Travelog for: Purple Bun

We took a ride to Northcliff Ridge to see all the beautiful views of Johannesburg. There is a water tower at the top of the ridge.



Here is the whole gang together.



This is the view to the north, Vicki's house is out there somewhere... Grape Ape, Sputnik and I were trying to spot it!



The tall buildings in the distance are in Sandton where most of the businesses have moved to, away from downtown Johannesburg.



Aaah, some quiet contemplation... the drop is a bit far down there...



Back at Vicki's house, this is the view of Northcliff Ridge from her back garden.



We sat and relaxed at the pool, in the beautiful sunshine. Pity the pool water is still so cold!





And a quick jump on the trampoline with Juanita.



Finally the view from the back garden of the night lights.

Woohoo! Gold Reef City!!





It is a theme park built around the old gold mine and with rides such as miner's revenge, the golden eye, runaway train, etc. It is a small version of any theme park found in America or anywhere else in the world. We all had a great time, the children went on every ride but we were only allowed on the 'safer' ones, Vicki was scared we would get lost or wet!
The roller coaster was a LOT of FUN!!




We all had to relax and to catch out breaths for a while.



Here we are with animals that the children won as prizes playing ball games.



Not quite the London Eye, but a huge ferris wheel anyway!



We had a fun packed day...

The children are on holiday from school so we get a trip out almost every day, YAY! Today we are visiting Origins Centre.
We went together with Mrs C, her children and all her TV's too!!



Vicki sat us all on this map of Africa to take a photo.



The museum was very interesting, all about the origins of humankind and concentrating on the San people (Bushmen) of Southern Africa and other early tribes found here.
Many philanthropic people tried to help the ancient tribes and record some of their history as they saw that the European settlers were exterminating them. Ms Lloyd and her uncle were such people.



The Eland is an antelope which has strong significance in the beliefs of the San people and the 'Trance Dance' was inspired by it too. The San danced themselves into a trance, for rain and to get strength from the spirits.





We went into a large hall with wall hangings telling the myths and legends of the San.



The museum was also full of rock paintings and carvings and there were replicas of the carvings in this cement floor.



This is an example of Khoe engraving.



Poems and messages were recorded in books and on these bones so that people might read them, remember and not allow history to repeat itself.








Whew! That was a bit heavy going! Quite sad, need to go home and rest.

Today we visited Mrs C to fetch Jubilee Bunny. We were going on holiday and she was coming with us. We all posed for a group photo!



Sooo many toyvoyagers visiting in South Africa at the same time, it's great!

We packed our bags, there was great excitement, everyone talking together.... we got on the plane and almost two hours later we were in a town called George, situated on the beautiful Garden Route in the Western Cape.



Our first stop was the Wilderness Beach. It was beautiful but unfortunately the water was very cold!





Nicholas and Juanita took us to feel the water which was freezing! We decided to sit on the car bonnet and admire the scenery rather.



Sputnik and Holiday Harry were getting up to there pranks again!! Hope Vicki doesn't drive off now...



This is the view from the top of the hill. Just hold on tight Juanita please! It is a looong way down! A really pretty place though.



Around the corner, the river joins the sea and the railway bridge crosses over the Keurbooms River.



Sitting by the toasty fire at Vicki's step sister, Melinda's, house. It's quite chilly outside.





I could just doze off right here....

Woke up to this beautiful view of the mountains.



We watched some of the Olympic games on this huge television set!!



We were off to Oudtshoorn for some sightseeing. First stop the swing bridge. Nicholas was shaking the bridge as we walked across and making it swing and Juanita was shouting at him, we were all laughing.







Went to buy ostrich biltong for Vicki's stepfather. Biltong is a dried meat that is eaten all over South Africa as a snack and here it is made from ostrich meat. This meat has become very popular as it is cholesterol free. Personally, I think I'll stick to vegetables!



Oudtshoorn is full of beautiful old buildings built during the ostrich feather boom.



The weather in Oudtshoorn was glorious and we drove through the Outeniqua mountains to get back to George, through the clouds.





We stopped at a viewing point but it was so cold nobody wanted to venture out of the bag. We were all cuddled up and warm!





Abeeku, the teeniest of us all, couldn't see a thing out the top of the bag, so he volunteered to come out and see the view.

