Romantiques-May'12 TO
Time Out & Traveltime offers friendship and fun                       Travelling down roads least travelled                                    Visiting places not normally seen by tourists                                Great company and excellent meals are to be expected                              It transfers you out of your everyday life!

TIME OUT SCHEDULED TOURS TRAVELTIME

TRAVELTIME - Previous Outings

SPRING FLOWERS 11
 26th -30th August 11

Day 2: Saturday 27th August - The view from Piekenierskloof Pass

We head for Nieuwoudtville today, a trip of 350km over the breathtaking Piekenierskloof Pass, bypassing Citrusdal, Clanwilliam and then through Vanrynsdorp before reaching our destination.

Early morning in Darling, waiting for everyone at Trinity Lodge to rise and shine before having breakfast. The trailer was loaded, we collected the other passengers at Darling Lodge and headed towards Vanrynsdorp for our first stop.

On entering Nieuwoudtville the flower displays already caught your attention. We had booked a guided tour in the Hantam Botanical Garden for 2 pm, so had a brief stop at Nedersetting to collect our pre-arranged "lunch" of roosterbrood & sausage. En route we envisaged a  late arrival and asked the owner to pack the lunch for our onward trip to Hantam, which caused a bit of dissention. In the end we were able to sit down in the Nedersetting restaurant. Then it was on to Hantam National Botanical Garden.

We arrived timeously for our tour and boarded an old school bus, driven by Wange. There were only two other passengers besides our group of 11. Johan rejected our call for him to swop vehicles.

Colleen Rust manages the office at Hantam Botanical Gardens and handled our tour today. She has a vast knowledge of the local plants, even though she has no formal education.

First we viewed many species near the entrance to the Gardens. Colleen went into great depth to explain the various plants and to point out rare items.

A slide show of the various flowers viewed over the 5 days of the tour is positioned on the first page of this report and is well worth looking at.

Colleen is shown leading the group for a hands-on, close up viewing experience.

Accommodation in the main was reserved at Swiss Villa and other houses in the vicinity. Sister Carina opened her house to Brian, Carol and driver Johan.

The large dining room at Swiss Villa allowed the group to have it's meals in one place. The lounge provided a place to relax and have pre-dinner drinks. Margie, Chris & staff produced superb dinners and breakfasts during our stay and proved to be exceptional hosts.
DAY 1 DAY 3 DAYS 4 & 5
Published 5th September '11

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