NB: This entry will be eventually edited to add photos, links, etc.
Mmmm... it's amazing what 10 hours of sleep does for you! Sure, we felt like dorks when we went to bed at 10 pm on a Saturday night, but it really helped to get a good night's sleep after the complete lack of it on the plane. An excellent breakfast of eggs, bacon, and sausage also helped a lot :-D
Today's agenda included a boat trip to see whales. We were supposed to go out at 10 am, but the tide hadn't come in yet, so they couldn't get the boat out. So the trip was delayed until 1 pm. No problem; we drove out to Cape Agulhas National Park, where we took photos at the meeting point of the two oceans (Atlantic and Indian, duh) and looked for a geocache. The geocache box had been flooded with water, which was a shame, as we couldn't leave our gift (a mini plush puffin) in that box. Hmmf. We didn't really stay very long in the area as we had been there before, so we stopped at an art gallery/guest house for a cup of coffee, and then drove back to the harbor area to get some lunch. We went to a pub called Nostra, where we ate deep fried hake with chips. It was OK; not the greatest thing in the world, but not horrible either...
After lunch, we drove to another geocache site, but the cache was hidden in a sort of inconvenient location, so we had to give that up, considering we had to get back to catch the boat for the whale watching...
The whale watching was quite nice. We saw a lot of mothers with calves, and they were all rather lazy (it's Sunday, of course). You could see that they were very curious about the boat and us, but unfortunately there was too much wind, and the boat kept drifting away from the whales. Otherwise, as we were told, they would have been more active with regard to swimming around the boat and peeking up to take a look at us. Also, when there are calves, the mothers are a little bit more protective, and are not too thrilled about the darn kids wandering off to play with the silly tourists. You never know what the darn kids can catch from silly tourists :-) There was one mother-calf pair that did come very, very close to the boat though, in an om nom nom kind of way. The calf swam under the boat, and we were wondering if it had planned to surface directly under the boat, to toss it into the air... “wheeeee, this is fun!”
Our guide told us that the whales were particularly passive today, that they were jumping quite a bit yesterday. We did see one whale jumping, from a distance. But other than that... lazy, lazy whales.
After whale watching, we drove back to the backpackers to park the car, and then we walked back into “town” (hah, if you can call it that) in order to have a beer. We found a little local dive that served Windhoek (yay!) and had a bottle each. We decided to go back to our room to take a little nap before dinner, and so that Mr. Penguin could sleep off the beer so that we could drive to the place where we were going to have dinner. Yep, we had to go out to dinner because we forgot to bring our harpoons along with us on the whale watching trip (ha ha ha) ...
We went to a place called Angelo's Trattoria, which is located right before Cape Agulhas National Park; it was recommended to us by Steffi. Angelo's is very cozy and rustic, but also quite dark, even with all the candles. They have a huge wood-burning oven for cooking pizzas. But we didn't have pizza. We had steak with seafood – a big 350 gram sirloin prepared medium rare, served with prawns, mussels, and calamari, as well as fries, salad, and a garlic dressing. It was delicious, but also way too much, even for the Ring of Fat (RoF)...
For those of you who are new to the term, Ring of Fat, or simply RoF, is the very creature that controls each and every one of us. RoF is our guts. Our spare tires. Our love handles. Our extra baggage. You know. You know very well, don't you? RoF wants food. It always wants food. But sometimes, RoF meets its match. As it did tonight...
Now we're back at the bar at the backpackers, drinking our Raka Biography Shiraz. “Bring your own” isn't really allowed here as the backpackers has its own bar, although you can pay a corkage fee (10 rand) if you want to drink your own wine at the bar...
Anyway, the wine: Raka Biography Shiraz 2003
color: too dark to see here
nose: red meat, licorice, Norwegian blueberries
palate: powerful but smooth, flavor of spices (cloves and anise), Norwegian blueberries, and other dark berries, as well as sour cherries. Discreet tannins. This would be an excellent match to a good, well-marbled steak, but it's also fantastic on its own.
Grade: :-D
Oh, and in case you didn't know, Ms. Penguin is a bird fanatic. So she is giving the bird count so far: African penguins, Cape cormorants, white-chested cormorants, two different species of seagulls, hadeda ibises, at least two different types of sunbirds, Cape turtle doves, red-eyed doves, Cape robins, Cape sparrows, wagtails, blacksmith lapwings, Guinea fowl, francolins, paradise flycatchers, Cape starlings, European starlings, weaver birds, some kind of little yellow pip-pip (not sure what kind), at least two different kinds of birds of prey, a bird with white around its eye (some kind of bulbul?), some kind of thrush, some blue cranes, etc...
