It has been almost 2 and a half months as Mr. and Mrs Coetzee! Time has indeed flown past at the speed of light! Gen and I were thinking of ways to really thank everyone for their Generous and thoughtful contributions and gifts we received for our wedding! Seeing that our request was for contributions towards our honeymoon, we decided to share our entire experience with all of you, and by doing so, Thanking every single one of you! So here’s how it works;
If you are reading this, we assume that you have received your Thank You card in the post (If not, it’s on its way – we Promise!). In the thank you card we would have thanked you for your awesome gift/contribution. For all the people who gave us monetary contributions, we wrote our Honeymoon Story below for you to see what we did with your generous gifts! It might be a long read; but we wanted to make sure that each one of you understand how much we appreciated your gifts!
(PS: Click on the highlighted and underlined places – There are some links to some of the awesome places we visited!)
Monday 30 August 2010
On Monday Morning, Gen and I woke up and made our way to the Airport. Stylishly sitting at the new Fego as the new Mr. and Mrs. Coetzee sharing a Chicken-Mayo….there’s just no turning back once you become a Coetzee…
We arrived at Cape town International, and reported to the First Car rental desk. As usual, I booked a B-class vehicle which normally means Opel Corsa, Toyota Yaris, or John Lamont’s absolute favorite; the Chevy Spark 800cc. We know that each one of you would have wanted us to drive in style, and we want to thank you guys for helping us do so! After all, we are newly weds, and these type of institutions made special arrangements in these kind of circumstances, we thought to ourselves. We thought that a bit of charm and a strategic approach would guarantee at least a Mercedes Benz of some kind….. We decided that the best way to approach this situation was to let Gen sit on a bench about 10m away from the desk, and once I am explaining myself to the assistant, I will wave at my wife, and she would wave back at me with that glittering, just-married smile of hers……We drove off in a Nissan Tiida hatch, not quite a Corolla 160i GLE, but a far cry from the Chevy Spark….
Driving to Franschoek takes you through Stellenbosch, one of the most amazing places in the Cape region. Usually, on the way to our destination, Gen would start asking me whether I know where I was going? This time was no different! But as soon as we hit the Helshoogte Pass, I knew that we were on track, and there was no way in “Hell” that we were going to get lost. (Did you see what we did here with the “Hell” thing? It’s quite clever…)
Having been to Franschoek once before, we kind of knew what we were in for, but back then we came here in “Student-gear” and spent only one day on one wine farm. This time things were very different! With the overwhelmingly generous contributions from our wedding guests we decided that no cent would be spared, and so it began; True story;
Driving through Franschoek almost made us feel like we were driving somewhere in Siena, Italy. We looked at this unbelievable little town surrounded by Mountains, and knew that the tone was set for the most amazing Honeymoon…
We arrived at our Hotel, L’ermitage at around 2pm, and could not believe our eyes! The most unbelievable sight imaginable – Tuscan Architecture, Vineyard enclosed, and shame…a mountain series in the background…Can someone please stop taking the mickey already, show us where we are really staying – come on man, this can’t be real….
We checked in at reception, and were shown to our room – Here it is; We hope you can handle it;
90m2 of serious luxury; This room had everything in it! King size bed, heated floors, balcony overlooking vineyards, Unbelievably massive bath and Shower, Control panel for temperature & light functions…It was basically bigger that our flat at home…much bigger…
Sick...absolutely sick.....you can actually see the curvature of the earth in this picture..
After going on a half an hour walk through our room, we were pretty tired. I phoned Gen to find out where she was, and it turned out that she was standing on the other side of the bed. We decided that it was spoily time ….yes guys, spoily time…We booked in for a back massage each, and were treated like Gold. The therapist who took care of us was unbelievable! She also introduced us to Chai-Tea Latte – If you ever wonder why Gen and I go on and on about it….there’s your answer!
For dinner, we decided to stay at L’ermitage, and booked a table at the Hotel’s restaurant. Gen ordered the most amazing Swordfish and I settled for the Lambshank…A fine five star meal – While we were indulging in our luxurious meal, we were thinking of each one of you, and thought how lucky we were to be here!
After a really tough day in Franschoek, we retired to our mansion of a bedroom – We couldn’t find each other for about 15min, but then I stumbled across Gen in the bathroom…Wow, and was I glad to see her! I urged Gen to take her cellphone with her when she moved around in our room!
