Mountainous cats

Opps, things have been getting a bit crazy.  Its busy here between my mom visiting, new Rhodes schedule, isiXhosa class, and me wasting time watching the voice download very, very slowly.  Though, I won't let you guys miss the opportunity to see more pictures of our Stellenbosch trip.
After getting boozed up with brandy and wine, we took the next day to go hiking. 

Mountains and Clouds (x1,000)

 This post is going to be picture dense, so many pictures to show.  I mean, shit, this one above is the road to the cottage we stayed at.  It is in between two other wineries. 

Honeymoon # 1

Roughly after 38 weeks of marriage (22,809,600 seconds) lol, loving every minute, Will and I went on our honeymoon. We waited for our honeymoon to be in South Africa so instead of Napa Valley we went to Stellenbosch.

First stop in Kareedouw - pit stop to get some coffee.  It was a great place just beyond the mountains, something like driving to Isola Fossara, Italy. 

We stopped at a great cafe that was decorated with fifties ads.  But it wasn't too kitsch, and the place was floor to ceiling with wood, which makes sense given all the pine trees along the garden route.  Even our Vetkoek (below) was served on a wooden board.

Mountain views, lavazza coffee, coke floats, and this guy!  I was already having an awesome time at stop #1. Our actual destination for the night was a backpacker stop in Wildernis (Wilderness).  This is like the middle of the coast of South Africa, part of the Western Cape, not the Eastern Cape where we live.  It has magnificent beaches that go on and on for days, and a great little town.  I had a great time at the backpackers, view from the parking lot (below).  Everywhere you turn is another gorgeous picture.

Wilderness has a winding river (Serpentine) for paddle boats, hiking trials, beaches, lagoon, really steep mountains that you drive past.  Thrilling views from the car were a continuous theme.  I will never forget how beautiful and diverse all the scenery is in South Africa.  If we were more beach people we could have stayed at Wilderness, but we had to get to our final destination Stellenbosch.  On our way back home, we stopped at two other beaches (Knysna, and Jefferys Bay).  Its only the beginning of our beach trips.  We plan to actual get in the water sometime soon too.

 Knysna (Nice-nah) continues in the opening to the ocean. Its actually a warm-water estuary with an island in the center with a few shops, restaurants, and residents.  Like Martha's Vineyard. This is the view from our hotel room.

Jefferys Bay is a surfing town. We are going to go back because it is really close to us.  This was a final pit stop on the way back home to Grahamstown. 

The new car

So, we bought a new car a week-ish ago, and some people back home have been clamoring for pictures.  Well, here's a few, from the week-ish-long spin we just got back from taking it on, to Stellenbosch and back.

Our shining new steed is a 2006 Audi A3 sportback tipfishfin someothermodifiers #.0.
It looks pretty swanky:

Spacious, limo-like backseat.  Because here, when you learn to drive, you learn to use a manual transmission.  But we Americans are fools in this respect, so we bit the bullet and bought an automatic.  Which means it's a car that of course comes with other bells and whistles galore.

Also, it has the snazziest, pop-out-of-the-dash-iest, cupholder I've ever seen.

...And 12-speed windshield windscreen wipers.

No, really.  12 speeds.  Like a bicycle.  Plus, compartments in compartments!

Why?  Not entirely sure, but okay.  Cool, if not useful.

Fun to drive? You bet!  Top speed? FAST!  I think I got up to about 160 km/hour while overtaking some trucks on the N2 highway, but clearly it can go more than that...

Handles dirt well, but still fits in nicely in an upscale vineyard setting:

It's pretty good at hiking, too:

And excellent for framing lovely scenery:

And after all that it brought us safely home in style.

Details of the actual trip to come.  We have about 900 pictures, and maybe Al will post some in the next day or two, and then I'll do some more.  Lots of pretty mountains and coastlines, so if that's your thing, then...good?

~Will out.