And what a stunning view! Whew! Pity is was so misty and cloudy, you couldn't really see George in the distance. The dirt road is the old Montague Pass road which was the first road made to cross over the mountains. Eventually Jubilee Bunny and I decided we would have a quick look...

We loaded up the car and together with Vicki's Mom and Juanita (Vicki's daughter) and Nicholas (Vicki's son)(the men had to stay behind and work!), Vicki drove us along the Garden Route to the Sunshine Coast and Port Alfred.

We drove over many rivers with beautifully designed bridges. The Storms River Bridge is one of the famous ones with it's deep gorge below. The story goes that the Italian architect who designed the bridge commited suicide by jumping off it because when the two sides were lowered they didn't meet exactly in the middle, there was a gap of a few centimetres!! It was raining so Vicki didn't take us out of the car.



We finally arrived (500km later...) at this most beautiful hotel. It was called the Fish River Sun



Here we are getting some fresh air and admiring the fish pond at the entrance of the hotel.





This is where we were staying for the next week, yay!! Ooooh, what bliss! Vicki said there was a nature reserve on the hotel estate, I wonder if there are any bunnies there??

The Fish River Sun is actually 27km away from Port Alfred, so we took the little drive (after yesterday's 500km, it was little!!), and went to Port Alfred to do some sight seeing.





The whole area is very picturesque! And Vicki took lots of photos...

We drove down the East Bank and the West Bank of the Kowie River, which the town is built around. Hey! The beach!! Stop! We want to get out! I bet this water is freezing too... Juanita went to feel the water and said it was icy!



 



Vicki did some fancy photo stitching. This is the beautiful marina. There are five islands with stunning homes on them and people get around by boat.





Vicki said she could get used to this life, she wishes she could win the Lotto. Pity she can't become a toyvoyager, now that's the life!!

What many people don't know about Vicki, is that she is CRAZY about lighthouses! (And windmills but that's another story...). So here we are visiting the Great Fish Point lighthouse. South African Lighthouses. Lighthouse Adventures.







Once again, we held on tight (what is it with these people and heights!?) and went up the 58 stairs to the top. This is the shortest lighthouse in South Africa. The guided tour was very interesting, the lighthouse keeper even showed us the original clockwork mechanism that was wound up every four hours. Now everything is automatic and generator driven.

 

The view from the top. Wow!





On the way back to the hotel we stopped at a little town called Bathhurst, which was established by the 1820 settlers who came from Britain to settle in the Cape. Here is the church that was built by them. The whole area has been declared a national monument.



Enough for one day.... 'Home James'!

Aaaah! A beautiful sunshine day and we get to sit on the beach and feel the sand between our toes / hooves / paws, etc.



Holiday Harry pulled out the towel and sunglasses and caught quite a tan!



We walked down to the water and looked in the rock pools. The beaches are pristine, white, clean and untouched. Lots of shells around too. We gathered so many, we had to off load them into the bag. I jumped all over the place, it was lovely to have so much wide open space!

 



Vicki organised for a hotel guide to take us for a drive, on a tuc-tuc, through the nature reserve. We saw a few animals but no bunnies! They're probably fightened and hide away.

 

 

Vicki's Mom couldn't help but feed this poor Vervet monkey. It didn't have any hands, poor thing.

 

After the beach, we came to relax at the pool. The pool was heated, everyone was happy!! They had a lovely swim (and rinsed off the salt and sand!), even Vicki!! I just rinsed my paws off in the water, as you know I don't really like getting wet!

Time to say farewell to Fish River Sun and Port Alfred and move on.... we will miss you, what a lovely stay.



Some of the TV's were mumbling and grumbling about all the travelling in the car. Vicki told them to stop copmplaining, 'South Africa is a big country guys, if you want to see the places, you have to travel the distances!' That's what she said, and it seems her children know the drill, they said nothing! Anyway today's travelling wasn't too bad, only about 250kms! We stopped along the way and bought pineapples, they were huge!
Twelve pineapples for R15! Now that's a bargain! Vicki's Mom was excited, she loves pineapples.

 

Another stop in Port Elizabeth to visit the small oceanarium they have there. A bit disappointing but the dolphins were very friendly, they wanted to play with the ball all the time. Vicki says the Ushaka Marine World in Durban is much better to visit. Maybe I'll get to see it some day?? Vicki's Mom lives in Durban.





And pengiuns...



