Struisbaai – A brief interlude

2014-10-11 | puppy1952

For the first time in four years we have stayed home for the school holidays. Well, the intention was to stay home for the school holidays and deal with stuff that term time does not allow time for. For my sins I am involved in several ‘clubs’ and ‘organisations’ that need my attention – I won’t go into the boring details but I had things to do in this regard. In addition I had to deal with things like replacing a lost Identity document – that didn’t happen – queue hours long – it will have to wait till next year!

By Wednesday afternoon I had accomplished most of the things on the list and my darling husband couldn’t take it any longer and insisted that we shoot off to Struisbaai for the last few days remaining of the hols. So much for a week at home!

But did I complain? Of course not – how fortunate are we to have this amazing place to visit whenever we feel like and time allows. I packed in a rush and forgot my shoes and jerseys but hey – what’s wrong with bare feet? And I got to go shopping in Struisbaai’s mini metropolis.

We arrived on Thursday evening and went straight to the local Pizza Place and ordered Al Greco Pizzas to be collected once we’d unpacked. Just before collection time we had a power cut! Luckily our dinner was cooked in a wood fire oven. They were delicious and having no electricity added to the ambience of our evening.

It is always a pleasure waking up in our little house in Struisbaai. The sun poured in and I thought I would survive without my jersey. I did have a light cardigan and jacket. The sunshine did not last long – it clouded over and was quite chilly. I felt a bit foolish in a cotton summer dress and long black cardigan. We went off to Potpourri for breakfast and the coffee soon warmed me.

The old man reading The Times

Delicious breakfasts are served at Potpourri

The purpose of our sojourn was for Earl to do some urgent chores at the house – i.e. put up a 9DB aerial and a weather station. Don’t ask! It’s all to do with talking to the boats at sea.

Friends in Struisbaai picked up on something I posted on Facebook and made contact. They live in Abu Dhabi and Ray is a friend of Earl’s. I had only met Percilla online. They were here to take up residence in a holiday apartment they have just purchased. So we arranged to braai together on Thursday night. What a great eveing. We caught up on their romantic story and how life is treating them in The Middle East. They plan to retire in a year or two and will then spend more time in Struisbaai. Looks like they have similar plans to ours. Thanks for a stunning evening, Ray and Percilla.

The boys at the braai

The Newlyweds!

On Friday Earl had to sort out some details with the council so after cooking us a delicious brekkie he dropped me off to wander around the Struisbaai Metropolis. I popped in to visit friends who have a wonderful gift shop, Southbound, here. Then I found a shop that looked like it might have a jersey or t-shirt suitable for an old lady. By this time Earl had joined me and let me get two cotton jackets, a pair of pants and a boy’s long sleeved T. So I didn’t have to completely freeze my toes off for the rest of the weekend! As Murphy’s law would have it, Saturday was a beautifully sunny and warm day. But the evenings are a still chilly!

We ventured to the beach on Friday but didn’t stay long as it was freezing.

Our dinner on Friday night, cooked by my personal chef – shellfish stir fried into sweet potato and onion. To die for doll.

My special chef

This morning, Earl cooked up a delicious breakfast and we relaxed for most of the day – well, I relaxed and Earl pottered around doing stuff. I did update the inventory and entertain a few people who popped in – namely Steven and his wife and child who are looking for property, some staff members of Earl’s who were up to do a spot of fishing and the grandchildren of the guy who came to fix the electricity – our main circuit breaker burned out! Earl couldn’t fix it himself as it was the Municipality’s jurisdiction.

I don’t think it’s a good thing for a 70 year old grandfather to do all the things Earl does but he thinks I’m crazy when I tell him to be careful. There’s no stopping him.

What can possibly go wrong?

After he’d fussed around the place for hours I managed to persuade him to do a spot of bird watching. Some we found in our garden or around Struis – the rest on the road to Die Dam.

Cape Bulbul outside our house

Cape Sugarbird in our Milkwood tree

Tortoise visiting our garden (I know it’s not a bird!)

Forest Canary on our lawn

Common Fiscal

Weavers Nests

Kittlitz’s Plover

Capped Wheatear

Grey Rhebok

We saw lots of other birds but they refused to sit still for their portraits to be taken. But we enjoyed the bokmakieries, sparrows, weavers, lapwings etc that were enjoying the bounty of the farmlands.There were lots of yellow-billed kites and we also saw a black-shouldered. Jackal Buzzards were conspicuous by their absence! We usually see lots.

