Cape Winters are so volatile.  One never knows whether one will wake up to icy wind, snow covered mountain tops, wet and chill or glorious sunshine with not a breath of wind.   It was the latter for most of last week and Earl and I decided to end the school holidays with a quiet weekend away at our holiday house in Struisbaai.   I had been through a bit of a torrid time dealing with my uncle’s death and my spirits needed lifting and the weather certainly helped in that regard!

We did not rush to leave on Friday morning but found ourselves well ready by 9:30 a.m. and missed the early traffic to make it over Sir Lowrie’s and stopped for a leisurely breakfast at The Orchard near Grabough.    The chill still hung in the morning air so sitting next to a cosy fire enhanced the experience.  The coffee was good and the scrambled eggs, salmon and croissant went down a treat.

The rest of the journey was sunny and pleasant with the odd bird grabbing our attention.   We stopped in Bredasdorp to meet with our architect – we are soon to have alterations done to our beach house.   The plans have been passed, several builders’ quotes are in and by Tuesday we’ll have all the cost comparisons and a decision will be made as to who to go with.   Then work will begin within the next couple of weeks!

First stop as always in Struisbaai was the harbour.  How picturesque it is and I will never tire of the scene of fishing boats bobbing on the calm water, the pier jutting into the sea and sea-bird calling cheerfully as they settle on the most convenient mast.

I had to hop out to take photies and then Earl called me to see an amazing catch from on of the ski-boats.  Santiago had returned from an overnight trip with a beautiful broadbill swordfish.

More excitement was taking place in the public open space next to the harbour.   A helicopter doing training manoevres had landed and everybody was milling around to admire it.

Later we got a shot of it flying over the house.

Of course getting the shot was not so easy and I chased from front to back and only managed after lots of frustration to finally get a poor and distant shot.

For some reason my sweet husband decided that I was going to have a complete break and he was going to do absolutely everything for my.  I was not even allowed to make a salad, wash a dish or cook a thing!  He did it all. On Friday night he made a fire and braaied some chops, did vegetables in tin foil and made coffee served with dark chocolate for dessert.

On Saturday morning after a late lie in and leisurely bath, I was treated to the most divine cheese, bacon and banana omelet.  Once again he did all the washing and wiping up afterwards.  He tends to spoil me but this was really special!  I just sat and read and did Sudokus:-)

After breakfast we explored the Agulhas National Park .  The weather was lovely and there had been recent rainfall so the environment was lush and green.

Ostriches are plentiful in the area and we also found a good number of Spur-winged geese.  Their colours shone in the sunlight.

We stopped at Brandvlei and took a long walk along the beach.  It was wonderful walking in the fresh sea air, watching the shore fishermen and observing the shore birds.   The African black oyster catchers, I think had eggs somewhere as they tried to lead me away from where they were sitting.

 

 

 

 

 

Our treat to end the day was spotting this lovely grysbok and he wasn’t the only one – we saw no less than four lying down and then getting up and jumping off into the bush.

We enjoyed a lovely supper of tuna sushimi starter followed by braaied chicken and vegetables and a dessert of canned fruit and ice cream.   Such spoiling cannot happen too often:-)

Sunday once again dawned with gentle sunshine and sparkling, calm seas.   After breakfast we took the scenic route home and once again enjoyed the bird life and game.  It was refreshing travelling through the hidden farmlands and discover little country villages few people realise exist as the enjoy a lifestyle long forgotten by most of us.  We saw children out on horseback, unsupervised by adults, clearly enjoying the last of the winter vacation and savouring their freedom before returning to the classroom.

We observed an Agulhas Long-billed lark taking a dust bath in the middle of the dirt road.

 

 

 

 

 

We saw our national bird, the blue crane in large flock.  A male ostrich did a mating dance and jackal buzzards flew overhead.   A pair of Denham bustards made an appearance and sunbirds, sugarbirds, capped wheat-ears, red-capped larks, Cape Sparrows, weavers and canaries were enjoying the mild and sunny weather

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After travelling along the dirt roads and through the picturesque farmlands and tiny villages we came out at Franskraal, drove through Kleinbaai and Gaansbaai and on to Hermanus where we stopped for lunch at an Italian Restaurant on the water front.   The menu had many tempting pastas and pizzas and we finally settled on pizza – seafood for Earl and Spinach, feta, olives and avo for me.

What a stunning weekend – I felt refreshed and ready to start the new term renewed energy and enthusiasm:-)