A Stellenbosch Weekend

Saturday 5 - Sunday 6 February

To find Stellenbosch, first find Cape Town and then work your way East.

I write this one while sitting on Gillian's couch in Kleinmond, with the mountains watching over me through the front door, Rijk tapping on the computer nearby and the comforting sounds of Audrey and Gillian chatting in the sitting room next door. 

On Friday night (4th Feb, Stellenbosch) we ate dinner out on the stoop in Audrey's front garden.  Audrey (in her 80s) has a day bed set up outside and to the horror of her fellow village residents sleeps outside most summer nights.  Over the weekend I will finally pick up her book, written to her grandchildren, and learn the truth to the myths of my adventurous Great Aunt.

Audrey is the twin sister to Great Aunt Joy, whose paddock Jono and I were married in in October.  Hod is still a very active member of the community and busies herself finding suitable candidates for her tertiary education bursary, as well as many other projects.  In her youth she trained as a doctor and was the first female flying doctor in Australia.  Years later she moved to Rhodesia to work on a mission and she told me last night that I should skip ahead in her book to read about the surgical case with the hippo bite victim… I couldn't bare to skip ahead, so I'll have to tell you how that goes when I pick up the book again when we catch up with the family before the UK jaunt.  She has scaled mountains, mended wallabies, counselled HIV patients, been her sister's first passenger in a tiger moth, followed her instincts and her God and been an inspiration in what one person can achieve.

On the Saturday morning Hod had a birthday do to attend, but dropped us off in town on her way so that we could pick up the car.  Stellenbosch is a beautiful city, it is in the heart of the wine lands and it's plane tree lined streets and Cape Dutch buildings make for a very pleasant first stop on our South African adventure.  Before arriving there, I had told Jono that Stellenbosch was just like a bigger Manuka.  

Church Street and Hod's church.

We headed straight for Java cafe on Church St and from there onto some local handy crafts markets where I rebought a string of beads I'd gotten myself on my last visit, but had been confiscated by customs when I returned to Australia.


Next up, we hit the local organic markets which happened to be in the vineyard right next door to Hod's place and within easy walking distance.  It was like heaven's gates walking into that place!  There was a stall dedicated to mushrooms, a cocktail bar, beers, wines, cheeses, breads, biltong, cakes, olives, kebabs, crafts, clothes.  My favourite scene were a couple of guys held up at a bench.  On the table, a loaf of bread, a selection of cheeses and a bottle of wine… On the grass people were spread out picnicing their way through the morning.  It was bliss!

Chicken pie for dinner

Beer and

Kebab for lunch

Bliss

Happy Days

After a feast and a nap, Hod then took us for afternoon tea at Jonkershoek nature reserve, just out of town - a mecca for mountain bikers and hikers.  Afterwards we stopped in with some very distant (but I count them all) family, who had adopted Hod's dog, for more tea and a chat and a visit with Spencer, the Golden Retriever.  Isabel's house was a typical Cape Dutch place nestled into the trees between Jonkershoek and Stellenbosch and the tea and the chat made me feel right at home.


We returned the next morning to Jonkershoek for a 10km 'trail' (well, trail in my mind but probably not in someone like Rolo's). It was stunning scenery with mountains rising on either side of us and the mist pouring down into the valley.

After a coffee recovery we then headed out with Hod and her stepdaughter, Margaret, for a family Sunday lunch in Franschhoek (French Quarter) where we would meet up with some more family and again feel like we were at home in this dangerous, beautiful country.

The Sunday South African Connection. With Audrey, Margaret, Rochelle, Courtney and Charles.

 That evening, the three of us headed back to the vineyard next door for a picnic on the grass and a concert.  The music wasn't exactly the style of any of us, but I at least liked lying on the grass under the trees and enjoying where we were - music in the foreground, mountains in the background.