Cape Town budget

Let it go
Cape Town was both incredibly cheap, and expensive. Depending on what you spend your money on. Accommodation – on the expensive side. Even with the exchange rate being in my favor. The only reason why I spent not too much on it is that Sven paid the apartment we stayed in fully. And it was […] Read More

Johannesburg stop-over

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I could have stayed longer in Cape Town. Time flew and I feel like I could use some more days at the beach. But I head over to Johannesburg today, an will be on my way to Australia tomorrow. I skipped Johannesburg. When I arrived in the early afternoon it was raining. I was tired… I […] Read More

Bye-bye Cape Town

Let it go
This morning, after one final brekkie at Café Manhattan with Branden, Sven left Cape Town. It was great to have him over and explore and hang out. It was like a true holiday within the Round-the-world trip. He also left the Mother City with one bag more… well, he bought some souvenirs, but most of it […] Read More

Recovering

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Not too much to report here. We slept till late, had coffee, and headed for Sandy Bay beach again. Slept a while, met some friends there, and I got into the cold water again. It gets easier every time you do it. In the evening, dinner with Branden at Beefcake, a local hot spot Burger […] Read More

NYE2015

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2014 is over… I guess it was probably the most exciting year of my life, being on the road for mostly all of it and only 3 days at home. How to celebrate that…? We just went to the beach! It was immensely hot, 35 degrees, we were sleepy from a long night out with […] Read More

Ice Water Challenge

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No, I did not empty a bucket of ice water over my head for charity. I immersed myself in it! Sven, Branden and I went to Sandy Bay beach again to hang out and work on our tans. But as usual with the winds there, and in combination with our sun tan lotion, we soon […] Read More

Wine tasting (finally)

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Second day of our wine trip. We started out in Franschhoek, strolling through the galleries where Sven bought some beautiful paintings, painted on old editions of the Cape Times. Then on to our first real wine tasting, at Blaauwklippen Vineyards. We sampled five different wines each, from a delicious Cabernet Sauvignon to a heavy Syrah. […] Read More

Wine tasting (without wine)

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As South Africa is famous for its wines, we took off for a two-day trip to the wineries around Cape Town. Sven had sniffed out the best places, of course. Our first stop was the Babylonstoren Farm, one of the oldest ‘Cape Dutch’ farm yard. Cape Dutch is the specific Dutch inspired style of architecture, prominent in […] Read More

Along the Garden Route

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After our morning ride on Elephant Sam, we hit the road again and drove another 100 kilometers East, along South Africa’s famous Garden Route. It is a string of coastal towns, starting from Mossel Bay and stretching all the way to Port Elizabeth. The name comes from the green and ecologically diverse vegetation, from African Fijnbos […] Read More

Elephant ride

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The Game reserve offers a limited number of elephant rides each day in the morning, when the big one, Sam, and his family, take you on a 30 minute ride through the little valley. We were late with our booking, but our guide arranged for us to take one ride, cutting the morning tour a […] Read More

Rise and shine

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Getting up at 5.15 in the morning is like torture to me. I don’t function properly. But the prospect of seeing more animals on the morning tour got me going. Especially because most animals we saw yesterday were lazy in the summer heat, and they were more likely to be out and about in the […] Read More

Animal Kingdom

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Sven booked us in at a private game reserve a bit north of Mossel Bay, the Botlierskop Private Game Reserve. It lies between the impressive Outeniqua Mountains and the warm beaches of the Indian ocean, in the heart of the Garden Route, the long scenic drive along the southern tip of South Africa. We arrived and were shown […] Read More