Tuesday, 31 August 2010
We woke up naturally on Tuesday morning to a beautiful but chilly day in Franschoek. We decided to go for a run through the L’ermitage estate, and fill our lungs with some top quality oxygen. After our run, we went downstairs for some breakfast, and klapped some Cappuccinos while we were at it! L’ermitage serves an incredible breakfast, with their Salmon fritters being our favorite!
Next up on the itinerary; Horse Riding..but not before Mrs. Coetzee had her first blow-dry! Gen and I walked the streets flat, and eventually found a truly unique looking Salon – Gen was in her element!
We read up about visiting wine farms on Horseback in the Franschoek wine region. This being completely up Gen’s ally, we did not hold back, and booked the 4 hour horse-back wine tour which would take us through 2 wine farms. L’ermitage packed us a lunch pack for the afternoon, and we made our way to the Arab horse farm of Mr. Hugo. Saddled up and ready to go, we cantered out into the wild, en-route our first wine farm – Rickety Bridge.
Gen taking it easy...on the way to Rickety Bridge
Rickety Bridge was cosey and we were warmly recived by “Fennel” the man in charge. We tasted their selection, and in our expert opinion decided that the 2009 Chenin Blanc was our favorite….Connoisseurs from the word go…
Being a bit tipsy, and getting back onto your horse is a bit of a challenge, but then again, that’s what happens when you sip wine for an hour. By now, I was a confident western-style rider, and Gen being very competent on any day, now a professional Jockey….The last thing I remembered thinking while overtaking Gen and our Guide, is; wow this horse is fast! I then realized that Gen and our Guide had slowed down for a reason – a 90degree turn….I didn’t fall off, but I definitely, albeit temporally pulled certain joints-out-of-sockets…
galloping...a real worker...
The next Wine farm was Mont Rochelle; Having learnt from our first experience, we thought; let’s not finish each glass we taste…WHATEVER; try and tell a dog not to lick………..…we are on Honeymoon – One Hour later we stumbled to our horses, and dared the road back to the Hugo farm….
An awesome experience, and what a way to taste wine!
Back to the Hotel, and by now we were starving, and tired too!
We made use of our Hotel-Room safe, and after cleaning up for dinner, we tried to open the safe to take some money out. The code did not work…We phoned reception, and someone came up and put an override code in – We didn’t really like the smell of that; and when checking our money realized that R 200 was missing. We thought that perhaps we had made a mistake, so we didn’t make a scene – We put everything back in a certain way, so we would know if someone was in our safe the next time….We left it at that..
We decided to have dinner at the Hotel again, but to order in (i.e. romantic dinner for two in our mansion!) -
Again, five star food accompanied by the very best wine on offer in Franschoek (Kind-of anyway). A three course meal that would leave you salivating if we had to show you…
Fading away on our King-size mattress was easy – before we knew it, we were snoring…
Wednesday, 1 September 2010
Waking up naturally was now a given – Our day started off with another run around the estate, and this time busted a trail through one of the vineyards. We concluded that Franschoek is Tuscany’s Mother, and decided that we preferred Franschoek to the beautiful country region in Italy…a big call, but we made it…true story…
Next up; Wine tasting by bicycle – No???…….I promise you…..
We ran down to the local bicycle shop, and hired 2 bikes for the day. Gen and I bought a map of the region, and plotted which we thought was a good route at the time. Then the rain came down… We cycled to the Agri-shop around the corner, bought two rainjackets and POOF…we were gone. On the way to our first winefarm (Glenwood), things started getting messy though – Cycling 10km to our first wine farm seemed a bit much, and I could see Gen’s sense of humour starting to fade. What she needed was a glass of wine -
The look that Stef knows too well....
Glenwood could not have come sooner! Leading in from a long dirt road through Vineyards with a Mountain backdrop just in case…
Glenwood had a fantastic Chardonay, and we couldn’t resist buying a bottle. The next 10km proved harder than the first, but with the sun now shining, it was all worth while! Our next stop was at a brand new farm named “Maison”. We were welcomed by a guy called “Guy” who gave us a very interesting lecture on the region’s best wines. We even tasted some illegal “back-of-house-wine” It was at this point when someone mentioned that there were animals on the farm; a pig called porcinni and horses – yes, horses..
vieslike vark....
heaven....
not schmaaking the man wiiff the backpack..
