SA Navy Festival

Monday morning and I'm showing up to blogger world like any good blogger should. Except, I'm actually showing up on Sunday evening and taking advantage of my parents' working wifi which also means that I'm coming to you from Cape Town which is awesome for many reasons including today's topic. 

I lived in Cape Town on and off for the last five years and for whatever reason I always seemed to have missed the Navy Festival held in Simonstown. I've been to Simonstown a number of times and i really enjoy visiting Penguin Beach but I was somewhat more interested in seeing what the Navy Festival had to offer and I finally got the chance. 

It was probably anti-climatic in terms of the food options. The usual food options were available similar to the US carnival food options but the festival was surrounded by loads of Navy officers and beautiful ships. I went with my parents and we walked around, snacked a little and then went for a tour of a submarine. 

Lucky to spend the day with my parents in a submarine

I really enjoyed the submarine tour, our guide was pretty awesome and clearly passionate about submarines and the history of it. The tours were in groups of eight which meant we waited almost a hour for our turn but when we did go through it, it was intimate enough that we really got the full picture. 

The festival was pretty much the same as the other festivals I've attended in Cape Town which is really fun, family filled atmosphere and full of great spirit. If there's one thing that no one can ever take away from the Capetonians is that they are proudly Capetonian and will support their city as much as they can. 

Would you be able to survive on a submarine?

Castle of Good Hope

Hello you wonderful people!!! I can't believe how quickly time is going by but there's loads of exciting things happening at the moment and I almost forgot that I wanted to share something I did for my birthday, almost two months ago, with you! 

I lived in Cape Town, on and off for about four years but I always avoided visiting the Castle of Good Hope. It's the only castle in South Africa and even though I've got a bit of an obsession with castles I just wasn't sure if I would enjoy going to one in my own country. 

I was right, I should have trusted my instincts... Going to visit this castle and reading all the history it made me really sad. For those of you who don't know, South Africa lived under an Apartheid government which meant there was a lot of segregation of different races and for a long time, each race was treated different to the next based on the "superiority" of one to another. 

When I visited castles in Ireland and Germany I was intrigued by the history and excited by all it but in my own country I found it haunting and at times frustrating.  

Besides that the castle is not structured like the ones I've seen in Europe but also its now in the middle of Cape Town CBD. When the castle was built 3 sides were surrounded by the ocean but with time the tide stopped coming up so much and the city built on the open land.

My birthday was an extremely HOT day typical of a Cape Town Summer's day so the skies were clear. 

So here are some of the pics from my day out! Hope you enjoy! 

Behind me is where prisoners were kept... So tiny and would have been freezing cold.

What's it like being a tourist in your own country? 

x Nats x

Things To Do In CT - Kirstenbosch Gardens

A couple of weeks ago I came across this article where there 40 Things to do in Cape Town under R200.00 and I thought I would have done a few more than I actually had so I decided I'm going to try a few more and more so share other tourist or enjoyable attractions for both foreigners and locals.

For my brother's birthday he wanted to climb Table Mountain but it turned out if he hiked up he would have to hike down and his fiance was not interested in that plus, I wouldn't have been able to meet them at the top because the cable car was off. So after looking up the TravelStart list we decided to go to Kirstenbosch Gardens to check out the Boomslang Aerial Walkway. 

I feel like I should add that none of the pictures have been edited and I took the pictures on my trusty iPhone5S this place is just, this beautiful!

The Boomslang walkway was kind of disappointing only because it was so short. 128 meters short! While the walkway is breathtaking it ends much too early! 

 However, my suggestion is, if you visit Cape Town during the warmer months, there are outdoor concerts by different local artists which are so much fun that you attend a concert, which you can take your own snacks and drinks wine too. So, before you go to the concert which starts around 18h00 (I think) go for a walk up to the walkway take in the beautiful view and then go enjoy the concert! Below are pics from when I went a couple of years ago...

Now I'm going to be honest, I haven't been through the whole garden or even half of it, it is beautiful and for nature lovers it is an absolute must!

What are your weekend plans? Do you have a place like this where you are from?

Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Bloglovin ~ Instagram ~ Pinterest

Bloemendal Restaurant - Review

Good morning everyone!!

