Author: Jane Whitaker

Short blog today.

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Good round. My golf was terrible today but we enjoyed ourselves.

Hope to Cormorant and the Darter, either side of the Coot on her nest, don’t eat the chicks –

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Nice place to live –

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xx🐾

Started off with 9 holes of this –

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Saw a little Black Crowned Night Heron –

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Then went to –

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for provisions. Followed by –

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Cooked rubbish calamari for tea! Except for the calamari, a very stress free day.

xx🐾

A lovely start to the day with breakfast –

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And a view of the pool –

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Small dog. Big bone –

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The cats are lovely. They are there to keep the mice and rats down and also to hopefully deter any cobras from entering the garden as they can come down off the mountains when the weather is very dry and hot. (Just like today!!!) –

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Then off to –

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A lovely course just cut out of the hillside over 100 years ago –

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No water shortage here –

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It’s interesting, that here, the Whites only makeup 14% of the population and the 2 main languages spoken are Afrikaans and Xhosa. Quite a change from Cape Town and Strand.

Here’s a photo of my brother’s new addition to the family – Florence Felicia- known as Flick –

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Another great day. Not a lot planned for tomorrow.

xx🐾

We drove over to Worcester through thousands of acres of fruit trees – which were ladened with apples and pears. It’s hard to believe that there are enough people in the world to eat it all. We then passed the main dam for Cape Town’s water and there was barely a drop left. No where to stop for a photo shoot.

Arrived at our B&B in Worcester – Prime Spot – which was fabulous –

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Our room was the one on the left with a lounge full of antique furniture –

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The pool was blissfully refreshing in temperatures of 33C –

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Off to one side was a lovely courtyard –

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This is the guard dog – who is so lovely – Clara –

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Then we decided to visit Karoo Botanical Gardens. –

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Entrance fee was reduced to R5 (30p) due to the fact there was nothing to see –

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Even the cactus looked pretty dried up –

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Unlike this one where we are staying –

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Rest of the afternoon spent swimming, reading, drinking wine then out for diner. Can’t get much better.

xx🐾

Delay to the start of this mornings 9 holes due to drizzle. As soon as it hit the ground it had virtually evaporated.

Then we went off to –

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Also known as the sewerage works for so bird watching but the lakes had dried up a lot since we were here 2 weeks ago –

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There was a group of lesser flamingos in which we hadn’t noticed before ( previous ones were greater flamingos) –

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Percy the pelican taking off –

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A couple of photos taken from the car on the way back. The first is of a small cultivated area where they grow lettuces. All planted by hand in immaculate rows –

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Then a shantytown –

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Plenty of electricity when it’s on and sky dishes but no inside toilets!!

Off out for tea to –

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The only place to eat steak and it was fabulous –

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Another good day. Off to Worcester tomorrow.

xx🐾

Much calmer today. So glad we woke up to this view –

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And not this one in Hamilton. Massive hailstones –

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It was one of these days again but spot the price of a double Bell’s – £1.90p for a DOUBLE –

Lovely view of the back side of Table Mountain –

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Then industry in the other direction –

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Weather vane on the clubhouse –

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Played with a very nice gentleman from Vienna called Bill. Good day. Bird watching tomorrow. We are going inland to a place called Worcester for an away night on Saturday so should get some different photos over the weekend.

xx🐾

It was blowing a gale today and this happened more than once during our morning 9 holes –

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I decided to walk back from the golf course and photograph several of the artefacts people have in their front gardens –

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A farmer perhaps –

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Man with pipe –

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A shady place to rest a while –

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Not sure ?? –

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A pretty entrance to someone’s back door –

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Off tomorrow to Rondebosch for more of this 🏌️🏌🏼‍♀️⛳️.

xx🐾

Woke up to thick low cloud and light dampness in the air – what a change but refreshing. We played 9 holes at the local after breakfast and then decided to visit a local winery and olive plantation as we’d been asked to bring some olive oil back from here –

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You couldn’t seen the wine or olive oil production but here’s a view of part of the wine side –

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We started lunch at their very upmarket restaurant “95” by sampling their selection of oils which were all delicious –

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We then just had a starter each – deep fried calamari and a vegetable terrine with cheese – which was more than enough followed by some lovely coffee whilst looking over their small lake –

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The cloud never really lifted until early evening but it was lovely to enjoy the slightly lower temperatures.

Not a big blog today but a very relaxing day . Not sure what we’re doing tomorrow.

xx🐾

It was a trip up to –

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One of the really top class courses in the area. It’s a little disconcerting when you are given a COMPLIMENTARY-

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Before you even leave the Pro’s shop to apologise for the state of the fairways!!!

And they were right –

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Only grass to be seen was on the tees and greens. Needless to say there weren’t many other people playing so we had a very plesent round in scorching temperatures.

Gordon had a 349 yard drive on the 10th so that puts him up with the like of McIlroy. Well done 🏌️.

The Springboks had a devil of a job looking for food in this dried up lake –

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Not much better when you look another way –

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Not sure what happened to the owner of this board but he’s been long gone –

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xx🐾

Today we decided to drive up to the power station where there is a viewing point over False Bay. A photo to remind you –

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The views were stunning and difficult to capture with my camera lens. This is looking down towards the harbour –

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Then along the coast towards Muisenberg –

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Down onto Strand where we are staying –

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The main road looked a long way down –

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We the descended to visit the next village – appropriately named – Gordon’s Bay. Beach with plenty of people in one direction –

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And not so busy in the opposite direction –

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One little chap cooling off –

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And another chap going in to cool off –

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We went in to cafe area for light refreshments –

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Next to the souvenir shop –

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Wonder how much he paid for this registration plate –

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This afternoon the temperature reached 35C – feels like 40C – on the weather chart!!!

xx🐾