While we were drinking our wine, we were offered a taste of a fish called a white musselcracker; one of the locals caught it and (I think) they were serving it for dinner at the backpackers. It is not fished commercially. We found it quite nice; the meat was very firm and flavorful...
22 September 2009
2009-09-19 – Penguins and wine
NB: This entry will eventually be edited to add photos, links, and maybe fix some of the content a bit...
Finally at Cape Agulhas Backpackers – yay!
The flight itself was, well, a flight. The usual crammed like cattle into tin boxes. Mooooo. The main meal they served wasn't too bad though. It was a cottage pie, served with salad and bread and butter, with some kind of chocolate mousse cake thing for dessert.
The breakfast was kind of bleh though. Microwaved scrambled egg with some kind of bacon and sausage, with tomato and mushrooms. At least they had some yogurt with the whole thing, and that was OK. The coffee was very weak. Financial crisis, you know...
When we got to immigration and passport control, we were met by a really friendly, smiling man who was joking with us about going wine tasting. Why can't every country have immigration control officers like this one? *sigh* :-) The immigration control area itself has changed quite a bit since the last time we were there (in 2006) – it was a lot nicer now, and they seemed relatively efficient. And no more filling out of those stupid immigration forms!
After we were done with all that, we got the details about our car and then went to News Cafe for some breakfast. We both ordered these “health” pancakes; on the menu they said they were müsli pancakes with yogurt and fruit. What it ended up being was rolled up crepes filled with yogurt and müsli, with fruit and some more yogurt on the side, but hey... it was good. And filling. Ms. Penguin had a regular filter coffee with milk to go with her breakfast and Mr. Penguin ordered a cafe latte – it was served as a glass of hot milk with a shot of espresso on the side.
Getting the car was a bit of a feat. Because of all the construction going on at CPT, some of the signs were a bit confusing, to say the least. We went in the direction they pointed to for car rentals, but then the signs disappeared, and then reappeared in the domestic arrivals area. So of course we thought everything had been moved there, temporarily or not. No big deal. Until we got there, and were packed into a big BMW (that we, for a moment, thought was the car we were going to get!) and shuffled off back to the international area. Geez. But the guy was cool about it, and admitted there was a lot of confusion due to all the construction. So no BMW for the penguins, but a Nissan Tiida instead. It doesn't have cruise control, and the air conditioning system is a bit primitive, and a slow motor compared to the Mercedes we had last year, but Mr. Penguin feels it's an OK-ish car to drive.
Our first stop was the Stony Point Nature Reserve at Betty's Bay, to see the penguins. Penguins! Development in the area has really picked up since the last time we were there (in 2007). There's now a café – Southern Cross Café – next to the penguin reserve area. Which is nice, because we were missing that kind of thing the last time we were there.
The penguins were as cute (and lustful – hey, it's spring) as ever. They are such funny little birds who behave in such funny ways. There were a lot of “blue” penguins this time – young penguins who don't have that silly fuzz but who don't have adult plumage quite yet either. There weren't as many fuzzy babies as last time, but there was one that we saw that was particularly pathetic. It looked like a bunch of dirty lint, and it was trying to crawl around on its knobs of something that will become wings/flippers some day. We suppose it wanted food from its mother, but mum was more interested in preening than her pesky chick ;-)
Other birds in the bay included cape cormorants, white-chested cormorants, gulls, as well as hadeda ibises, wagtails, thrushes, and other small birds.
The original plan was to eat lunch in Hermanus, but because of the delays with the car, we were running late and decided to drop it. We picked up some biltong at a random Spar, and drove on to Raka Wines for a tasting. Now this is a winery we are very familiar with; we've been enjoying their wonderful wines since 2006. We had also visited in 2006 (after our trip to Cape Agulhas that year) and knew we wanted to go back. We tried five different wines, starting with a white blend and then a rosé (both were quite OK), and then onto the amazing reds – Spliced, Quinary, and Biography Shiraz. And we are now the proud owners of bottles of a Biography Shiraz and a Merlot.
It was getting late by then, so we drove right to Cape Agulhas Backpackers. We were met by the lovely Steffi, who showed us to our room (the Bella room) and let us know about how things worked with dinner and breakfast (if we wanted to order), tours, etc. Since we were quite exhausted, we decided to just relax with some drinks from the bar (beer and cider), and we decided to stay here for dinner as well. Which was a good choice for two exhausted penguins, who ended up having to waddle off to their room/nest to take a pre-dinner nap...
