We took a trip out on the Saturday morning last week to visit a microbrewery and restaurant which has been voted the Best British Restaurant in the world, outside the uk. It’s a little place in Muldersdrift called Gilroy’s (http://www.gilroybeers.co.za/). The accolade is awarded by the Daily Telegraph and is apparently much sought-after, although I’ve personally never heard of it. This is also the second time the place has won this, the first being in 2010. Apparently the competition calls for people from all corners of the globe to vote for their favourite British restaurant, pub or shop. After this a short list is set up, from which a panel of judges make their final selection based on the number of votes and motivation. This format was enough to secure Gilroy’s the 1000 votes which saw them on the shortlist.
The brewery makes 4 beers; a lager, a pale ale, a ruby ale and a 7.75% dark ale, all of which I can report are very good, although the ruby ale was definitely my fave. Before eating we went to a talk from the owner during which we got to sample a half of each of the beers and hear a little bit about the brewing process along with some of the colourful musing of our host Steve Gilroy. The food was as good as the beer and the entire experience, whilst not exactly Brisitish, made for a very pleasant, if somewhat tipsy Saturday lunch.
Since I last wrote we have also taken a Hot Air Balloon Safari, which was my thank-you come Xmas/Birthday pressie to Deb, Amy and Travis for the hospitality I’ve been shown here. As with everything really good that we do here we had to be up at stupid o’clock and be at a Lodge near the launch site by around 4:25 (ok, so we were 10 minutes or so late but it all went ok for all that!) and were taken from there by mini-bus to the launch site where we got to have coffee and biscuits and watch the balloons being inflated. When we arrived there were two balloons and ours seemed to be running behind the first one but as things turned out the other balloon hit some temporary launch problems and we were aboard and lifting off first.
I’ve never done a balloon flight before so the whole experience was very new to me but it was a magical experience, I think for us all. Our booking was for a Safari flight so we stayed pretty low and out pilot was pointing out game during the initial stages of the flight as we were passing over a game farm and had taken off from the Lion and Rhino Park. Sadly no lions or rhinos were spotted but we did see an interesting selection of antelope, giraffe, warthog and birds to name a few. The flight was meant to be 50 minutes but due to difficulties finding a landing spot we actually managed 1 ½ hours which was awesome. The landing was interesting I guess you’d say, we were putting down in open ground just after a tennis courts on a private housing estate. Once we were down we actually had to sign in with site security before we could leave! But leave we did and then it was a 20 minute trip back to the lodge for breakfast before heading home to catch up on our sleep. All in all an amazing experience!
Another special for me was a visit to the South African Lipizzaner’s (http://www.lipizzaners.co.za/) for a show entitled Carols by Candlelight. It was very much aimed at the children but the show was fantastic and very enjoyable none the less. To see these magnificent horses put through their paces by all the talented riders was fabulous. Definitely one I’m glad I didn’t miss! The musical accompaniment was provided by the South African Welsh Male Voice Choir – not quite sure how that works – but they were very good and their leader was very entertaining on the mike.
Other than that the last week or two has been pretty much regular stuff. Eating out, a couple of trips to the cinema, lots of lazing around and reading. It’s odd, but not being in the UK and working through December I seem to have missed most of the Christmas build up. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still here if you look but seeing the Christmas decorations up in the malls while it’s 25 degrees and you’re in shorts and a tee is a little bit surreal for me and makes it hard to actually realise that Christmas is indeed looming. We’r ejust about to put the decorations up here and we’ve got some Xmas music on so we’ll see how it goes. If all else fails I guess I’ll have to get out to the malls tomorrow and get a bit of shopping going to see if I can find the mood!
In the very likely event that I don’t post again before the day can I take this opportunity to wish you all a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year – see you in 2014!
