A trip to Oudtshoorn - part 2

With Saturday being our last full day in Oudtshoorn we had to fit both the other 2 planned outings into 1 day.
First up was the Cango Caves, we went with another dancer and his mom who, through a contact, managed to organise a discount so we only paid for 2 people instead of 5!!
This too was a very informative and interesting tour, I was amazed how much of what we heard the girls have actually remembered and retold to other people!

The first chamber boasts this impressive formation called "the organ pipes" for obvious reasons!

And also Cleopatra's finger (Abigail is standing to the left!).

 Niave making herself comfortable!

If I remember correctly these are called "the petrified tobacco leaves of Oudtshoorn" - but I may not be remembering correctly! It does look like drying tobacco leaves though, don't you think??!!

The second chamber.

This looked like a castle to us but it's called "the 12 poster bed" or something to that effect.

These freaky looking things look like witches fingers!

This formation, to me, looked like a drip castle that you would make on the beach, only it took a little longer to make this one!!

The photo's don't really do it justice at all. We went on the Standard Tour which goes half way through the system, after that and after a staircase of 100 steps (that you have to climb twice!) it gets a lot smaller and tighter, but it was quite stuffy and unexpectedly warm in there and we were ready to return to the air!

That afternoon Grant had to dance so we went "home" to help him get ready and drop him off before heading to our next destination, Cango Ostrich Farm.

Here he is looking very flamboyant in his new Latin top - so much bling!!! 

Next up we were off to the Cango Ostrich Farm to learn about Ostriches.

I wasn't that impressed with this tour, but the girls enjoyed it and we did learn a lot, including that ostriches are really rather smelly and it is a very good thing that they can't fly!

 It's quite hard to get a decent picture of an ostrich, they are not still for a minute!

Hope those eggs don't break!!

With Grant at the dancing until well into the early hours of the morning, we were on our own for supper so we headed to the Spur before going home to bundle ourselves up in warm pyjamas - although we had 3 beautiful, warm sunny days there, the mornings and nights were very cold.

Sunday morning was spent packing up and getting ready to leave, by lunchtime we were on the road, this time we went via George and the Outeniqua Pass having come in via Mossel Bay and the Robinson Pass. 

We hadn't gone far when we were once again brought to a sudden halt when Grant yelled "Hey, look, what's that? Giraffe!!"

There were about 6 in total.

I just love giraffe.

And so our holiday was drawing to a close, the loooong road ahead of us. 

As we came over Sir Lowry's Pass after sunset with Somerset West and Cape Town below, Niave exclaimed with great astonishment "Wow! We went into the desert and we survived"!!!

We had a wonderful time but we were glad to be home in our own beds and to see our 3 kitties who were well looked after and fed by Ouma and Oupa.

A trip to Oudtshoorn - part 1

A few months ago Grant heard that he would be going to the World Trials for Dancing to be held in Oudtshoorn and seeing as it overlapped with the school holidays we decided that the girls and I would go along and have a little holiday in the Klein Karoo!


Finally the day arrived that we were to leave for our first family holiday in more than 4 years - very exciting!! I don't think Niave can remember the last time we went away!
With a 6 hour drive ahead of us we set off on Thursday morning with what seemed like all our worldly possessions! Actually I was amazed that we fitted everything in - including a wheelchair without using a trailer, but there was even room to spare - quite something if you know that I don't pack light!! I believe in being over prepared!!!!


I'd forgotten what a beautiful countryside we have and the vista's were breathtaking.

After seeing many fields full of sheep, cows, the odd horse and miles of bright yellow Canola we were not expecting to see 2 elephants in a field just outside Albertinia! 
At first I thought "wow, that is a really big horse"!! and then realized that they were elephants, Grant nearly crashed the car!!!

None of us have ever seen game before so it was quite a moment!!

After a loooooong drive we arrived in Oudtshoorn at sunset and found our "home" for the weekend - Klein Plaas (Small Farm).

It was a lovely place, very comfortable accommodation for a very reasonable price.

There are about 50 chalet's and a lovely caravan/camping area beautifully shaded, with a lovely pool and pristine ablution block.

