Browsing Category

Winter

Adventure Animals Hotspot travel Winter

Life in the Bay for Christmas

I love South Africa. I’m particularly in love with the southern coastline, from Cape Town to Plettenberg, it’s nothing but blue skies, blue seas and beautiful people!

It feels like Christmas every day here, waking up to the most gorgeous bay views and sea air. It’s amazing how tired salty air can make you, but you definitely feel like you’ve had a long, fruitful (if not too eventful) day. The African sun is relentless too, warm yes, but strong, even when it’s overcast. We welcome the odd splashes of rain.

This sleepy bayside town wakes up for 2 weeks a year to a plethora of surfers, VIP’s and people like us, who are just looking for some winter sunshine, all mingling in beautiful café’s with quaint views, and the same long waiting lists.

The days are spent surfing, shopping, eating and napping, whilst the evenings gather everyone around the BBQ’s. The smell I tell you is fantastic. I’m a vegetarian but oh my…

I’ve been so glad for two particular necessities here, one is Neutrogena’s sun cream and the other, is their chap stick… with the winter winds out on the water raging, my normally semi-coiffed hair hasn’t had a look in this holiday, and it’s been great to let go. Apart from getting the odd eyeball whipping from the baby strands around my face, it’s actually been nice to not care. Sun cream & lip balm

We had a fantastic day out on the water yesterday, venturing out with the ocean safari team with our sights set on finding some whales, (it’s technically out of season but I was optimistic none the less). What we did see straight away was a large seal feasting on a stingray, happily enjoying his well deserved breakfast with the ever-growing fear of the dreaded ‘Robberg Express’ hanging over him. The Robberg express is not the channel between which all the sharks roam as I later found out; it’s the name of a singularly enormous creature that haunts the bay. (May be why I haven’t gotten into the water to surf yet…)Whale Watching

As he rolled on his back, waved at us and promptly sank beneath the waves, we moved on in search of more aquatic wonders. We headed straight for the coastline where we saw a collective of at least 30 bottlenose dolphins hugging the waves in fear of the Express, and followed their movements in the swells for a good half an hour. Dolphin Watching Soaking up the sun from the top deck, with these small, beautiful mammals playing next to us was a moment of absolute perfection. Then we spotted (I spotted and alerted the boat rather loudly) a baby hammerhead shark off to the right, swimming with a small family of indo-pacific humpback dolphins! (These are incredibly incredibly rare – hence my exclamation mark). Dolphin Watching

After what was the perfect way to start the day, we felt it was only right to end it just as memorably. Dinner last night was at a little romantic hotspot called Emily Moon River Lodge… it boasts spectacular views across polo fields and wet lands by day, the ideal place for a sunset aperitif or two! Emily Moon

Anyway, I’m off to enjoy the rest of it now… ☺

travel Winter

Christmas Will Be Spent… Sunbathing!

For most of us, heading somewhere chilly is essentially the key to a Christmas holiday, whether it’s back home, or somewhere specifically white and snowy. This year i’m off somewhere super warm instead… South Africa!

There’s one big thing I will be missing though… as you all down copious amounts of wine, choccies and yummy Christmas grub, I won’t be able to cover the usual holiday podge with leggings and a sweater and call it insulation…

I can’t wait to visit one of my favourite places in the world and i’m hoping Santa brings me one of these gorgeous little numbers from Cali Dreaming from Maison du Maillot! Antilia Top and Pandoram Bottom Seamed Antlia Top and Pandora Bottom

Grus Crux Navy Scuba Grus Top and Crux Bottom

Ursa Top and Toggle Bottom Pink Nude Ursa Top and Toggle Bottom Bikini

ROSE, Navy (BACK) Navy Scuba Andromeda One Piece

Basket JADETRIBE: Beach Basket Pink Large Tassle Pink/Black

Cars Driving Snow travel Winter

Drifting away…

When VW Dubai shared their first competition of the year, a lot of us online took notice. I replied to their tweet, with what I thought was a reasonable answer… not begging them to pick me, or responding that I already drive their vehicles (I have a Tiguan), I replied with an honest answer. I wanted to win their chance to go to Sweden to learn how to drift in the snow, because I didn’t know how to handle a car when it skids and didn’t want to get caught out next time I’m in France with mum, headed for the slopes one winter. 5 days later, I was on my way to Sweden! There were 4 of us coming from Dubai, Ziyad and Islam were winners from the various track days and races that VW held, and Pisi was a PR rep from their agency. Landing at the airport, we were paired up and whisked away into VW Golf R’s, heading straight for the hotel (it’s a good job I didn’t have more wine on the flight).

VW Dubai

We learnt to drift straight away and with studded tires on a frozen lake it was actually pretty easy to get the car sideways. From emergency braking activities and direction changes on the dynamic area, we moved to the tracks, which as the days went on, got longer and longer. By the 3rd day we were driving solo around 5km looping circuits, having learnt the racing lines, and how to spot the apex’s on corners so that we can plan for either long or short drifts.

There was some free time too, where we jumped on board some ski-do’s and hit the adventure trails and the VW team surprised us with polarised vehicle drifting… it’s the kind of adventure that gets every guy in your life incredibly jealous… so I tried not to post pics online too often 😉

VW Dubai

VW Dubai

It was more than fun, it was an unbelievable experience! There’s something so freeing about being able to push, test, prod, turn buttons off and be able to handle a car in the way we did that week, where ‘going off’ or crashing was a case of hitting the white snowbanks covering the frozen lake, and being pulled back on by the Toureg that was the safety vehicle, with nothing more than a laugh and an orange sticker in your windscreen (points system).

VW Dubai

By the final day, the full 7km track was ahead of us, and time trials were the aim of the game. I didn’t do too badly either, which surprised both me and the instructor Ronny (Guinness World Record holder for the tightest parking at speed). We spent the evenings eating, enjoying the local vino and catching up on some much needed rest… there’s high adrenaline when you’re in the cars so you burn quite a lot of energy fast.

VW Dubai

Check out our video recap (made by Ziyad and his Go Pro) on Facebook!