The Hex River Valley - Part 2

The Hex River Valley has the biggest production of table grapes in South Africa and the Hex River Mountains make up the second highest mountain range in the Western Cape. Its name comes from a legend dating back to the year 1768 when a beautiful girl, named Eliza Meiring, requested any would-be suitor to first climb the highest peak and bring her a disa that could only be found there. The disa is a flowering plant from the Orchidaceae family. Unknown to Eliza, however, the young man she really favored wanted to surprise her and set out to retrieve the bloom, but tragically fell to his death. She was so grieved that she lost her wits and had to be locked in an upper room of her house. One night she forced her window open and as she attempted to climb down, slipped and died from the fall. Her ghost is believed to haunt the windswept peaks at night mourning the death of her lover.

Besides the very sad legend behind the valley's name, it's a beautiful patch-work of different grape varieties (especially in Autumn) and is surrounded by majestic mountains. And, one of our favorite farm stalls is located there too!

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Sisters: Samantha and Jessica

Sisters: Amanda and Jessica

Samantha

Cheescake

Apple Pie and Ice-Cream

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I'm also on Instagram.

Ich bin auch auf Instagram.

Tina Morley

All original photographs by Tina Morley
unless stated otherwise. 1camera1mom is
mostly in English mit ein bisschen Deutsch.

Related posts:
The Hex River Valley - Part 1
Favorite Farm Stall

The Hex River Valley - Part 1

The weekend before Mother's Day, we took a drive to the Hex River Valley. It was Autumn here, below the Equator. We had a lovely sunny day and enjoyed the rose garden at our favorite farm stall. I actually thought that I'd share this outing sooner, but I always have great places to blog about that it's hard to keep up. We are really blessed to live in such a beautiful part of the world, in the heart of South Africa's wine country.

This blog is best viewed in Google Chrome.

Click on the images to enlarge them.

Trust me, it's worth it!

Sisters: Samantha, Amanda, Jessica

The Hex River Valley

Vineyards

Our Favorite Farm Stall from the Road

Sisters in the Rose Garden at the Farm Stall

Amanda

Jessica

Mom and Daughters

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I'm also on Instagram.

Ich bin auch auf Instagram.

Tina Morley

All original photographs by Tina Morley
unless stated otherwise. 1camera1mom is
mostly in English mit ein bisschen Deutsch.

Related post:
Favorite Farm Stall

Gordon's Bay, Cape Town

If you have been following my mom blog, Amanda's Books and More, then you'll know all about our new shelter dog that we adopted from Gordon's Bay. We made the trip twice - first to meet him and begin the adoption process and then to bring him home. 

Today's photos are from our first visit. We brought our old shelter dog along to meet the new one and headed to the beach afterwards. We found our own way onto the beach from the lower end and didn't see any signs about dogs until we got to the promenade. It turns out dogs aren't allowed on that part of the beach, so we walked back to our car via the paths. We went in winter when it was too cold to swim, but nice enough to walk on the beach and along the promenade.

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Trust me, it's worth it!

Gordon's Bay has white sandy beaches with mountains and two harbors. It's about a 40 minutes drive from the city of Cape Town. Along the mountainside, there is a huge anchor with the letters "GB". Many think that this stands for Gordon's Bay, but in fact stands for General Botha, which was the original name of the Naval station in the town.

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Poem: "The child who was shot

dead by soldiers at Nyanga"

Poet: Ingrid Jonker

Artist: Tyrone Appollis

We came across this very moving sculpture by Tyrone Appollis of a tricycle with flip-flops hanging from the handlebars and lines from a famous poem by Ingrid Jonker. Appollis included several lines of the poem on the four sides of the plinth:

"The child just wanted to play in the sun."
"The child peers through the windows of houses and into the hearts of mothers."
"The child grown into a giant journeys through the world."
"The child is not dead."

Her poem was read out by Nelson Mandela on May 24, 1994 at the opening of the new Parliament in the New South Africa. It was written in 1960, just after the Sharpville riots. Around that time, Jonker witnessed a black baby get shot in his mother's arms.

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I'm also on Instagram.

Ich bin auch auf Instagram.

Tina Morley

All original photographs by Tina Morley
unless stated otherwise. 1camera1mom is
mostly in English mit ein bisschen Deutsch.

Related post:
On the Road to Gordon's Bay

On the Road to Gordon's Bay, Cape Town

If you've been following my blog, Amanda's Books and More, then you'll know that we adopted a dog from an animal shelter in Gordon's Bay. Today's photos were taken on the road there while Hubby did the driving. In South Africa, people drive on the left. It was a pretty drive. Our journey took us passed vineyards, orchards and more!

This blog is best viewed in Google Chrome.

Click on the images to enlarge them.

Trust me, it's worth it!

*********************

I'm also on Instagram.

Ich bin auch auf Instagram.

Tina Morley

All original photographs by Tina Morley
unless stated otherwise. 1camera1mom is
mostly in English mit ein bisschen Deutsch.