Kirstenbosch through Etienne’s Eyes

You know what they say about assumptions, do not do it.

“Assumptions are made and most assumptions are wrong.” – Albert Einstein

So, I learned my lesson again on January,5^th 2022.

My husband said that he was going to take leave for the day and then we can go do something to end my leave and before the new work year starts.

I had no idea what I wanted to do. He made a few suggestions and I played around with the idea of maybe visiting a wine farm, but I was just not really feeling anything. He then came up with the bright idea to visit Kirstenbosch.

I loved the idea instantly as we both said we wanted to be more active this year and what a great idea to start in this beautiful garden.

Now, I always assume that if you live in and around Cape Town that you must have been to Kirstenbosch at least once. Wrong! Here I found out that my husband has never been to Kirstenbosch and he is turning 42 this year! I got so excited! I could not believe that I was going to share this experience with him! He loves the outdoors as much as I and all I could think was this is going to be so, so good!

I struggled to sleep that night like you do before a birthday party when you were 5 years old.

We arrived just after the park opened and we grabbed a cup of coffee at Vida e Caffé first as we left our home early and did not have coffee before we left-the horror! Our gear for the day we left in the bakkie for the time being in the car. After we finished our coffee Etienne said that he is going to grab our stuff and meet up back at the table and then we can go.

As I sit waiting I see he is speaking to these two random people and I try to see if I recognise them. Keeping in mind I need glasses for distance viewing and it was a waste of time as they all were blurry. As they got closer the lady waved at me and then I saw it was my sister and her hubby! I ran like a child to the front and hugged her so close. This day was just getting better and better.

Etienne is like “Surprise!”. He conspired with them the previous evening to join us. This was perfect.

We were all ready to go.

I thought I am pretty fit for the excursion but again I was so wrong. We headed for the Boomslang first and after I led us astray as I thought I knew where I was going, we found the start of the Yellowwood Trail.

Let me tell you, it gets steep, but it is not difficult to climb. It is a short 3km which takes you about 1h30m (lots of steps) and you want to spend some time at the waterfall. I enjoyed it so much! You can read more about this trail and others here.

We had a lovely lunch at Moyo at Kirstenbosch and they got a 5 star from me only for the fact that they serve Redbull Sugar Free drinks! Man, I love that stuff. I was treated with sugar free ice cream at Kristen’s in Newlands.