I hope you're welcoming August in with open arms! For all of the people in the Southern hemisphere, we're into the last month of winter and I'm sure you can't wait Spring to bring the warmth in!

On Sunday, my family and I went for lunch at Bloemendal Restaurant which is situated in the Durbanville wine farms and I wanted to share the view from this beautiful restaurant. Also I love sharing places I've found.

The restaurant serves a buffet and different days it costs different amounts but it was so worth it. When you walk in you're greeted with a choice of juice or sherry (to warm you up).

Each course has many options and whether you're vegetarian or not there are loads of meals for you to eat. 

Although my least favourite course was dessert, I wasn't too perturbed because the rest of the meals were amazing!

They also have a company at the premises running a photo booth and the nine of us managed to get some fun photos together. 

None of the pictures have been touched up, it really is a simply beautiful as it seems here. 

What are your weekend plans?

Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Bloglovin ~ Instagram ~ Pinterest

Girls Night Out Knocks Me Out

~ Credit ~

On Friday night, after I spent most of the day with a migraine I got dressed up for Girls Night Out with two of my besties and two more of one of my bestie's friends. Initially Friday night was supposed to be a belated celebration of one of my friend's birthdays. I've never actually asked them how they feel about being a part of my blog so I'll call her Bestie 1,  while I was in Johannesburg and Durban early last month I missed her birthday which is obviously bad form so we agreed to go this past Friday night, she was going to bring along two additional friends of hers. It just so happened, Bestie 2, was in Cape Town for the work and the weekend and we decided we needed to get together to celebrate what we called "the fallen exes" - the reason behind that s a whole other post and maybe one day I'll tell you about it. 

I digress, Friday evening I picked up Bestie 2 and we went for dinner, which was delicious at Salushi in Claremont we had a catch up session with cocktails, sushi and an array of tapas starters. 

Unfrozen Margarita and Pink Lava

After we were done, we went to pick up Bestie 1 and her friends but before we left another round of drinks, this time a little Gin and something pink for me I think.. 

Bestie 1's friend said she had a friend (guy) who invited her to a few places where he way deejaying and we should come because he'll put us on his guest list. In light of the fact that we didn't have any particular set plans of where were going, besides the fact that we wanted to dance, we agreed. I'll spoil the next bit of the story, these places do not have nor need guest lists

When we walked into Place One, we were the only females in the place, everyone looked at us like we crazy to be there... and then like we were meat.

~ Credit ~

She called her friend but he had gone to Burger King quick and wanted us to wait for him. Ummmm, NO. We agreed for her sake we would go to the next place and wait for him. 

Place Two, was better, but that doesn't say much of anything because the first place was so crap. Except that there were actually females in the second place and it didn't  have a foul smell. 

~ Credit ~

At this stage the girls were saying we can have a drink or two and if we don't like it we could go to another place but I don't drink and drive (over the legal limit) so if we were staying we had to stay all night because I was going to get picked up with my car later. I can't remember how it happened but we decided to leave and the consensus was go to Long Street (if you ever visit Cape Town or have been before, you'll know that Long street is the long street with bars and pubs and clubs where people hang out) because there are lots of options. 

After 20 minutes of driving around town looking for parking, and all my passengers who have lost their earlier buzz we made it into Place 3. It was definitely different to Places 1 and 2. The music was much better but it was so packed that some of the girls were feeling hot and bothered, and not in a good way. After a few rounds at this place, one of the girls elected to stay in Place 3 and the rest of us made our way to Place 4, which we clearly had to walk to.

Rounds 4, 5 and 6

Place 4 was reliable, we've been there often, it's got a nice vibe and enough space for you to dance but still mingle.The only thing was they were using their smoke machines way too excessively and every time they used it I would spend the rest of the song fanning in front of my face so I could see again. We drank some more but mainly danced and chatted. It got a bit awkward at times because I clearly forgot what protocol is for when a guy approaches you in a club so at times I felt like this... 

~Credit~

Essentially we stayed there until they kicked us out at 04h15. 

