Road Trip to the Cape

So we have been pretty bad at keeping our weekend photos going... but I promise we have excuses.

On Feb 22nd at 2 am, R and I got in our car and started our 17 hour journey to Cape Town. We stayed in Cape Town for 4 days with his fabulous sister and pretended that we lived in her fabulous suite in Fresnaye overlooking the ocean. Some of the highlights were a 12 course seafood lunch at die Strandloper (1), wine tasting at the ever so posh Steenberg Vineyards (2), bubbly tasting on the same estate at Gorgeous by Graham Beck (4) and climbing up Lion's head one morning (3).

We then boogied off to Herolds bay to visit our friends who live in Sweden. We spent 4 days there on the beach. R surfed, and I tanned/burnt my body on the beach while reading a great book ( The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry - read it... do it...). I don't have one picture to show from this time but I do have a random photo of our friends (5), and a photo from The Owlhouse which we stopped by in Nieu Bethesda on our long trip back to White River.

Fabulous trip, which caused R and I to start speaking like Capetonians - "totes cray-cray". Can't wait to go back again. If you want more recommendations for the Cape Town area, feel free to contact us.

Cape Town

Shoo! What a week. Thanks to the lovely Jean Mortlock we had such a fabulous time in Cape Town. Rather than give you a play by play of what we did, here are a list of the highlights of our trip in categories. Easy, eh?

Food & Coffee (our favourites first!)
Sidewalk Cafe - Fabulous place down the road from Jean where we spent a few hours setting up our guest posts.
Haas - Design overload. lovely coffee and men in top hats. 
Dear Me - Delicious lunch, fabulous atmosphere. 
Skinny Legs & All - Great coffee! We also met a beautiful little italian greyhound friend there with very skinny little legs. 
El Burro - Great mexican food, fun vibe, awesome decor & brilliant brand identity.
Elephant & Barrel - Cozy and vibrant pub in Franschoek to watch the Springboks.
Olympia Cafe - DELICIOUS croissants for breakfast on the road in Kalk Bay.
Wharfside Grill - In Hout Bay. After driving along the ocean all day, we were craving seafood so badly. This place definitely hit the spot.
West Street Cafe - In the Woodstock Foundry. Some of the best breakfasts we have had in a very long time.

Areas
Woodstock - The Old Biscuit Mill ( fabulous market on a saturday morning), The Woodstock Foundry (fabulous creative space), a visit to the Ogilvy Bar and beautiful graffiti art on every wall.
Cape Town City bowl - Where we wandered the streets in the rain, explored and drank way too much coffee.
Stellenbosch - Wine Tour heaven.
Franschoek - More wine tour bliss & pub beers.
Elgin - Stopped at Peregrin farmstall on the way in for some coffee & snacks then watched R race at Mofam in the South African canoe marathon championships.
Kalk Bay - First stop on our cape peninsula road trip, delicious breakfast and a great area to wander with lots of galleries and trendy shops.
Simonstown - Drove through this marine town on our cape peninsula trip.
Boulders Beach - Penguins!
Cape Point - The fog was so thick, we just drove up to the gate and the nice guard informed us that we probably wouldn't be able to see much
Kommetjie - Drove down to the beach on our cape peninsula trip.
Noordhoek - Checked out the Food Barn & had beers at the Toad both in the Noordhoek farm village.
Chapmans Peak - Iconic drive along the mountainside.
Hout Bay - Seaside lunch of WAY too much seafood.
Llandudno - Drove down to this residential beach and watched the after work surf crowd.
Camps Bay - Walked along the beach and wished it was summer. Drove along the oceanside road and wished we could afford to live there!
Signal Hill - Had a red wine toast here when we arrived and then watched the sunset from the same spot on our last night. Out of body experiences.

Wine Farms
Fairview - Wine and cheese tasting, goat tower and beautifully designed packaging.
Kanonkop - Second stop on a long day of wine tasting.
Morgenhof - And the third...
Bilton - Wine and chocolate pairing. The sauvignon blanc with lime white chocolate was to die for.
La Bri - More wine and more chocolate.
Haute Cabriere - One of our favourites, nestled right in the cellar.

