10 Days in Mauritius

This was our first trip to Mauritius. We landed, picked up our hire car and headed to Auberge Miko in Grand Baie. As you know, we don't do package holidays in resorts which is probably why we haven't been here before. The owners at Miko were very friendly and helpful and the simple guesthouse was well located to walk to central Gran Baie. Gran Baie is very beautiful and many European expats and retirees live here. It's supposed to have a great nightlife scene but doesn't have more than a mere handful of bars and restaurants. We found one bar, Cokoloco, with live music and we enjoyed sundowners at The Beach House. Food and especially wines are pretty expensive in Mauritius. We enjoyed walks around town and discovered a few small beaches like Pereybere.



We drove to Port Loius one day and explored the market and Chinatown. Parking and traffic were really painful and the Waterfront was rather uninspirirng. We did really enjoy the street food though. Another day we went to the Botanic Garden in Pamplemousses and enjoyed driving through sugarcane country nearby.

 



On the weekend we drove down to the Black River and Tamarin area to stay with Sandi and Derrick. They have a lovely cottage right on the beach. A lot of South African expats live in this area. One day we took an inland trip into the Black River Gorge National Park and enjoy a wonderful lunch at the Chamarel Rhumerie. On another day we took a private boat trip from Le Morne. We saw many dolphins and enjoyed snorkelling and a visit to Benitiers Island. We spent a night in Flic-en-Flac and a night in Belle Mare. Belle Mare is the vicinity of some very fancy resorts like St. Geran but it's no fun for independant travellers. We found a great restaurant calle Falaise Rouge north of the fishing town of Mahebourg. We returned to Le Morne for a night because it was our favourite area of Mauritius and spent our last night in Blue Bay because its's close to the airport. We enjoyed our stay and we saw every corner of the island but we wouldn't recommend it unless perhaps you are looking for a resort honeymoon.

Cape Road Trip : Capetown

How much can you squeeze into a week in Capetown? Firstly, spread yourself around: We stayed with Danie and John in Llandudno, Madeleine and Andrew in Scarborough and Dave and Rene in Claremont.We love visiting friends for meals; thanks Danie and John, Caroline and Steve, Simon and Natalie. Of course, Capetown has amazing restaurants. From being 38th on the waiting list to being offered a table at The Test Kitchen was something of a surprise. It was more of an epic culinary journey than a meal and a great treat from Fred and Terri. The CTFM at the waterfront gets a real thumbs down from us in terms of service and food but we did get to see Freshly Ground at their badly organised music festival. And in between let's add The Pot Luck Club, The Hub, Cafe Paradiso, Harbour House Cafe and the Olympic Bakery.
Another highlight of this trip was a visit to the new Zeitz Museum of contemporary African art.The building is an amazing remodeling of an old silo. I think the Silo Hotel is the most expensive place to stay in Capetown now.

Cape Road Trip : Hermanus

We all checked into "Di's Apartment" on the Hermanus seafront and Paulet, Gavin and Clarissa joined us there. Oh, the joy of breeching whales in the bay. Dinner at the new Heritage House Restaurant with family and friends followed. On Sunday we drove to the Elgin Wine area and had a wonderful lunch at South Hills. Hats off to them for coping with our group of 24. Monday was Gavin's birthday, so we had lunch at another Hermanus favourite, Bientangs Cave. Neil and Gav still managed a range of cocktails at Coco's before we all poured ourselves into a taxi to go to a braai at Marjo and Di's. Did we really end the evening on rounds of Russian vodkas? Gavin said it was the best birthday he's had for years!
We drove to Stellenbosch on the coast road, stopping to see the penguins in Betties Bay. We had a spot of lunch at Ernie Else Estate which was rather disappointing. Sadly, we didn't have too much time in Stellenbosch and missed lots of good wine tasting. Fred and Terri will have to put the Winelands on their list of things to do next time they visit the Cape.

Cape Road Trip : Route 62

We travelled from George to Oudtshoorn, visited the Kango Caves and on to our Africamps safari tents on an osrtich farm just outside town. Africamps is a fun, luxury tenting experience set up on various farm locations around the Cape. The next day we did a tour of a few Ostrich farms and the hatchery, where all the chicks are hatched for all the farmers in the area. It's a big incubation plant and we were lucky enough to see a few baby ostriches crack out of their eggs and into the world, with help from Terri.We also bought an egg for scrambling - equivalent to 24 hens eggs. After coffee in town, we set off on route 62 to Calitzdorp for some port tasting at the Boplaas Estate. In Ladismith we stopped at Kanna Kombuis for hot roosterkoek with cheese and jam. You can't travel past Ronnie's Sex Shop without stopping for a beer. Chat to raconteur Ronnie on the verandah or hang with his son in the bar adorned with hundreds of bras.In Barrydale we checked into the quirky Karoo Art Hotel where every room is decorated by a different local artist. Neil met up with Anthony, a primary school bestie he hasn't seen in nearly 50 years. Anthony took us to Mez Karoo for dinner. We drove to Swellendam via the Grabouw Pass and then on to Caledon and into one of our favourite wine regions; the Hemel and Aarde Valley. Of course, those who know me will know that we went directly to Creation Winery for a food and wine pairing lunch.