A great holiday!

I don't know what happened to yesterday - it's gone in a blur of sitting in a car, or an airport, or an aeroplane, or a hotel lobby at 4am, getting a bit stressed about delayed flights, but relieved that it's not as bad as at the beginning of a holiday (which we also had). NO more flying for at least, oh, a few months.

We mused about the highlights of a superb holiday, and in the absence of any photos on the 4th, here's a wee compilation. Left to right, starting top left.

The Silo Hotel, Capetown. And the art gallery/museum part: what a feat of engineering and what vision! (TOP tip from Hazel). It features in an early episode of 'Amazing Hotels', which is on iPlayer. Worth a look.

The V&A Waterfront vibe! The music, dancing, restaurants, scenery, it was just a wonderful start to our holiday. Our 5* hotel was right in the midst of it. 

The Wine Trail (with lunch) in Franschhoek, by vintage tram, vintage bus and (fairly old) tractor. 

The ostrich Safari Park in Oudshoorn was an unexpected highlight - great fun and very informative about these endearingly daft birds!

We spent a lot of time in cars, being driven to the next destination, so it was quite a treat to drive through the Meiringspoort Pass, stop for while and walk up to the waterfall. Check out this video to give you an idea of the place.

The hotels were all fabulous - all 5*, and we're not as used to that as we'd like to be, so it was a real treat. 

The food (and wine) was definitely a highlight - very cheap, large servings and reliably excellent (not counting the Safari lodge...)

The Safari animals. Not such close encounters as our last safari. The big cats sightings were all at a distance, and when we did see them, the only male lion in the reserve kept his back to us, and the cheetah mum and cubs were in hiding during our whole stay. But on the last day, I had an unforgettable close encounter with a big herd of elephants, playing in the mud.

Our last destination, Oceana Beach and Wildlife Reserve, was perfect. They made us SO welcome (at 11.30am!) with coffee on the deck with the most wonderful view. A cute wee vervet monkey jumped up on the table, and quick as a flash, stole our sugar sachets - they know all the new humans who aren't quick enough to see what they're up to!

PS I should mention that a big bonus of the trip was the fellow holidaymakers - young couples we kept meeting along the way - always good company, and one particularly fun night at the safari lodge.