World South Africa Cape Town

Living our RV Dream!

Family and Betty's Bay. Oct 27, 2009

After a leisurely few days in Cape Town with our family playing “catch up”, we took off for Betty’s Bay with my Mom & Dad. Betty’s Bay is approx. 90 kms from Durbanville, the suburb of Cape Town where my sister lives.

We had rented a house for the 5 days in Betty’s Bay and were so excited when we walked through the house to the front to see the incredible view. The house “Jock’s Place” is right on the ocean and the view is unbelievable. What a gem…. With the ocean at the end of the front yard and the mountains right behind the house – it is in a stunning location. The owners rent it out fully furnished with their treasures, including some very expensive artwork. It has a huge kitchen with granite countertops and top of the range appliances, a massive dining room with an oak table and chairs that can seat 10. The living room has wonderful surround sound, a fireplace and again the view through the glass sliders is worth a million bucks. It also has a little bar nook, very conducive to partying. The living room leads out onto a very large patio with a built in BBQ grill and outdoor furniture. Our bedroom (suite) was a lovely surprise… it also faces the ocean and has a massaging recliner facing the ocean where I spent many hours enjoying the view and watching the whales while being massaged and pampered.

Oh the whales…. How awesome! We have had a mommy and baby playing around so close to shore right in front of the house for the entire week. Not only are they so close that you can see the barnacles on them but the sounds that they make are wonderful and eerie – this has been a total treat.

The first day we arrived in Betty’s Bay was Mom’s birthday and we had invited good friends of ours Dirk & Tina Brits to come over for a braai (outdoor grill/BBQ) to celebrate her 86th birthday. We had met Dirk & Tina two years earlier when they came over to the States, purchased a used RV and toured the country for 5 months. It was such a wonderful surprise to meet them at Betty’s RV Park in Abbeville, Louisiana and that is where we struck up a friendship. We traveled a little in tandem down towards the south of Texas and then they had to move on to “see more of America” while we moved on down to the Rio Grande Valley for a month. Last year we visited them here in South Africa at their home in Pringle Bay. Pringle Bay is only 6 kms from Betty’s Bay – two little seaside villages next to one another along the Indian Ocean coastline of the Western Cape. So our friendship continues from Betty’s to Betty’s!!

Day 2 was just spent reading and whale watching…. Oh and did I mention eating??

Day 3 we slept in and later in the morning took a drive to an old farm store/restaurant on the way to Caledon – Dassiesfontein – where we had a huge breakfast with fresh squeezed orange juice, oatmeal, homemade bread, home churned butter, homemade preserves, eggs, pork sausage, bacon, grilled tomato, cheese grillers (sausages similar to Kielbasa also stuffed with big pieces of cheese that melt during the grilling process) and gallons of coffee. Needless to say the diet has temporarily gone out of the window ☺ The restaurant is situated on a sheep and wheat farm… it was stunning to be able to sit at our table and look out on the sheep and lambs grazing in the pasture and the fields of wheat as far as the eye could see, with their almost “ready for harvest” heads blowing in the wind. It looked like a moving sea of wheat.

Dassiesfontein is a unique old farm house converted into the restaurant and shops… they sell everything antique or replicas of antique – so you can buy anything for your home from items back in the day. We were fascinated.

Day 4 we spent visiting our friends at their home in Pringle Bay – where Dirk grilled a huge Snoek on the braai, finger licking good!!! We just sat out in their backyard and relived our various travels. My oh my, sometimes the world seems so small.

Our final day was spend lazing on the deck in the sun and reading – we did get up and visit the local little fish and chip shop in the village… actually we bought take outs and brought the delicious battered fish, calamari and chips (fries) home as my Mom is not very mobile at all – and prefers to stay in the house as much as possible.

Our drive back to Cape Town on the road running alongside the ocean was just gorgeous and even the whales came out to say “bye” to us as we headed back to the city.