(Emmy, this is the answer to our "wheelchair friendly campsite with chalet's" problem! Just a bit far:-))

After we arrived and unloaded our car, we drove into town to find supper and get a few supplies at Pick 'n Pay, by then it was cold and dark and we were exhausted after the long drive so we set up Grant's laptop to play a DVD and hibernated inside!!


Initially Grant had thought he'd be dancing on Friday and Saturday, but as it turned out he had Friday free and would only need to dance on Saturday afternoon/evening.
So on Friday morning we headed to the only wheelchair friendly spot on our list: The Cango Wildlife Ranch (formerly the Cango Crocodile Farm) - and only 2km from our chalet!!

It was a bit pricey but in hindsight we realised that it was worth it - a very interesting, well presented place, the best I've seen in S.A. so far.
Our tour was in the morning with the sun in just the wrong spot but the girls and I went back in the late afternoon and got some much better pics:

These baby crocs are kinda cute, in an eerie kinda way!

Cape Vulture - enormous!

And we found King Julian!!

Not quite as cute as their offspring but just as eerie!! They were so still, hard to tell if they were even breathing, apparently they don't get fed between April and September because their metabolism is so slow in winter that they get poisoned by whatever they eat, these guys have got "least amount of energy exertion" down to a tee!!

This gorgeous Otter gave us a real show, swimming and diving like a pro! So cute!

The 2 pygmy hippo's were lying so still at first, they could've been fake - or dead, but when we came back in the late afternoon, they had surfaced from their slumber and were contemplating the water.

Then it was on to Cheetah Land, where they keep the big cats, about 6 cheetah's - Niave's favourite;

2 leopards - so beautiful

and a pair of white lions, this male was guarding his ribcage very closely! He looks so cuddly but then you realise that his paw is the size of your child's head and he's not so cuddly any more!!

My favourite photo of the trip!

Of all the cats, I liked the white tigers the best. 

They were feasting on fresh donkey head when we arrived, ears and fur included!! When we went back later they were so stuffed that they were lying on their backs, feet in the air!!

All that remained of the donkey was it's skull - stripped clean.

There were also a number of smaller, non-deadly animals and a petting zoo.
There is also a snake exhibit, but my camera didn't cope well with the lighting and glass barrier.

All in all a very good outing and one that I can definitely recommend if you find yourself in Oudtshoorn or surrounds.

The Petting Zoo!

On the weekend my aunt told me about a sweet petting zoo set up at the Waterfront for the school holidays. Of course when the girls heard they were desperate to go!
I had to make a trip into Town today, so we took advantage of that and hopped over to see what it was all about.
It is set up by Zoo to You in the Craft Market warehouse next to the Aquarium and costs R20 entry pp.
R20 well spent for us as my girls just LOVED it, they could have stayed all day.
At first Niave was, shall we say a "little" hesitant! 
After begging to go the whole week, she stood stuck to the floor on the wrong side of the hay bales as if there were tigers inside!! 
Eventually I picked her up kicking and screaming (not so easy to do anymore!) and hauled her in because I knew she would be fine once she got inside, and she was, apparently it was the (tiny, ankle height, adorable) piglets that were the problem!! Niave - always a "surprise" at every corner!!!
Anyway, once that hurdle was over and the discovery of the tiniest ginger kitten she was made she was one happy little camper, she sat on 1 spot and cuddled it too her hearts content and the kitten was not complaining, too gorgeous for words!!

Abigail loved all of it! She is so my sisters child!!! (Hi Bev!!), she had baby pot-bellied piggies sleeping on her lap and sheep eating out of her hand and bunnies and ducklings and rats and chicks...you name it, she loves it!

But best of all was little "Ginger's" brother or sister, the fluffiest, cuddliest grey kitten, only too happy to fall asleep in her lap!

These kittens made our kittens look like fat giants!

My favourite was the Merino lamb, such a cutie, she still had her umbilical hanging from underneath, only 2 weeks old apparently - aaaah, too precious! 

