Our trip - part one

First of all, we bought a map of the world and spread it out on the kitchen table.  Then we worked out a rough route, taking us to South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, a quick jaunt to the Cook Islands, then to Chile, Argentina and Brazil (for the coffee, to sober us up).  We then spent a couple of hours with Travel Nation to sort out the finer details, until it looked like this:

This is the itinerary in more detail:

First stop Cape Town for two nights, to see my good friend Nicky Schmidt.  Then it's three nights in Franschhoek, from where we will be spending some time in the vineyards, possibly on horseback.  Then three nights to drive along the Garden Route to Port Elizabeth, from where we fly to Jo'burg for two nights to catch up with friends/relatives. 

South Africa Wine Route

From Jo'Burg we fly to Perth.  After a night there we drive to Margaret River for two nights, spending the day touring wineries.  Then a night in Mandura before flying from Perth to Alice Springs.  No prizes for guessing what we're going to do there.

'What do you want to go and see a rock for?', said Eddie.  'There's no wine there!'

Then we fly to Adelaide for two nights in Barossa, followed by a night in Victor Harbour, then a night with our good friend Nick.  Then we spend three days driving along the Great Ocean Road to Melbourne, from where we fly to Cairns to Spend two nights at Port Douglas.  This is so we can spend a day doing this:

'But, where's the wine?'  

Then we fly to Newcastle, just north of Sidney, pick up a hire car and drive into Hunter Valley.  A day of wine tasting, then we head off down to the Blue Mountains for three nights.  ('Don't worry, Eddie, we'll have lots of wine in the car by then.')  Then it's three nights in Sydney to catch up with my cousins, before heading off to New Zealand.

Thank you for coming with us so far.  Click here for the next part of the trip!

Oh, and don't forget the cake!  

My daughter Rosie's moist carrot cake