South Africa

The flight from Perth to Johannesburg took almost eleven hours and set our watches back six hours. The flight on a South African Airways Airbus was the best flight we have had so far. The plane, the food and the service were all first class and we only paid business class! The flight was even on time all the way.

Sadly, at Johannesburg we transferred to a BA Boeing and things were not nearly as good in any department. We did however keep to schedule and after so many hours in the air we were very grateful for that.

At the airport, we were met by our host for the first four days, Barbara Louw, who did everything possible to make us feel welcome. Going the extra mile, she gave us some very useful contacts to start us off on the right foot for our travels.

We stayed in Gordan’s Bay, about 30 km east of Cape Town for the first few days so that we could settle in easily. It is a beautiful place with great views of Table Mountain and the Cape peninsula.

At the week-end the beach is crowded with South Africans taking the opportunity for a day at the beach. Some people even took their geese with them for a swim.

The restaurants provide great food, perfectly cooked in delightful surroundings. The sunsets, especially, were wonderful.

Once settled we started to explore the beautiful surroundings of this part of the world. We were perfectly placed to explore the Garden Route and some of the countless wineries nearby.

What stood out for us immediately was the fantastic scenery. The roads here pass along, around or over the most amazingly picturesque mountains. Each time we went over a pass, we were rewarded with spectacular views of sandy bays in azure seas or towns set between majestic mountain ranges.

This shot of Franschhoek was one of the few we could get on route as we were unable to stop on most of the passes we used.