We spotted Denham’s bustards way in the distance – nice view through binoculars but only blurred photographs – not good enough to post.

So tomorrow is our last day and rain is predicted. We will probably pack up early and head home. Back to school on Monday – my last term before I retire. Mixed feelings about that!

Struisbaai Holiday Day 22 Fishing Running Swimming

2013-01-05 | puppy1952

Oh boy – it was an early wake-up call for me this morning. The weather was perfect for fishing and I went with Earl and Yasin to launch the boat so I could bring the car home. I needed to go to Agulhas to fetch the laundry before early closing on a Saturday. So I just put a jacket over my pyjamas and tagged along! I didn’t go back to sleep on my return but fiddled on the computer and then a welcome Skype call from my best friend in England. We chatted on-line for an hour.

I didn’t go for a road run, planning to rather to do one on the beach at low tide later in the afternoon. After collecting the Laundry Shahieda (Mrs Yasin) and I went to Potpourri for a delicious ‘health’ breakfast and an excellent cup of coffee. We browsed around the shop then went back and put the linen back on the beds and cleaned the house to Yassin standards!

The men returned at about 11:30 and a good catch to brag about. Earl complained about not being able to get good crew these days but Yasin caught all the fish – 15 yellowtail and a Santa as well as some small red fish which were released.

Shahieda on on the jetty next to Kiora

Yasin on Kiora

Earl steering Kiora toward the trailer

Driving Kiora onto the trailer

Bak-load of fish

Proud fishermen

Earl said the only reason he didn’t catch was because he had to find the fish and steer the boat – that’s his excuse and he’s sticking to it.

Well to Shahieda and me it didn’t matter – we just enjoyed the fruits of their labour. Shahieda had never eaten Sushimi before – but now she’s a convert.

After lunch I went to lie on the bed to read my book but before long I was fast asleep. Everybody else, I found out later, also napped for a couple of hours. We woke up at 4 and Earl and I went to the beach – I did a low tide beach run and then we swam in the wonderfully warm sea. The wind had come up and the sea was rough – it was like swimming in a washing machine – but great fun.

Shahieda fried some samoosas to have with our pre-dinner sun-downers and the men braaied a yellow-tail for supper.

Preparing to braai the fish

Enjoying the spoils of the day

So ended another glorious day in the Paradise called Struisbaai!

Struisbaai Holiday Day 19 – Wind, Calm, Lunch and Swimming

2013-01-02 | puppy1952

This morning my grandsons/personal trainers let me down and neither of them accompanied on my morning run. The wind was howling great guns and I’m using that and the fact that there was no encouragement from the youth as an excuse for not achieving the time I did my 4.2km yesterday! The run there was fine but the return against the wind and uphill to boot did was a huge struggle. Nevertheless I made it in 34 minutes and 10 seconds.

After breakfast the kids all went to the beach but I stayed home intending to catch them up later. However, after a missed day of housework the cottage needed a good clean which took me a while. Everyone was back by 11:30 and the wind had dropped so the visit to the beach was most successful.

As it was the last day before the Kokstad Clan are to leave we decided to treat ourselves to a restaurant lunch. Sea Gull in Agulhas was therefore grace with our presence. Yesterday I promised the kids a milkshake so that was first on their order.

Kids at Sea Gulls

Milkshakes at last

Jay and Shannon fooling around

After lunch we all relaxed at home for a bit. Shannon was dying to go back to the beach but nobody quite felt like it. At 6:00 it was still quite hot so I took Shan and Josh for a surf. I went in first so they could look after my camera – It was heavenly – I stayed in for about 20 minutes and then said – Stay in as long as you like.

I messaged Allan and Lauren and told them it was worth coming down so they came down too. It was 7:30 when we left the beach. The weather is expected to change tomorrow so the chocca boats were in sheltering in the bay in preparation for stormy weather.

Gran surfs in

Josh

Isn’t this fun

Allan

Oh Boy!

Lauren

Boats in the background

My Family bobbing in the Struisbaai Sea

The End of a Stunning Day

It was a lovely way to end day and tomorrow is possibly going to be raining so we had to fit in one last swim.

We had a light supper and are now watching a romantic movie on the media player!