Culture
Baxter Theatre - Last minute tickets to see comedian Pieter Dirk-Uys and hear a whirlwind history of South African politics.
Labia Cinema - Art house cinema where we saw The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. We also could not read the name with a straight face.
Robben Island - Charlotte had already done it, Chelsea had to do it.
Everard Read Gallery - How Charlotte killed time during Chelsea's trip to the island.
Old Biscuit Mill - Saturday market filled with eclectic food, arts, crafts and fresh produce.
Woodstock Foundry - Collective art and gallery space.

Swaziland

We spent last weekend in the Ezulwini Valley of Swaziland for the epic Bushfire festival. The entire trip was such an amazing experience but the festival itself was something else. The annual Bushfire music and arts festival is held at House on Fire, an eclectic performance and art space in the heart of rural Swaziland. Here we spent two days listening and dancing to African music, checking out local art and drinking far too many "john deeres". Highlights included the extremely talented Swazi Nancy G & the Human Family, classic Afropop Mango Groove and, our definite favourite, Napalma made up of members from Brazil and Mozambique.

On our way to the festival we came across the town of Bulembu just over the Swaziland border. Bulembu was abandoned in 2001 when the mining company that had operated there for decades ceased operations. With no jobs, the HIV/AIDS pandemic and the orphan crisis the town essentially shut down. Today volunteer organizations have taken over, creating a thriving and vibrant self-sustaining community. It was incredible to see the transformation and to explore this would-be ghost town. We also sold maize at R's farm, visited another shisa nyama and picked up ten hitchhikers outside of Bulembu, so all in all a pretty stellar African weekend!

This coming weekend Chelsea's road tripping to Durban to watch our friend Murray run Comrades and Charlotte is moving into her and R's new house in White River. Then straight after we fly to Cape Town and then only a week after that Chelsea's heading back to Canada. Time flies...but we won't think about that quite yet.

Johannesburg & Pretoria

What a weekend!
Thursday we arrived in Johannesburg in the afternoon and headed into Illovo to check out Wolves Cafe. We ended up eating next door at The Good Luck Club. Both were fantastic, and we got what we were looking for - good food & a bottle of wine. After we filled our bellys, we headed to the Aparteid Museum. A very informative tour of the history of segregation in South Africa.

Friday we woke up and headed to Pretoria for some more history lessons. We passed the President's House, walked through the gardens at the Union Buildings, and climbed the stairs at the Voortrekker Monument. Ended our day with more good food & wine at Tribeca.

Friday evening we spent in Melville. We started at Cafe Mexicho for some beers & tequila shots (tequila shots with pineapple wedges & tabasco - a brilliant idea from our new friend Cuno). We then strolled around the corner to the Ant Cafe and ended our night off at The Ratz bar.

Saturday R arrived and drove us girls down to Newtown. We hit up the Neighbourgoods market, had coffee at Post and visited the CO-OP gallery (all recommendations from our online friend Catherine). We also discovered The Creative Block & The Shoe Shop (more photos of both of these on Chelsea's blog).

Sunday we woke up early to watch R compete in the Gauteng Canoe Marathon Championships (he came in first! Congrats R!). Afterwards we headed to Soweto to have a Shisa Nyama at 707 Panyaza. Shisa Nyama, literally meaning "burn the meat" in Zulu, is an informal braai with grilled meat, pap & chakalaka. This was by far one of the coolest things we have done so far, probably because it involves food, beer and eating with our hands.

All in all, we soaked in as much as we could the four days we were there. Joburg is an interesting and exciting city. We were lucky enough to have some great friends to drive us around on the massive highways and guide us around when we were driving on our own.

We are now back in the Slowveld, enjoying the fresh air and getting ready for our next adventure.

Kruger National Park

As you can tell by our lack of blogging, we've been having an amazing time since Chelsea arrived in South Africa last week. The weather's been beautiful and we're loving hanging out at the Lake House, exploring the neighbourhood, cuddling with Chuva and spending countless hours catching up. And while it's been a quiet week on the blog we've been informed by the South African boys in the house that when we get together us Canadians are anything but quiet! We gave them a break by escaping to Kruger National Park for the last few days and had the most incredible time getting lost in the reserve. The days were spent game driving where we saw four of the "Big 5" and a lot of the other African wildlife. We slept over night at rest camps in true safari accommodations, staying up late drinking way too much wine and listening to the hyenas, hippos and lions just beyond the fence.

