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Cape Town road trip
  • Pete Cairns
  • Pete Cairns

Cape Town road trip

Diary of a not so cunning trip to Cape Town for Christmas Read more
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  • Trip start
    December 21, 2019
    Pete CairnsCape Town road tripTraveler
    2

    Old school road stop

    December 21, 2019 in South Africa ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C

    Second stop and there was no way we were going to try a roadside petrol station. Most of the nice ones (I use this term very lightly) were packed and so lunch was decided to be an old school road stop on the side of the road outside Colesberg. A great idea except for the wind and the lack of lunch. But we made a plan.

    Not much was happening at the road stop except for some horses and sheep across the road and a couple having a fat nap under a tree. So to liven it up a bit we put on a dance show. Everyone loved it and we got hoots and waves from all the passing cars.    Read more

  • Pete CairnsCape Town road tripTraveler

    Three sisters

    December 21, 2019 in South Africa ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    Final stop before our overnight accommodation (Ko Ka Tsara Bush Camp) just before Beaufort West was the Shell Ultra City at Three Sisters. Why? Because we needed petrol that’s why.

    All in all a totally uneventful stop that included Steers ice cream for everyone and some jungle gym climbing for the kids.Read more

  • Pete CairnsCape Town road tripTraveler
    1

    Ko ka Tsara bushcamp

    December 21, 2019 in South Africa ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    And so we made it to Ko Ka Tsara Bush Camp which is really 9 chalets with a pool, lawn, bar and breakfast restaurant. It was our home for the next 2 nights. I’m super glad we chose it.

    The house/hut/chalet/spot we stayed had a main bedroom, small kitchen and bathroom down-ladder. And up-ladder had another 2 beds for the kids. Well, the kids were up like a shot and had to be discouraged from taking everything they owned up there as parents didn’t feel like Hlungwane to take everything they owned back down again.

    The first animal we saw was a massive (leopard?) tortoise that had come down the mountain for some fresh juicy grass. On the way to say hi to the tortoise (Nathan was very please that he said both “hi tortoise” and “bye tortoise”) I spotted a pair of Cape Wagtails (parent and juvenile) and my first ever Fairy Fly-Catcher (followed very closely by my second). The garden also contained Pririt Batis, White throated and Black headed Canaries.    Read more

  • Pete CairnsCape Town road tripTraveler

    Gamka Dam hike

    December 22, 2019 in South Africa ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    I can safely say, night 1 was not an amazing experience for sleeping. Nathan and Kirsten both had coughs, snot and general excitement. This resulted in parents being awake between 10 and who knows what time. It also ended up with Nathan down-ladder and Taryn up-ladder. Ah, the joys of travel.

    After some early morning naps, swims and lunch and some more interrupted naps I decided to go for a bird drive and asked who would like to come. Both Kirsten and Nathan thought this was a good idea and so it turn out to be a birding free drive down to the dam wall.

    At the end of the road there is a boulder strewn section with some arrows and a sign suggesting there is a path to the top of the dam wall. We didn’t quite find a path but by following the arrows had a great scramble up the side of the mountain with only a few incidents (Kirsten fell on her bum, while screaming she wanted to go back dad got a massive thorn in his foot and then Nathan tripped over a twig - to him is was probably a tree).

    Luckily Kirsten remembered that she needed energy to get back to the car and called a halt to proceedings. Unluckily it wasn’t the top of the dam wall. Oh well there’s always next time.

    On the way down the kids stopped for a sleep in the rocks and Nathan made us a dinner of rocks and sand (I think Kirsten prepared the sand). It was not delicious.    Read more

  • Pete CairnsCape Town road tripTraveler

    Porcupine Cave

    December 22, 2019 in South Africa ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    On the way back from the dam wall we stopped at the Pocupine cave that may well have house a porcupine as it was super long (the cave, not the porcupine) but we didn’t see it.

  • Pete CairnsCape Town road tripTraveler

    Lions bum...?

    December 23, 2019 in South Africa ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Always have to stop at Leeu Gamka which I suspect means Lions Bum. Dusted rusks off kids and got K dressed.

    It seems that Leeu-Gamka is an olive tree growing region. I suspect these are very hardy trees as there was not a lot of water lying around.Read more

  • Pete CairnsCape Town road tripTraveler

    Laingsburg

    December 23, 2019 in South Africa ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    Breakfast time on the drive from Beaufort West to Cape Town was taken on the stoep of a padstaal that wasn’t open in Laingsburg. Laungsburg is famous for a flood. There is a museum about it and somewhere I have a 16 cent stamp that has an extra 10 cents for flood relief.

    Fun was had climbing on tires, weeing on trees, eating blueberries and boiled eggs. Someone had 4. Not sure how that happened but I wasn’t particularly hungry for the rest of the day.    Read more

  • Pete CairnsCape Town road tripTraveler

    Gaga’s house

    December 23, 2019 in South Africa ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    Made it to Cape Town in one piece. Hip hip hooray! Unfortunately had to stop for petrol somewhere near Durbanville but that was better than stopping without petrol somewhere near Century City....

