To quote Paul Simon’s lyrics from his 1969 legendary hit “The Boxer”…
“I am older than I once was
And younger than I’ll be
But that’s not unusual
No, it isn’t strange“.
And this is what I have discovered about my fellow travellers on GoTrip tours.
Yes, there might be more natural silver-haired people on the coach, but we all share a lifetime of experiences in fields that we might never guess unless we ask.
And I tend to ask lots of questions…
Who knew that Steve had written a song about the town? I did; hence its being featured in this post.
Listen to it as you read about the tour.
Warning: It can become an earworm, as the music and lyrics are very catchy…
You have been warned!
Normally, hotels have a lot of these scenes during a GoTrip tour.
However, on the Hermanus tour, we used the same hotel as a base for all 5 nights of the adventure.
This meant that luggage was only seen in the foyer on arrival and departure.
Thus making it easier for both the tour guide, Estelle, and the driver, Llewlyn. No on-again, off-again on a daily basis.
This packing and unpacking does not seem to worry people. In fact a couple on this tour have been on 8 previous tours, so the team must be doing SOMETHING right.
Don’t believe me? Don’t take my word for it. Book a tour and put both Travel & Things and GoTrip to the test.
This is Estelle. Not only is she a tour guide extraordinaire, an excellent crossing guard AND paramedic, but she also happens to be the wife of the owner of the coach company.
A big thank you to Estelle for making the week memorable for all the right reasons.
I changed the name of Paarl Rock Tours to Paarl Tours Rock, because it does.
The coach was clean and comfortable, and as there were 20 people in a 29-seater coach, being cramped(like flying economy with certain local airlines) was not an issue.
When changes to the planned itinerary had to be made due to inclement weather, Estelle kept all on board informed and alternate arrangements were made.
Not once did we have to “relax at the hotel” because an outing had been cancelled.
This was the smiling face of our driver, Llewlyn, who greeted us when we either got on or off.
Always ready with a guiding hand to make certain that those who battled with the steps were able to get in and out with ease and a smile.
His “Were you once a pole dancer?” became a mantra for the tour.
He has been with the company since its inception, and it shows in his courteous manner and his attention to detail when it comes to the cleanliness of ‘his’ coach.
I also found out that there is no official Afrikaans word for ‘coach’. Strange that!
So a bus is what it was referred to during the tour.
Many years ago I was castigated for calling a coach a bus.
I was told, in no uncertain terms, that there is a vast difference between the two vehicles.
The most prominent being the fact that a coach is usually a charter and will follow a route that is itinerary-driven.
A bus, on the other hand, drives a fixed route and stops to load and unload passengers.
So now you know…
Many thanks, Llwelyn, for keeping us safe and on time consistently.
Hermanus seems to be a town filled with sculptures.
These rabbits are by Carol Cauldwell and are entitled Eeny, Meeny, Miney and Mo.
Our accommodation at the Misty Waves Boutique Hotel.
A comfortable bed, linen that made sleep a pleasure, and a coffee/tea station that was replenished daily.
The hotel makes an impression on arriving guests from the moment you step through the sliding foyer doors.
And speaking of sliding doors. This was an innovation that I have not seen before. Given the wind, opening and closing a regular door could be an issue, especially for older guests.
Hence the sliding option that eliminates the danger of a door being ripped out of unsuspecting hands.
But more of the hotel in a later post.
Suffice it to say that Travel & Things highly recommends that you stay here if you get the opportunity to ever visit this quaint town.
And this is the view from our balcony.
Who would not want to wake up to this?
Not only that, I spotted the first whale of our visit while enjoying a cup of coffee here.
A Gull taking off in stealth mode?
Or just pretending that it cannot be seen?
Walking along the path that meanders along the foreshore, visitors will encounter a variety of birdlife, from large Kelp Gulls to tiny sunbirds.
These are Hartlaub’s Gulls.
Did you know that the closest living relative to the Rock Hyrax is the African Elephant?
