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!