We left the winery and our home away from home on Thursday afternoon and traveled about an hour and a half to Betty's Bay. Once again we had a lovely little house to stay in, with a lovely view of the Indian Ocean this time. The day we got there it was terribly windy...a sou'easter was blowing, so we spent most of the time indoors and enjoying the views.
The next day we went to Stony Point where there is a reserve for penguins. The Jackass penguin is native to this part of Africa, and somewhat endangered, so there is a reserve that is loaded with penguins! All of those years teaching about penguins, and finally, I got to see them up close and personal in all their smelly glory! There were thousands of them on the rocky shore and we could get pretty close much like seeing the elephant seals in California. We were actually quite grateful that it was so windy because they were very, very smelly! Cormac and Harper loved seeing them, but were ready to go when the time came to get away from the strong odor!
On New Year's Eve most of the adults went into Cape Town for a concert in a gorgeous botanical garden. Johnny Clegg was the featured entertainer singing songs mostly in Zulu and Afrikaans. His music is mostly rock, but with the passion of a folk singer, and his songs celebrated the diversity of the South African people and their beautiful homeland. It was a beautiful night, in a gorgeous setting, with good friends, and good music. Good way to start 2011!
Needless to say, New Year's Day was pretty quiet as we didn't get to bed til 2:30 am. We went to another botanical garden close by and had a late breakfast, and a short hike to a waterfall. The water that flowed in this area was a reddish, brown color. It gets its color from the tannins in the plants. The waterfall looked like root beer flowing down a rock cliff. Cormac said it reminded him of Charley and the Chocolate Factory! There were some beautiful orchids that grew on the cliffs near the waterfall. All in all, a good, relaxing way to start the new year.
On January 2nd, we had to pack up all of our dirty clothes and find a way to stow away all of the treasures we were trying to take home to family and friends. We had to be very creative to fit it all in, but we did, and barely made our weight limits! Mid afternoon we headed out to Cape Town for the last time, checked in our car, and had a great, last dinner with the Rightford Clan. The good byes were very hard to make after spending two weeks together. There were lots of tears and hugs.....
After 12 hours of flying we were back in London, with barely enough time to catch our last flight to DC. After another 8 hours we were home, and very tired. We got to Brust's where the heater wasn't working and it was pretty cold. We had been so spoiled with the warm South African sunshine! Fortunately, his wood stove did work, and the kids opened Christmas presents left by Father Christmas while we were gone.
The next morning I had to leave pretty early for California...poor planning on my part! It felt good to be home when I finally got there, though:)
I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to go on such a marvelous trip. I have so many fond memories of fabulous people and amazing places.
Sunset over the Indian Ocean.
Penguin Colony near Stony Point
Jackass Penguins
"Root beer" waterfall in Disa Kloof. The water looked almost black in the pools, and reddish in the streams!
The sun dipping below a fog bank over the Indian Ocean.
The two "wawas" (grandmas) and Cormac and Harper on our waterfall hike.
One of the most outstanding features in South Africa are the stunning mountains and beautiful rock formations!
