An unabashed tourist and her family explore the world one holiday at a time.
My forefathers, the brothers Jean and Gabriel le Roux, arrived in the Cape of Good Hope in 1688. As Huguenots, a protestant denomination inspired by Calvinism, they were persecuted by their Catholic countrymen and finally fled France for the promise of religious freedom in the colonies. The brothers settled on a farm in the Paarl area of what is today...
A bee zooms past us, eagerly on its way to pollinate the rows of bushes in the field of green and purple that stretches out before us. The aroma of lavender permeates the air. A small pond glimmers in the late afternoon sun and tall trees lead our eyes upwards towards the mountains. Somewhere out of sight a horse neighs,...
The day after we arrived in St Helena Bay dawned brightly, wind-still and with a clear blue sky. We jumped into our rental car and set out to explore the surrounding coastline of South Africa’s West Coast Peninsula. Our first port of call was Paternoster, one of the oldest fishing villages on the west coast and a lovely little tourist...
There is just something magical about an ocean view. It’s as if all your worries and stress just fade away the moment you sit down and watch the waves lapping on the shore. I don’t know how people who live by the seaside get anything done. I would just stare out my window all day long. On last year’s trip...
“Look at all those cars parked by there? Must be something going on.” Gareth points out the window as we drive through the streets of Stellenbosch in our rental car. “Could it be the cheese and wine festival?” my mother asks from the back seat. I turn off the main road and park the car on the dusty sidewalk. A...
Seagulls soaring overhead, waves crashing on the rocks, cold sea spray on bronzed skin, the salty taste of the ocean on our tongues, and a lighthouse towering above us. This is my quintessential memory of Cape St Francis, a place of the heart, as I’ve written before. We’re fortunate in the fact that my father owns a holiday house in...
Hermanus has become an annual trip for us. We go every year around August or September to see the southern right whales as they come to calve and mate in the waters of this seaside town in the Western Cape in South Africa. We have never been disappointed. 2014’s trip was especially memorable, because although it was our second trip,...
Sunday, 26 January 2014 8:00 Shower curtain woes! 9:00 The queue for breakfast is so long today that it is wrapped around the length of the room and continues outside the breakfast hall. Luckily, there is an empty table right by the door. I sit down to reserve it while Gareth braves the masses. 9:30 Gareth returns with some toast...
