Catching up with Mark in Stellies

A weekend trip to Cape Town was an opportunity to catch up with my son who is doing his Master's in Engineering at Stellenbosch University. Dinner out with Mark and Lisa was a treat and on Friday I took delivery of our Sling aircraft for the Flight  School which I will fly back today and Sunday to Durban. So not much time in the Cape but a productive quick trip.

My son Mark and Lisa - aren't they a gorgeous couple!

Dinner out in Stellies

Breakfast

Sling owner Jandre' congratulates Dave on the handover of FYA for Durban Skyye Flight School

The rolling hills off the coast to Stellenbosch and Somerset West

Sling FYA at Stellenbosch ready for the trip to Durban

More flying pics and the Sling on my aviation blog here.

Cape Town with the kids

Who gets to have two 21st Birthday parties? Well Mark's home town in Durban had to be his big-bash "Summer Heat with a rooftop beat" official 21st while he was still with us before the big day and returning to Cape Town.

 

His birthday was 10 days later so Kate-Lynn, Jenn and I flew down to Stellenbosch to be with him and his Cape mates for the weekend and actual birthday. Jenn and I spent the 7th with him at Koel Bay, at "home" in Stellies and out for supper that night. Kate and Nicci joined us the next day for the rest of the weekend and we enjoyed wine-tasting, Saturday Market - wow, the best I have ever seen - and a good jol late into Sunday morning. That evening we were jetting our way back to Durban, leaving my boy to finish his 4th year Engineering in Stellies. What an event! My boy is 21!!

 

Meeting the Stellies mates

Getting back to Stellenbosch Mark invited his mates around for a braai at his new digs last night. Today Mark and I fly out of Cape Town to Dubai and the next day on to Athens and Bulgaria for snowboarding.

Round Trip to Cape Town in the planning

Flying has had to take a back seat this month as we plunge headlong through a busy period... first off the office recovery after the few days Christmas break, then the office New Year Party which kicks off on Friday night and with our PRO Bobby off sick, we have had to put it together ourselves. Then my son Mark's car got stolen and with Lynn's car in for repairs we were down to sharing 2 cars between 4. This Saturday I am off with Mark to get his car back to Cape Town for the new Varsity term, and Wednesday Mark and I fly off to Bulgaria to snowboard for a few days. Emirates cancelled one of their flights so we also get stuck in Dubai for 1 day arriving at 2am!

So our poor Sling Airplane "Red Rocket" is waiting for it's pilot. In the meantime though we are planning a trip to Cape Town, up the west coast and to Sutherland for the stars in April. Here's what our EasyPlan route is looking like. And our friend Marc in his yellow submarine will be joining. Wow. Going to be exciting.

Cape Town weekend

We had an awesome weekend in Cape Town checking up on Mark before his new varsity term starts. Kate-Lynn, Brad and Llewellyn joined the adventure as we visited some favourite haunts, drank wine and made merry. See more photos by clicking on this link here.

Dave getting some more flying lessons in

South Africa tourism tips



Durban beachfront on the warm east coast of South Africa



The big 5 animals of South Africa

Table Mountain Cape Town

I was asked some advice for a tourist to South Africa, so I thought I would write a blog post and extend it to a wider audience.

Most tourists imagine that they can drive around the country in 2-3 weeks and see it all. This would not be adviseable as South Africa is a big country. If you did want to see parts to the north, south, east and west, you would need to fly to some and drive between other parts as I will recommend. An itinerary also depends on how much time you have and your budget.

TIME OF YEAR

April is the best time of year to visit South Africa. This is because the weather is generally the best... the heat of summer is over and winter is not yet upon us. Peak season would be summer when the schools are on holiday, but I personally prefer it off-peak when the crowds have thinned out and it is not so hot. Durban is best all year as our winters are never less than 15c and no rain. Cape Town is worst in winter as it is cold, windy and rainy.. best for Cape Town would be October/November and March/April. Cape Town is on the Atlantic Ocean so swimming is generally out, whereas Durban is on the warm east coast so August to end of April is good with best swimming/beaches December to March.

