reservations but suggested that we’d get in. We paused for a picture outside the ‘restaurant in the sky’ before heading back down the hill and into Somerset West.
By now it seemed that we knew the layout of the town — we’d probably driven every main road at least once before! It was around 2 o’clock when we found the restaurant, De Brasserie, right on Beach Road. Nice too. The lunch was great, and then Robert and Arlene paid for us to boot!
And then it was time to head for the airport hotel. We dropped off our friends — they are flying to Munich tomorrow, then home the next day. We only felt a little sorry for them — they are only going to be at home for a short time before they head off on their next holiday! We said goodbye — it has been a very fun couple of weeks travelling together with Robert and Arlene and we’ll miss them.
A half hour drive from there back to our apartment in Green Point, Cape Town. Home Sweet Home, my dad would say. We parked in the garage and hauled our suitcase full of dirty laundry up to our room. Open a few windows, let some air in. Water the plants on the balcony. Make a grocery list. Watch a bit of TV. Listen to the action down on the street below.
At 6:30 we went out to “Wooly’s”, the grocery store down the street, and came back with two big bags of supplies. Then I went to the “Big Route” pizza place around the corner and brought back another of those great-tasting pizzas. Supper at our table. A clink of our glasses, “Pula!”, with a nod to Robert and Arlene who taught us that toast.
After supper I hooked up my computer to the TV and we (finally!) watched the first episode of the 5th season of Homeland. Pretty good, although, true to form, by the end of the hour (9:30, for goodness sake!) we were both nodding our heads and doing our best to keep our eyes open!. But we finished it! And then Sue poured us each a glass of Ratafia (thanks, Arlene!) that was in our box of bottles in the trunk of the car. (I think Arlene probably meant to keep that partial bottle for THEIR final night in South Africa, but again, the best we could do was offer another toast to Robert and Arlene (“Pula!”) and then drink their wine.
And that was Sunday. Time to go to bed — we have an early tee time at ‘our’ Metropolitan golf course tomorrow morning.
It’s our last full day in Hermanus. The sky is slightly overcast; every once in a while we get a few sprinkles of rain but not enough to warrant wearing our new raincoats. After another nice breakfast at our Lavender Manor B&B the boys put on their ‘hiking’ shoes and prepare to ‘scale’ the craggy mountain behind our place; the girls will walk 6kms along the cliff walk to the town centre. We arrange to meet there for lunch.
Robert has walked this hike quite a few times when he was here in 2008 and 2009, and it’s on his ‘to-do’ list. Today’s his last chance; tomorrow the Dycks are going back to Cape Town for one last night before flying home on Monday morning. It’s not nearly as misty and foggy today as it was when Sue and I did this hike with Paul and Shirley early in the week. Still, with all that ‘experience’, Robert and I manage to take the ‘wrong’ path up the hill, going the ‘long way round’. No problem. Just a few more steps on my ‘MapMyRide’ distance tracker app. We have a nice walk up to the marker at the top, It’s still amazing that what from the ground seems like an incredibly high and nearly vertical climb is really quite a manageable and maybe even comfortable hike — it’s that “zig-zagging” back and forth that makes it so.
We’re nearly all the way back down, by another circuitous route that is NOT the way we intended (but you can’t REALLY go wrong here! just keep walking DOWNHILL!) when my phone dings. “Where are you at? Should we reserve a table at The Pear for lunch?”
Half an hour later Robert and I have showered and are driving the 6-minute drive into town. I park the Volvo next to a Maserati in the public parking lot (South Africa seems to have more than its fair share of expensive and exotic cars!) and head to the Pear restaurant. There are Sue and Arlene, sitting at a table under a big sun umbrella, waiting for us. It is noon, time for lunch. The Pear is a very nice restaurant. We are served by a sweet young girl. Hake and chips, beet-root salad, wasabi prawns, along with cold draught beers and a glass of wine. So civilized! So courteous and polite. It’s Saturday and lots of ‘locals’ are out and about, including school kids.
After lunch we go to the big Checkers grocery store. We’re in charge of the meat for tonight’s braai at Paul and Shirley’s. Robert and Sue select the lamb chops, chicken skewers, and Boer wurst. By 3 o’clock we’re back at our B&B. The nice lady who is our host gladly puts the meat in her fridge for us. Time for a bit of R&R in our rooms before we meet again in the big room for our last happy hour here.
At 5pm we head to the big room. The little lighthouse lamp on the bar is lit — that means the bar is open. Two small bowls of chips are on the bar, a jug of ice cubes, a lime — hey, i’ll have a G&T today! We sit and visit for an hour. Now there’s a text message from Shirley and Paul: Come on by!
The four of us set out, carrying a bag of meat for the braai and another with a couple of bottles of wine. When we get to Paul and Shirleys the braais are already lit and Meghan and Casper are already sipping a glass of wine in the backyard. We join them. Robert gets the ‘wurst’ going on the barbecue — it is delicious! Paul has set out a row of assorted wines and announces that all the bottles will be opened tonight — they all need to be tasted! So we have our work cut out for us! I ask for, and get, a tour of the house from Shirley. It’s a very nice house indeed!
Once we’ve eaten the wurst Robert gets the chicken skewers and lamb chops cooking on the braai. Soon we are all seated around the big table outside in the backyard. The food before us is fantastic! the meat is perfectly cooked, small potatoes and a big salad, and Casper has made a couple of braaibroodjie, a toasted sandwich of bread with tomato, onions, butter, salt and pepper (and it could have cheese, although these didn’t) that is toasted in a closed grid over mild coals on the braai. All the food (and drink) is delicious.
Paul is leaving tomorrow morning at 7, flying to Indonesia. Still, he seems unconcerned about that — and doesn’t act at all perturbed or anxious about leaving. That’s what we’ve come to know as ‘the South African way’.
We sat around the table and visited — talked about South Africa, the history and the direction its headed. A good visit that went on until about 10:30, when we took our leave.
When we got home I wrote my journal entry and went to bed. It’s been a great Saturday in Hermanus!
