The Road to Stellenbosch

Well, we’ve had a busy few days. Here is quick update.

Thursday night we went into Cape Town to go to a fundraiser to benefit the children of the township of Khayelitsha, one of the places we went on our cultural tour. The event was at a nightclub on Long Street in downtown Cape Town. While this wouldn’t usually be a place where you would find me, we decided to make a sacrifice for the kids and stay out past our usual bedtime of 8:00 pm. The benefit ended up being successful and we had fun observing and participating in South African nightlife. If there was ever a place to make you feel inadequate about your dancing abilities, a night club in South Africa would be it. We were home and in bed by midnight, but it was still a struggle to make it to work on time Friday morning. Our age really started to show when we all climbed into bed at 7:30 pm Friday evening – no more going out on work nights, we are 25 now and not as young as we used to be.

I woke up feeling a little under the weather on Saturday, but I guess that’s to be expected when you work with kids who stick their whole hand in their mouth and then rub it all over your face. I decided that the best way to cure my ailment was to spend all day Saturday drinking on a wine tour and Sunday morning jumping in the ice-cold Atlantic Ocean to play with the sharks. I'm not sure, but I think that's how one gets Pneumonia.

Saturday morning we embarked on a wine tour to a variety of different “wine farms” in Stellenbosch and various surrounding towns. We got to see a whole different side of South Africa and with the mountains painted in the background and greenery covering the countryside, we all felt like we were somewhere in Europe for most of the day. South Africa’s beauty is surprising and never-ending.

I’ve learned that I don’t have much of a taste for the finer things in life, and this includes wine. After one glass it all seems to taste the same to me and I’d prefer an ice cold beer over a glass of wine just about any day. Amy, on the other hand, has completed her second level Sommelier and is much more interested in all aspects of wine-making, including the history, process and technique of making the wine. She probably knew more about wine than most people leading the tours, so she was our own personal Sommelier for the day.

Saturday night we were in bed early so that we could get up at 4am to go on our shark dive today. I will post an update on this soon, but first we have to get our underwater camera developed, which could contain multitudes of up-close Great White pictures - or none at all. I guess we’ll find out soon! But, for now I will leave you with the comforting fact that we all survived with all of our limbs intact.

Amy and I before the fundraiser

We met some entertaining fellows from the Royal Navy whose ship was stopping in Cape Town for a week

At the fundraiser with Tineke, our housemate from the Netherlands

Our very first stop on the wine tour

Checking out the scenery on the first wine farm

Stellenbosch

Posing with one of our guides

We stopped to pet the cheetah after our first wine tasting. Nothing like drinking a little wine and playing with dangerous animals. Safe!

More Cheetah time

One of the Vineyards

Amy, our little Sommelier who was also celebrating a job offer from back home that morning!

More wine tasting

The sun came out, which is a rare occurrence here, so we had to capture it.

More scenery from the wine farms

More scenery

Yes, that is a goat outside the last wine farm we went to. And inside they had goat cheese to taste. No thank you.