South African winter

After a very relaxing holiday in our home country Belgium, we returned well rested AND married to Noordhoek. Our time there has literally flewn by and we already look forward to our next visit. But we're equally happy to be back home where Evi, Piet and Kathy had taken good care of our home, guests and Badu. Right away we were back in business, preparing breakfast for our German guests the next morning!Badu has been struggling with a severe ear infection for a few weeks now and after all sorts of experiments such as panties around his head, we had to bring him in at the vet for a small procedure. After stumbling around for two weeks with a plastic collar around his neck, luckily the wound has now properly healed.
We're enjoying the Capetonian winter to the fullest, with some very mild temperatures and loads of sun. It still amazes us they call this winter...
Steven, Natasha and Henri have arrived and are busy renovating their new business Zensa Lodge in Scarborough. Last sunday we all cycled to the Cape Point nature reserve. We won't mention the fact that some of us didn't quite make it to the finish and needed a ride back to lodge by car...We also won't mention the fact that some of us, nearly made it out of bed due to stiff joints the next morning...

June 2009

http://www.nieuwsblad.be/Article/Detail.aspx?ArticleID=UM2BVK07

Stranding pilootwalvissen @ Kommetjie beach

On saturday morning about 50 pilot whales had stranded on Longbeach in Kommetjie. These beautiful creatures life in large groups in which they hunt and mate, they also react to cries of distress from their fellow group members. This is the reason why, despite all the effort from the local community to bring the animals back into the ocean, they didn't succeed. As soon as one animal was brought deep enough to swim off, you could see it immediately returning to its group (still on the beach).
It was very sad to learn that after a whole day of rescue attempts, all animals had to be put down humanely...

Fishermans friend & co

It's with great sadness that we have to say goodbye to our friends Anke and Phillippe. They have decided to return to Belgium again.
Our traditional sunday walk, this time on Chapmans Peak almost turned into a disaster after Phillippe nearly missed stepping on a puff .

Four days of fishing on the national fish Galjoen, two guys (Bram and Phillippe), result one fish...no comment

April 2009

The yearly cheese festival in Franschoek. We had a great time tasting all the different local wines and cheeses.

After the last crayfish of the season had been caught and braaied, Badu and Eames had no better idea than to declare war to each other in pursuit of chocolat labbie Pandora. One small masacre and a finger that needed stitches for Phillippe were the sad result. They have (sort of ) mended peace while all wounds are healing...

Sunday lunch at Cape Farmhouse in Scarborough.

Finding bait for Galjoen fishing, not an easy task.

Two oceans marathon passage @ African Queen.

Bevoorrading met o.a. gekookte aardappelen...lekker.

Easter 2009

Het Zuid Afrikaanse seizoen loopt op z'n einde, maar de African Queen is nog druk bezet tijdens de paasvakantie.

Deze -ongevaarlijke- 'molesnake' vond de composthoop een ideale huisvesting.
Toch even schrikken, maar tuinman Lameck stuurde het diertje terug richting wetlands.

African skies vanop het terras, blijft prachtig en elke dag anders!