Clinking glasses and eating cheese at Packwood

Having a food and wine lover on a road trip means the trip is likely to be interrupted at some stage or another to indulge, or at least enjoy in moderation, either or both of these.  This is what happened on a recent road trip to Cape Town with fellow tourism peeps and Geocachers Shefetswe and Erenei.  We just left Storms River Village when Shefetswe got a phone call and announced that we were invited for a wine tasting at Packwood Wine Estate between Plettenberg Bay and Knysna.  Wine on the Garden Route? Yes, the Plett Winelands consist of 16 wine estates and is the most easterly wine route in South Africa.  I've had a chance to visit the biggest one in the area, Bramon, before so it was great to be able to experience what one of the others in the area had to offer.

 

We were met at Packwood Estate by owner Vicky Gent and Patty Butterworth of Plett Tourism.  Packwood started in 1998 as a dairy farm and today has about 950 Jersey cows who happily travers the rolling green hills of the estate.  In 2006 they decided to start a vineyard and produced their first wine, the Packwood Sauvignon Blanc, in 2009.  They also produce a Pinot Noir and a Pinot Noir MCC, with all three wines on the list for us to taste.

 

While we enjoyed the beautiful scenic view from the tasting area, Vicky was telling us about the farm and how they only use organic produce in their lunches. Lunch? Did somebody mention lunch?  Lunch came in the form of  a selection of cheeses made with milk from Packwood's Jersey cows, a crisp garden salads, delectable home wine estate baked bread, homemade chutneys and preserves.  Although Packwood doesn't produce it's own cheese commercially (they supply their milk to a commercial cheese producer though), they do produce cheese for the lunches they serve.  I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a big wine drinker, but cheese... I love cheese.  The one thing to keep in mind if you want to consider Packwood is that it's not one of those commercial wine tasting and lunch venues.  I would rather call it a boutique stop for the discerning wine and cheese lover.  Something a bit more exclusive and expensive so don't go there if you just want to stuff your face and get your tummy full while quaffing a few glasses of wine. 



One of the things to remember when serving food while hosting bloggers, photographers and social media people is that, come hell or high water, photos will be taken when food get served.  So don't grab anything before the cameras and phones didn't come out.  Here Shefetswe is doing his thing and, while I wait my turn to rearrange, I maar sommer took one of him.  And yes, that is an amused Vicky watching the whole process.

The wine and table with a bit of HDR added made for another great photograph. Something Erenei spotted.
 

It wasn't long and our visit to Packwood was over.  It does have me a bit more curious about the Plett

Winelands and at some stage I need to come and spend a couple of days in the area and explore a few more of the estates before the world discovers this special little wine route and descend on it en-mass.  Because it's going to happen at some stage.

Beacon Isle view - Plettenberg Bay

My previous post was a picture from a scenic lookout spot in Plettenberg Bay looking towards Robberg.  I mentioned that the view to the left is of the Beacon Isle Hotel and the Piesang River Estuary.  This iconic spot is now under threat of a huge development that started out as an request for ideas for a small boat harbour which has ballooned to a multi billion rand development that will change the landscape of Plettenberg Bay for ever.  In my opinion, not for the good.

I borrowed this picture from Show Me Plettenberg Bay.  Check out their article on Save Plett, Central Beach, Plettenberg Bay. 

The view of Robberg from Plettenberg Bay

Driving past Plettenberg Bay on the Garden Route means you catch a glimpse of the Keurbooms Lagoon with the bay beyond but you don't actually get to see much of the town and surrounds.  Plettenberg Bay wasn't originally called Baia Formosa (beautiful bay) for nothing and the best spot to enjoy a scenic view of the area is from the lookout reached by driving up Main Street from the town centre and turning left on San Gonzales Street.  The view point gives one a bird's eye view of Plett with the bay on the left, part of the residential areas on the right and Robberg Peninsula in the background.  The view immediately to the left of this takes in the Beacon Isle Hotel, but I'll share that with you another time. 

Plettenbergbaai sonopkoms

Sonopkoms en sonsondergang fotos is van my gunsteling fotos om te neem.  So rukkie terug het ons 'n naweek op Plettenbergbaai deurgebring.  Dit was 'n bibberend koue oggend en ek het maar gesukkel om uit die bed te kom, maar wou graag op die strand wees vir sonopkoms.  Dit was die moeite werd, want daardie oggend het ek van my gunsteling sonopkoms fotos geneem.  Die enigste probleem was dat ek gevoel het dat ek 'n fokuspunt of onderwerp in die voorgrond wou hê en daar nie regtig iets was nie.  Onnodig om te sê dat as enige iemand my daai oggend gesien het op en af hardloop op die strand, hulle seker lekker sou gelag het.

