A quick note – I didn't write too many notes for today's events. So I'm basing things on the sparse notes that I have and my Teflon memory...
After a very good night's sleep in the very comfortable bed, we (at least I) got up early and hung around the yard looking at birds, both wild backyard birds and "domesticated" birds. Like our hostess' black swans. The guard swans. You don't mess with swans. We then had a very tasty breakfast...
South African breakfasts are interesting. At least the breakfasts served to tourists; I hope they don't eat like this all the time. You usually start with some cold cereal or maybe oatmeal, followed by fruit salad and yoghurt (sometimes these two are switched around), followed by eggs along with bacon, or sausage, or fried tomatoes, or fried mushrooms, or all of the above :) That's a lot of food...
We started with fruit salad and yoghurt, followed with eggs and bacon and sausage (don't remember what else) and toast, along with some coffee. It was all very tasty and filling. While we were eating, one of the hostess' dogs approached me and sat down next to my chair, looking at me with her big brown sad eyes (more extreme than the photo shown), as if she hadn't been fed for weeks hehe... very funny...
Dogs are very popular pets in South Africa. While one may think that people would want them as guard dogs, because of the crime and all, it seems like people genuinely enjoy having dogs for the sake of companionship. At least this was the case here at The View and in other places we visited, both this year and last year.
After breakfast, we headed towards our next destination, Howick, in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands. Here are some of the highlights of the drive over:
Sterkfontein Dam Nature Reserve. We really didn't have time to look around here, but there are supposed to be loads of birds. The scenery is also very beautiful...
The Amphitheatre (Northern Drakensberg). The view of it though; we didn't actually climb it or anything. Quite spectacular.
I would have loved to stay longer in the Northern Drakensberg (and the Midlands too for that matter), and at the very least see Royal Natal National Park (we skipped this due to lack of time). However, as someone (*cough* *cough*) insisted on wine tours, I had to compromise on certain things, as that someone was going to do all the driving ;-) The positive side was that we got a nice “sampler” of everything and ideas of what we would like to do "in depth" next time...
Bergville B&B/Restaurant. We had lunch here. I'm not sure how much it's a "highlight" compared to, say, the gorgeous mountains, but it was a rather amusing place. We had hamburgers with lots of stuff in it – cheese, bacon, a fried egg, sausage, pineapple... It was very strange, and very filling, and actually tasted pretty good... :-) The milkshake I ordered, however, was not so good. Bah...
Nottingham Road Brewing Company. Finally, something for Mini Wolfgang to enjoy! ;-) A proper microbrewery with lots of good things to drink! Unfortunately, we arrived too late for a tour and talk about the brewery. But we were able to buy stuff in the shop – a t-shirt each and some beer to take with us to Stocklands Farm, where we were going to be spending the night. I also had a "sampler" of four different kinds of brew, all named after animals. They included the Tiddly Toad Lager, the Pye-Eyed Possum Pilsner, the Whistling Weasel Pale Ale, and the Pickled Pig Porter. I liked the Pale Ale best. Boyfriend of feitpingvin could only take a sip of each, as he was driving. Mini Wolfgang took more than just a sip, and ended up drinking most of everything ;-)
(To those of you tuning in for the first time, Mini Wolfgang is my travelling penguin. He loves beer and wine more than he loves life itself. This can sometimes cause trouble when we visit wineries and breweries.)
We finally made it to Stocklands Farm late in the afternoon. We had originally hoped to stay in Nottingham Road, but everything was booked. This was the Heritage Day weekend so it was difficult to find accommodation at all in the area. So when a room was available in Stocklands Farm, we took it right away. And we don't regret it one bit!
The farm area itself is huge and has lots of gardens, perfect for attracting birds. Our hostess said she started planting a lot of indigenous plants and flowers, and once she did that all the birds showed up. The farm is also right next to a game reserve, so there's the chance of seeing game animals, though from behind the fence.
Our room (uh, "apartment") was very nice and cosy... check out the teddy bears on the bed! ;-)
Dinner was at Yellowwood Café at Fairfell Farm, about 500 meters away from Stocklands. Neither one of us was really hungry for some reason or other. I ordered tagliatelle with shrimp and calamari in a tomato sauce, and boyfriend of feitpingvin had pasta with asparagus, bacon, goat cheese, and cream sauce. It was excellent, but we could barely eat half of our portions and ended up taking the leftovers back to Stocklands with us, just in case we got hungry later on. (Our "apartment" had a fridge.)
We chatted a little bit with a retired couple, who told us that there were a lot of retirement communities/housing in Howick. I don't really blame them for wanting to live there. It's nice and peaceful.
The evening was spent drinking the beer we bought earlier, as well as some wine, and watching rugby on TV...
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