One weekend, we borrowed a car and both me and Sara drove around Stellenbosch, in search of a wine estate to do some wine tasting.
Unfortunately it was a Sunday, and all wine estates closes at 4pm.
We chose to instead enjoy the scenery of the wine estates and took some photos.

Firstly we went to Neethlingshof.
Driving up the imposing stone pine avenue, unfolds Cape Dutch buildings with a beautiful garden.

The pine trees lining up ...











After that we went to Asara.
Asara - The name Asara is derived from the names of the African gods of Earth, Sun and Sky – Astar, Asis & Asase.

Wine tasting is also closed, so we just sat there and chill while eating some food. I got myself a Savana Dry instead - don't really like wines. We spent some time there beside a large lake with geese.



There are plenty of wine estates in Stellenbosch, and it's so cheap! You can have wine tasting - 4 to 6 wines for only R25.

Labels: Asara, Neethlingshof, stellenbosch, wine estates

scribbled @5:13 AM

Two weekends ago, we went to the other side of Western Cape, all along the way to Hermanus.
We first ate at Mooiberge, a farmstall where everyone who drives pass it will be greeted by a lot of scarecrows, scary for crows, cute for human :)
You can also pick strawberrys at the farm - i didn't pick because i don't eat strawberries. We just spent some time there to have our brunch and took some pictures.





After our lovely brunch of mushroom chicken burgers, we stopped by at Strand.
The beach is big and looks endless. The waves are big enough for surfing.
But ahhhh , the water is cold! I'm used to warm water in Malaysia :(
But the water is definitely a lot cleaner.
Imagine further away there are whales and sharks and seals. Cool.
In Malaysia i can only imagine there will be plastic bags, paper cups, mud, >.< onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Y8p1NVtall0/SRxwY0tvo0I/AAAAAAAAA9o/1Gwm9lROpzU/s1600-h/tn_IMG_0138.JPG">





Lovely seagulls everywhere in near the beach, they look so nice and free.



We then made our way to Hermanus, but the scenic drive along the way is breathtaking..



In Hermanus... to see the whales!! I didn't go for the boat ride though. According to Zen, during the boatride there will be lots of whales swimming around your boat! I will definitely go for the boatride when my parents are here :)



Whale's tail from far away.. see the black speck? Very exciting when u can see the water go PSSHHHHHHT out !





The lovely shops at Hermanus which allow you to look at the whales while drinking a cup of hot cocoa.



After spending some time at Hermanus, Ian took us for a ride along the coast. We passed by Betty's Bay, Sir Lowre's Pass, Gordon's Bay, and many other bays. Lol.
As the time when we got home is during sunset... it was super super beautiful!





At Gordon's Bay, while trying to find a toilet, we stumbled upon a big, big, big, 2nd hand book store. The books there range from really old books /magazines (Mandy for Girls, Reader's Digest in those old old thick cover type) to new Harry Potter books. And the best thing is - they are really cheap. Harry Potter books , original ones ; selling for R50 or so.
And they books (old hardcover types) are in so nice condition. I was really tempted to buy them but i know it will be very heavy for me to carry them home. If they are in Malaysia, i would have buy a big book cupboard just to store all those books. This is a must visit for Mummy :p

The pictures is not doing any justice to the size of this place, but i took a video of it. Lazy to upload the video here, takes too long .







Hmm. The next trip i will buy at least a few books - i dont care! :P

Labels: Betty's Bay, Gordon's Bay, Hermanus, Mooiberge, Strand

scribbled @2:21 AM

I have not been updating this blog for ages.
I have also been busy touring around Cape Town, been to Strand, Hermanus, Signal Hill, all over!
And thanks to lao gong, i have my camera to capture all the beautiful pictures here :)

Sara came back to Stellenbosch from her Raya holidays back in KL about 2 weeks ago, with the camera gift from Jen.
She also bought a new camera for herself. So we went to this small garden near our office after work, and camwhore.
The thing is, in SA, it is very common just to lie down on the grass, unlike if in KL, i will be worried if there is cow dung or worms @.@
Okay.. there might be also worms here, but somehow its much cleaner and no weird smell coming from the grass.









Even this small mini park next to the court house can be so lovely~

Labels: stellenbosch

scribbled @2:06 AM