8/3/2011

Random morning involving eating egg soldiers and then walking along a ghostly misty Bloubergstrand. Visited a couple of nice malls, one with a giant chess board and then dined out.

Danie took us on another scenic drive through the countryside via hills, vineyards, farms and arid land, as well as nice properties on the seafront at Melkbosstrand and an estate called Burgundy's with a golf course and houses fetching very little in English terms!

Don't know if it was pancake day but we had about nine each and that was the first time I've had them in years.

Almost dropped one of Thea's really expensive ornaments shifting stuff ready for the carpet to be cleaned in the morning!

9/3/2011

Another day of helping out cleaning and doing jobs, and another day of great weather whilst breaking it up with dips in the pool.

Smashed Jack at pool and 7-balled him, meaning he had to run around the table with his pants down but fortunately for him there was only me (and maybe Thea if she was spying) as he hopped over the pool queue with his kaks down!

Been getting into the old routine of only watching discovery, channel, films and sport but in the evening Christo whipped us up some more delightfully sweet South African food and took us to Canal Walk Mall.

I spent about seven quid on sweets as I haven't had pick n mix in ages!

Christo is a South African legend that loves his horse-racing, gambling, macdonalds, wimpys (despite being a great cook), coca-cola and South American women!

I watched Spurs make it to the Champs League quarter-finals so I went to bed very happy.

10/3/2011

Today we should have been flying to India but instead we were helping Thea with shopping and cleaning etc and visited a cafe where I drank this amazing blueberry cheesecake frappe!

We got tickets for another Stormers match and then Thea's Irish neighbour came over for you guessed it, some awesome food.

11/3/2011

Cleaned Thea's BMW, watched cricket, sunbathed and swam most of the day.

We had a braai at a playing field, playing some cricket and rugby, attempting drop-goals (which I was surprisingly ok at) before going to watch the Stormers beat New Zealand's Dunedin Highlanders 18-6.

A bit peeved though considering we had been to two matches and not seen one try! Yet the Stormers had won every game!

Avoided the traffic with some beers and then enjoyed Ruan's pumping music in his car, a whiskey at Danie's (great with water!) and dropped home following dropping off Jesse's gf Jade. Her dog barked at me, they seem to hate me now and I wonder if it is because of the tan because they always bark at the blacks! Weird.

Massive earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

12/3/2011

More cricket and rugby watching tpday but in the evening after Jesse let us down as his love was ill, Ruan to the rescue and we went out with his girlfriend and his mates. Went to an Afrikaans club called Klipwerf where we saw one of the Stormers players, drank vanilla-vodka coke and danced all night trying to perform 'langarm' which was hilarious.

Pretty much twisting and turning with your partner and all that. Maccies on the way home and we crashed at Ruan's. This was at 5am when his parents were just heading out to begin a huge cycling race in the area!

13/3/2011

Standard day cleaning, working, eating great food and watching sports with England beating the Jocks at rugby!

14/3/2011

Big gardening day, digging roots, planting, spreading compost and all that! So nice to get all hot and dive in an awesome pool!

Got stung by a bee in the soil, glad it wasn't the spider I had just seen! Jack also had a big rain spider in his bathroom last night. They literally look like tarantulas.

Thea kindly made a box of blueberry muffins! Another super braai which Jack mastered and I assisted and cleaned. Van Wilder 3 was on tv but wasn't sure if it was appropriate to watch with Thea in the next room!

15/3/2011

Another standard day but went for a braai at Jade's family's and had plenty to drink. Crackers with cheese and sweet chilli, pesto etc was scrumptious. I'm definitely mentioning food here too much but it's the best thing about travelling really!

Ended up smoking a bit of sheesha. They had all kinds of flavours from orange to redbull and bubblegum.

16/3/2011

Another spell of gardening to please Thea and then treated her eating out at a Chinese.

Ruan took us out again with his gf and her sister. We hit the bar Che and then the wine/uni town of Stellenbosch. Damn that was some good nightlife. Ruan is hilarious with his chanting, dancing and light racism!

17/3/2011

Some unbelievable food at a cafe where they wrote messages in sauce on Thea and Jack's plates but not mine! They had 'made with love' and 'just for you' and I just had a splodge!

Watched England's intense win over the Windies and had a final dinner with Maureen, Christo, Darren, Jesse and Jade. Said goodbye to Darren.

18/3/2011

Gardening and packing, didn't end up golfing or watching the cricket at Newlands but did end up having a final night out.

Sheesha, telling the South Africans that they won't win the world cup in cricket or rugby (been right about one so far) drinking fishbowls at Che and then to a house party. Random driving on the way, Ruan got lost and took us on a huge detour.

Tonnes of us squeezed in Ruan's car and at Jesse's, Christo prepped us with some spicy samosas and that as we were flying to India the next day. Didn't sleep at all and they took us straight to the airport after saying our goodbyes.

Thea was sad to see us leave I think, we were definitely sad as she was lovely, her food was great and it was nice to relax for a couple of weeks.