Struisbaai Holiday Day 14 – Lighthouse and the tip of Africa

2012-12-28 | puppy1952

We treated ourselves to dinner at Barracuda’s in Fish Hoek last night – highly recommended if ever you are in our neck of the woods. We had not wished our good friend Jeff for his birthday on the 26th so we popped in and spent an hour or so visiting with him and Annaline. Lovely to catch up with old friends.

This morning we were up early. We did some chores at home then went to have breakfast at Wimpy – cheap and the coffee is good.

This Mega Coffee will keep him going all day

We had some time before our myosteopractic treatments so we picked up some provisions at Pick ‘n Pay, met friends and chatted in the aisles – amazing how many people were avoiding the crowds due later in the day! And then – bliss – we both felt amazing after our treatments and so the disaster with the Caravelle was sort of a blessing in disguise!

There was no way that the Caravelle would be ready today so we left Sun Valley at 1 p.m. the worst of the traffic being between Fish Hoek and Muizenberg and got back to Struisbaai at quarter to four. We will try not to think of how much our repairs will cost and collect the vehicle early next week.

Meanwhile the family were coping quite well without us. I wondered whether they would do the early morning beach thing – and yes they did! Lauren took the pictures to prove it. Note the long shadows!

Josh and Shan ready for a swim.

They also decided to do the touristy thing – stand at the Southern Tip of Africa and climb to the top of the southern most lighthouse.

Southernmost Grandchildren

Simon was not in the mood for photographs – For a week now he’s put up with his granny snapping away and now when Mom tried it, he decided enough already! All she managed was a back view with the lighthouse in the background.

Si playing with the pebbles at the Southern Tip of Africa

Simon was a little nervous of climbing up the steep lighthouse ladder. But he wanted to do it and with his mom’s gentle encouragement he was proud to make it to the top! But it did mean she couldn’t take the photos while assisting him.

In front of the lighthouse

Wherever one finds oneself in the world one must not assume – Nobody knows me here. Jay had this experience today. He is presently spending a few days with his girlfriend and her parents at their holiday spot near De Hoop Nature Reserve. They decided to explore the Breede River area. This afternoon I received a text from my sister who has a house at Riverine on The River. ‘What are the chances’ read the caption. She and her family landed up at The Boathouse at exactly the same time as Jay was there!

Jay and Monet at Breede River

Tomorrow we will meet up with him and Monet’s family at Arniston. The kids are looking forward to exploring the cave!

Struisbaai Day 7 – Agulhas and Arniston

2012-12-21 | puppy1952

I got to bed after midnight last night – due to having consumed too many cups of strong coffee, all the excitement of the day and blogging till late! However, I finally fell asleep but was wide awake by 5:30 and 6:30 found Earl and me on the beach. I wanted to run while the tide was still low enough not to have too much soft sand. Earl does not do running but enjoyed a brisk walk.

When we returned the Vet Viets Vriende started emerging in stages until all were up and eating and ‘Early’ breakfast by 8 o’clock. They were super appreciative and a pleasure to feed.

We then headed to Cape Agulhas to do the touristy things – like stand at the Southern Most Tip of Africa and climbing to the top of the light house. We created a special seat for our extra passenger.

Princess Kate in her exclusive part of the vehicle

Please note there is controversy as to where the Atlantic and Indian Ocean meet – We Cape Townians sincerely believe it’s at Cape Point. But the purists believe it’s here at Agulhas. The sea is the sea – Man gives the ocean names – so I stick proudly to it being Cape Point – and proudly to the fact that Cape Agulhas is the most southerly point – no argument there!

The Vroeg, Vriendelik, Vet, Viets Vriende at the southern tip of Africa

Die Mees Suidelik Egpaar

We then took a drive to Suiderstrand, had a quick look and history lesson about the wreck and spotted a bird or two.

Rock Kestrel

Then it was back to the lighthouse. I decided not to do the climb for the umpteenth time and Earl quickly went to collect the laundry. The kids, however, enjoyed the experience.

The southern most Lighthouse

VVV at the top of Agulhas Lighthouse

Next we made our way along the dirt road route to Arniston. We handed out binoculars and bored our guests silly by stopping for every little birds. They were too polite to complain though.

Capped Wheatear

Red Bishop

We also detoured to Die Mond but were not allowed to go onto the suspension bridge without paying the entrance fee – silly really we would only have been in the reserve for 10 minutes.