When we got back from Kruger we realized we took very few photos of our trip. We also didn't take any photos at our braai this weekend or during our trip to town last week. So, we've decided to challenge ourselves to taking (and posting) at least a photo a day to better document our time together. We're also starting a new contributors feature next week so please stick around the blog as we get back into the swing of things!

Our Weekend - April 7-9, 2012

2011 turns into 2012 - Chelsea

I repeat Charlotte's sentiments that we are truly sorry it's been so long since we've posted. It's a nice bit of routine I've been missing from my largely haphazard life and I look forward to getting back into it. I spent Christmas and New Years in Prague, the only set stop of my largely unplanned itinerary of a trip around the world. Prague is a beautiful city and I had an amazing time exploring but, moreover, the holiday was made by the people I was lucky enough to spend my time with.

There was Tim, from Brussels, who I met on the train to Prague who joined me in sightseeing, exploring Christmas markets and drinking obscene amounts of glühwein or "svařák" (hot mulled wine). Lonnie, from North Carolina, and Sharna, from Sydney, with whom I shared a Christmas Eve dinner of Chinese food at the only restaurant still open (with the family who owns it), as per Lonnie's family tradition. Paul, from Wisconsin, currently teaching English in Hungary, who accompanied me on a beer pilgrimage to Plzeň, taught me to play cribbage and delighted me with his company over many many beers and goulashes. Marcio, from Brazil, who, along with Sharna and Paul, spent Christmas day with me wandering around Vyšehrad, down the Vltava River to the Lennon Wall and up to the top of the Petřín Lookout Tower. And finally Steve, from Scotland, who flew into Prague to ring in the new year with me watching homemade fireworks exploding over the city all through the night from our cozy hotel on the side of Petřín hill.

It's a unique new year for me as I can honestly say I have no idea what the next year, or the next month for that matter, will bring. It's a bit daunting but also exciting as I continue to meet people like these along the way who help shift and mould my plans and give me a bit of time outside my head to figure things out as I go. I look forward to many more adventures and new relationships and to discovering how it all turns out.

2011 turns into 2012 - Charlotte

Eish! it has been too long since we have posted - and we apologize profusely. Chelsea & I thought it would be a great idea to give you a little glimpse of what has been keeping us so busy and unable to blog.

This was my first South Africa Christmas - and oh how festive it was! The celebrations began early and just didn't stop. We had plenty of gatherings before Christmas on the lake, singing Christmas carols, opening prezzies, eating too much delicious food and drinking copious amounts of vino. On Christmas day we drove to Tzaneen where we joined 55 of R's family members and had a huge Christmas lunch complete with Vodka & Gin litchi's for dessert.

The next morning R & I started on our adventure. We decided we wanted to do something a little different over the holidays so we got in his bakkie with all our camping gear and headed up North into the Kruger National Park. Our first stop was before the Park in the Makuya Game Reserve were we rented a beautiful tented camp at the African Ivory Route Mutale Falls camp. Was an absolutely fabulous spot that we could have spent days enjoying - but we headed on. One night at Punda Maria rest camp, then one night at Letaba rest camp and spent our final night at Tsendze rustic camp.

We then left the Kruger park thru the Giriyondo gate and headed to Bilene where we joined R's parents, sister and a few friends for 5 days of beaches, boating, boozing and plain ol relaxing. We had a wild new years in the town centre with all the locals letting off hundreds of fireworks and we danced the night away at a local spaza shop drinking RnR's (Rum & Raspberry).

Was a fabulous start to a new year full of new dreams, ideas, hopes and adventures.

Our Weekend - October 7 - 10, 2011

On Vacation - John (Philippines via Halifax)

This is the last week of our guest blog series to compare other parts of the world while Charlotte is visiting Canada for August & September. Our guests this week are creatives John in Halifax & Alyssa in Calgary.

Commitment to the Asian stereotype in the walled city of Intramuros.

