TGCSA Cape Town 2013

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Moyo at Spier – The ultimate buffet lunch

I remember the first time I went to Spier Wine Estate after Moyo opened thinking that it so doesn't fit in with Spier and it surroundings at all.  But just walking past the outside and going inside to experience it are two totally different things and after having lunch at Moyo's the other day I have so changed my opinion.  Its the difference between Spier's Cape Dutch and colonial look and the free spirit African feel under the ancient oak trees that make the two ideal…

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29/07/2013
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The old Cape Point Lighthouse

Cape Point is a many historic tales and legends.  In 1688 Bartolomeu Dias passed around the point in a storm without even knowing it and only got to see it for the first time on the return journey.  He named it Cabo Tormentosa or the Cape of Storms.  Its also off this point and coastline that the mythical Flying Dutchman under the command of  Captain Hendrick van der Decken is doomed to sail into eternity.  Cape Point is also one of the biggest tourist attractions…

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05/07/2013
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Twelve Apostles wine room

While having lunch at the Twelve Apostles Hotel, I took a walk around the restaurant between the starter and main meal to snap a couple of pics and stumbled on their wine room.  Its not so much a wine celler, as you don't go down steps into a dark stone room full of vintage wine and cobwebs, but a seperate cold room to store and display their wine in.  But that doesn't matter.  Now I'm not much of a wine drinker…

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22/06/2013
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Atlantic Point Backpackers

When you mention the word "backpackers lodge" to anybody, most people would probably associate it with "dorms where youngsters from all over the world travelling with backpacks would sleep".  If that was your answer as well you would partly be right.  But only partly as you could also be totally wrong.  Let me tell you why.  Firstly, although most people staying in backpackers lodgers are youngsters, there are also more mature people backpacking these days.  Secondly, backpackers lodges are so much more…

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19/06/2013
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On two wheels amongst the vinyards – Segway tour at Spier

Visits to wine farms are normally associated with wine tasting, good food and historic buildings so wizzing around Spier Wine Estate on two wheels is something of a change.  I'm not referring to riding a mountain bike though as the two wheels in this case are next to each other and not in front of each other.  I've done the Segway tours in Storms River Village on two previous occasions with Tsitsikamma Segway Tours and absolutely loved it so grabbed the opportunity…

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10/06/2013
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5 star meal – Lunch at Twelve Apostiles

Its not every day that I get to have lunch in a smart place like the 5 star Twelve Apostles Hotel and looking at me in my Batman t-shirt in the last picture I clearly wasn't ready for it either.  The Twelve Apostles sits overlooking the surrounding mountains and ocean on Cape Town's Atlantic Seaboard just a couple of kilometres past the upmarket suburb of Clifton.  The hotel with all its facilities is truly award winning and amongst their accolades are the following.Sliver's Silver…

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20/05/2013
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Oak leaf dam

I don't do a lot of HDR, but I couldn't help but to play around with it on this photo a bit.  The photo was taken at Spier Wine Estate outside Stellenbosch overlooking the dam by the wine tasting venue. 

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14/05/2013
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Chacma Baboons

At Cape Point there stands a little statue of a mother chacma Baboon with a baby riding on her back.  Chacma Baboons (Papio ursinus) are intimately associated with the Cape Peninsula and the Cape of Good Hope.  Baboons inside the Cape Point section of the Table Mountain National Parkpark has become somewhat of a tourist attraction.  Round about six troops either live entirely within the Cape Point section or use the section as part of their range.  The baboons in this area has…

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13/05/2013
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The lighthouse at Cape Point

Cape Point may not be the most southern point of Africa as many people think, but it must be one of the most dramatic spots on the South African coastline.  To get to the bottom Cape Point lighthouse one has to take a footpath along the point so most people just catch a glimpse of it from the viewpoints around the old Cape Point Lighthouse.  On my visit I didn't even notice the scaffolding around the lighthouse until I downloaded my…

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08/05/2013
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What’s in a star (grading)?

What's in a star? Well, lets first see what is a star?a. A self-luminous celestial body consisting of a mass of gas held together by its own gravity in which the energy generated by nuclear reactions in the interior is balanced by the outflow of energy to the surface, and the inward-directed gravitational forces are balanced by the outward-directed gas and radiation pressures. Eish, that's a bit heavy. Let's just say its the twinkling points of light in the night…

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05/05/2013