At Arniston we visited the original Fishermen’s village and popped into Kassiesbaai Crafts. Here local crafts are sold from the front room of a private home.

The original Fisherfolk village

It was now lunch time and we tried to get a table at the hotel – no chance but they took our cell number and said they would call us when a table became available. The VVV bought us ice creams and soaked up some sun until the call came through.

It was very busy and they did not bring all the food at the same time – but it was good and reasonably priced. The meals were ordered were calamari, burgers, Gypsy Ham club sandwiches, toasted sandwiches and everyone seemed to enjoy what was presented.

Me Katy Tim (hidden) Nico, Francois, Marianda, Riaan

Katie, Tim, Nico

Our next adventure was to Die Grot – The Cave! It required a short walk from the dunes and then a descent to the beach – a sign warned that the embankment was dangerous and that we should take the steps – so of course the boys went down the embankment. Earl the girls and I were more cautious. The tide was not quite out so we had to negotiate incoming waves and slippery rocks until we entered the first cave and crawled through a low hole into the bigger cave that looked out to the sea. It was awesome. I would love to bring the grandchildren again next week – hopefully when the tide decides to be low at a more reasonable time.

The adventurous boys take the tricky route

The sensible ones take the safe steps

Gingerly negotiating the rocks and surf

Looking at the VVV from the tunnel into the cave toward the sea

Enjoying the cave

The whole gang

An oyster catcher we spotted outside the cave

Nico

Katie

Marianda

Francois

We were pretty whacked and ready to take the trip back to Struisbaai but when we got to the car Tim, Francois and Riaan found some sand surfing boards and dashed up the sand dune like they were doing a 100m flat sprint. Their aim was to ski down but the boards did not work that well!

We stopped at Bredasdorp to pick up supplies and while we prepared dinner the kids went off to the beach for a swim. The girls tried to make a peppermint crisp tart but as I lacked the correct utensils the cream did failed to do what it had to so had to be discarded. Instead they got creative and made us a chocolate mousse/peppermint crisp/tennis biscuit dessert. We named it VVV Pudding.

We enjoyed a dinner of Weber roasted chicken, stuffed butternut, sweet potato and salad followed of course by the VVV pudding.

What a stunning two days we have spent with these 6 fantastic young people. Francois you are an amazing young husband – its great to see how much you love and appreciate your wife – good luck with your future in civil engineering and with your Masters next year. Marianda – Francois is right – you are a wonderful wife – a go for it kind of girl – not many non-cycling wives would have agreed to a holiday of this nature – without fluffy white towels and comfortable beds – you are going to be a stunning teacher – good luck with the rest of your studies and your future career and may all your problems be gorgeous tiny ones like you and your husband. . Nico – the quiet, mysterious, creative one. You have born that aching knee with such fortitude. I’m glad you had a chance to rest it today. Good luck enjoy Greyton and your career in architecture – I would love you to design a home for me! Riaan – My name is Cloete – Riaan Cloete – You are an amazing James Bond – You are the number cruncher with a difference – All the best for your future too! Tim – Marketing Engelsman – what an adventure on a borrowed bike – to undertake all those kilometres – wow – you are super impressive. Good luck to you too with your future studies. Katie – the princess who just take everything in her stride – that smile tells it all – you just love life. What a gem you are! Well done for taking on this amazing challenge and giving it everything you’ve got. The memories will last you a life time! I know you are going to be fabulous in your career – you will be fabulous in whatever you do!

To all of you – Earl and I have so enjoyed the privilege of meeting you and sharing two days of this adventure with you. Sterkte – Go well our new friends.

