Our first day trip out of the city took us up the Western Cape to West Coast National Park and Langebaan Lagoon, about an hour's drive from Mary's home in Observatory, Cape Town. The purpose of the trip was wildflowers - during season (August-September) the hills are covered in pink, purple, yellow, orange and white. We caught the tail end, and there were still beautiful flowers to see, but the overall scenery was what really impressed us.

And, we had the entire place to ourselves (with the exception of a few seagulls). We explored the park and walked the better part of 11 Mile Beach to see what remains of a Greek cargo ship that ran aground back in the 1980s. It is just one of many wrecks along the South African coastline - the conditions at sea are not for the faint-hearted. We finished the day with a late lunch at Geelbek, a restored 1860s homestead that serves seafood and traditional Cape-Malay. The food was good, but the bottle of wine was even better.