AIRLINE ROUTES

Emirates fly to Durban, Cape Town and Johannesburg via Dubai, so best would be to fly in to one city and fly back out of another city, travelling between cities by car, train or bus. Most of the other airlines fly in to either Johannesburg or Cape Town, which means a stop in Durban and the east coast means additional flights or travel. I would even avoid Johannesburg completely and fly into Durban and then out of Cape Town home. My favourite Airline to Africa is SAA of course, but their routes are not the best and sometimes the prices are over the top. Check them out and compare.

WHAT TO SEE

Your routing may depend on what you want to see. The Kruger National Park a few hours drive from Johannesburg is probably the best but requires getting to Johannesburg and a few hours drive each way. I personally would avoid that as there are many excellent game parks around South Africa. If you have loads of time you could include the Kruger Park.

So suggestions could be... fly to Johannesburg, hire a car and drive to the Kruger Park. Stay 3 - 4 nights and drive back to Johannesburg to return the car. Fly to Durban and stay for 3 - 5 nights. Fly to Port Elizabeth (2/3rds of the way to Cape Town), hire a car and drive along the coastal Garden route to Cape Town stopping off en-route for 2- 3 nights. Spend 5 nights in Cape Town and fly home direct.

The Drakensberg Amphitheatre



Beach sculptures in Durban



Alternatively fly direct to Durban and stay 3- 4 nights. Drive up to the Hluhluwe Game reserve and stay 3 nights. Drive back to Durban and fly to Port Elizabeth following the same suggestion above ie cut out Jhb and the Kruger park.

As an extension to either route, you could drive to the Amphitheatre in the Drakensburg Mountains which are half-way between Durban and Johannesburg (2 1/2 hours drive), or you could drive from Jhb to Durban intead of flying. Another option is the train from Johannesburg to Durban which I believe is good.

Wine lovers would love Cape Town as the Stellenbosch, Paarl, Franshoek wine routes are within 40 mins drive of the city. I personally love Stellenbosch where my son goes to University at the moment, so I can visit him and drink loads of wine. There must be at least 200 wine farms in a few kilometres radius.

If you have a shorter or longer visit planned and want to come at an odd time of year or have any other queries, feel free to email me at durbanstadiumview@gmail.com and I will try and help out with my recommendations. Enjoy!

A few days away in Cape Town

Was great to escape for a few days to Cape Town and catch up with friends in Tullbach, visit Ceres and join Mark for his 19th birthday in Stellenbosh.

Here's a few more pics.

Visit to Cape Town

Lovane Wine Farm in Stellenbosch is one of our favourites and winemaster Philip shows Llewellyn and I some of his award-winning wine.. briging home some bottles to share here.

We looked at this apartment to purchase with roof-top views of Table Mountain.

Mark rides the lion at Rhodes Memorial, reminiscent of a similar photo I took when he was about 10 years old.

it's Table Mountain of course, as seen from the Victoria and Albert Waterfront.

The view of Table Mountain from across the bay at Bloubergstrand.

We love visits to Cape Town - so here was a chance this weekend to catch up with my son Mark and get him some good food as well as promoting our Guesthouse to some of those we visited during our short stay... all taken with my Blackberry as my camera got stolen the first night we were there.

Amsterdam Guesthouse at the foothills of Table Mountain.

The week that was

I forgot to take photos the last week, but did some fixingup around the home.. put up the clock Kate-Lynn made for me, a new towel rail in the bathroom, fixed the guest loo and planted some herbs. I also made a pretty decent chicken curry and made potatoe salad.. part of my 2010 pact to experiment and make a few new recipes each month.

I have also been looking at property on the net.. keen to buy a little place in either the centre of Cape Town or the de Waterkant area. We will be going down on the 1st October to see if I can finalise something. Wouldlike a 1-bed loft apartment for our own visits there and also to refer guests to who are visiting Cape Town after staying with us in Durban.

More photos - Cape Town weekend 16 July 2011

Dave and Llewellyn at Groot Constantia

Mark bags his tree

Groot Constantia - home of the first Govenor of the Cape - Simon van der Stel

Brad and Kate-Lynn

Hout Bay

Wine-tasting at Groot Constantia

Sunset at the foot of Table Mountain

Ice cream in Franschoek on Bastille Day

I think it fits