So here we are, back at the bar again, waiting for our chicken braai dinner. Life is good...
Finally at Cape Agulhas Backpackers – yay!
The flight itself was, well, a flight. The usual crammed like cattle into tin boxes. Mooooo. The main meal they served wasn't too bad though. It was a cottage pie, served with salad and bread and butter, with some kind of chocolate mousse cake thing for dessert.
The breakfast was kind of bleh though. Microwaved scrambled egg with some kind of bacon and sausage, with tomato and mushrooms. At least they had some yogurt with the whole thing, and that was OK. The coffee was very weak. Financial crisis, you know...
When we got to immigration and passport control, we were met by a really friendly, smiling man who was joking with us about going wine tasting. Why can't every country have immigration control officers like this one? *sigh* :-) The immigration control area itself has changed quite a bit since the last time we were there (in 2006) – it was a lot nicer now, and they seemed relatively efficient. And no more filling out of those stupid immigration forms!
After we were done with all that, we got the details about our car and then went to News Cafe for some breakfast. We both ordered these “health” pancakes; on the menu they said they were müsli pancakes with yogurt and fruit. What it ended up being was rolled up crepes filled with yogurt and müsli, with fruit and some more yogurt on the side, but hey... it was good. And filling. Ms. Penguin had a regular filter coffee with milk to go with her breakfast and Mr. Penguin ordered a cafe latte – it was served as a glass of hot milk with a shot of espresso on the side.
Getting the car was a bit of a feat. Because of all the construction going on at CPT, some of the signs were a bit confusing, to say the least. We went in the direction they pointed to for car rentals, but then the signs disappeared, and then reappeared in the domestic arrivals area. So of course we thought everything had been moved there, temporarily or not. No big deal. Until we got there, and were packed into a big BMW (that we, for a moment, thought was the car we were going to get!) and shuffled off back to the international area. Geez. But the guy was cool about it, and admitted there was a lot of confusion due to all the construction. So no BMW for the penguins, but a Nissan Tiida instead. It doesn't have cruise control, and the air conditioning system is a bit primitive, and a slow motor compared to the Mercedes we had last year, but Mr. Penguin feels it's an OK-ish car to drive.
Our first stop was the Stony Point Nature Reserve at Betty's Bay, to see the penguins. Penguins! Development in the area has really picked up since the last time we were there (in 2007). There's now a café – Southern Cross Café – next to the penguin reserve area. Which is nice, because we were missing that kind of thing the last time we were there.
The penguins were as cute (and lustful – hey, it's spring) as ever. They are such funny little birds who behave in such funny ways. There were a lot of “blue” penguins this time – young penguins who don't have that silly fuzz but who don't have adult plumage quite yet either. There weren't as many fuzzy babies as last time, but there was one that we saw that was particularly pathetic. It looked like a bunch of dirty lint, and it was trying to crawl around on its knobs of something that will become wings/flippers some day. We suppose it wanted food from its mother, but mum was more interested in preening than her pesky chick ;-)
Other birds in the bay included cape cormorants, white-chested cormorants, gulls, as well as hadeda ibises, wagtails, thrushes, and other small birds.
The original plan was to eat lunch in Hermanus, but because of the delays with the car, we were running late and decided to drop it. We picked up some biltong at a random Spar, and drove on to Raka Wines for a tasting. Now this is a winery we are very familiar with; we've been enjoying their wonderful wines since 2006. We had also visited in 2006 (after our trip to Cape Agulhas that year) and knew we wanted to go back. We tried five different wines, starting with a white blend and then a rosé (both were quite OK), and then onto the amazing reds – Spliced, Quinary, and Biography Shiraz. And we are now the proud owners of bottles of a Biography Shiraz and a Merlot.
It was getting late by then, so we drove right to Cape Agulhas Backpackers. We were met by the lovely Steffi, who showed us to our room (the Bella room) and let us know about how things worked with dinner and breakfast (if we wanted to order), tours, etc. Since we were quite exhausted, we decided to just relax with some drinks from the bar (beer and cider), and we decided to stay here for dinner as well. Which was a good choice for two exhausted penguins, who ended up having to waddle off to their room/nest to take a pre-dinner nap...
So here we are, back at the bar again, waiting for our chicken braai dinner. Life is good...
