Stellenbosch

Our third and final day in Cape Town was spent exploring several vineyards in the area. The drive was just gorgeous, and even though it was fall, the scenery was still spectacular.



Our first area to visit was Stellenbosch, a beautiful valley only about 30 miles from Cape Town with several different wineries.



Once our driver heard that I'm a chocolate lover, his first stop was at Waterford Wine Estate.



This vineyard had tons of fruit (I can't remember what kind!) of trees that just added to the beauty of the estate, which was nestled at the base of these stunning mountains.



H & I just loved the architecture and style of the building, especially the stone and courtyard where we could enjoy the perfect weather while sipping some wine.



We tried a few wines, then we moved onto the wine & chocolate tasting. This was some yummy wine imported from Belgium and cast in South Africa with the winery's logo.



Then we took a quick walk around the estate to enjoy the view & check out the vineyards.



We had amazing weather our whole time in Cape Town (minus that first day cloud on Table Mountain). Everywhere we went, windows were open and the air was fresh & sweet.



We stopped for a quick tour of the actual town of Stellenbosch, which is the 2nd oldest (European settlement) in South Africa, after Cape Town.



The town was adorable & I'd highly recommend it to anybody lucky enough to do a multi-day wine tour with enough time to spend several days exploring the wine region. There were tons of great little shops & wonderful restaurants hiding in quaint little courtyards like this one.



The Dutch settlers had planted hundreds of oak trees that line the streets and the buildings make great architectural eye-candy.



We really enjoyed wandering the streets & checking out the artwork in the stores as we strolled the tree-lined streets.



The world cup is coming to South Africa in 2010 and they are VERY excited about it. Every Coke can we'd get would have different teams advertised on the back- I just loved the New Zealand can & thinking about our next trip.

We decided to grab a quick bite to eat at an outdoor cafe, and we were treated to a little street performance by these two artists.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: It's a short week, and I'm in California today for work and headed home late tonight.

Gorgeous Gals

A short break from Cape Town photos before we return to our last day exploring the vineyards of the Cape. Back in May, I decided to have a professional photographer take some photos of the gals- me, mom, Gram & Zoe.



Things didn't work out so well, and Gram wasn't able to make the walk back to the photo location. We were able to take a few photos in the parking lot & this one came out great.



Unfortunately, we didn't really get any great shots of the 3 of us together. This is the best we could do & it was after I'd played a mean joked on mom & Gram- I told them I was pregnant! They gave me a dirty look when I told them I was only joking.



I did end up with a few nice photos of Zoe & I that I really like. I have so many photos of her & lots of pics with her and other people.



Yes, there were many treats involved in this elaborate photo shoot.



We were outdoors & there were all kids of birds and things for Zoe to check out.



She really wanted that carrot that I had!



It was HOT and I loved this picture of the tongue hanging out!

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: It's a 4-day work week & I'm off to California this morning to work.

Cape of Good Hope

Our day tour of the peninsula culminated with a visit to the Cape of Good Hope & Cape Point, both part of Table Mountain National Park at the most southern place in South Africa.



Cape Point is the (slightly) more easterly of the Points and the one that has some developments and buildings on it, including a light house. We took a small train car to the top of the point & then hiked up to the lighthouse.



The 360 degree views from the top are spectacular. The sun was getting low in the sky though & it made for some very dramatic lighting on the outcroppings.



It was both very cold and very windy up there. The sailing around the point is notoriously treacherous. Once sailors had made it past all the rocks and challenging currents, there was hope they would make it the rest of their journey- thus the name, Cape of Good Hope.



There was a tiny little isolated beach between the Cape of Good Hope & Cape Point. The sun had long ago set behind the COGH, but the beach was filled with a surreal misty air.



Looking north back up the coastline, all the beautiful mountains were shrouded in a late day haze & fog mixture.



Wish we had some pictures of us up there, but we did have a funny story about a group of African men that wanted to take numerous photos with anybody that would pose with them. H was the lucky devil in that quirky story. Even the beautiful stone stairs added interest & character to this place.



Next we drove down to the Cape of Good Hope, where you could walk along the beach and climb on the rocks as the waves crashed beside you.



This was the ride that we were forced to pimp around all 3 days. Our tour guides really hooked us up & it was fun cruisin' in style.



The late-afternoon lighting was perfect to make the mountain aglow in reds and yellows, as the waves provided quite a spectacular show on the rocks.



H wanted a photo with our tour guide- we really enjoyed learning so much from a life-long local and he went out of his way to make our trip extra-special.



We also saw several interesting animals on the drive along the coast. These baboons must have thought it was Christmas as they found this abandoned ice chest and were having a field day with it. They were too funny to watch.



Yup, that is a wild ostrich roaming by the seaside.



A bit blurry, but some type of big animal. You'd think after spending a few days on safari that I could name them all, but nope!



One last gorgeous photo of the rocky beach in the setting sunlight. This whole day & all the many things we saw was probably one of my favorite days of the whole trip.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Doing a full-day wine tour of the Texas Hill country today with my best girlfriend.

Cruising the Coast

Continuing our tour, we drove down South and headed over to the east coast of the cape. This cute little town is called Kalk Bay, a smaller portion of False Bay.



I could stare at this view all day & watch the waves roll in below the foggy mountains.



There was a neat old train that still runs up and down to coast to all the beach-side towns.



We continued south along the beautiful coast and stopped for lunch in Simon's Town. This cool restaurant had a completely glass front & was sitting out over the edge of the rocks.



During high tide, the waves would crash up on the rocks, very near to the windows. We even saw a few dolphins out swimming while we enjoyed such yummy things as....



...more fresh seafood with tasty avocado.



Our next stop was the Simon's Town Penguin Colony, which is the 2nd largest penguin colony in ZA. They put these plastic tubs out to give them some nesting space.



They were really adorable & the boardwalks out over the sand dunes let you get very close to them.



They were all out sunning themselves in the late afternoon on these huge boulders.



We saw quite a few baby penguins.



They were so funny all moving around, waddling, wandering, and just being silly with each other.



This little town was so picturesque with it's beautiful painted homes on the shoreline.



I kept waiting for one of them to hit the water and take a swim, but I had no such luck. I guess they must feed in the early mornings or later in the evenings.



Apparently, South Africa has a fairly decent sized Navy. I guess with their miles of coastline and very prominent position on the tip of Africa, it makes sense. And yea, please ignore that dust spot on my camera...it really needs to be cleaned, especially after that little drop in the desert.



More beautiful green mountains on our way down to Cape Point. I'll save all my Cape of Good Hope & Cape Point photos for another post, and I'll finish up this post with some photos of our trip back north towards Cape Town.



Caught the setting sun reflecting brilliant colors off these rocks.



We were treated to another gorgeous sunset as we drove up the Pacific side of the Cape.



Sorry for the blur, but I loved how the light illuminated the roadway through these glorious, old trees.



And we ended our long day after sunset by driving back by Slangkop Lighthouse.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: My best friend arrives in a few hours & we're headed up to the Texas Hill Country to explore some wineries this weekend.