Die son kom op vir Raakreis

Sonopkoms in Plettenbergbaai met die Tsitsikammaberge in die verte

 .

Wat beteken dit om raak te reis?  Die antwoord is eintlik heel maklik.  Dit beteken om op reis te wees en nie dinge te mis nie.  Dit beteken om alles te sien wat die moeite werd is om te sien, of dit nou 'n bekende landmerk is of 'n klein en onbekende monument.  Dit beteken om nie blindelings te reis nie, maar te verken sonder om na die tyd spyt te wees dat daar iets was wat jy nie gesien het nie.  Wat is Raakreis?  Raakreis is 'n trots Afrikaanse blog waarin ek graag my reis- en natuurfotografie sowel as reisinligting oor die plekke wat ek al besoek het (en nog sal besoek) met lesers wil deel.  Waar kom Raakreis vandaan?  Ek het in Julie 2008 begin blog toe The Firefly Photo Files die lig gesien het.  In Maar 2009 het ek Port Elizabeth Daily Photo oorgevat en sederdien het ek 1064 artikels in eersgenoemde en 1131 is PEDP geplaas.  Verlede week het iemand my in 'n epos gevra of die inligting in die blogs ook in Afrikaans beskikbaar is en dit het my aan die dink gesit.  Sal mense belangstel in 'n Afrikaanse reisblog?  Hoekom nie?  Die belangrikste, het ek besluit, is dat dit nie net 'n vertaling van die ander blogs moet wees nie, maar iets wat heeltemal op sy eie staan.  Hierdie is waar die son opkom vir Raakreis, so geniet die rit en maak seker jy reis raak.

PS, ek wil net noem dat ek nie 'n professor in Afrikaans is nie en dat ek ook nie 'n sub-redakteur het wat die posts nagaan nie, so daar mag wel van tyd tot tyd taal- en spelfoute inglip (tien teen een meer gereeld as dit), so vergewe maar as dit gebeur. 

 

UPDATE 19 Augustus 2014:  Ek het intussen besluit om Raakreis by The Firefly Photo Files in te lyf.  Die enigste rede is dat dit maar oor tyd, of die tekort daaraan, gaan.  Ten minste hier sal daar altyd iets nuuts wees, of dit nou in Afrikaans of Engels is.

Whale (tail) watching

Whale watching along the South African coast line usually takes place between April and November, so this time of year the whales start heading down south to Antarctic waters again.  You don't have to go on a boat to see the whale though with stunning land based whale watching possible especially around the Cape and in particular the Hermanus area.  Plettenberg Bay is another of the bays that the whales visit and this very interesting bench can be found at one of the lookouts in the town.

Sun dials

How many people still wear watches today? I stopped wearing one when I got my first mobile phone and it had the time on it.  But before wrist watches, cuckcoo clocks and grandfather clocks there were clocks that didn't go tick tock.  Sun clocks dials.  And that is the topic of my "Random ... " post today.

Random sun dials.

This sun dial can be seen outside the historic St Peters Anglican Church in Plettenberg Bay

The Klein Karoo gets lots of sun so I'm sure you can check the time just about every day at this sun dial outside CJ Langenhoven's house (now a museum) in Oudtshoorn.  Langenhoven's grave can be seen in the background.

I know I took this picture in Somerset East but for the death of me I can't remember if it was at the Dutch Reformed Church or at the Angler and Antelope Guest House.

The most unusual sun dial in the post comes from the town of Hankey in the Gamtoos River Valley.  It claims to be the biggest sun dial in the Southern Hemisphere and was erected by a local farmer in 1989.  The dial is 36,4 meters across and right next to the main road into the valley.

Plettenberg Bay sunrise

People (and that includes me) always refer to the magnificent African sunsets that we enjoy here in South Africa, but rarely do folk wax lyrical about the African sunrises.  Well, I hereby want to brag with the fact that we have as beautiful sunrises as we have sunsets.

These two photos were taken of a sunrise in Plettenberg Bay a couple of months ago

Old Nick

One of the landmark destinations on the Garden Route at Plettenberg Bay is the Old Nick Village, a shopping and lifestyle centre next to the N2.  The Old Nick Shop, the main shop in the complex, is housed in the building that was originally built by Aaron Toplis in 1880 as the Gansvlei General Dealers Store.  Later on a certain English-man, Spike Devine, ran an antique shop in Plettenberg Bay village, housed in the old gaol or ‘Old Nick’, in the slang of his home country.  He became the new lessee of the Gansvlei shop and the site has been known as Old Nick ever since.

