Outdoor fun with the family

Jul 142012
 

Out­door fun with the fam­ily was on the agenda last Sun­day.  It is win­ter here, but we’ve only seen a hand­ful of really cold days.  Sun­day turned out to be a beau­ti­ful warm day and that just begs for some out­door activ­ity.  It involved loads of adven­ture too — per­fect for stu­dents on holiday.

Sure there is a story behind the story and it goes like this …

A while ago our eldest daugh­ter, Bianca, can home with a moun­tain bike.  It wasn’t too long or her sis­ter fol­lowed suit.  My fam­ily love spend­ing time out­doors and that did it — Layne didn’t waste any time get­ting him­self a bike and Dae­gan got one for his birth­day last week.  I’m the only one still con­sid­er­ing my options, but the die is pretty much cast!

A very proud Layne with all the girls

Although we live in the city, there are quite a few nature reserves in close prox­im­ity.  The clos­est being Groen­kloof Nature reserve — a mere 15 min­utes drive from home — where most of last Sun­day was spent.  For those who have bicy­cles, there are loads of tracks rang­ing in level of dif­fi­culty; for the more reserved bunch, hik­ing trails.  The rest stay at the base and see to refresh­ments.  A typ­i­cal ses­sion lasts around 45 min­utes and their return is marked by teas­ing, com­par­i­son of speed, moan­ing about wounds (yes!) and hunger pangs.  Vast quan­ti­ties of fruit and nuts are con­sumed before they set off again.

Outdoor fun

Illanka

Family fun

Dae­gan, Layne & Illanka tak­ing a break at the top.  The zebra in the back­ground wasn’t their only ani­mal encounter.  They also came across a giraffes, water­buck and wilde­beest in the reserve.

Family fun

Dae­gan, wait­ing for the pack to catch up.

Family fun

Zane & Bianca back at the base after round 1

Illanka get­ting a hug from mom (that’s me!); cel­lu­lar phone in hand ready to add a few pic­tures on Face­book.  Talk about (almost) live coverage

Rid­ing makes you hun­gry and they arrive back in time for the braai - the South African ver­sion of a barbecue.  Late after­noon arrived too soon and with that it was time to pack up.

Need­less to say, the evening was spent nurs­ing aching mus­cles and sev­eral scrapes.  Too much adven­ture and fresh air sent them all off to bed rather early.  But not before plan­ning the next adventure…

 

 

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Teremok Marine

Jun 302012
 

Along the trop­i­cal belt of KwaZulu-Natal, nes­tled amongst the palm and giant milk­wood trees lies Ter­emok Marine, a lux­u­ri­ous five-star bou­tique lodge. Ter­emok Marine Bou­tique Hotel and Spa is one of those rare places with a won­der­ful his­tory but is thor­oughly contemporary.

Built in the late 1950’s, Ter­emok was intended as the hol­i­day home of a Russ­ian trav­eller. Aptly named, as the word means ‘lit­tle hide­away’ – and a hide­away it cer­tainly is.  Sit­u­ated just a kilo­me­tre from the hus­tle and bus­tle of Umh­langa village’s shops, restau­rants and pop­u­lar beaches, Ter­emok is a haven of tran­quil­lity nes­tled among ancient milk­wood trees.

All eight suites are unique in design, lay­out and feel with small sub­tleties like indi­vid­ual scent and mood-music, cre­at­ing an enchant­ing atmos­phere. Each suite trans­lates some of the house’s her­itage through decor and art. The atten­tion to detail and com­mit­ment to mak­ing guests feel at home is evi­dent through­out — a feast for the senses indeed. We stayed in the Zodiac Suite and were totally enchanted, but it is cer­tainly worth drag­ging your­self away from your suite for the deli­cious break­fast served alfresco or for a truly indul­gent treat­ment in the Spa.

Ter­emok is the per­fect com­bi­na­tion of all the things that make for a fab­u­lous break.

 

via houseandleisure.co.za; http://www.teremok.co.za

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Babylonstoren

Jun 232012
 

I’ve always wanted to visit Baby­lon­storen and if I could have my way it would be this weekend.

Baby­lon­storen is a Cape Dutch farm with vine­yards and orchards sur­rounded by the dra­matic moun­tains of the Drak­en­stein Val­ley. Roughly 60 km out­side of the city of Cape Town, South Africa, it has an excep­tion­ally well–preserved werf dat­ing from 1690.  The gar­den is at the heart of the farm.  It was inspired by the Com­pany Gar­dens of the Cape, where for cen­turies ships would replen­ish with sweet water, veg­eta­bles and fruit at the halfway sta­tion between Europe and Asia.  It also hales back to the myth­i­cal gar­den of Baby­lon.

The gar­den lies behind the main house and bor­ders the guest suites.  Every one of over 300 vari­eties of plants is edi­ble.  The gar­den is divided into fif­teen clus­ters span­ning veg­etable areas, berries, bees, indige­nous plants, ducks and chick­ens and includes a prickly pear maze.  Grav­ity feeds water into water­ways from streams into the gar­den as it was done for 300 years.

I can imag­ine wan­der­ing around smelling indige­nous herb gar­dens, blos­soms and flow­ers from what­ever may be in bloom.  Can you think of a bet­ter way to spend the after­noon than at the glass enclosed restau­rant or under the Plain trees in the courtyard?

 

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{ Don’t Forget }

Jun 222012
 

I can’t believe it is Fri­day already!

The week has flown by and the week­end is going to be even busier.  We’ve joined up with a few entre­pre­neurs from our local com­mu­nity and are wildly busy with prepa­ra­tions for a win­ter hol­i­day exhibition.

A lit­tle reminder to myself and you…

Don't forget

 

House envy: Get away bungalow in Southern France

Jun 162012
 

Fash­ion designer John Rocha knows how to design. How­ever his pared-down, sim­ple vaca­tion bun­ga­low in St. Jean–Cap-Ferrat, France stands in stark con­trast to his edgy and dark-cloaked run­way models.

This bun­ga­low is where he comes to relax and clear his mind. It’s no sur­prise then that the archi­tec­ture is com­posed of uncom­pli­cated geom­e­try, white walls, Ital­ian lime­stone and a trop­i­cal (back­yard) oasis with a slate infin­ity pool.

Absolutely gor­geous; it’s one of my all-time favourites.

 

 

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