Once voted the most beautiful city in the world, it's always a wonderful thing to return to Cape Town no matter how arduous the trip to get there!
We've had a fun and mellow few days in the city and out:
a lovely two nights in cute and comfy Treehouse Boutique Hotel in Greenpoint;
dinner at "Caramba", a traditional, family owned Portuguese restaurant serving yummy grilled calamari and peri peri prawns all while we watched Portugal beat Switzerland in the FIFA World Cup Soccer Tournament!
Lunch at Die Strandloper, a delightful, rustic seafood restaurant right on the beach in Langebaan, a town an hour and a half north of Cape Town, where Nev soon made friends with a large crowd of locals and happily enjoyed Jaeger shots with them knowing that I was driving home!
And breakfast this morning with dear friends: Hillary and Wayne, Brenda and Arnie, and Sharon, at Lily's on the waterfront on a brilliantly blue skied Cape Town day, in the shadow of magnificent Table Mountain.
Today we head out to the winelands and the fun and festivities planned for the marriage of Alex and Emma this weekend.
Emma is the daughter of Gary and Janine Barnes-Webb, our dear friends at Rancho Leonero in Mexico, and we're thrilled and honored to be guests at this totally happy celebration.

We haven't shared turkey and cranberry suace
or mimosas and all the trimmings
but we have shared 48 wonderful hours together
Tears flowed as we talked about death and the fear of dying;
she was comforted when I reminded her she loves Jesus and heaven is in her future…
she talks to Him a lot, she said.
We navigated our way through mums struggles of coming to grips with her limitations both mentally and physically;
and, slowly, her breathing eased and she slept well beside me.
We laughed a lot too
at old photos
at lovely memories
at Donde, the cats, antics
at each of our oddities
at the simple beauty of sunsets on the farm.
It's been a time of thanksgiving as I say my goodbyes to her today, headed to the States and then on to South Africa and beyond for the next two months...
a long time to be away from her...
comforted by the fact friends will visit her...
Heather will be here for Christmas...
and her angels on earth: Narda, Yesi, Monce and Brittnee will care for and love on her in our absence.
Thank You Jesus for the love of this precious mother of ours. ♥️♥️
Happy Thanksgiving everyone 🦃🥂🦃🥂🦃

Everyone has their idea of what "living the life" looks like...
here's mine:
both my boys
their wives
their babies here with us at Casa Azul
all of us in the pool
all of us walking and playing on the beach
all of us watching the blood moon rise out of the ocean
all the babies having nap time at the same time which meant lunchtime and cocktail time together for the adults
mango popsicles daily!
It's the first time Makenna and Carson have been to see us here so it's been huge fun watching them explore and get familiar with their whereabouts
It's been fabulous watching each child get braver in the water, be it the pool or the ocean
Lovely chatter happened over dinner once the babies were to bed
Fun was had on the farm as we cooked pizza and visited Granny Alder; the kiddies got to run wild on the lawn and play with Donde, the cat, who really didn't play nicely with them!!
Yummy wine was shared
and the weather has been kind with no wild blustery November winds to steal our joy...
the only thief of our joy was time
Christopher, Allison, Makenna and Carson returned home on Friday leaving a quiet void behind
Stephen, Candace, Lily and Keira leave tomorrow and the void left by their departure will be huge!
It's been an awesome week which has left me feeling so grateful...
and ever so slightly exhausted!!!
The cherry on top: Allison told me that Carson, at breakfast the next day, said: "Nannie Maggie gone? Bampa gone?"
Aaaaaaaaw.... ♥️

