Wilderness

Highlights

• A multitude of colourful paragliders as we came into Wilderness.
• The amazing guest lodge where we stayed: Moon Tide.  We stayed in Stone Cottage with two bedrooms.  
• A wonderful swim in the warm, soft water of the lagoon followed by a beautiful sleep in the sun.
• A sublime dinner at Pomodoro: pizza with blue cheese, onion, ham and sweet fig and the best base ever.
• A stunning sunset at the beach.
• A delicious breakfast at the lodge.

Coming into Wilderness

Moontide Guest Lodge

Sunset at the local beach

Sedgefield

Highlights

• Meeting up with Bridgette and Stuart and their kids. We were there to pick up Matt who had been staying with them.
• A swim in the shallow lagoon mouth and skimming the ball to each other.
• Softserve ice creams all round: sugar cone, vanilla, caramel dip, nuts, flake. Yum.

Swellendam

Highlights

• The old guest lodge, built in 1796.
• A swim in the pool, refreshing in the oppressive heat.  We chatted with some other guests, who are lecturers at UCT.
• Going out for a delicious dinner (Kudu, Ostrich, Steak) with Jo.  Matt stayed at the lodge as he wanted time to himself.  We had rather a lot of trouble finding him dinner afterwards.
• "Competing" on the WhatsApp family group with Antony and Sam who were in Matjiesfontein.  Their pool was greener but shallower.  Their dinner larger but less culinary.
• A walk to the waterfall at the local nature reserve with a beautiful mountain backdrop. The waterfall was rather disappointing with the drought, but some good exercise.
• A berry smoothy and mudcake at the nearby berry farm.

Cypress Guest House

Dinner at a local restaurant

Walk in the nature reserve

Berry smoothy at local berry farm

Driving home

Pecan Nut Sundae at The Spur

A childhood institution!!  It was as delicious as ever, although the number of pecan nuts has reduced significantly in the past few years.  I'll have to bring my own stash of nuts next time to add to the ice cream.

We went to the Canal Warf outlet while waiting for Sam to watch a movie with her friend.

Walk in the Green Belt, Constantia

Having lunch on Jo's new patio.

Silvermine for a swim

Highlights

• A gorgeous, bracing swim in warm, sunny weather.  Jo swam too.
• The colour of the water - azure blue.
• Stunning blue dragonflies.
• Beautiful water lilies

Less happy moments

• Landing on my nose when getting in. An important lesson learned.

7 a side rugby

Highlights

• My first time in the Cape Town Football World-cup stadium - very impressive!
• My first experience of 7 aside rugby; ultra fast and exciting with extraordinary passes and running.
• South Africa winning all three of its matches. Australia didn't do so well but I wasn't Australian for the day, so it didn't matter.
• Sam and Claire as devil and angel. They looked great!
• Lots of wonderful costumes.
• The wonderful atmosphere in the stadium, helped along by rousing music and kiss and dance cams.

Fun in the pool with Matt

Matt's final couple of days of prep school

Matt dressed in a suit for the first time to attend his school farewell evening.  He looked so very smart.