2009-09-18 – Hanging out at Heathrow
We are now drinking humungous café lattes at a café at Level 2 of Terminal 5 at London Heathrow. This follows a very lovely dinner at Plane Food, Gordon Ramsay's airport restaurant here. Say all you want about Ramsay; his food is, for the most part, pretty fucking good.
When we ordered, we had a slightly difficult time due to the waitress not being particularly proficient in English. She was otherwise very nice, but seriously, when you're working in an international airport with all kinds of people coming in and out, you should at the very least be able to figure out other people's accents and the such. And if you really have that much trouble understanding Ms. Penguin's standard midwestern American accent, then you're really in trouble. I guess she was just ending her shift, because at the end, we were served by a cute (Ms. Penguin's opinion) and very friendly Indian waiter...
Anyway, both penguins had the lentil soup as a starter. It was a lovely puréed lentil soup, with al dente chick peas and carrots, garnished with fresh coriander. The spices were wonderful – cumin, curry, onion, maybe some garlic... it was simply delicious. A perfect soup for autumn weather. Grade: :-)+
Ms. Penguin had roast cod with polenta chips, peas, and homemade ketchup as her main course; it was a sort of posh fish and chips variety. The polenta chips were interesting; they were infused with black onion seeds and otherwise nicely spiced. The ketchup was absolutely spicy delightful, with the right amount of fresh coriander to boost all the flavors. The fish was perfectly prepared. Yum! Grade: :-)+
Mr. Penguin had poached hake with spinach, cauliflowers, and a curry sauce. Very delicious, but the fish was unfortunately a bit overcooked. Grade: :-). If the fish had been perfectly cooked, he would definitely had given it a :-) +
The wine of the evening was a DeWetshof Chardonnay 2008 – of course we chose South African!
Color: pale gold with hints of green
Nose: grass, starfruit
Palate: very refreshing for being a chardonnay, but it was a young chardonnay. Flavor of grapefruit, with some bitterness of grapefruit zest. Aftertaste of grass. It was a brilliant match to the lentil soup, and it would be excellent with spicy food in general.
Grade: :-)+
Otherwise, getting into Heathrow was annoying; too many people and too poor control. Mr. Penguin got the pleasure of getting felt up by one of the security guards (probably due to his good youthful blond looks, according to himself :-) And Ms. Penguin is suffering miserably with perfume allergies, at it seems every other person here is marinated in it...
When we ordered, we had a slightly difficult time due to the waitress not being particularly proficient in English. She was otherwise very nice, but seriously, when you're working in an international airport with all kinds of people coming in and out, you should at the very least be able to figure out other people's accents and the such. And if you really have that much trouble understanding Ms. Penguin's standard midwestern American accent, then you're really in trouble. I guess she was just ending her shift, because at the end, we were served by a cute (Ms. Penguin's opinion) and very friendly Indian waiter...
Anyway, both penguins had the lentil soup as a starter. It was a lovely puréed lentil soup, with al dente chick peas and carrots, garnished with fresh coriander. The spices were wonderful – cumin, curry, onion, maybe some garlic... it was simply delicious. A perfect soup for autumn weather. Grade: :-)+
Ms. Penguin had roast cod with polenta chips, peas, and homemade ketchup as her main course; it was a sort of posh fish and chips variety. The polenta chips were interesting; they were infused with black onion seeds and otherwise nicely spiced. The ketchup was absolutely spicy delightful, with the right amount of fresh coriander to boost all the flavors. The fish was perfectly prepared. Yum! Grade: :-)+
Mr. Penguin had poached hake with spinach, cauliflowers, and a curry sauce. Very delicious, but the fish was unfortunately a bit overcooked. Grade: :-). If the fish had been perfectly cooked, he would definitely had given it a :-) +
The wine of the evening was a DeWetshof Chardonnay 2008 – of course we chose South African!
Color: pale gold with hints of green
Nose: grass, starfruit
Palate: very refreshing for being a chardonnay, but it was a young chardonnay. Flavor of grapefruit, with some bitterness of grapefruit zest. Aftertaste of grass. It was a brilliant match to the lentil soup, and it would be excellent with spicy food in general.
Grade: :-)+
Otherwise, getting into Heathrow was annoying; too many people and too poor control. Mr. Penguin got the pleasure of getting felt up by one of the security guards (probably due to his good youthful blond looks, according to himself :-) And Ms. Penguin is suffering miserably with perfume allergies, at it seems every other person here is marinated in it...
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