Cycling back to the bike shop was tough, but we enjoyed every moment of it! I left Gen at the shop, and cycled back to the Hotel to pick up the Car to fetch Mrs. Coetzee (Because by now the legs were gaar!). While at the Hotel I thought I would double-check the safe…I punched in our code – it didn’t work…my heart sank….
I called the Manager on Duty, and asked them to Open the safe immediately. As they opened the Safe, all things inside were jumbled! Someone was definitely in our safe again! I told the manager exactly what was in the safe, and after doing a full check/count, lucky for us, nothing was taken – (we think it’s our written note’s of “R 200 Missing” that scared the individual/s off) – I picked Gen up, and told her the news, and no surprise, she was devastated; We decided that we would rather check-out than not feel safe, so that’s what we did (We did follow this up with L’ermitage on arriving back in Durban).
It was sad leaving our Mansion, but knew that we couldn’t take chances…We quickly phoned around, and eventually ended up at “Le-Franschoek Hotel and Spa” By no means s a Downgrade – 5 Star it was, however our Room a bit more modest…A fantastic view of Vineyards, and everything that you would expect of a 5 Star establishment – At least we felt “safe” (You see? We did it again….clever..)
The downgrade....shame...
After settling in nicely to our new surroundings, we decided it was time to celebrate, and booked a table at a Restaurant called Allora. This particular restaurant is run by a Cypriot family, but specializes in Italian food! The experience was amazing! The Owner (Phillip) fetched us from our Hotel (A service they have all year round, at no cost!), and then treats you like Royalty! We decided to splash out, because we deserved it..
Philip dropped us off at Le-Franschoek afterwards, and we retired to our Suite, and slept like the dead!
Thursday, 2 September 2010
On Thursday morning we decided to skip our morning run, and enjoy a sleep in true to the Hein style….After indulging in Le’Franschoek’s super breakfast, our quest to conquer the balance of Franchoek’s wine farms continued. Due to the fact that we have by now done Wine touring on Horseback and Bicycle, we decided to stick to our unique and adventurous way of travelling, and went down town to hire a scooter for the day! The yellow scooter did just fine…
I had to do a dry-run before Mrs. Coetzee allowed me to transport her on the newly found set of wheels, and I took to it like a duck to water…
In true European style, we cruised to our next Wine Farm; Graham Beck.
Graham Beck is a well established Winery, and specializes in Champagne or Methode Cap Classique as It’s better known in this region. When I asked Gen to Marry me on 31 Dec 2009, I had their award winning Brut Rose handy to help her say YES, so it was very appropriate to pop is to old Graham’s spot. This time, we were quite serious about me not drinking too much of the Wine, as a scooter was a real threat…..and besides, it would make us look waaaay more sophisticated if we spat…
Next up on the list was a Wine farm called Solms Delta;
With an awesome archeological museum, Gen and I were mesmerized by the local finds, and even more so by our Wine Connoisseur; Steven de Koker; By far the funniest guy we had met in Franschoek! Steven introduced us to their Suite of wines, but focused our attention on “Hiervandaan” a classic Rhône styled Red blend (Whatever that meant…) It was nice, it was really nice…
Enter; Steven de Koker, wine connoisseur and avid long distance runner
daarshy....
By now, we were starving, and we knew exactly where to Go! Lee and Ryan told us about this amazing Restaurant called Bread & Wine. Bread and Wine is part of the Moreson Wine estate, and has unbelievable character! Arriving at Moreson is unreal. The road that leads to the estate, might well have been in the middle of Umbria (Italy), it really is beautiful up there! The day wasn’t over, not even close! A couple more stops had to be made….
Next up; Cabriére ; Home of Pierre Jourdan and Haute Cabriere.
This wine farm would not have been on our Radar if it wasn’t for Kat and Al (The Jew). We were told to go there and meet up with a friend of Al & Kat’s. Unfortunately he wasn’t there on the day, but that didn’t stop us consuming some of the Champagne on offer…. it was good! So good in fact; it made us do silly things….
Just for you our token Alikat!