Back on the road again, not far to Cape St Francis.





Hooray! The end of the road for today....

Off to Jeffreys Bay, one of the famous surfing sights of the world!! Only the weather is a bit miserable and there don't seem to be too many waves to talk of. Not a surfer in sight! This beach must be sooo busy at Christmas time, when all the schools are on holiday and the weather is warm!





We had coffee and walked around the shops. There are ladies who make figurines from the shells to make money.


Jeffreys Bay is about 15 km from the St Francis area. St Francis Bay, Port St Francis and Cape St Francis all make up the greater St Francis area. We are staying at Port St Francis, in a place called Anchorage, it's real pretty!

Another day, another lighthouse!

This one is the Cape St Francis Seal Point lighthouse!





This time there were 157 stairs and Vicki made it almost half way and turned back. The stairs were too narrow and too steep. She gave the camera to Juanita who carried on up to the top but we came back with Vicki. Here's the view from the top though. The lighthouse is the highest concrete structure in the area.



And the narrow stairs...



We walked on the rocks beneath the lighthouse and collected some shells.





There is a penguin rehabilitation centre next to the lighthouse but it was locked up and we couldn't go in, we saw the penguins through glass windows and a fence.



This was the view from our room at our apartment in Port St Francis. Anchorage is made up of various apartments and has a mediterranean look.



This was the view from the balcony with the sea and the beach behind us, we could watch the boats come into the harbour. Vicki's stepfather (he met us in Port St Francis) went and bought calamari (chokka) from the fishermen and cooked it for them! They all said it was deelicious and Jubilee Bunny and I got special creamed spinach, yum!



Here's the harbour which was a short walk away from our apartment.





Vicki's stepfather collected mussels off the beach too (yes, you have to have a licence and for collecting shells too!) and they cooked and ate them too. Not for me thanks.... I'll stick to my veggies.

Our last day at St Francis, aaaaahhh! We were having a fantastic time. Relaxing on the beach (they had a pool here too but it was not heated, so nobody volunteered to brave the water, brrr!), taking walks, taking afternoon naps (hmmm!), playing cards and games, etc.
With Vicki around, we had to get some sight seeing done too! She found out that we missed visiting a lighthouse in Port Elizabeth (when we went to the oceanarium), and was most upset!
SO we decided to visit the Seal Point lighthouse one more time, at night time to see what it looked like in the dark!!



Really beautiful!

We packed our bags and back into the car ( some quiet mumbling that Vicki didn't hear...), we drove back along the Garden Route to George. Luckily we stopped along the way to stretch our legs and see the sights!

First stop was the famous Bloukrans Bridge, apparently the world's highest Bungy Jump!! Not for me thank you! But Holiday Harry was keen. Vicki said that there was an age restriction, you have to be over 18. Thank goodness, because Juanita was dying to go and Vicki's Mom said if she was 20 years younger she would have done it too!! Poor Vicki!!



We watched a few people jump and my stomach jumped too!! It was exciting to watch though.



We drove through the Tsitsikamma Forest and the next stop was Plettenberg Bay. Vicki drove us to Robberg Beach, (she knows the area well because her family used to come to the Beacon Isle Hotel for holidays when she was young), and there we saw a whale!! In the shallow waters rolling around and playing, flicking it's tale. Not easy to get a photo of though!



In the car for the last stretch, the TV's remembered not to grumble!! I was enjoying the scenery, so I wasn't bothered.
We drove past George onto Mosselbay. I was confused, weren't we going to George?? Another very picturesque town. Vicki decided since it was only 40kms from George, we should get to see it too!



And then we discovered why Vicki thought it was a good idea to see Mosselbay.....



ANOTHER LIGHTHOUSE!!!
That makes it three in one holiday!! And Vicki reminded us it could have been four if we hadn't missed Cape Recife in Port Elizabeth! Juanita said she wasn't getting out the car!! She missed out, it was very pretty. Unfortunately (or fortunately!?) we arrived too late and the lighthouse keeper had already locked up.

We did get to walk around a bit, more beautiful vistas...



There were Rock dassies everywhere. They lived in the rocks around the lighthouse. No bunnies??



Back home in George, we had supper and prepared for the journey back to Johannesburg on Saturday. Vicki was not keen to go back to the 'rat race', she was happy to keep on driving, looking for more lighthouses.... nobody commented!