We love George Ezra's song "SHOTGUN"
These are a few of the lyrics:
"We're south of the Equator, navigator
Gotta hit the road, gotta hit the road
Deep sea diving 'round the clock, bikini bottoms, lager tops
I could get used to this
Time flies by in the yellow and green
Stick around and you'll see what I mean
There's a mountaintop that I'm dreaming of
If you need me you know where I'll be"
And now we have lived it!
We're at the airport, both of us with sad hearts which is silly because we know we'll be back in January...
it's been a great trip
our last day spent experiencing trains and buses in the city as we made our way to the famous Bondi Beach, blessed with glorious weather for such a time as this!
After a yummy lunch we walked to Brontë along the coastal walk which was jam packed with others out enjoying the art and the beautiful day...
I wanted to continue on to Coojee Bay but Nev called it quits for this trip and walking!!
Next time...
for now, our time has flown...
Thanks for your hospitality Australia 🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺
This is Nev, the Captain, speaking now:
"As I sit in the airport in Sydney on our way home I want to reflect on our 5 week 4000 mile trip in Australia.
I can't believe it's taken us all these years to get here and we weren't disappointed: snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef, eating as many pepper steak pies as I could, meeting Aussies, and walking as many beaches as we could all the way up the coast to Cape Tribulation
Maggie had many surprises along the way: camping with our camper on the beach, staying in tree houses and at the zoo, and, finally, seeing SA play Pakistan at the famous Sydney Cricket Ground
The best part is we will be back! The adventure will go on."
Cheers!

JURNEE is now sparkling clean
She has 4 brand new tires
and she is parked under cover until we return in January.
An unexpected consequence of Covid here in Australia has been a rush of the locals to invest in camping, which means storage for these beautiful vehicles is in huge demand across the country, making us ever so grateful that Neales Storage kept a spot open for JURNEE to return to. ♥️
Berrillee, where the storage unit is, is an hour and a half north of the city of Sydney, and we, and all our luggage, needed to get back for the cricket match being played between South Africa and Pakistan, an event Nev has been looking forward to since we touched ground here!
No UBER
No LYFT
No buses or trains to be had!
Panic.
And then along came Roy, a local gentleman who has, in his retirement as he undergoes treatment for prostate cancer, upgraded to a fancy caravan that won't fit in his garage;
he arrived at Neales Storage in the midst of our dilemma, to check on the wait list for a spot for his shiny new toy;
Nev bravely asked him for a ride to get us closer to the city
and he kindly obliged!
Our angel…
He saved the day...
and I just happened to have a box of SEE's chocolates I'd brought with me from the States to give to someone;
hadn't found that person yet...
today I did
and he was tickled pink!
We got to the cricket match at Sydney Cricket Ground ten minutes late
38,000 people in attendance
at least 36,000 of them were Pakistani's!!!
South Africa lost
but we thoroughly enjoyed the night all the same
repeatedly thanking Roy for being there when we needed a soul like his...
just wish he could read this!
Angels come in most unexpected packaging!

We spent last night in the Taronga Zoo!
Our room had a stunning view of the Sydney city skyline and Harbor Bridge at sunset, with kangaroos lolling about in the enclosure below us!
What a treat that totally surprised Nev
I hadn't told him where we were going for fear he'd say no,
but sightings of koalas and cassawary birds were on my mind and this is where I knew we'd get to see at least one of each!
We had an awesome dinner at The Public Dining House in nearby Mosman, superbly cooked lamb shanks washed down with yummy Shiraz.
And this morning we saw
cute and cuddly koalas,
a real life cassowary bird which was ever so handsome in full plumage,
long necked snake turtles with creepy, beady eyes just like a snake,
wallabies (small kangaroos),
and the cutest little porcupine looking but totally unrelated creature that followed us about as if need of a pick up and love!
It truly was a delightful overnight, and my honey totally and unabashedly admitted to that fact....
yay! 😅😅
Lots and lots of local school kids were here to camp for the night amongst the animals which reminded me of the trip I took my boys on when they were young:
an overnighter in San Diego's Zoo.
As we were driving along from Lighthouse Beach yesterday, the local news broadcast that 5 lions had escaped their enclosure - fortunately they had quickly and efficiently been captured and persuaded back into their enclosure before we arrived!
This is a visit we wished we had our grand babies along with us
all seven of them!!
Such fun they would've had...