The complex consist of several buildings housing a veriety of shops and galleries...

... ranging from pottery and ceramics...

... to weavers and hand made proiducts.  There is also an excellent restaurant on the premises.

One of the buildings also contain a weaving museum.  Being the only one of its kind in South Africa, this is a working museum housing 19th century power looms, sampling and producing speciality fabrics for Mungo Design, also located in the complex.  The museum is open daily and there is usually somebody on hand to inform people on what they see. 

Sea Breeze Honeymoon Suite

During our weekend in Plettenberg Bay we stayed at the Seabreeze B&B in the suburb of Solar Beach.  Because they weren't very busy that weekend, they gave us the honeymoon suite which was beautiful with its mostly white decor.  The Damselfly specially liked the loose standing bath.

Kitchen Cafe - Plettenberg Bay

So there the Damselfly and I were in Plettenberg Bay for the weekend.  It was cold, somewhat wet plus we had a couple of unfortunate hiccups during the day.  For the Saturday night we had a 19:00 reservation at Kitchen Cafe in the Main Street but was seriously contemplating staying in bed with the heater on for the evening and chilling with a pizza or something.  How glad am I that we didn't!!  Manager Gerry met us at the front door with a very big smile and led us straight to one of the prime tables right by the fireplace.  I was quite impressed specially seeing that there wasn't a lot of empty seats left in the restaurant at the time.  We ordered our drinks and with the fire cracking close by the feeling slowly came back in our fingers and toes.

Our waiter Tyron came by with the menus and gave us a couple of recommendations.  What I specially liked was how he has had just about all the items on the menu himself and could describe it all to us whenever we had a question on an item.  Often I find that waiters have never actually tried the items on the menus themselves and he told us that it was the owners policy that the waiters had to know the food they serve to be able to give you first hand information.  For a starter I decided on the Butternut Soup while the Damselfly had a Starter Calamari.  The soup was perfect and most importantly, hot.  I just hate getting a soup on my plate and its only luke warm.  The Damselfly remarked how the starter calamari didn't come with the normal tartar sauce, but with a sweet chili sauce.  Although she found it unusual, it turned out to be the perfect compliment.

After only having a light lunch I was in the mood for some meat and the Sirloin Steak was a great call as a main.  It was perfectly done and served with chips (thin, crispy on the outside and soft inside) and rocket leaves.  My sauce of choice for the evening was a lip smacking port and mushroom sauce.  I just couldn't wait to tuck into it and the knife just sliced through it like nothing.  Perfect!

The Damselfly was a bit undecided on what to have and was uhm'ing and ah'ing about possibly having the mussels.  This is where Tyron stepped up to the plate (in a matter of speaking).  He highly recommended the Chef's Choice for the evening.  Seared Norwegian Salmon with Asian Stir Fry and Kikkoman Sauce.  Believe me, she wasn't sorry that she ordered it.  It wasn't just nice, she absolutely loved it.

We decided not to have dessert (I don't think the ladies at Weighless would have approved if we did anyway), but settled for a coffee instead.  The best part of Kitchen Cafe is that they don't just have the regular menu to choose from but also serve pizza and sushi, having recently welcomed a new Sushi Chef to the restaurant.  They also have a very well stocked bar which I just had a peek at on the way out the door.  That sherry on the end would have gone down very nicely on a cold night...

Dolphin watching with Ocean Safaris

Plettenberg Bay is one after the best boat based whale watching spots on the South African coastline.  We were booked for a whale watching trip while in town and I really looked forward to get a couple of whale photos to show on here.  On arrival we were kitted out with life jackets and headed down to the beach to board our boat.

We first headed east past the Keurbooms River Mouth and found a pod of Bottlenose Dolphins near Arch Rock.  The were right in the surf, so we couldn't get too close, but it was still a great sighting seeing them swimming up and down and jumping out the back of the waves.

From Arch Rock we headed straight across the bay towards Robberg with the hope that we'll find the whales.  The crew kept a sharp eye out, but unfortunately we didn't find the ocean giants.  We did see a couple of Common Dolphins as we were crossing the bay.  Unfortunately the wind had come up and we were getting wet, so the camera was safely stowed away.