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John is an un(der)employed designer/photographer/writer currently living in the coastal city of Halifax. When someone asks where he is from, he says, "the west" in hopes no one will take that to mean "Alberta". His spirit animal is a Psyduck.

He writes poems at johnwrites.tumblr.com. 

He takes photos at flickr.com/photos/psyduckholloway. 

He talks to people at twitter.com/johneholloway.

On Vacation - Alyssa (Vancouver via Calgary)

This is the last week of our guest blog series to compare other parts of the world while Charlotte is visiting Canada for August & September. Our guests this week are creatives John in Halifax & Alyssa in Calgary.

On the Chill Winston patio in Gastown enjoying yummy food and beer.

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Alyssa is a Graphic Designer currently living in Calgary, Alberta where she works for a marketing and design company. She enjoys borscht, vodka and would do a lot of things for a red velvet cupcake. She's passionate about what she does, music, movies, and the arts in general. She loves pajama and wine parties and can be kind of funny sometimes. 

See her work alyssagamberg.com.

Talk to her at twitter.com/alyssagamberg.

Summer Vacation - John (Philippines via Halifax)

This is the last week of our guest blog series to compare other parts of the world while Charlotte is visiting Canada for August & September. Our guests this week are creatives John in Halifax & Alyssa in Calgary.

My plane landed at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport with rain streaking across my porthole window and soft jazz playing over the intercom system. It felt as if I left Tokyo in the morning and arrived in a 1930's film-noir in the afternoon. The rest of my month in The Philippines was hardly noir though, and despite it being the heart of the wet typhoon season, I barely even got wet (with the notable exception of taking a couple showers, or swimming in an infinity pool overlooking the mighty pacific).

The José Rizal monument in the heart of Old Manila.

Some part of me was expecting a massive culture shock. Some Motorcycle Diaries thing going on that would forever shake the very foundation of my inexperienced being. This didn't happen. I didn't find myself. I didn't discover the secret to the universe lurking in a shanty town along the Pasig. I did, however have an absolutely wonderful time.

Metro Manila, where I spent most of my time, is a populous centre (equalling a third of the total population of Canada in an area smaller than Calgary) with something to do on every street, or at least it seemed that way with the amount of people on any given street at any given time. I ate cheese ice cream (Queso), spit roasted pig (Lechon), and all the adobo a guy could ask for along with so many other foods with names I don't remember. I went to the malls, the many many malls. I bought a genuine replica Italian watch from a Tiangge, and had to get an extra suitcase to fit all of my new shoes in. I was stopped a number of times by children asking if I was the coach of Manny Pacquiao (I'm not, but I can kind of see the resemblance). I took a ferry trip to Corregidor Island, which should be familiar to any John Wayne fans, and saw first hand the awesome devastation of World War II. I walked along white sand beaches on the Island of Bohol, where I also saw the impressive Chocolate Hills and spent some time hanging out with the adorable Tarsiers.

I walked down crowded streets and awkwardly tried to figure out how best to respond to people shouting "Hey Joe!" after me; I awkwardly decided to ignore it and focus on my next meal instead. I saw massive and beautiful churches in the overwhelmingly Roman Catholic country and wondered if the good lord would strike me down for being a heathen. I drank San Miguel beer for 50 pesos, and even drank a beer labelled unfit for human consumption in places such as the health mecca of Mexico. I tried to quickly learn a new language, but can only remember "mabuhay", "masarap; salamat" and "Hindi, ate. Mahal!".

Oh, and did I mention all the food?

Floating along with the nilads on the Manila Bay.



Roman Catholic and Buddhist syncretism on Corregidor Island: Buddha-Mary.

Walking down a China Town market alley on a food tour.

This is my postcard photo of the white sand beaches of Bohol.

A Tarsier; an extra terrestrial-monkey hybrid the size of my fist.

---

John is an un(der)employed designer/photographer/writer currently living in the coastal city of Halifax. When someone asks where he is from, he says, "the west" in hopes no one will take that to mean "Alberta". His spirit animal is a Psyduck.

He writes poems at johnwrites.tumblr.com. 

He takes photos at flickr.com/photos/psyduckholloway. 

He talks to people at twitter.com/johneholloway.

Summer Vacation - Alyssa (Vancouver via Calgary)

This is the last week of our guest blog series to compare other parts of the world while Charlotte is visiting Canada for August & September. Our guests this week are creatives John in Halifax & Alyssa in Calgary.

I flew to Vancouver this summer for a vacation and to visit my boyfriend Dustin. He moved there earlier in the year and it has become like a second home to me.

People who say it's alway gloomy in Vancouver are totally wrong!

One of the things I love about Van is that there is always something to do. This trip we decided to pretend like we were tourists the whole time and I guess in a way we are because there is so much that we have yet to discover. We took a trip to the Capilano Suspension Bridge, Dustin opened for the Midway State, we had drinks at Chill Winston in Gastown, and of course enjoyed the sunny summer weather. I honestly can't even express my love for that city. It is just packed full of the arts, culture and interesting people everywhere you go. It is constantly inspiring me and making me a happier person. I definitely left my heart in Vancouver and can't wait for the next trip out there. I would tell anyone that hasn't been to go because it really is a beautiful place. With views of the mountains, ocean and city, who could say no?

Oh and p.s. it doesn't ALWAYS rain!

Apologies from Vancouverites for the riot that happened June 15 2011 melted my heart a little.

Faced my fear of heights 230 ft above Capilano River without peeing my pants, big day.

Drinking Caesars and $10 Innis & Gunn and at Chill Winston after a long day was totally justifiable.

Vancouver transit's a dream (makes a joke of Calgary). I'd prefer the Skytrain over driving 9 times out of 10.

Van is so beautiful and the views never get old, there's something every kind of person can appreciate.

---

Alyssa is a Graphic Designer currently living in Calgary, Alberta where she works for a marketing and design company. She enjoys borscht, vodka and would do a lot of things for a red velvet cupcake. She's passionate about what she does, music, movies, and the arts in general. She loves pajama and wine parties and can be kind of funny sometimes. 

See her work alyssagamberg.com.

Talk to her at twitter.com/alyssagamberg.

Our Weekend - Sept 2-4, 2011

Our Weekend - August 12-14, 2011

Our Weekend - August 5-7, 2011

Our Weekend - July 22-24, 2011

Our Weekend - July 8-10, 2011

Our Weekend - May 27-29, 2011

Hello everyone! We need to apologize for slacking a bit on our posts this week. Chelsea had a big week with YYC Coffee Disloyalty and Charlotte has been busy working away on a new issue for Lowveld Living. This weekend was also hectic as Chelsea ran her first ever half marathon and Charlotte took a long weekend and headed to Ponta Malongane in Mozambique for the STRAB music festival.

In order to remain consistent with our posts we have decided to commit to bringing you one design post a week along with the Our Weekend series every Monday and snapshot comparisons whenever we are inspired. In the meantime, if you have any suggestions for what you would like to see here we would love to hear them.

Thank you for being patient as we work out the logistics of sharing a blog across so many miles. There & Here has been a wonderful experience so far and has really served to close the distance between us and to better understand each others homes and lives a bit better. Thanks so much for reading and for your ongoing suggestions, encouragement and love!

With love, from here to there.

Madagascar

Until these last few years of my life, Africa in general was just a land far far away that I only dreamed of visiting. Never in those wildest dreams did I find myself sailing a catamaran around the northern islands of Madagascar. The past week has been one of the most adventurous, relaxing, mind-blowing weeks of my life. In the safe hands of Bert, Frederic and Hassan we island hopped around the Nosy Be area of Madagascar on the Admiral Explorer. I was so lucky to be invited by R's family to join them on this trip. We drank plenty of THB, ate incredible food and enjoyed numerous bars of Madagascar chocolate. To work that all off we did a considerable amount of kayaking around the islands, swimming back and forth from the boat and walking/exploring the island's beaches. I also excessively perspired the entire trip (my canadian blood can't handle the humid heat!), which I am sure helped me to shed a couple kg's.

Would I go back? - YES! Next time we want to rent scooters (R would choose a motorbike rather) and drive up and down the coast. Or maybe kayak around the entire island like Riann Manser...too ambitious?