SA Day Nine

Another wonderful breakfast - no, I did not choose sensibly (again). Our new driver, Chris, arrived. He’s a professional tour guide, travelling the world (even to NZ) with groups, so we were honoured to have him - he gave us so much local information about the area, even taking us on a tour of Oudtshoorn before we left town, showing us the original posh houses (with towers) that the rich first ostrich farmers built.

So we drove from the dry grasslands, with an abundance of succulents, scrub and bright clumps of flowers over the mountains and into the Garden Route with completely different flora - green grassland, trees (forestry), hops, and down to the coast to George, which has a famous golf course and lots of gated retirement communities…

We’re in an iconic hotel, The Turbine Boutique Hotel on Thesen Islands, and it’s pretty special. It was an old power station, and they’ve made features of the industrial heritage and built around all the huge machinery.

Having dinner tonight in the hotel - the weather is wet and windy, so we don’t want to go out. Besides, the hotel is SO fabulous we might stay here forever.

Top left, clockwise:
Our breakfast pots of tea being delivered (the kitchen was a short walk away).
The singing staff gave a show (three times a day) in the hotel cafe we were in, then went off and did the housekeeping.
The view from our (upgraded) suite.
It’s Heritage Day, so the locals like to dress up. Turbines visible under the glass floor.