However, Bestie 1 said she was going to take a cab with her my new two friends and Bestie 2's sister was in the area and would take her home so I just needed my parents to come fetch me and my car so I could get home. Which they did. 

Lessons from GNO:

1. Have a plan of where to go

2. Don't mix your drinks too much

3. Never drink Jagermeister shots 

4. Have a back up plan

5. Dance, chat or drink (ideally all) with your girlfriends

6. Have a designated driver or at least awesome parents that will come out and fetch you and your car at 5am.

I felt so tender on Saturday night, but still went bowling and on Sunday I realised that it wasn't all the alcohol that hurt me but more a bug I seemed to pick up because Sunday night I was still in a ridiculous amount of pain when clearly all the alcohol had left my system. 

This was yesterday's feelings

I haven't had a night out like that in a while and it was so much fun but I think the 20 year old version of GNO and the 27 year old version of GNO in my books no longer mean the same thing.. I cannot take two days to recover from one night...

What's your favourite thing to do for GNO??

R is for Random (A to Z Challenge)

It's Easter Monday and R - day so here goes my latest random thoughts 

~ I'm the man -Aloe Blacc-  love this song

~ All of me - John Legend I cannot hear this song enough

~ sickness is crazy. When it hits, it can really wind you and the weirdest thing is how quickly it can change a person.

~ Still loving Pretty Little Liars! I know people love Hanna and Caleb but I'm glad their over. 

~ Speaking of Caleb, Ravenswood is a strange show but I keep watching it. 

~ Cape Town has once again reminded me why it is a Top Tourist Destination, the sunsets have been truly break taking.

       

          From Signal Hill

     

        From Gordon's Bay

~ I had my grandmother and one of my cousins who were visiting Cape Town for the first time, and it was amazing to watch their reactions to some of the things that have come to form part of my everyday life. 

                                   

   Bo Kaap, Cape Town

~ How much does your name dictate your personality? 

~ the 80s and early 90s fashion is back with a bang and now I feel old because I remember a lot about it....! 

~ I read the first two books of the Divergent series in 3 days and now I've spent 2 weeks reading the last book.. Which had caused my delay in reading this month's Blogger Book Club book "The Scent of Rain and Lightening" I hope I'm going to finish it in time for the link up..

What did you get up to this weekend? 

Again, I'm posting from my phone so no proper formatting to this post and I can only hope it comes out ok. 

xxx

Nats 

Days 11 - 20 of Happy

I'm a little bit late on the recap of days 11- 20 of being happy but it's only because I haven't had a chance to.

Have you started the challenge? If so how far are you? It really is about the simple things in life. (You can check out my first recap here.

Day 11 - Cape Town was hit with one huge heatwave and with my body aching my mom spoilt me with a Thai Massage. In Johannesburg there are tons of Thai Massage Spas around but here I have battled. Anyway, the masseuse does not speak much English and Na Bua have provided a helpful list of necessary communication.

Day 12 - As I mentioned the heatwave, we took a drive out to a town on the West Coast and the Ice-Cream was definitely a happy moment for me!!!

Day 13 -  Reading makes me very happy! I absolutely love reading, always have, always will and I absolutely agree with this quote, a good book should leave you exhausted!

Day 14 - After spending some time with one of my besties who was visiting Cape Town and I realized that there are various reasons why I made this list up but I thought really hard about it and I think I have all of them listed... do you think I missed any type of friend a girl should have?

Day 15 - The view at dinner at the V & A Waterfront, the food was delicious and the view equally so.

Day 16 - Cousins - one of my cousins helped me out with a recipe I wanted to try and it was so effortless for her to go out of her way for me. 

Day 17 - My frozen Chai Tea was AMAZING!

Day 18 - On my way to pick someone up ad the simple view of Cape Town just made me smile... 

Day 19 - My biggest pet peeve is dirty hair so my happy moment was just after I washed my hair. I feel like I should clarify, my hair is NEVER dirty but the only thing worse than dirty hair is hair which looks dirty. 

Day 20 - cooking new dishes! This is some fresh yellowtail fish and it was incredibly delicious!

SO that's been my last few days - how's yours been?Remember you can follow the next 80 with #100HappyDaysCTP on Instagram and Twitter..