Seasons Greetings to Everyone

Holiday Journal No.6

This is my last journal entry.  Some of my favourite scenes of Plettenberg Bay made to look like a pencil sketch.

Time to get back to the reality of winter in England!

Holiday Journal No.5

My next stop was Plettenberg Bay which is one of my most favourite places in the whole world.  We stay in a golf complex called Goose Valley and fall out of bed and onto the golf course.  It has beautiful beaches and some special places to eat, such as the Look-out Restaurant which is a casual restaurant right on the water with excellent food and service.  Then there's Emily Moon which has the most stunning vista and decor and even though the food can be quite average I just think it's worth it for the atmosphere.

There is absolutely loads to see around Plett and two of my favourite places to go to are Monkeyland and the Birds of Eden.  I never tire of going to them.  Monkeyland is a sanctuary for monkeys who have been pets and are reintroduced into the wild and Birds of Eden is the largest free flight aviary in the world being a two hectare dome which again houses birds which have been brought up in captivity.  In Monkeyland you can only tour around the sanctuary with a guide to protect the monkeys and each guide has wonderful and interesting stories about the monkeys that are there.  Birds of Eden is situated in a gorge of indigenous forest and has wonderful canopy walkways.

So for my next collages it had to be the monkeys and the birds:

  For the bird picture I have tried to choose birds of South Africa with the exception of the Hartlaub Turaco which comes from north-east Africa.  The picture includes the Knysna Turaco (left-top: indigenous to this area), the Grey Crowned Crane, the Spotted Thick-knee, Hartlaub's Turaco and in the middle the Cape Glossy Starling.  The three highlighted birds are the one's we have seen in the wild as well during our holiday.  Being a golfer and a lover of birds is a marriage made in heaven.  Golf courses are wonderful habitats for birds and the birds become use to the sight of people and are less timid.

Holiday Journal No.4

As an avid golfer, there has to be a picture somewhere in my holiday that depicts golf and one of the most spectacular courses that we played was Pinnacle Point.  Here is a picture looking back at the clubhouse with me, my hubby and brother-in-law.

Holiday Journal No.3

My holiday is over and I did not get as many journals done while I was away as I had hoped but now I am catching up and here is my next one:

Next on my travels was Stellenbosch and Paarl which are the heart of the South African winelands.  Many of the wine farms, as well as having wine tasting, have lovely restaurants and eating areas.  La Motte is no exception but they also have an art gallery/museum, a farm shop and a hiking trail!  One of the exhibitions on show when I was there were modern tapestries by a French artist called Jean Lucat (1892-1966).  Wow, I thought they were amazing.  We had a fabulous meal at the restaurant, Pierneef, which is named after the South African artist Jacob Hendrik Pierneef.  The museum contains many of his art pieces (drawings, paintings and linocuts) which mainly depict South African scenery and architecture.  I was really inspired by his drawings which are often white drawings on a brown background.

Here are two of the tapestries by Jean Lucat which I absolutely love: