Red Bull F1 Show Car "Brings the Noise" to Killarney

Friday saw the arrival of my gorgeous son for his school holidays. Hubby and I love planning special outings for his holidays with us, and this one got off to a very load and  spectacular start. This Sunday we attended the Red Bull F1 show car event at Killarney. A fellow race fan and friend of mine had booked us a table at Matadors to view the event, then on Thursday she found out that it had been moved to the Killarney race track. "In my humble opinion the right venue"  Not much stands between us and our F1 experience, so like true F1 fanatics we obviously watched the first race on TV,  "Well done Vettel", we packed our bakkie with cooler boxes, Son, Cape Town friend, other visiting Jhb friend and  headed out bright and breezy to the track.

Entrance was free, bonus! and Red Bull had done a sterling job of setting up temporary stands and organising foods stalls - Not bad at all considering the venue change on Thursday. On our way to the stands we passed the pits where we were treated to a sneak peek of the Red Bull car being assembled. There was also some fantastic customised cars lined up for photo's on the tarmac. By now my son was beside himself with excitement "as were we" We found what turned out to be a fantastic spot on the stands, right in front of the main stage, and set up camp.

F1 Dress up

I seem to be attracting mega hot weather whenever I  venture out of late, and Sunday was no exception. We sat waiting in the sun for what seemed like eternity waiting for something or someone to make an appearance. I must stress we were very early, we were there for 11.30am and the information my friend got from the track was that the event was only going to start for 1pm. But as any true motor sports fan knows, position is everything, and our elevated spot was right opposite the pit lane, with only some scaffolding and the track wall between us and the action.

Just before 1pm, there was some action on the main stage and an announcer appeared with the news that the show would get underway by 2.15pm. To help pass another hot hour, we resorted to filling a  2litre coke bottle with water and throwing the contents over ourselves, not pretty but very effective, plus my son had a great time trying to break the land speed record refilling it, just in case he missed something on the track, he is 11 by the way and super fast.



Finally at 2.30pm the announcer was back on the main stage and we were ready to go ...  First up was two-wheel extraordinaire Brian Capper riding his  KTM stunt bike at full tilt. Brian can do almost anything on his machine and we soon forgot the heat, and were on our feet cheering him on. Thanks to Brian I now have a potential stunt rider on my hands in the form of my son who was mesmerized.

Brian "the man" Capper

Next out was the beast we had all been waiting for.  There was no mistaking the tummy shaking, goose bump creating roar of the F1 engine as the Red Bull car, piloted by Neel Jani took to the track. Its first pass by was mind blowing. Watching F1 on TV gives you know idea of just how fast these beauties are traveling, and the noise... what can I say, it was scary, deafening, and at the same time most exhilarating sound I've ever heard.  It was over way to soon, but we were promised it would be back.

When the beast had retired to it's lair the amazing Ready D  D1S Driftsquad took to the track. We were treated to some spectacular burnouts by some brilliant drivers. As the whole event took part on the straight, Ready D and the boys couldn't show off their drifting skills, but if its half as good as their burnouts, we're be sure to catch one of their performances again.

Some track cleaning was in order, to ensure a smooth ride for the F1 car and then not a moment to soon the "beautiful noise" spilled out of the pits. This time round Neel not only clocked up some amazing track speeds but he also showed that a F1 car is definitely no slouch when it comes to  burnouts (and we have the video to prove it) Ears ringing we watched in awe as he threw the car around, turning on a dime. Way to soon it was over and the pit crew were on the track with fire hydrants spaying what was left of the tyre's to stop them igniting. Neel was hastily taken out the cockpit, and much to everyone's delight started tossing Red Bull caps into the stand. A suitable regal Audi with a sunroof took him on his "victory lap" where he stood waving a South African flag "what a boetjie!" 

I believe I heard at some stage that the F1 car was going to race the plane. Something must of gone astray with the timing as only when Neel was out of the car did the Red Bull plane come into sight. Pilot Glen Dell provided some fearless aerobatic stunts, worthy of the Red Arrows.

 I believe until now it's been a long 51 years since Cape Town has been treated to the sound of a F1 car in action. With Cape Towns bid safely in the running to host a race for the 2014 grand prix We can only hope and pray that we are selected. To see and hear 22 F1 cars screaming around a Cape Town street track would be unbelievable.