If you don’t believe me, look it up.
These plump critters were to be found in the bushes and the car park, and seemed to keep those with cameras amused.
This one had a particularly cheeky look.
More artwork along the promenade.
This is Love Knot and is by Frank van Reenen. It can be found at Gearing’s Point and forms part of the 2026 Hermanus FynArts Festival, Sculptures on the Cliffs.
A whale of a tale?
I kid you not. This is the flipper of a Southern Right Whale on display at the Whale House Museum in the centre of Hermanus.
Right next door is a most interesting photographic museum which explains the early days of the town and the fishing that was enjoyed here.
Both are well worth a visit.
I could not resist…
Hear no evil, see no evil and speak no evil, as demonstrated by some of our tour members…
FYI:
The core moral code of this adage dates back to the 4th century BCE in the Analects of Confucius: “Look not at what is contrary to propriety; Listen not to what is contrary to propriety; Speak not what is contrary to propriety.”
This idea travelled from China to Japan through Buddhist and Confucian influence, and it was the Japanese who used monkeys to portray those traits.
The town of Stanford comes to life every year when the South African entry to the Chelsea Flower Show is put on exhibition here.
All forms part of the Grootbos initiative to promote Fynbos.
The event is called Life after Fire, and I have it on good authority that you need to book a year in advance if you want to attend the lectures given by award -winning floral designer Leon Kluge, who designed this year’s winning submission.
This is just a small part of the display that won South Africa Gold at the Chelsea Flower Show this year.
I walked around this floral masterpiece almost a dozen times, each time seeing a new flower or a different perspective, depending on whether I walked clockwise or counterclockwise.
I believe that if skateboarding can be an Olympic sport, the flower arranging at THIS level deserves Springbok colours.
In addition to the Gold Medal, the South African exhibit achieved two top honours:
Best Exhibit in the Great Pavilion and Best New Design Award.
It was conceived by floral designer Leon Kluge and artist Tristan Woudberg, aided by a team of horticultural experts.
The display explores the resilience and natural regeneration of the Cape Floristic Region’s fynbos landscape following wildfires, featuring burnt plant material alongside vibrant post-fire blooms like the King Protea, wild orchids, and flowering bulbs.
I was told that the cut flowers in Chelsea were sold off after the show was over, whereas in Stanford, they are given away.
This is as a result of them being on display longer than in the UK.
Many of the species used are potted, and they can be returned to the local nursery, where the flowers for the 2027 show are already being grown.
The highlight of the tour…as far as I was concerned.
Due to adverse weather conditions, we were unable to get out into the bay on our first attempt.
With passenger safety foremost, the charter company had cancelled. However, the owner of GoTrip had booked a second day, just in case! And we WERE able to head out on our final day of the tour.
These Common Dolphins were the first to appear and keep us entertained while we awaited the arrival of the ocean behemoths.
THIS is what we had come to see. Southern Right Whales with their calves as they migrate up the coastline.
And the reason they are called Southern RIGHT Whales is that the whalers back in the day believed that they were the RIGHT whales to hunt.
The renovated lighthouse at Cape Agulhas.
After several years of renovations, the lighthouse is once again open to the public.
FYI:
Its design was modelled after the Pharos of Alexandria, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, giving it a distinctive “Egyptian Revival” architectural style.
When it was first lit on March 1, 1849, the lantern’s fuel source was rendered tail fat from local sheep.
Early Portuguese navigators named the area Cabo das Agulhas (“Cape of Needles”) because, at this exact location, magnetic north and true north aligned perfectly, causing compass needles to show no deviation.
We were told that it is the second-oldest working lighthouse in South Africa, so I had to find out what the oldest is. That honour belongs to Cape Town’s Green Point Light.
The former lighthouse keeper’s quarters have been converted into a museum—the only one dedicated specifically to lighthouses in Africa.
Visitors are able, for a price, to climb 71 steep steps up the wooden ladders to reach the top gallery for panoramic views of the coast, where over 150 shipwrecks now lie off the Agulhas Bank.
