Tag Archives: travel

The Natal Midlands breath magic and poetry, there is art in nature and nature in art.  The hills are alive and they sing to you, if you go to Culamoya Chimes this transfers from metaphor to reality.  A breeze blows through you and the cobwebs fall away. Frik and Lola are examples of pure good folk and you feel it …

The Durban Botanical Gardens has been around since 1849.  She is a tranquil, stately green thread running through the history of the city.  A constant on the life line of my journey through life. She calls to comfort and enchant, revealing a new treasure with each visit, previously unexplored or buried in memory.  Always different and always the same. The …

When driving through Rosetta in the Natal Midlands there is one place where we always have to stop.  There is no choice in the matter.  That place is The Wine Cellar.  The cosy wine cellar housing special wines has magnetic allure, however this is not the reason why we must stop.  When we have space in the car and time …

On the trip between Joburg and Durban we stopped at Zandspruit Padstal (about 50km from Harrismith on the N3) for a leg stretch.  As a rule we try to avoid the busy chain food outlets at petrol stations which are overpriced and have zero appeal.  Stopping at a Padstal we feel that the holiday has begun before reaching our destination. …

On our travels we generally feel ‘so many places, so little time’.  We love discovering new locations.  There are only two instances where we return to the same spot repeatedly.  One is Augrabies National Park, the other is Hebron Haven in the Natal Midlands.  We like the accommodation at Augrabies but our reason there is logistical, we are there to …

I chose Thaba Thipa as our destination for Cliff’s birthday weekend away for a few reasons.  It is relatively close to home, just outside Bela Bela (Warmbaths) and only 180 km from our home in Boksburg.  It has 2 swimming pools and for the children there is a jungle gym and an enclosure with farm animals and a few tortoises.  …

On our travels between Johannesburg and Cape Town we have often popped into Veldskoen Padstal in the Hex River valley. On one occasion we picked up a bottle of award winning wine at a very good price. We had never before noticed the lovely outside eating area. On our last visit we happened to be there around lunch time and …

On our way to Cape Town from Johannesburg we stayed at Mokala National Park which was beautiful.  On our return trip they were fully booked.  True to form we had not booked accommodation in advance.  Driving toward Kimberley Cliff reminded me of the lovely place where we stayed on our Honeymoon adventure trip 8 years ago, but we could not remember the …

Butterfly world in the Paarl area of the Western Cape is a lovely outing for parents with Children.  This week we made our 2nd visit to Butterfly world and loved it again.  We met up with Joanne (Fjord’s Godmother) and spent a few hours enjoying the place.  The children were enchanted with the butterflies, Fjord was desperately hoping that one …

If there is somewhere to go for tea and cake on a Saturday afternoon in Paarl we didn’t find it.  The town is so beautiful, if I were to live in the Western Cape it would be my top choice from the areas which we have seen, but on a Saturday afternoon it was impossible to find a tea garden …