    Got into town, traffic jam at the CTICC and made it to Camp street where Gaga was waiting with lunch and cold water.Read more

  • Pete CairnsCape Town road tripTraveler

    Lions head

    December 24, 2019 in South Africa ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    I met up with Bryan and Morne for a walk up Lionshead to enjoy the early morning Cape Town air and amazing views from the top. Unfortunately the weather decided not to play along and all we could see was cloud. A great morning up and down the mountain none the less. Followed of course by breakfast at Arnolds with some warm coffee.Read more

  • Pete CairnsCape Town road tripTraveler

    Surprise baby!

    December 24, 2019 in South Africa ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    So Emma was supposed to have a baby at the end of January. The baby (Georgina Rose Heyns) was not fully informed of this plan and decided that the 22nd of December was a better idea. I suspect this was because we were coming and she was super excited (the baby, not Emma). What Georgina did not take into account was that she’d have to spend some time in NICU.

    Anyway, Taryn KC and I want to visit Em and Matthew at the hospital and brought gifts of whiskey (including an e because it was Irish) and chocolate. We felt like wise people but we came from the East (Town) and went West (Claremont) so there must have been some sort of disconnect.

    Much chatting was had and everyone seemed well. We didn’t get to see baby but she’s doing well by all accounts and hopefully we’ll get a moment before we leave. Now it’s back home for Christmas Eve dinner.    Read more

  • Pete CairnsCape Town road tripTraveler

    Christmas Eve

    December 24, 2019 in South Africa ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    The original KC (Karen Clements as opposed to Kirsten Cairns) came round for Christmas Eve dinner. Kids stayed up late to see the lights and got some early presents.

    Delicious dinner of prawns and gammon followed by ice cream and deconstructed Christmas cake (fruit mixture without the eggs, flour and oven time). Left out treats for Santa and made a last minute bath for blue bunny from Santa before bed.Read more

  • Pete CairnsCape Town road tripTraveler

    Santa came!

    December 25, 2019 in South Africa ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    Santa must have come while we were all asleep, are his Christmas pie, drank his wine and left presents for everyone. His reindeer ate the cotton and left poo on the lawn. Weirdly the poo tasted just like chocolate, however Nathan wasn’t brave enough to find out.

    Stocking were full of all kinds of goodies including plasters and squishy lamas. Soooo much excitement.    Read more

  • Pete CairnsCape Town road tripTraveler

    Christmas morning

    December 25, 2019 in South Africa ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    Once everyone was sort of awake it was time to open the panettone, brew up Starbucks Christmas coffee and open presents. Much excitement and some really cool presents for everyone. Picks of the day? Nathan: new ballet skirt. Kirsten: kiwi guitar. Taryn: carbon emissions offsets. Pete: cycle shorts . Gaga: clay workshop voucher.

    There was sooo much excitement a time-out was required before lunch at Mark and Tina.    Read more

  • Pete CairnsCape Town road tripTraveler

    Christmas lunch

    December 25, 2019 in South Africa ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    Christmas lunch was at Mark, Tina and Paige’s house. Tina’s mom Lynn was there too. Cousins disappeared straight away and popped out every now and again but Paige was in charge and that seemed to be ok. Lunch was prawns, yellow tail and silver fish followed by a nice big pavlova. Fantastic!

    While there was warm snow for most of the day but the kids did manage to find 30 minutes of sunshine for a swim. On the way home, the excitement had taken its toll and Nathan was asleep before we made it to the top of suikerbossie.    Read more

  • Pete CairnsCape Town road tripTraveler

    Lions head pipetrack

    December 26, 2019 in South Africa ⋅ 🌧 15 °C

    Boxing Day and it’s miserable weather. What to do? How about a hike on Lions head? This actually turned out to be mostly a good idea, it did rain for a short period and the made Kirsten adamant she wanted to go home. The biggest obstacle was trying not to get run over by the trail runners. Kids had some snacks and this lifted the spirited until We had to turn back when the wind got a little too fresh. Where to next? KC’s for tea, milo and surprisingly coffee.Read more

  • Pete CairnsCape Town road tripTraveler

    Not the noonday gun

    December 26, 2019 in South Africa ⋅ 🌧 16 °C

    Post Lions head hikes and a lurk at KC’s house there was some time to pop down to takealot at the foreshore to collect my book on Bread. We then realized it was 11:35 and we had time to see the noon day gun. So off we raced through Bokaap and got there just in time. Well, it would have been just in time had there been anyone to fire it. There wasn’t, and so none of the ships in the harbour knew what time it was. Hopefully their GPS’ are working if they head out today.

