A day off from the ‘prison’ for good behaviour to go and see some more of the Cape. Siobhan and Alan, the Irish couple I had been travelling with off and on along the coast, had by now made it down here too, it was good to see them, almost like meeting up with mates I’d known for ages…Along with Fernando, an Argentinian they’d met along the way, we set off in their hire car (a Nissan Micra that was pretty much brand new, although you’d never guess! seven weeks of camping in Southern Africa had taken its toll on the poor thing, not that I’m not grateful for the lifts though guys!).
First we headed for Boulders Beach, to see some penguins, we first wandered along the beach seeing only a few – some hiding in bushes or under rocks, while others awkwardly bounced their way towards the sea, the sea so clear that we could see them transform into graceful, incredibly fast creatures as soon as they hit the water.
After initially feeling lucky to have seen the three or four penguins before they scurried to their hiding places, we walked along a little further to where there was a very well laid out penguin conservation area. Walking along the fenced off walkways, we saw hundreds all sitting around oblivious to us!
An aside: Car Guards… Pretty much everywhere you go in South Africa there will be dudes sat at the side of the road, sometimes wearing luminous tabbards to make their presence known… They then apparently look after your car until your return, although the quality of their ‘guarding’ varies wildly! I think though at Boulders beach, we found a contender for ‘SA’s car guard of the year’ if they ever have such an award… he was chatty, helpful (telling us where the best spots for penguin spotting were) and even gave us a little slip with his mobile number – ‘constructive suggestions can be sms’d to above number’
Quality. Ricardo, we salute you!
We then carried on along the Cape peninsula to see the bottom end of Africa, Cape Point. The sea is so amazingly different either side, a foaming, seething mess on the Atlantic side, and almost completely still to the East. The already stunning views were made even more spectacular by the groups of whales playing around just off shore in the calmer water. Close into the shore there were two groups that seemed to me fairly static, swimming around circling each other and holding their tails in the air, and there was another lone whale a little further out who was moving along the coast at some pace, like a running stitch in the water, dipping under gaining speed and then jumping up into the air, crashing back down – what an amazing sight!
After walking out to the very tip of Cape Point, watching the whales as we went, we were blessed with one of the most vivid rainbows I have ever seen, the downside being that we got a bit of a soaking, but in hindsight, worth it.
With time pressing, after seeing as much of the peninsula as we could, the plan was to go directly to Cape Town, where I could change for the rather posh evening I had ahead of me… Unfortunately, I had inadvertantly locked myself out of my brother’s flat – and already late, with no time to get the keys from him at Uni, I had to go – somewhat underdressed, to one of Cape Town’s premier wine tasting evenings in a bright yellow t-shirt and hiking gear!
Grapes, Gourmet and Gallery
When I was invited to this evening by Wiebke, a friend of my brothers from his course, the kind of wine tasting evening that I had in mind was a somewhat simpler affair than the exquisitely prepared six course meal with nine wines matched to the courses, the kind of event that, as I noticed the next day, is featured in SA’s Wine magazine, in the society pages!
I have for the last few years run a low-key monthly wine tasting evening back in Cardiff, but this rather put my efforts to shame! Not that I’m complaining at all – the food and wine matches were amazing and sometimes quite unusual. Each month the winemakers who are ‘on show’ that month get together with the chef and the manager from the hotel, some weeks before the event to experiment with dishes to get the match just right.
There was a bit of a German feel to the evening, at least on my table, other than Vijay and I, Wiebke, who actually used to work here at The Winchester Mansions Hotel, along with Chris, Patrick and his girlfriend are all either German or Swiss, then on top of all that, the artist exhibiting his work at this particular evening was called Michael Durst, with ‘durst’ meaning ‘thirst’ in German, it was quite fitting!
As one of Cape Town’s premier wine evenings, I felt suitably underdressed in my yellow rival schools t-shirt, but despite the formal appearance of the evening everyone made me feel quite at ease. Once we were all sat down and drinking, it hardly matters anyway!
With six courses, I won’t list every one, but a couple of them really do warrant a mention.
The Springbok loin and ‘Weather Girl’ started us off brilliantly, but the real surprise match of the evening was the unconventional ‘Medley of seafood with a red wine and chocolate sauce’ served with three different Shirazes! -one from each of the three winemakers who had come along. Of the three, the best match to the dish was the round, chocolatey style of the ‘Dark Horse’ by Flagstone, which complemented the sauce perfectly, its soft tannins suiting better than the Luddite, which we had again (different vintage) with the cheese course, and there with its heavier style and fuller tannins, it fared much better.
The other highlight was the dessert wine – Villiera ‘Inspiration’ 2006 – a noble late harvest Chenin blanc. A deep copper brown colour, I knew I was in for a treat – rich citrus, marmalade and dark brown sugar flavours and a fresh acidity preventing it from being at all cloying, the finish was deep, with honey flavours lingering well.
