Blog 7 Hermanus

It is a universal fact that the WIFI signal is going to be rubbish at whatever accommodation you stay at – regardless of where you are in the world. Emma gave me a row this morning because she said I never report on the scrapes I get into, only the ones she gets into - I say ‘she who writes the blog controls what goes into it’ 😊 However. I will confess that in trying to get a better signal yesterday in our beautiful Franschhoek guest house, I went to sit down by the office – when I got there, I had to ask one of the other guests to let me in because the door was stuck….. it wasn’t – remember that key fob thingy? I didn’t. They let me in, and then all of the staff went home (giving me the access code to their own wifi in the process, (sadly it was no better) and when it came time for me to get ready for dinner, I could not get out! I was locked into the lounge. I had to call Emma and ask her to bring the key and let me out – she was mid-way getting ready so had to quickly dress in a dressing gown and walking shoes and come and rescue me… so it is not just Emma that gets locked in.

On to today.

We left our beautiful guesthouse and drove over towards our next stop, Hermanus. We stopped on the way at Hangklip lighthouse (what3words frolic.onto.allay) – pretty enough, but we could not really get close to it.

We stopped for a quick lunch and a coffee at the lemon and lime deli (what3words comply.wharfs.toolboxes) and went on to Stony Point Penguin colony where we had our second up close and personal view of these little cuties. They are called Jackass Penguins because of the noise they make – they sound like braying donkeys.

We drove on to Hermanus to find our accommodation – I have not mentioned how beautiful the drive was, it was stunning, but sadly I don’t have any pictures as I was too busy enjoying it 😊

At one point we were flagged down by some men with red flags - they were baboon spotters and were slowing the traffic because a troop of baboons were crossing the road! This country is amazing.

We reached our gaff for the next two nights, (what3words pastels.relient.amounts) On The Cliff Guesthouse, and you know you are in for a treat when it takes almost 2 minutes to video your room! It is a huge suite, with a lounge, bedroom, bathroom and dressing room – but only 3 balconies! I am not sure that is enough 😊

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/ccc3e4_aa0ac118fba144598f4c38ebbf6de016/360p/mp4/file.mp4

There is a pool though, which is open 24 hours, so perhaps a swim later?

We checked in just in time for afternoon tea (yum) and headed out for a walk along the cliffs into town – I am not sure how many pics I took of the seascape – it looked different around every bend (and there was a lot of bends) but sadly the sea was a little too rough today so no ad hoc sightings of whales.

there is a fabulous pool to swim in, perhaps we will give it a go tomorrow…

We walked into town and mooched around the shops then went for tea at a place called the Wooden Barrel – I was not hungry, but EJ fancied a burger – I could not let her eat alone so I ordered the prawns that were on special and swapped rice for chips OMG delicious! I used to know how to eat prawns (remove the heads and legs etc) but I have clearly forgotten – I did not care, they were gorgeous! Emma’s burger was fabulous too. Total cost, including a pint of shandy - yes, we had been asking for the wrong thing, we should have just asked for a beer shandy, not a lager shandy!- and a strawberry daiquiri £23!

The waiter turned out to be from London (UK) and he is studying chemical engineering over here with a view to going into the gas or oil industry – of course Emma ended up giving him careers advice – she just cannot help it!

We walked back to the hotel and called in at the Pick and Pay supermarket to look for some wine that had been recommended by a relative who is South African, she said it is tastier than anything we will have had on our wine tastings!

….. we couldn’t find it, until I looked in the carton of wine section, and we ended up buying one carton of rose and one carton of white – total cost £4!!! They are both currently chilling in the fridge until EJ gets out of the bath and I finish writing this blog, then we are going to enjoy our humongous suite and pick a sofa each and watch a movie 😊

Yes, I did say bath – she is currently watching the sunset sat in a huge bubble bath – what a place this is.

We will sit on one of our 3 balconies and drink this!

Whale Watching tomorrow – fingers crossed for calm seas and good sightings.

Update – the rose wine is open and delicious – great £2 well spent 😊