There is a restaurant in the car park at the lighthouse that seems convenient, but service is slow, and the items on the menu are pricey.
Walk just a short distance, and there is a coffee shop and restaurant that offer better value for money (in my opinion)
I did not realise JUST how expensive Abalone IS!
Most, if not all, the abalone produced at this factory are for export to the East and fetch eye-watering prices there.
We were told that when the product leaves the factory en route to Cape Town Airport, it does so under armed escort as there have been hijackings before.
This may or may not be true, but given the product price, it is believable (and it makes for a good story)
As I write this on Heritage Day 2026, I see on a news channel that there were Abalone poachers arrested in Cape Town today. Along with Rhino horn and Pangolin, this seafood delicacy is poached on an ongoing basis and sent outside our borders.
A most interesting morning was spent here finding out how these shellfish are grown and raised.
BTW: Abalone baby making is on a Thursday…we were not shown the process, but the mental image was more than sufficient. And there are male and female abalone. We were shown the difference, but as long as the abalone know, that is all that is important
Although the most asked question is “What does it taste like?” there are no free samples.
You can sign up for a tasting tour, which at the time of our visit was about R200.00 on top of the regular tour price.
A figurehead at the Shipwreck Museum in Bredasdorp.
It is the only museum of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere dedicated to preserving artefacts, figureheads, anchors, and stories from the treacherous Agulhas coast, where hundreds of ships have foundered over the centuries.
A most interesting place where you can get lost in the exhibits and talk like a pirate…if you wish to!
Not only is Estelle a terrific tour guide, but she is also a more than competent traffic warden.
Here she is, making sure that we all got across a main road safely.
And all for yet another stop to stock up on snacks and coffee at an interesting padstal.
A most interesting lunch stop and shop to browse in.
Platform 62 can be found on Main Road in Ashton, in the Robertson Wine Valley
The biggest section is for touristy gifts and wines from several vineyards, and at the far end is a restaurant where we enjoyed a delicious lunch.
We have since found MANY of these shops. It seems that they could be a franchise.
This one was in Riviersonderend.
Although the name translates as “river without end” it is actually the RIVER that is named Sonderend!
How do I know? Because we crossed over it on our way out of town.
Peace and tranquillity at Excelsior Wine Estate, where we all got to blend a bottle of our own wine.
There are churches in every town we visited. This was just one example of early architecture.
This one was in Riviersonderend.
This is the view from the urinals in the gents’ toilets at La Vierge wine in the Hemel en Aarde Valley.
At the southernmost point of the African continent, and where these oceans officially meet.
And my wife was there, making certain that she straddled both oceans.
This tour is highly recommended for a multitude of reasons.
To learn more about the accommodation and the companies involved in the tour, click the logos above.
BREAKING NEWS.
Two new awards for Travel & Things.
I am grateful for them both, but the storytelling award is the one that makes my heart sing.
In all the years that I have been publishing stories, I have strived to make them read like a travel story, rather than just a review of the properties I visit and the wildlife I see.
And it seems that my persistence has paid off.
That being said, the other award is for reviews, so I guess I am doing something right.
Travel & Things is the proud winner of these prestigious awards from the digital British lifestyle magazine Luxlife.
The awards are in the categories:
Best Travel & Experiences Blog 2024 – South Africa
Best African Game Reserves & Lodges Travel Review Site 2025.
Best African Resorts and Retreats Award 2025.
Most Engaging Travel & Lifestyle Blog 2026.
And now I can add:
Best Luxury & Safari Travel Review Platform 2026
Authentic Storytelling Excellence Award 2026
To see who the guests have been since this YouTube channel launched, click on the logo above.
Looking for something to read? Click on the logo above to visit the Off the Shelf YouTube channel for interesting and up-to-date interviews and book reviews.
“Hard work never killed anybody, but why take a chance?”
Edgar Bergen
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