Tuesday, May 27, 2014

22 April: Elgin Valley to Greater Hermanus

This morning we had a truly bizarre experience, watching a Giant Kingfisher (yes, I had to google that one, and I'm still not 100% sure if it's right) kill a crab from our balcony. Nature at work. It took us a while to figure out what was going on tho, honestly. We were just taking photos of the gorgeous view and noticed this continual movement below.

After all that excitement, we headed up for our (included) breakfast at Brinny Breezes. And it was superb.

I'd also booked us massages at 10am (check-out time) because, again, we didn't have far to drive to our next overnight stop. I was a little disappointed to discover that the massages wouldn't be in tandem (apparently you have to specially request this, but I would think when booking for a couple it would be standard practice).

Anyway, I didn't let this detract from the experience and got my Back, Neck and Shoulder massage first, while The Trucker packed the car. It's pretty awesome and if you have the time, I'd recommend it. We were lucky, because they had space to do it in one of the other available trailers.

And then I got to laze on their gorgeous loungers next to the pool and read my book while The Trucker had his Full Body massage.

And then we said goodbye to the Old Mac Daddy and headed off. Yes, I'd definitely go back there. Would love to try another of their trailers! What a great little break-away from Cape Town.

We decided to stop for lunch in Gansbaai at The Great White House. I'm not exactly sure that shark cage diving is on the list of things I'd do, but The Trucker seems pretty keen. I was more thrilled to see the whale skeleton hanging from their ceiling.

Our food wasn't memorable, but I think I had a filled savoury pancake. It's a bit of a weird spot, but there didn't seem to be much else after Hermanus, honestly.

And then it was goodbye sea as we headed inland to Farm 215. Wow, this place is pretty freaking gorgeous. So remote with only 3 Fynbos Suites. And the suites are spectacular!

All of them are very private and you walk thru the door to your little lounge area with a fireplace then past a screen wall to the bedroom. There is an amazing bath and bathroom. And the entire one side of the unit is glass doors. Gorgeous.

The weather was turning, so we didn't get to enjoy the balcony at all, but we did get to enjoy the fire place!



We settled in front of the fire for the afternoon, me with my book and The Trucker doing some work on his laptop. I swear, the only way to really have a holiday with him is to ensure he has no signal. Since he runs around most of the day and people reach him on his phone when they need him, they can't really tell that he is actually on holiday. And since he runs his own companies, he doesn't correct them or say no to them either. Drove me quite batty this trip ...



We had dinner at their restaurant in main house. I think we were the only people staying there. A good home cooked 3-course meal.

And, of course, I had to try the bath before bed! But it was quite surreal, the chocolate-brown coloured water (coloured by the fynbos, I gather) against the white porcelain.

2 comments:

oldmanjohn said...

It is not a Belted Kingfisher. They are only found in America. Difficult from the Photo but it is either a juvenile Giant Kingfisher or a Pied Kingfisher.

phillygirl said...

@oldmanjohn - damn, I was just going off Google Image results ;)

It definitely had a brown stripe, so I'm guessing Giant Kingfisher then.

Thanks :)

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