Beacon Island

One of the best known landmarks in Plettenberg Bay on the Garden Route is the Beacon Isle Hotel.  Beacon Island is at the mouth of the Piesang River and has a history that goes back to 1771.  In that year the first navigational beacon was erected on the island.  The original was a square block of stinkwood, inscribed with the latitude and longitude of Plettenberg Bay, and erected to enable mariners to check their location and chronometers.  It also gave Beacon Island its name.  The wooden beacon was replaced by Captain Sewell with a stone one in 1881 and has been replaced a couple of times over the years.  It can be seen in the gardens of the hotel.

Whaling in the bay was started by John Sinclair with the first cargo of whale oil leaving the shores of Plettenberg Bay in 1834.  A number of other men continued to whale in the bay, but it was Cornelius Watson and Percy Toplis who managed to obtain the first lease to use Beacon Island as a whaling station.  In 1908 the Thesen family of Knysna bought the whaling station from Toplis and invested heavily into what they hoped would be a lucrative whaling business.   

Over an 8-year period, they brought in seven whaling steamers from Norway, a meat boiling plant, an electric-lighting plant and a team of renowned Norwegian whalers.  Unfortunately their operation didn't last long and whaling was halted in 1916.  The Norwegians had underestimated the whaling potential of the bay and World War I prevented the export of oil to England during that period.  One of the original iron pots used to boil the whale blubber can still be seen on the grounds of the hotel along with a couple of harpoons.

When the Norwegians took over the whaling station they imported a house from Norway which was occupied by the project manager Captain Jacob Odland.  The house remained when whaling ceased and became Hopwood’s boarding house, a forerunner of the Angler’s Inn.  The first Beacon Island Hotel was erected by Hugh Owen Grant in 1940 and the present hotel was built in 1972.

While I was trawling the internet for information on Beacon Island, I found the picture above on The Van Plettenberg Historical Society website of it as it was during the hub of whaling operations (1913-16).

Old Timber Shed

Another one of the historic sites in Plettenberg Bay that I'm sure very few people are aware of is the Old Timber Shed.  Located in Meeding Street close to the beachfront, it was built by Johan Jacob Jerling in 1787.  The building was used to store timber for the Dutch East India Company with the first timber being shipped out in August 1788.  Unfortunately the project had limited success and failed to survive the colony’s First British Occupation in 1795.

The Timber Shed was declared a national monument in 1936.  There isn't much left of the building except for the stone walls and a couple of windows, but I was quite impressed with how neat the area both inside as well as around the building is kept.

I couldn't resist getting a "through the window" photo as well

Van Plettenberg Beacon

Please put your hands up if you've been to Plettenberg Bay or live in the town and have visited the Van Plettenberg Beacon... or even know it exists.  I bet there isn't too many hands up right now.  The beacon can be seen at the lookout point on the corner of Hopwood and Meeding Street.

During 1778, Governor Joachim Baron van Plettenberg visited many of the outposts throughout the Cape Colony.  He arrived in the bay, then known as Bahia Formosa (Beautiful Bay as named by early Portuguese explorers) on 5 November 1778.  After inspecting the bay and surrounding area, he erected this slate possesional stone indicating that the bay henceforth would belong to the Dutch East India Company.  From that day on the town also bore his name, Plettenberg Bay.

Enjoying sunrise

Having only two nights in Plettenberg Bay and with lots of rain about, the chance of getting a beautiful sunrise over the bay was very slim.  I still set my alarm early enough for the first morning to head down to the beach for sunrise.  There were clouds about but enough sky peeking through, so the odds looked good.  One drawback though was that I didn't have an object to put in the foreground.  I did have my tripod though, so it was a case of focus, press button and 10 seconds to get into position.  Somebody looking down from the houses next to the beach must have had a good laugh at this guy running up and down the beach.  This is one of my two favorites.  The other one I'll keep for another time.

St Peter's Anglican Church

Most people visiting visiting Plettenberg Bay either end up on the beach or visiting one of the very good attractions in the area like Monkeyland, Birds of Eden, The Elephant Sanctuary and many more. Not many search out the interesting historical sites in the town as they aren't really promoted that much. The Damselfly and I had an alone (and very wet I have to add) weekend away without the Rugrats courtesy of GAA Plettenberg Bay and made use of the opportunity to look up a couple of these lesser known attractions.

The first place we found was the St Peter's Anglican Church which wasn't even marked on the tourist map that we had.  I searched the internet a bit, but couldn't find much info on it except for the fact that the first service was held in this sturdy little stone church in 1881.

St Peter's reminded me quite a lot of the little Belvidere Church in Knysna.  The church with its beautiful stone work, slate roof and stained glass windows is also surrounded by a number of old graves, but that will have to wait for another visit.

Walkway to sunrise

One of the boardwalk walkways leading down to Solar Beach in Plettenberg Bay at sunrise