We drove for a wee while through the gorgeous green mountains of SA, until we reached a small village named Citrusdal. Pulling into our lovely campsite in the backyard of a B&B, we were greeted with countless citrus (mainly orange) trees, & also two cute dogs that looked Maltese. We set up camp in the upper level of the owner’s backyard & played with the dogs for a while.

Sean discovered a series of rock formations above the property so we decided to climb all the way along. It was more than worth it as the panoramic views from the highest points were brilliant. We climbed, jumped & trekked some more before climbing another giant hill to meet Chloe, before descending towards the Orange trees in the hope of securing a few delicious pieces of fruit. We scored a few delicious, tangy oranges & a few easy peel mandarins. Stoked with our efforts, we returned to the house & were soon into a cold Windhoek lager.

Everyone chipped in to help prepare our last camp meal, & the end result was delicious Kudu steaks & beautiful vege kebabs with a couple more salads. Stories were shared around the fire as we ate, & after most had gone to bed, Chloe, Sean & I were up late playing cards & finishing our bottle of gin from Swakopmund. By the end of the night, we were pretty tipsy, & sleep was thankfully easy to come by once we crawled into our tents for one last time.
We woke the next morning to an absolute body shock, fog had thickly rolled over the valley, & the morning was incredibly brisk. We packed up as quickly as possible, had a lovely pancake breakfast, & were glad to be on the truck by 9am for our last drive. The journey to Stellenbosch was picturesque, & ended up taking no time at all (only about 3 hours.) We made it to Stellenbosch by lunchtime, & we soon pulled into our home for two nights, ‘Stumble Inn.’ We would later learn the appropriateness of the name after our pre planned wine tour the next day! We were assigned a lovely, if a wee bit chilly, double room near the front of the inn & we were quickly settled in.
Craving a coffee, we set off to the happening block in town, & discovered a funky little wine cellar & bar meets café, ‘Brampton Wines.’ After ordering real coffees we were delighted to find the tables were completely made out of chalk board, & multi coloured chalks were provided on each one! We enjoyed our coffees which were the best we’d had since Swakopmund, & drew up a pretty mural on our table.

Paying up with the promise to return later that evening, we headed in the direction of the local mall. We had to pick up funky wigs for the next day’s wine tasting as it was Katie’s birthday & wigs were the chosen theme. We found a short pink wig for me & a multicoloured Mohawks for Sean at a cheap Asian store. After browsing a few other stores for a good hour, we decided to purchase tickets to see Jurassic World in the cinema. The movie had come out while we’ve been on the road & Sean was dying to see it!
We headed home for a shower & a quick change, & swiftly headed back out without running into anyone from the group. Walking back up into town, we ended back at Brampton’s Wines for dinner. I ordered a soup which was okay if a little tasteless, & Sean ordered a delicious Malay chicken flatbread. We accompanied these with a nice bottle of the wineries own Chardonnay. We paid up, satisfied, & headed back in the direction of the mall & cinema.
The movie was fantastic. Fun, exciting & very far fetched, we enjoyed it thoroughly. After the film, we decided on one more drink at another bar we had stumbled upon earlier in the day. The tiny garden bar was intimate, perfectly cluttered & the local beer was delicious & cheap. After one pint of ale we were ready to call it a night, & after a quick walk home, we were in bed, lights out, ready for the next fun, & booze filled day!
Arising at 8 the next morning, we headed out to find a local coffee shop people raved about online as the best coffee in Stellenbosch. We found it, & were devastated to learn that it was closed, so we moved on to the next place which was a massive two storey building on a corner. The interior of the coffee shop reminded me of what the grounds looks like inside, very funky with paintings, plants & a bakery inside. The coffee we ordered for takeaway was amazing, silky smooth & strong. Definitely the best coffee we’d had on the trip thus far & it made us even more excited for the day ahead.
Before long we were back at Stumble Inn, chucking on some nice clothes for the day, & also our ridiculous temporary hair. We met the rest of the gang & we departed on a shuttle bus at 10am. Our first stop was the fancy Tokara estate in the hills. The wines were okay, their house made brandy was quite tasty, & it was a decent start to our tour. Our next stop was Zorgvliet, a picturesque winery (or farm as they call them in South Africa,) where we tasted a few more okay wines, the reds being their strong point. We then took the opportunity to snap a few silly photos of us all with the mountains as the back drop.

Finishing up at Zorgvliet, it was onto Frankenschouek where we were to have lunch at a small café. We had preordered what we wanted at Zorgvliet, so the much needed food was quick to arrive. After devouring our basic lunch, it was onto the next farm, Dieu Dionne which was up on a hill with more gorgeous views. Their wines were good, the stand out being the 2012 Shiraz. So good that we were all coming back for more! Wrapping it up in no time at all, we bundled back into the shuttle & were en route to our last stop, Fairview Estate which was much anticipated as they provided a free cheese tasting. We pulled into Fairview after a half an hour of driving, & strolled into the tasting room. We tried a few mediocre wines before being offered the chance to taste the variety of cheeses they produced. They had set up tastings of about 7, with the blue & the cheddar being the standouts. We went back to tasting wines which were all pretty disappointing, & we were soon leaving Fairview Estate, not before meeting their two resident goats who lived on site in a pen.

We headed back to Stumble Inn, & we all literally stumbled through the doors. After a game of pool & a beer, we soon departed our hostel to head towards Brampton’s yet again, this time with most of the group for trivia night. Our team name was ‘Carmen Mii,’ & we didn’t do too badly coming fourth. We ordered the Malay Chicken flatbread once again, & after a few more drinks we were more than ready to call it a night so we stumbled back to guess where, & were shortly in bed. Our next morning’s time of departure was a painful 5:30a.m, so we were definitely after as much sleep as possible!

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Stellenbosch - wine not?! South Africa