By now, we were over the “Giftige Geel kat”, and it was time to return to sender…We wanted to do one more wine farm, but decided to get the Car instead of daring another 5km on 2 wheels!
Back in the Tiida, and next on the Radar was Boekenhoutskloof; You know…The home of Chocolate block…
As we drove in we saw the laziest Dog we had ever seen!
One of our Favorite restaurants in Durban (Café 1999) serves Porcupine ridge (From the Boekenhouts Kloof Cellar), so we felt right at home!
This set the tone for Boekenhoutskloof, and lazing around is exactly what we did! We sat on a couch overlooking a vineyard, and nearly fell asleep.
Lucky for us, Le’Franschoek was just down the road from Boekenhoutskloof, so our drive down was quick and easy! When we arrived back at our Hotel, there was only one thing to do….it was SPA time…
It was time to unwind at forget about the world for 2 hours or so…We chose our treatments, and for the next hour had our masseuse’s full attention! After our massages, we were shown to the SPA’s Hydra bath, and we spent another hour consumed in luxury!
After returning to our room, we decided to have Dinner at Le-Franschoek. We were so relaxed after our treatments; we were in no mood to leave our Hotel! We went downstairs, and had a private table setup in a quite corner of the Hotel.
After dinner we retired after a very Long day!
Friday, 3 September 2010
On Friday morning we woke up feeling as fresh as ever, and it was time for another invigorating run before Breakfast. Gen I ran up past Boekenhoutskloof, and then further along to where the road ended at the foot of the surrounding mountains. We then ducked into an amazing vineyard, and ran as far as we could in between the grapes – what an experience…
After a refreshing shower, it was time to hit the Breakfast Buffet again. We klapped that thing 6-0, and took no prisoners.
Because it was Gen’s birthday the following day, it would only be fitting that she looked her absolute best the night before (when we were going to celebrate her birthday…). We drove down to the same Salon she had her Blow-Wave on the Tuesday, and Mrs. Coetzee had the usual done…I went strolling through Town looking for a Birthday dress for Gen, but my taste in dresses weren’t exactly what I thought it was…After Gen’s hair was done, it was time to wander out of Franschoek; We decided that Laborie wine estate (Paarl) was one not to miss…and this time we decided that our mode of transport would fit the local mould…
On the way to Laborie we stopped at a place called Strawberry King…these things were the size of my fist….
- how nice is the bakkie?
Knowing the Laborie range fairly well, it was very exciting for the two of us visiting this popular estate! Our favorite Merlot was on taste, and we drank it like water! Laborie was definitely one of our favorites, and we were very Happy to be here! We decided that because we can get Laborie almost everywhere in Durban, we had to leave there with something that we couldn’t get….So…we spoilt ourselves…
From Paarl to Stellenbosch – Hartenberg Wine estate to be exact;
On the way to Hartenburg the Coetzee’s had their first domestic as a married couple….The domestic was caused by an argument over pit stops. Everytime our Tiida hit the freeway, Gen required the use of what is commonly known as a toilet…..The fuel hit the fire when I told Gen that she needed to make provisions before we left our last stop….wow…was I sorry that those words left my lips…..
A peace deal was struck on the verandah of Hartenberg - Negotiating is easier when surrounded by vinyards and mountain ranges….
Hartenberg was just what we needed….a great lunch and very tasty wines.
Peace is a lovely thing....
Planning the route back according to number of toilets...
After getting back from Stellenbosch, we had a bit of time to snooze. We realised that our Honeymoon was coming to an end, but we had one more thing to look forward to, and that was dinner at Reuben’s. Daryl and Casey’s gift to us was a voucher to be used at Reuben’s, a Restaurant that comes highly reccomended…
The vibe at Reuben’s was incredible. We had the most amazing food, with a specialy selected bottle of wine from Glenwood (the Farm we visited earlier in the week). We loved the decor, especially the aeroplane wing bar counter….
After celebrating Gen’s birthday and also our last night on Honeymoon, we returned to our Hotel for the last time. We went down to the bar for a night cap and reflected on the awesome week that we had spent in Franschoek. We talked about how lucky we were to have family and friends that are so generous, and gave us the most incredible honeymoon we could have wished for. We want each one of you to know how thankful we are for your contributions, and how special each one of you are to us. We will remember this time of our life forever!!!!!
All our love,
The Coetzee’s