I think Sundays experience can best be summed up by a young man, who after hanging on to the side of the wall for the whole event, exclaimed in me ear "Now I can die happy!" and the bounced off with a grin from ear to ear...

Well done Red Bull awesome event!  fingers crossed next time we get to see these thoroughbreds competing on the all new Cape Town F1 track.

Wys my jou Kreef! - Take me to your Crayfish!

It’s been a busy month; the past week was no different. Wednesday saw the arrival another two friends from Jhb. Last year, we decided that we just had to experience the Lamberts Bay Crayfish festival. I booked our accommodation back in January, no easy task as every where I tried was already full. Eventually I found two rooms at the White Sands Bed and Breakfast in Lamberts Bay. Our other guest offered to take care of the house and dogs for us, so Friday morning, we made sure our developers were settled for the day and we were off.

Hubby grew up in the West Coast area, so he was really keen to re visit his old stomping ground. After a very hot 5 hour drive, courtesy of our Navigation losing its mind and no less then five “stop and go road work” areas on the N7 we rolled into Lamberts Bay. The first thought that sprang to mind was “time warp”. Our B&B turned out to be just around the corner from the Lamberts Bay hotel in the town center. For some obscure reason, I have pictured a quaint seaside town, with lovely white beaches, boy was I disappointed…

Our B&B had a very questionable nautical theme and furniture that had survived the Great Trek, the rooms we bland and very basic. But hy ho we didn’t come there to sit in the room the whole weekend. In fact, we popped into the town information office and couldn’t help but over hear a lady complaining about the “damp smelly room” she had at the Lamberts Bay hotel, so in a way I think we had the better deal, nautical theme and all.

Friday was hot, very hot and we decided we would go out on the town and leave the festival till Saturday. We asked some locals where we could eat, and were directed to Isabella’s, a small restaurant at the “waterfront” which basically amounts to some old boats and a pier you have to pay R30 to walk round as it ends up at a bird sanctuary “really its just an enormous flock of seagulls” We opted for an outside table as inside wasn’t air conditioned.

Yummy seafood salad

There was none of the famous Kreef on the menu, so I decided on the seafood salad, it was delicious, and well presented. Hubby had the calamari and Kingklip combo, which was equally yummy, our friends had the mussels and seafood platter and both enjoyed their meals. 

Isobella's

Belly’s full we headed back to the B&B. Later that afternoon we headed to the beach for sunset pictures and exploring. There were some lovely self catering units on the beach front. The “beach” itself was very rocky and definitely not somewhere you could put in any serious sun tanning sessions. I believe the beach on the other end of the town had the white sand I'd heard so much  about.

After our sunset outing we were bored… we ventured towards to “waterfront” again and found a little gem called, Die Kreefhuis. The atmosphere is warm and friendly with fantastic staff to take care of your every need. Now these guys did have Kreef, but we were still rather full after our late lunch so we opted for the delicious snoek pate, fantastic fresh oysters, plenty of refreshments and a large dose of random chat. 

Saturday saw us up early, keen to get a head start on the festival. Our B&B has one more surprise for us. Breakfast was a do it yourself affair! When I inquired as to where we eat breakfast, our host told us in no uncertain terms we should head for the shop over the road, buy what we wanted to eat and cook it. I’m not kidding! We decided we would head out to the festival and eat Kreef for breakies. 

We called the “KreefTaxi” one of those funny looking half a loaf of bread tiny vans with a very friendly driver. For R5 a head we all trundled the 3km to the festival gate, nice one.

It was only 11am and already the heat was unbearable. We were all sweating from areas we didn’t even know we could! A rather steep R150 a head got us in to the event, sporting a neon yellow wristband and a copy if  Die Burger newspaper. We were revved up and ready to go… but this enthusiasm didn’t last. We set off round the market stalls, a sad assortment of flee market type stalls, nothing out of the ordinary and defiantly NO Kreef.  We had seen them all within 30 minutes. Try as we might all we could only find burgers and wors rolls to eat. It seems only Muisbosskerm had any Kreef and they weren’t open yet.