Here are some of the other cuties, from top left round to bottom left: my little lamb again (if you look closely you can see the cord hanging underneath - and I know from personal experience that you leave it to fall off by itself!!); another kind of lamb (I forget the name but they usually have black heads and only 1 in however many have brown); 1 of the 3 adult ducks (there were also ducklings but they were difficult to hold as apparently they have no sense of height and will just jump like lemmings off of anywhere!); 'Wingspan' the goat is below Duckie - the most gorgeous goat with really long ears - (hence the name!); the other sheep with the black head, 1 of the many bunnies, and the (scary!) pig.

There were also guinea pigs but somehow I didn't get a picture of any!!

If you live in Cape Town or visiting for the school holidays, it's an affordable outing that is worth a stop.

A Birthday.

I love having my birthday in June, slap, bang in the middle of the year, I know it's winter where I live, but actually I've recently decided that I like winter the best! Summer in Cape Town is great but that wind, and that heat, it's so much easier to warm up than it is to cool down!
Anyway, this year my friend, Mandy and I made a pact: with our birthday's 8 days apart we would meet at The Mount Nelson Hotel for High Tea on the Saturday between her birthday and mine. 
And we stuck to it like glue, come rain, hail or tornado, you would've found us sipping our tea at The Old Nellie!!


The Saturday in question turned out to be the most wonderfully warm and beautiful day, we sat on the terrace and enjoyed the jokes of our waiter as he introduced us to the Tea Ceremony - quite a precise affair!!

Note the egg timer - each different kind of tea has to draw for a stipulated amount of time, we'd get chatting only to have our funny waiter come back and ask us how long our tea had been drawing...oops! But it was good anyway, I tasted/tested 3 different kinds, not thinking I'd really taste a difference but they have their own flavours for sure, the "House" tea has a "secret" ingredient...we were asked to guess and you can very definitely taste and smell the rose petals from the Mount Nelson rose garden!


We chatted, and laughed, and chatted some more and enjoyed the delicious cakes and eats on offer.

It was a wonderful afternoon to catch up and have uninterrupted conversations - something mom's don't get very often...

Mmmmmm!

June.

Earlier this month Grant took part in another dancing competition, the girls had never watched him compete before and we joined him 1 Saturday afternoon in Khayalitsha to watch him in action! It's always a very long affair so we didn't stay for the whole thing, just long enough to see Daddy and some of the other Chaeli dancers:

And as usual my batteries went flat mid-way through the event!!

Niave entered the Chaeli Campaign Art and Poetry competition again with this painting:

She didn't win anything this year!

We took part in a fun run/walk organised by the SACS Old Boys Union which took place on the most beautiful Sunday morning, we did the 2km walk version around the school grounds while the fitter people enjoyed and 8km run up into Newlands forest.

June brought with it rain - of the torrential kind! After 1 day of 8 hours solid driving rain we donned our boots and hats and went to explore the puddles in the park which could have been mistaken for a lake!!

What I love about winter n Cape Town is that while we have days like today when it is stormy and cold, we also have wonderful sunshiny days which are warm and windless, these pictures taken at Kirstenbosch were taken on one such Sunday, it would be perfect if the days were a little bit longer!!

June also brought Chicken pox for Niave, but she weathered it very well with nothing more than a few spots and no other symptoms to speak of.

As June draws to a close we are getting ready to go on our first family holiday/trip in more than 4 years!! 

Very excited we are!!

May.

It's been another busy term and hence 2 months since the last post, this term saw Abigail write her first exams and with all the other usual busyness it was all quite hectic! But now we find ourselves in the first week of the winter holidays and life can slow down a little - hooray!


So a little bit of May catch-up: Niaves school had their annual May Fair which is always a hit with the girls, they just love it - my wallet doesn't like it quite as much but it's always a fun day. 

Terms 2 and 3 are netball terms for Abs, they played a number of matches and lost them all! Here are some pics of the U11B team in action:

The month of May also saw Abs join Grant on a 10km cycle:

She came back with all her skin intact!!

Abigail also took part in a choir festival with 2 other small girls schools, Oakhurst and Micklefield at Oakhurst.

So that's pretty much it for May!