Mark turns 40 and Charlie's brother comes to visit

Mark turned 40 today so we celebrated with a nice cup of tea and a slice of cake.

As you can see Charlie's brother dexter came to visit which was a slightly more chaotic affair.

Spring at Lalapanzi

Opening Children's Foodure

Table mountain

We went for a drive on Sunday to go and see Table Mountain from Blauberg Strand (the view point where it actually looks like a table). We found a lovely beach and cafe too.

Blauberg Strand is about an hours drive from Lalapanzi.

Bontebok spotting

We took Charlie for a walk around the estate this morning and stumbled across a bontebok (top picture). You can also see the vineyard taking shape (bottom photo) we're going to be planting the vines around the stables.

Soup kitchen

Work starts tomorrow on the upgrading of the Soup Kitchen we sponsor. We're having the kitchen re-built to help feed more children in the local village.

Charlie says hi to the Huguenots

We took Thursday off and took Charlie to Franschhoek for the day.

The photo at the top of the listing is the view over the Franschhoek valley (55 mins from Lalapanzi). And the last image is the view from the top of Sir Lowry's Pass.

Vineyard carnage

We hope the vineyard will look alot nicer by the time we've finished!

Charlie jets in from Joburg

Our new puppie Charlie finally arrives from Joburg. We now know what it's like to have a child and getting up to take him to the toilet at 4am. But as you can see he's beautiful and worth it. He enjoyed his walk around Vergelegen wine estate and had a nice sleep while we tasted a few of their new wines.

Ian's birthday

Ian's age is finally catching up with his grey hairs. To celebrate his birthday we had cake for breakfast followed by a long lunch at Guardian Peak, a very nice wine estate on the way to Stellenbosch.

The drive to Hermanus

The drive along the R44 between Gordon's Bay and Hermanus is one of the most beautiful coastal drives we've ever done. You even get to see seals playing in the surf as you drive along. We felt very lazy when we saw a white water rafting competition, so we decided we're going to enter it next year.

Our new vineyard

Over the next couple of years we're going to be establishing a vineyard at Lalapanzi. Work started this week on the first stage which is clearing some of the pine trees.

Springbok

On our Sunday morning stroll around the estate we bumped into a few Springbok which seem to have escaped from the game park.

We had a whale-y good time in Hermanus

It's whale season again. Between August and November each year huge numbers of Southern Right and Humpback Whales can be spotted just off the coast, a short drive from Lalapanzi Lodge. The best palce to spot them from the shore is coast road between Gordon’s Bay and Hermanus. The last photo is of a Dassie, a small friendly indigenous animal that lives along the coast.

We've gone barking mad

After months of trying to find the perfect dog for the guest house we've finally decided upon a friendly little Beagle. But of course the Beagle is one of the rarest breeds in SA. So we're going to have to drive to JoBurg to get one. These are pictures of the litter from the breeder.

Steenbras dam hike

Only got half way up to the dam on this walk as we left it a bit late setting off. Apparently there are lots of small pools and waterfalls to cool off in as you trek to the top. This walk starts about 20 mins drive away from Lalapanzi Lodge.