• Market Review: Sunday Fun at Pre-Spring Groote Post Country Market

    4 September 2015 - By 

    Having kindly been invited – along with my parents – to attend the ‘Groote Post Country Market’ some two weeks ago, I had been looking forward to a fun, family-orientated market. I was really excited for the  Groote Post’s pre-spring market* – held on what looked like a truly beautiful, yet homely Cape farm, nestled in the midst of the Darling Hills – and to be heading to the charming West Coast countryside. *(Except in the winter, the market is held on the last Sunday of each month). So it was that we arose bright and early on Sunday morning,…

  • Travel and Beach Review: Gorgeous Clifton – Cape Town’s Unique Beach Quartet

    4 August 2015 - By 

    Cape Town beach-goers are blessed with a wealth of glorious beaches to choose from, starting with the picture-perfect Blouberg to the glamourous Camps Bay, but my favourite by far is the quartet of granite boulder-strewn Clifton beaches, with their frothy, nippy waves that kiss the sandy, pristine shoreline, as yachts frame the seemingly endless horizon and rest serenely upon the breathtakingly beautiful turquoise waters. Though the four beaches – respectively known as: Clifton 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th – share similar surroundings, they each attract their own group(s) of beach-goers and accompanying range of outdoor activities. Visitors from the Mother…

  • Restaurant Review: Old Cape Cafe, Gordon’s Bay

    22 June 2015 - By 

    A recent trip to Gordon’s Bay with my parents (and a wonderfully scenic mountain drive afterwards along the R44 between GB and Rooiels… To see my travel review on this, please visit my main site’s homepage: http://tamlynamberwanderlust.com) on a reasonably warm winter’s afternoon helped to unearth the quaint and undoubtedly charming treasure trove that is the Old Cape Cafe. Beach Road, which runs adjacent to the lovely, clean Main Beach, is reminiscent of Sea Point Promenade with its cluster of sea-facing restaurants and cafes that catch one’s eye and tempt the appetite. Although there were quite a few options for…

  • Chasing the Sun: A Wintry Afternoon Drive Along the Cape Coastline

    16 June 2015 - By 

    After a long and frenetic first semester of second-year studies, I was all but chafing at the bit to leave the hustle and bustle of the Mother City behind for a month’s ‘down time’ back home. These days, any road trip that takes me back home is a cause for joyous celebration and something I look forward to with much eagerness as skyscrapers are replaced by neat, rural farmlands and sleepy towns, and the masses of city folk by dusty Merino sheep. However, my spirits were even more buoyed than usual by my parents’ proposal to take a slightly longer…

  • Restaurant Review: The Classy Balducci Restaurant, V & A Waterfront, Cape Town

    9 June 2015 - By 

    UPDATE: Sadly, as of December 2020, Balducci has closed its doors after 24 wonderful years of service. However, you can still support their sister restaurant, Gibsons. Last month I had the immense pleasure of visiting what must surely be one of Cape Town’s finest restaurant offerings: Balducci. Tucked away near the lower level entrance/exit point of the V & A Waterfront’s Victoria Wharf in Shop 6162, Balducci’s philosophy, as stated in their own words, is a simple one: “to provide a memorable experience by redefining the essence of good home cooked food and continually upping the standards with its slick…

  • Travel Review – An Unforgettable Trip to Cape Point, Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve

    11 May 2015 - By 

    In October of last year I had one of the most invigorating and almost life-changing travel experiences – not abroad as you might expect but rather +/- 60 km south-west of my beloved home city of Cape Town – when I visited Cape Point. Earlier, our trio of travellers visited naval Simon’s Town & its unique Boulders Beach. As late afternoon approached, we curled around the breathtaking False Bay coastline before eagerly passing through the access gate of the Cape of Good Hope/Cape Point Nature Reserve. (Note: There is an entry fee of R55 for Children (ages 2-11) and R110…

  • Beach Review: Camps Bay Beach, Cape Town

    20 April 2015 - By 

    The locally and internationally famous Camps Bay Beach is the pride and joy of the Mother City. With its beautiful ocean views, mixture of almost turquoise and deep blue waters, pristine white stretch of beach, giant granite boulders and spectacular views of the famous Twelve Apostles mountain range and Lion’s Head, it deserves all the praise it receives and more. A few minutes’ drive from the Cape Town CBD, Camps Bay Beach – and indeed Camps Bay itself –  is well worth a visit on a beautiful summer or even early autumn day for a good, safe and family-friendly day…

  • Food and Drink Review – Sushi Experience: Sevruga, V&A Waterfront

    20 April 2015 - By 

    Few settings can rival Cape Town’s magnificent & graceful V & A Waterfront – but when you add a fine-dining sushi experience in a professional and smart, yet decidedly relaxed restaurant environment on the harbour’s edge to it, you have just done precisely that and you have been served by: Sevruga. Sevruga – and it’s sister restaurant, Beluga (for more info., see: http://www.beluga.co.za) – is owned by The Caviar Foundation and/or Restaurant Group – based both locally in the Mother City and in the ‘jewel’ of the Indian Ocean, Durban – and, according to their website, http://www.sevruga.co.za,”embodies a passion for…

  • Travel Review: Exploring Route 62’s Picturesque Legoland – The Cogman’s Kloof Mountain Pass

    13 April 2015 - By 

    Cogman’s Kloof Pass A recent drive back to Cape Town earlier this month made me realise how much I underappreciated the beautifully majestic and decidedly rugged mountains that surround my adopted hometown of Montagu during the 13-year period in which I resided in or near the quaint, little dorpie. It’s true that now instead I am blessed to wake up every morning to the sight of the one true mountain, fondly referred to as ‘The Table’, but its beauty is different to the, in places formidable, Langeberg mountain range, which encircles Montagu. It’s less foreboding and rough around the edges…

  • Travel Photo Essay – Jonkershoek Nature Reserve

    26 October 2014 - By 

    If you visit the beautiful Stellenbosch in the Western Cape, be sure to visit the Jonkershoek Nature Reserve. The entry fee is R25 per person and the nature reserve is accessible via bicycle, car or by foot. If you’re pressed for time, take the 10 km drive. The road (which is considerably bumpy in places but which a normal car can manage if only you drive carefully and slowly over the worst patches) takes you into the reserve (there are signs indicating the access point of the 3 km hike to the waterfall found near the midway point of the…