    Not to be totally outdone, we hiked around the military base to look at the view. It was a nice view and the military base was surrounded in what used to be barbed wire but was now just gaps to be invaded through. I think it’s just as well we’re not at war or we would have lost Signal hill a long time ago.    Read more

  • Pete CairnsCape Town road tripTraveler

    Emoji cookies

    December 26, 2019 in South Africa ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    Back at home and the adults were done. Kids not so much. Luckily Gaga had some tricks up her sleeve and the kids made emoji cookies. Basically icing on Oreos but they looked super cool.

  • Pete CairnsCape Town road tripTraveler

    Greenpoint park

    December 27, 2019 in South Africa ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    Taryn and Gaga went for breakfast. Pete, Kirsten and Nathan went to the park. Weather started out a bit miserable but clouds lifted and wind took a break for just a bit.

  • Pete CairnsCape Town road tripTraveler

    Fish on T

    December 27, 2019 in South Africa ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    A long time ago when Taryn and I still lived in Cape Town, ‘he rocks’ blew off from Fish on the Rocks. And so Fish on T is where we went for lunch. Delicious fish, calamari and chips followed by feeding some of the left over chips to the flying rats aka seagulls. Great fun in the wind.Read more

  • Pete CairnsCape Town road tripTraveler

    Beach picnic

    December 28, 2019 in South Africa ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    First day of sunshine and a morning of no wind meant an 8am start to Camps Bay beach for a breakfast picnic and fun in the waves. Taryn had to leave at 9:30 to go jump off Signal hill with a parachute but kids and I stayed. Just as the kids had had enough mom came back with KC and we unpacked again and carried in the beach lurk.

    The arrival of Simone heralded an extension to the festivities and we eventually escaped the beach at 13:00. Trying to get home was easy as it seemed that everyone else was going to the beach, not away from it. Obviously not everyone is concerned about the hole in the ozone layer and high concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere....    Read more

  • Pete CairnsCape Town road tripTraveler

    Day off

    December 29, 2019 in South Africa ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    Not much happened on Sunday. We went to Camps Bay early but it was windy so we left. Went looking for bread in Greenpoint and ended up with ice-creams. Chilled at home and got dressed up to meet Jo, Imogen and Julie. Then I went for drinks with Matthew. All in all a very quiet day.Read more

  • Pete CairnsCape Town road tripTraveler

    Babylonstoren

    December 30, 2019 in South Africa ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    After an interesting nights sleep where Taryn spent much time opening and closing windows while the rest of us were trying to sleep the kids headed out with Gaga to the park while mom and dad had a quiet breakfast.

    Post breakfast we headed off to Stellies and Babylonstoren, a wine farm that is more of a chill out eat and relax kind of place. Everything sold on the farm is grown on the farm. Loads of meats, cheeses and fruits. Apparently they make wine but we didn’t see any. The Reaturant has a 45 minute waiting time and the kids were hangry so we went to the ‘pop-up’ salad bar. Basically they did prepackaged salads, juices and small boxes of grapes. Nathan had a whole box of grapes by himself. It was nice and quiet and pleasant and much more enjoyable than the restaurant. #win

    By then everyone was tired, hot and over it. So we made our way back to the car and home to see Paige who was coming for dinner.    Read more

  • Pete CairnsCape Town road tripTraveler

    Party at Bacini’s

    December 30, 2019 in South Africa ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    So the reason we came to Cape Town over Christmas was to see a school friend of Taryn’s who was coming out from the UK with her mom and 18 month old daughter for a visit. They all arrived yesterday but for some reason we’re pretty tired from flying direct from the UK with a baby. Who knew?

    So the decision was made to meet up for dinner at Bacini’s at the top of Kloof street for pizza and drinks. Paige also joined us as the plan is to take the kids to Acrobranch tomorrow morning. Much fun was had including seeing Nathan smash a wile slice of pizza in his mouth in one go, Italian kisses and watching someone else run after a one and a half year old.    Read more

  • Pete CairnsCape Town road tripTraveler

    Acrobranch

    December 31, 2019 in South Africa ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    Paige spent the night and in the morning we headed off to Acrobranch in Constantia. It was Kirsten and Nathan’s first time at an Acrobranch (you have to be over 3) but much fun was had. Especially on the zip line which has been Kirsten’s dream for ages!Read more

  • Pete CairnsCape Town road tripTraveler
    Cheers
    Water fight!

    Goodbye 2019

    December 31, 2019 in South Africa ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    Home from Acrobranch meant some swimming time before afternoon naps. Swimming time turned into an epic 3 way water fight. Nathan and Paige were the losers.

    For sundowners and what was supposed to be an early evening we headed down the road to the Airbnb that Jo had rented. Awesome views and a warm swimming pool meant more fun all round.

    What was planned to be a 10pm bedtime turned into seeing the fireworks over Cape Town with Jo and Julie. Kirsten and Nathan also made an appearance thinking tat it was raining. This was our cue to head home and a bit of a nap.    Read more

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