We begrudgingly gave breakfast a miss and grabbed a table at the main tent. Inside the tent was a huge bar very obviously run by Graca, tables, bench like chairs, plastic garden chairs and a stage. We had arrived during the Miss blue jeans competition, which was an endless procession of little girls, not so little girls and boys walking very strangely. The stage was hopelessly too small and the MC'- Zain Johnson's favorite line was “let’s see them one more time” Tell you what “Let’s not! All the prizes were sponsored by Vredendal, we didn’t hear a single mention of Lamberts Bay – Silly me I thought this was the Lamberts Bay Crayfish Festival.

The heat became unbearable, there were no fans or misters in the main tent, and as the numbers grew so did the heat level. Just after 12 we decided it was too much and beat a retreat in our bread van to the splash pool at the B&B.

Later that evening the hot wind gave way to a wonderful cooling wind so we decided to give it another go.

The Kreef / Large Prawn

DJ Ossewa was on the stage and was doing a great job of getting the now much larger crowd on their feet. We headed for the Muisbosskerm stand, keen to get our hands on the elusive Kreef. We all order the Kreef and salad R80 each, and couldn’t wait to sit down in the main tent to tuck in. (We were warned by a fellow guest at the B&B not to have the Paella as it was mainly rice and very bland) My heart sunk when we opened our take away boxes. To call these things Kreef was an insult to real Kreef every where, they were at best over grown prawns, served with some limp green salad and half cooked potato salad.  Did I mention there were no knives and forks?

 

DJ Ossewa entertained us with some awesome songs, they were bursting with energy and it was infectious. There was one absolute stinker called something like “Jy is weer gesuip”. But other then that, they were great, loved the “Gans Dans” at the end of their set.  

Next on stage was Robbie Wessels. Personally I love his music and really enjoyed his set, which ended with the Leeuloop.

These people were serious about their Graca

The crowd loved it and the Graca was flowing. Robbie was followed by Pieter Smith met MD Greyling, and then finally it was the turn of  DJ / Rapper dude Snotkop, great fun and very talented. He was the last act for the evening so it was off in the “breadmobile” night caps and bed for us.

"Gans Dans"

We didn’t bother going for the Sunday session, we woke to a refreshing rain and decided to head home, this time ignoring our stupid Tom Tom and knocking 2 hours off the journey by following the West Coast road.

Will we go again next year? Definitely no. Are we disappointed?  Yes Very. We really expected so much more. I believe this was the 10^th Anniversary of the festival, but I certainly didn’t experience anything “special” about it. Without the SA music talent the whole thing would have been a disaster. The festival, like the little town of Lamberts Bay was shabby, tired and in desperate need of being brought into the 21^st Century. But sadly what it lacked the most was the whole point of the festival, and should have been the star of the festival , Kreef, Kreef and more Kreef

Paarl Ommiberg - Round the Rock

It's been quiet on the Tourist front, too quiet. Since mid February its been all work and no play. Why, I hear you ask? well there's a very good reason for this. Hubby and I have been burning the midnight oil getting as much work as possible out of the way before our small invasion from Joburg starts. First to arrive last week was hubby's best friend and wife to be on an extended break before they jump on a plane to New Zealand.  Next week Wednesday we'll be joined by my best friend and her partner for a short visit to the Crayfish Festival. On the 23rd, another dear friend and partner arrive for an extended visit, and last but most certainly not least my gorgeous 11 year son arrives on the 25th for his school holiday.

It's not much fun for our guests to entertain themselves while we slave away in the office, so we were looking for something nice to do with them this weekend, something uniquely Cape Town, something different. Well imagine my surprise when an email arrived from Laborie with details on the Ommiberg Festival. A quick call to the ever polite staff at Laborie, and I had all the info I needed to plan our day out. I also pre booked us for some Grape stomping and Wine blending competitions at Laborie. A quick plan was made for a "dog sitter" and before you could say "wine tasting" Saturday was here.

 For those who have read some of my previous blogs, you will know I am relatively new to the Cape. I had certainly never heard of the Ommiberg festival. I was very impressed with what I read on the Ommiberg  website, for a mere R60 per head you receive a lovely engraved wine glass, access to 13 fantastic wine farms, free shuttle service between the farms, free tasting of young wine with traditional onion tart at all of them, and a whole heap of  fun events, markets, cellar tours and live entertainment.



