More is more…

Xperience 19.1, 19.2, 19.3, 19.4

Less is more, might be the rule of thumb. But there are four other fingers on each hand.

My sister and I loved it when we drove through Meiringspoort Pass, in our (limited) opinion the most beautiful pass in the world. It’s also the source for my love of passes and driving them. The first good surprise for the morning was Tradouw Pass (xperience 19.1) on the R324 between Suurbraak and Barrydale. I was a bit depressed for not stopping in Suurbraak to take some photo’s and vowed to go back some time, but then I drove into the Pass. Suddenly I was transported back to Meiringspoort with its hundreds of little bridges and my mom, sister and I convincing my dad to stop at every turn, bridge and rest point. I stopped everywhere I could just to enjoy the view and take some photos.

A piece of road that should take about half an hour to drive, took me just over an hour. It was an hour well spent.

On the other side of the pass is Barrydale. A lot of people know this town as the last stop before Ronnie’s Sex Shop on Route 62. I now remember the town as the place with the best Oxtail Soup (xperience 19.2) and backpackers that has really fluffy duvets.

Now don’t judge me because I used food as an xperience, you can only do that when I actually get fat from this. I was driving around town looking for someplace to have breakfast when the blackboard outside Jam Tarts shouted “Oxtail Soup!” to me. It was cold, overcast and looked like rain (I also heard it was raining in Cape Town), perfect conditions for soup. The soup was amazing, even better was the tip to take a drive out to Warmwaterberg Spa (xperience 19.3.1) from the manageress.

I took the drive out, about 20km, but lost my heart to the Little Karoo…again. The Warmwaterberg Spa is exactly how it was described to me, nothing special or particularly appealing to the eye, but put your hand in the warm water… and then try to leave. Unfortunately they were fully booked for the night, but seeing that it’s only 2 hour’s drive from the city, I think I found a new hide-out.

On my way back I had to stop at Ronnie’s Sex Shop (xperience 19.3) an institution on Route 62. A bar only, no sex toys or any other adult (other than alcohol) items are sold here. I had a drink and a nice chat to the yuppie bikers and then started my way back to Barrydale, slowly trying to find my heart between the koppies.

I stayed the night at the Klein Karoo Travel Centre and Backpackers. Mark, Bella the Labrador and their family fed me like a queen at the Dungbeetle, their restaurant at the backpackers. It took me a few hours to drag my tired and slightly drunk body up the stairs to the best surprise of the trip… the most comfortable bed other than mine. It was perfect, the duvet Fluffy (with a capped f, yes) and thick, pillows nice and soft and there was a warm water bottle ready to keep the cold out. I had a real moral dilemma the next morning, should I sleep even later or have them drag me out??

Less is more?? Not if you visit Barrydale…

 

Number 1, here we go!

Xperience 1

So today was the BIG day, day one of 365 ones to come. I have to admit, this morning I had a daunting feeling that this might be a bit bigger (quite a bit actually) than I anticipated.

I drove back from town, as I slept over at friends’ house (too much red wine on their lovely patio) and it was a beautiful golden morning, the mountain was crisp (something I didn’t feel) and suddenly it was a bit overwhelming. I felt a bit lonely and missed my family, plus I made this stupid pledge…and I told everyone about it, so I can’t pull out now.

At home I threw myself back in bed for an hour or two.
I was woken by messages, texts and FB messages from friends and family. Even though my family was far away, I was blessed with the most amazing friends, right here.

After a good hearty breakfast, some coffee, the Sunday paper and a (somewhat) loving cat, I got excited, really excited…

A while ago I ran into an old friend. I’m sure all of us have a friend like this. Someone you always see at parties, have an awesome time with and promise to have dinner some time, but it never happens. This is Marianne and me, it took us about 8 years to do dinner and boy what a dinner it was, yummmm.
However, back to the story. At the last party I saw Marianne, she mentioned her new job as a manager at a restaurant in the Durbanville hills.

So when I was thinking of something to do for my birthday and xperience 1, I did consider something more action packed, more active, but wisely (I think) decided to rather do a civilised lunch. Marianne’s restaurant (Ke-Monate) was perfect.
I’ve never been there, in fact I’ve done none of the Durbanville Hills wine farms yet, perfect to start a new year.

What a lunch it was…
My closest friends, a bunch of crazy, great and downright adventurous ideas for the next 364 days to go, wonderful food- like the swordfish (pronounced with a silent w), a savignon blanc straight from heaven, phone calls from my parents and sister and I had a perfect birthday.

Thank you to everyone who was there today, in person and spirit.

(Please note I’m writing this on my BlackBerry, no spell check and with a good share of that sav blanc, I take no responsibility for vocab and general editing…)

 

Does a friend’s new experience count?

According to the rules, as set by me, NO!

But xperiencing a friend’s new xperience feels just as good. Giovanni’s is one of my favourite obsessions and one I indulge in when I’m in close range (about 15km radius). The office are tired of hearing me gush about their espressos, bread, food and actually just everything.

Today I dragged a friend with, her first Giovanni’s espresso and a quick walk through the deli later and Kim was converted. Needless to say the barista was really happy about a new pretty face around the counter.

Giovanni’s is by far not a new xperience, but I’m sure somewhere in their huge inventory I will find a list of new smells and tastes to add to my daily new xperience. Until the 10th I’ll just take as many friends with me to xperience Giovanni’s.