Struisbaai Weekend With Just The Girls

2012-06-02 | puppy1952

For many years I have been meeting friends I have known since my college days (sh – way back in the 70s) every month for breakfast – We call it, predictably, Breakfast Club. There are seven of us and its one of those girlie things that keep us sane – taking a break from our normal routine of work and family and just chilling for a couple of hours in each other’s company. On our birthdays, the birthday girl gets presents and her breakfast paid for by the others! One of our number, Margie, who has now reached retirement age is planning to join her children in Australia. So for her birthday we decided to have a grand send off. Five of us left Cape Town at 4:30 on Friday afternoon and took off for our holiday house in Struisbaai. Don’t ask how we managed to get the three hubbies involved to let us go. There might have been great sulking if they hadn’t agreed to release us – wonderful men that they are! The fun began right from the start – everyone relaxed and the Caravelle was abuzz with laughter and chatter and we enjoyed the drive through traffic, dusk and finally darkness till we arrived at our destination at 7:30. Just before we arrived I realised I’d forgotten the milk but lucky for us there was one cafe open and we got to it just before they closed for the night. The catering was well under control – no effort involved – Woollies spit roast chicken, veggies in a bag and baby potatoes followed by Melba pudding and custard! Oh – and of course Champers to celebrate Margie’s 62 years. It was almost midnight when we found our beds and crashed for the night. Unfortunately it had to be a working weekend for me – my reports being due on Monday – so I was up early on Saturday and spent a productive hour working. By the time everyone was up and ready for action I had accomplished a fair amount. After enjoying a cup of coffee and a bun together we got ourselves ready to go out for breakfast – “You have three choices girls – a fancy brekkie with white table clothes but no view, a basic brekkie at the harbour – with a view or The Lighthouse Restaurant in Agulhas. Unanimously we decided that the Harbour Brekkie with a view was the only place we wanted to be. What a busy place a fishing harbour is – and so picturesque. When we arrived we noticed some police and rescue vehicles. Margie asked – What’s happening?” And we were told that a ski-boat had capsized at the 12mile bank – but all on board were safe.

From the Pelican Restaurant we were able to watch all the interesting activity the harbour had to offer. The sea was flat and lots of the commercial and ski-boats were out at sea. But the commercial, Big Blue was there offloading her catch.

Big Blue

Offloading

Gulls waiting for tidbits

Gulls receiving tidbits

Hanging on the wall in my lounge is a painting of two Arniston fishermen’s cottages. Margie instantly coveted it and said, Where can I buy some art like that!

Painting on my wall

So we went to Agulhas in search of art galleries. No problem – The Southern Wright Gallery was found with ease and we spent a long time looking at beautiful pieces by local artists. It was a bit of a problem trying to get Margie, Dot and Cheryl out of there. After selecting a few pieces that she might like to take with her to Australia Margie said, “We’ll be back – I must just think about this over coffee. And off we went to Potpourri across the road. Wow – what a lovely coffee/gift shop!

Potpourri

Our gatherer instincts kicked in and we browsed the nooks and crannies displaying beach-house decor, novelties, bags, jewelry, clothing and scarves.

The gatherer half of Hunter/Gatherer

There was a tricky moment when Margie and Chrissie vied for possession of the same scarf.

I saw it first!

In the end Chrissie said, Okay – its your birthday – you can have it.

Coffee and Cake went down well at Potpourri

It was an expensive visit and we all left with packets full of lovely goodies.

You can’t bring visitors to Agulhas without doing the tip of Africa thing – so we dutifully went to stand on the spot and have a kind young man take our portraits with each ones camera. “Don’t worry, ” he said when we tried to show him how to use our cameras – “I do this for a living.’ Then when he was done, said, “Thanks Ladies” and started walking off with our cameras. We laughed – “So that’s what you do for a living,” Luckily it wasn’t!

The Southern-most Girls at the Southern Most Point

It was a drizzly day and cool but our spirits were high as we took a drive to Suiderstrand. We saw a jackal buzzard soaring overhead and spotted several birds on the side of the road – Cape francolin, canaries, bulbuls etc.

Back in Agulhas we found the lighthouse museum closed for renovations and climbing to the top of the tower held little appeal. We did take a pic of the view though.

The dealer at Southern Wright had a glint of glee in her eye when she saw us returning. Margie has visions of marmite toast for dinner till the end of the month because after much deliberation and advice and suggestions from Cheryl and me, she made up her mind, bit the bullet and maxed out her card to invest in four delightful little paintings of parts of the country that are dear to her.

Give them pride of place in your new Aussie home Margs!

Four special paintings

We returned to Struisbaai, delighted with our day and the fun we’d had. Margie called out marks for me to enter onto our internet based system and after an hour or so it was all done and dusted and I shall be ready to print my reports on Monday afternoon.

We enjoyed another pleasant evening together and once again dinner required little preparation – Woollies’ Lasange and micro veggies, rolls and of course the obligatory glass of champers!