BACK HOME

Alec, Diana, Conal and Gershon the driver

It was so hard to say tear ourselves away from our family and friends - but it's also good to be home again! I guess we'll always feel torn between what now feels like three homes - Bern, Cape Town and Sydney. We've had a wonderfully warm welcome from everyone here  and I'll never forget the joy of seeing Anton and Nicky at the airport to meet us.  We've spent the past few days putting our lives back on track and reflecting on what now seems like a dream.

We've been asked a number of times what we enjoyed most about our travels. A difficult question to answer. On reflection we've experienced the beauty of our world: I love mountains and we certainly saw some of the best- the Rockies, the Alps and the Cape mountains - but what was most precious was having time to be with our far-flung family. Time to catch up with David and Maeve in Colorado, renewing our contact with Peter Lanigan-O'Keefe and the rest of the family from Ireland in London and then the wonderful summer hanging out in Bern with the Roos's followed by our magic holiday in South Africa where we managed to see so many of our family and friends at a leisurely pace.

Each part of our trip was extraordinary - our visit to Utah with David and Maeve, Lake Como, Rosenlaui and Rasa with Hendrik, Anna, Louisa and Jan, the Cevennes and the Midi with Diana, Prue and Anthony, the Kruger Park with Alec, Sara, Leon & Chriscelia and ending with the trip to Nyarhini with Francie and the Rovos Rail with Diana. Such marvellous memories of happy times.

Have bags - will travel

Our home is let until May so we'll be gypsies for a while yet - but one day, maybe - we might just have to pack our bags again!

THE ROUTE HOME ON ROVOS RAIL

All aboard 

We always intended going on Rovos Rail with Buck and Di - and our return journey home was done with this in mind. Rovos Rail is the ultimate in luxury and we started in style at Cape Town station when we were shown to an elegant waiting room where we were offered champagne, coffee and dainty sandwiches while being entertained by a violin/guitar duo. And then we were shown to our very comfortable larny compartments. A far cry from the sort of trains that I caught to school at the end of each holiday.

Rose petal hearts! Compliments of Rovos Rail

The compartments and shutters are polished mahogany and the dining car, lounge and observation car have that old fashioned elegance of a bygone era. Our meals were delicious - the four course meals perfectly balanced and complemented with the best wine.

Fine dining

We arrived in Worcester during lunch - and that's where we remained for the next day. The copper cables had been stolen and so eventually our trip was very different from what was intended in our itinerary. We visited the KWV brandy distillery and found ourselves sipping aged brandy through chocolate at 11 am,  and then after lunch the following day, still at Worcester station, we were bussed to Zandvliet wine farm in Robertson - a trip down memory lane because the last time Conal and I were there was to attend a wedding shortly after we were married. 

The train was eventually re-routed via George where we said a tearful good bye to Di, and flew to Johannesburg to connect with our flight to Sydney. It was an ill-fated flight though. Delayed 24 hours for technical problems, we were bussed to a strange gated conference centre near Boksburg for the night.  We returned the following evening, and this time were kept waiting on board for 5 hours while two faulty tyres were replaced. At this stage I was convinced that it was a mistake to be on the flight at all, and when after take off we hit a storm that flung the plane around like a kite, I thought my misgivings were correct and that the flight was doomed. It was with a sigh of relief that we touched down at 10 pm on Friday at Sydney International - and I burst into tears when we walked into the arrivals hall to find Anton and Nicky waiting for us. What a welcome home!