river camping, wyn tasting (bonnievale, south africa)

Jim and I had another stellar weekend, this time in Bonnievale, one of the small towns in the Robertson valley about two and a half hours outside of Cape Town. The valley is full of wine and citrus farms, and ringed with a few pretty mountain ranges, including the Langeberg. We drove up Friday afternoon, and after fighting traffic, battling with wind to set up a tent, and a slow start to our fire-building, we really felt we deserved a drink!

We enjoyed wine tasting on Saturday at some beautiful family-run wine farms, including one that has been making incredible chardonnays since the 17th century. We also got to make our own bubbly! "Methode Cap Classique," or MCC, is the regional term South African winemakers have come up with to identify bottle-fermented sparkling wine made in South Africa - what "champagne" is to the Champagne region of france, "Methode Cap Classique" is to South African wine makers. At one winery, we got to finish the last step of a bottle of MCC: pop off the cap top which has sealed the second fermentation, watch the frozen tip of the bottle fly out, put in some sugar to help the final fermentation (and give it more bubbles), cork it, and package it. Very fun! We also managed to swim a couple of times during the hot day.

Sunday morning we went for a beautiful hike. We got a late start, so I was a little cranky out in the hot sun, but Jim enjoyed looking at some unique geological features - an inclusion from a partial volcanic eruption, and quartzite and sandstone in the rocks. The views were pretty too.

We camped here, next to the river. A beautiful peaceful setting complete with rope swings for getting in the water!

De Wetshof winery, a family-owned vineyard that has been making wine since the 17th century. There were cannons on either side of this building, modeled after designs by Thiebault (a famous French architect who built the family's Cape Town house), from we guessed the 18th century. They looked well-used too!

The winemaker, Philip Jonker, models how they get yeast sediment out of fermenting sparkling wine. Turn the bottles slowly (over months) a little at a time, until the sediment collects in the cap. Then put the bottle upside-down in a chemical solution that freezes the liquid. Then....

rock pools at beaverlac (porterville, south africa)

Last weekend, we headed up camping to a place called Beaverlac. This citrus-farm-turned-campsite had stunning scenery and really beautiful rock pools for swimming. It happened to be ridiculously hot all weekend, so we swam a lot, sweated a lot, ate a lot, and sat in the shade with cold beers.

We went with our friends Candida and Euen (Candida teaches 5th grade at Jim's school), Patrick (who teaches 4th grade), and Candida's friends, Tracey and Lewellen. Tracey and Lewellen are Afrikaaners, and they taught us a thing or two about braiing and making potjie (pronounced "por-ki-ey," sort of) - a delicious lamb stew. We each were asked to bring up some wood for making fires to cook over - but not just any wood. Candida wrote to us: "If each of you can try to bring chairs and a bag of wood...but wood has to be rooikrans or kameldooring (or something like that) as Afrikaaners are very particular about their braaing wood and Euan and I have brought a fire starter pack once which did not go down well!"

The rooikrans I bought at the local supermarket, unfortunately, was wet and Jim spent a hot hour trying to get a fire going with it. We'll do better next time!

Fields along the road.

Sunset as we drive up the mountain pass to get to the campsite.

Jim slaves over a hot fire to cook our morning bacon!

Looking out over the valley and citrus groves on our way to a rock pool.

suikerbossie circuit hike (cape town)

A few weeks ago, we took advantage of a beautiful day and hiked up to Jonas Peak. The route ran along a trail just above some non-native pines to beautiful views over Hout Bay. Then it turned up a deep kloof (ravine) covered with native yellowood trees, which we climbed up for about an hour over giant boulders and even up a small waterfall. The trees were beautiful, and the ravine narrowed as we got closer to the top with steep rock walls on either side.

We popped out on top of the ravine at a grassy saddle with a few marshy areas to walk through. We walked across the top toward the Twelve Apostles and an overlook of Camp's Bay, and then turned south to walk along the mountain's edge and look down at Londudno, another beach which we were directly above. We took a short detour to peak Jonas Peak for 360 degree views of the ocean, the bays, and the mountains. Then we started to descend through an incredibly steep ravine on the ocean-side with beautiful views of the water the whole way down. The trail was crafty and in great shape, so it made quick work of what looked, at first glance, like a challenging route.

I now enjoy pointing out the kloofs we climbed every time we drive past on our way to Hout Bay or the beach!

Camps Bay, Clifton, and Lion's Head.

Landudno below us.

family vacation (cape town)

Just after returning from Namibia, the Petoskey's descended on Cape Town for a visit! We had an awesome two weeks with Betsy, Bill, Cassie & Craig, complete with beaches, wine tastings, lots of card-playing, and a few big seafood meals.

Here are a few photos that I took during the visit.

Our makeshift Christmas tree!

Wine tasting at Groot Constantia

Day at the beach: preparing to bury Cassie.

Looking good!

We took the crew to a Saturday market and ate yummy food; this was a giant batch of paella (it was delicious).

More wine tasting at Eagle's Nest.