We took a slightly more direct route to Paarl and made it to the Laborie car park in just 30 minutes. We registered for the festival as we entered, where we received our arm band and tasting glass and made our way to the first event of the day, the Grape stomping. I think I need to explain at this point that hubby and I are very competitive, we love a challenge.

Fortunately our guests are equally extreme. As we were early we had the opportunity to plan our assault on the course. Frankly the competition didn't stand a chance, by start time we were fired up like race horses. Victory was sweet, as was the 4 bottles of red wine and Laborie caps we received for our efforts. Pumped with adrenaline, and a little grape splattered, we made for the Lazy Day's Market for a quick tour before our next event, Wine blending.

When I originally wrote the piece on the Lazy Day Market, I made a few suggestions, and to my absolute joy I noted all of them had been taken on board. There was now a ATM at the wine tasting room, far more shade, food was covered or had fly repellent candles burning, the range of stalls was fantastic and there was far more kiddy friendly activities. I'm pretty sure the Laborie team would of made these improvements anyway, but delusional or not, I did feel a small sense of achievement. After shopping up a storm, it was on to the lovely cool cellar for the Wine blending competition.

 

Clearly we are better at physical, "no brainier" activities, as despite hubby's best efforts and that of our friends. Kobus the manager of Laborie found our blend's wanting and awarded the spectacular 12LT Bottle of wine to a deserving team of ladies, who really knew their stuff. Well "you cant win em all"  Anyway we thoroughly enjoyed the informative talk and the fun of taking part.



                                                                                                                
It was time to kick back a little, and we headed for the "Kuier" tent, where we were treated to some fantastic music from the very talented Sterling Electric Quartet. Relaxing on puffy pillows we sipped our wine (well not me, as I had volunteered to be designated driver) and nibbled on the droewors and cheese's we bought at the market. Spectacular!






It took a huge effort to drag ourselves away, but we headed out of Laborie "we opted to drive ourselves" to the next farm and decided on Rhebokskloof Wine Estate.

The estate is set back from the road in a beautiful setting, driving up I noticed horses grazing in the fields. There is also a stunning lake with a lovely lawn area. I must say after the smooth organisation and great variety at Laborie, the Rhebokskloof Ommiberg offering was some what of a disappointment.





We hadn't had lunch, only our nibbles and this proved to be a mistake as the only food on sale, "despite the write up advertising food stalls"
was Prego Rolls. The golf chipping competition which hubby and friend liked the sound of, turned out to be somewhat basic, with a small piece of roped off lawn and some empty wine boxes. Not quiet what we had expected! We thought we would try our luck to buy some of the potjiekos made at the potjiekos competition that was advertised, but search as we may, we couldn't find or smell anything! darn. We were also keen to do a helicopter flip, I did notice that in the Ommiberg literature we received at Laborie, the helicopter rides were TBA and on not finding said helicopter, we bid a fond farewell to Rhebokskloof Wine Estate

Next stop was just up the road, the Boland Cellar,

again a beautiful estate on the Drakenstein mountain slopes. Walking up to the farm, we were greeted by some curious local children perched in a tree with huge smiles enjoying all the activity. On entering we were again rather disappointed, all the activity was centered in one small tented area, other the great big screen showing the Proteas game. The grass bale sitting arrangement  was lovely, however, again we were disappointed with what was on offer. There was only very few market stalls, two of which were selling olive oil and even worse for us hungry lot, not much in the way of  food.... Ok I know I shouldn't but hunger took over and it was wors rolls all round. Unfortunately we never got to see the main music attraction aKing, on stage were two youngsters strumming the most depressing songs I've ever heard. When they were joined by a third young lady on violin, who seemed to be playing a completely  different song we decided enough was enough. Did I mention, Boland also had a Red Wine swimming pool? We weren't  that brave "this year", and unfortuntely neither was anyone else during our short visit. So sorry no cool pics of people covered in red wine, darn!

That as they say in the movies was a wrap. We bundled ourselves into the car and headed back home. All in all I can defiantly recommend the Ommiberg Festival. It's a well orchestrated collaboration on the part of the participating wine farms and estates and an excellent day out. "Note to myself - next year I will take the shuttle to the winery's from Laborie" and not try the  maverick approach...

See you next year Ommiberg!!!!! Cant wait...