Out and About: Cape Point Ostrich Farm and a Secret Paradise

With the glorious weather there was no way I could justify staying indoors, though I was tempted.  Sean has been away for about a week and a half and carrying the load myself has been exhausting.  We headed off to the Cape Point Ostrich Farm via a slow steady drive along the coast.  Those of you that have taken this meander, know how pretty it is.  Of course the fact that I was driving about 50km/h the whole way so that I could get a chance to enjoy the beauty didn't make me any friends on the road.  In fact every time there were about 10 cars behind me I would pull over so that they could go past:) But who wants to rush down that stretch anyway?

 

Now this sign was enough to make this rather conservative mother turn around for fear of the child swallowing ostriches but after a deep breath while gripping the children's hands tightly, we ventured forth.  Pathetic I know but I could envision one of those rather large birds swallowing Ruthie whole!

 

So many beautiful things to see, a place of beauty and tranquility.  I loved the open spaces, the indigenous vegetation and of course the children could not resist a green pond with all sorts of tales of crocodiles lurking below the water.

 

We were introduced to Pierre our guide.  His patience, gentleness and humour had them all enthralled and of course there was so much to learn and see.  

   

We discovered all about skeletons and Ruthie couldn't resist swinging the bones back and forth.  I had to stop myself from giggling as you can only imagine how strange that looked.  

After all the "hard work" of listening and everyone trying very hard to be on their bestest behaviour but just itching to get out and about we headed out to see the "real thing". We started with the chicks... need I say more.

  

After the rather gentle introduction we were introduced to adult birds.  We were all given a chance to feed them.  The guide had to distract the female because apparently she's a little testy (had to laugh at this) , while we were able to feed the male.  Ethan and Declan were fairly brave but Chad and I did it together because we were both pretty scared and Ruthie refused point blank to go anywhere near that huge beak.   

The male challenge!

 

Ethan had just fed the ostrich for the first time and he was so relieved to see all 5 fingers still attached after the guide pretty much told them that if they hold the food incorrectly the ostrich would eat one of his fingers. 

After all the emotional highs, everyone was ready just to run around and enjoy this wonderful place.

 

Some just sat and stared.

 

Time for a family portrait

 And lots and lots of running around.  Thank goodness for open spaces!

There's a lovely Afrikaans phrase I am reminded of "fluit fluit my storie is uit" (roughly translated - my story is finished).  Well that's what I thought but as we were driving home we caught a glimpse of this....

You can't see this place unless you look over the side of a cliff.  As you can see there are no garages, no roads, no cars.  We drove up and down to see if we could find a road going down and then we noticed about 10 cars parked next to the road on the opposite side and there was a young couple loading bags into the car.  After asking half a dozen questions we discovered that the only way down was to walk down.  So with some time on our hands and children with lots of energy we started the long walk down. 

 

And so we started with mom in the rear puffing and panting and slipping and sliding with the wet ground.

 

 

It took us a good 20 to 30 minutes to get there, it really was a long way down.  I could just imagine lugging Pick 'n Pay bags of groceries down this path and then on top of that forgetting something in the car.  I got so lost in this thought that I started to think of all the ways I was going to persuade Sean to go up the mountain:)  Not a pleasant thought for anyone.

 

But of course they all loved it.  Who wouldn't enjoy an adventure like this one?

Once we got to the bottom  we were rewarded for all our efforts, there were some beautiful holiday homes

 

Don't they just look idyllic, all facing the ocean, nestled in the indigenous vegetation?

 

A deserted beach

 

Some boulders to climb

 

And a beautiful ocean to wade in. I just sat on the rocks while I watched my children have the time of their life.  Sitting reflecting on the joys of motherhood and being so grateful for having ventured out the door(rather than staying at home), courageously facing the biggest bird in the world unscathed and taking that first step down the mountain side to discover this hidden paradise.

 And now I can honestly say "fluit fluit my storie is uit"