It’s good to be back!

In March 2020, tourism came to a grinding halt. We all know what happened so no need to dwell on that but tour guides the world over have taken a huge knock. I have been unable to run any tours and spend my time doing an access course online with a company called Learn Direct so I can re-train and go to University in October of this year. I had all my eggs in the tourism basket and have been taught a painful lesson. My income disappeared totally and I have been kept afloat by my wife who thankfully, has a decent job. However, tough times, like good times are fleeting and I am beginning to receive e-mails enquiring about tours and a few days ago I took 4 people from Washington in the United States on a Winelands trip to Stellenbosch and Franschhoek and it was brilliant

Waterford Wine Estate https://www.waterfordestate.co.za/

It’s hard to describe how good it felt to be a guide again, meet new people and get back on the road, I had not realized how much I had missed it. It was more of a half day tour really because we left the One & Only (great hotel) fairly late but we managed to get a few quality Vineyards in.

Our first stop was Waterford’s for chocolate and Wine Tasting. The Vineyard is on a citrus farm and the building is in a Tuscany style. Each Wine and chocolate is individually paired to bring out the best in each other and the clients love it! In South Africa (unlike France I am told) cold cuts and cheeses are not often offered with tastings, there are of course some places that do offer that but it is not standard so the chocolate is very cool. While the clients drink I eat my weight in tangerines outside, and then come in for a chat.

Delaire Graff Wine Estate https://www.delaire.co.za/

Once we left Waterford’s we headed towards Franschhoek and stopped at Graff Wines, this place is outstanding, very beautiful and the wine is first class. Clayton, Tommy and the rest of the group loved it and we all got on really well. As you may have noticed, everything is about politics nowadays so although we flirted with that a bit, we just concentrated on relaxing, having fun and enjoying the moment. We were laughing so loudly that I am sure the other guests thought we were a bunch of peasants but who cares? We were having a lot of fun, a lot of laughs and that is what we all need right now, more than anything.

The Gang in Namibia before they reached Cape Town and Convoy Tours http://www.convoytours.com

We offer fantastic tours of the Garden Route, Cape Peninsula and Cape Winelands, for more information check here https://www.convoytours.com/garden.html

Garden Route Glory – The glory of the ride!

Good times and bad times are like the weather, ultimately they are fleeting and they pass. The Impermanence of all things can be sad, I mean everything has to come to an end, children grow up, holidays that we look forward to come and go, so do relationships. But am grateful for that because it works both ways. Crappy times also pass, I broke my wrist years ago and it stung like a bastard but I don’t remember the pain now. Life, for many of us in 2020 has not been great, some people have really suffered. Those who have lost loved ones, jobs, businesses. Those who are lonely, it’s tough, life is tough. As David Brent says, life is a struggle with beautiful surprises

But it passes, I have written on this blog before that Cape Convoy is just myself and a website now, so what? that is what is was 13 years ago when I started running tours. life is swings and roundabouts. I read that the vaccine is on it’s way. If that is the case then sooner rather than later South Africa will reopen and when it does, I will be ready. I am offering huge discounts on private Garden Route tours for folks that book early, 40 % discounts, until September 2021

Cape Convoy Tours, why you should book! Come join me

I am massively excited to start running the tours again, I love being a guide, I love South Africa and I love the Garden Route. So I am sending this out to the universe, if you’re looking for a Garden Route tour and looking for a guide to take you then hire me. It will be the best tour you will ever take. That’s my commitment to you!

Here are some links for the tours, when you book the Garden Route I include a free, private Cape Peninsula tour to the Cape of Good Hope via the Penguins. It doesn’t get any better than that chum!

4 Day 3 Night Garden Route tour with a FREE Cape Peninsula tour https://www.convoytours.co.za/garden.html

The Full Day Cape Peninsula Tour

https://www.convoytours.co.za/capepoint.html

We gotta go!

Whales, dogs and enjoying life

I am starting to get enquires for the Garden Route tour next year 2021, so that is a good thing, a positive thing. It is very hard, no, impossible to predict where things are heading at the moment. The global economy is in a tailspin and it seems we are all in limbo until a vaccine manifests itself and even then, not everyone is going to take it. The ‘new normal’ is a phase that is being thrown around a lot but I am not sure what that means, children in masks? hypochondria and fear? We have to be careful we don’t replace the joy of living with the fear of death. There is a old Russian saying ‘If you’re destined to drown, you’ll never hang’ I take Covid seriously and do my part but you die if you worry, you die if you don’t.

Julia my German Shepherd. Not stressed at all

The weather is fantastic here in the Cape. It is sunny but not too hot. The sea is dark blue and the wind is blowing. I love the wind but the majority of Capetonians don’t dig it. My wife can’t stand it (hair reasons I’m told) and my daughter is scared of it. I love it, I find it cleasning and exciting. I also enjoy the cold water in Cape Town, it feels brilliant to get into the sea. It is healing.

This past Sunday my family and I took a drive to Hermanus for the day to see the Whales. I have not seen many so far in False Bay so I wanted to see them before they leave in November. Hermanus was busy with locals, the sun was shining and there were loads of Southern Right Whales in the bay with their calves. It was brilliant. Seeing Whales makes people happy, seeing them makes me happy. They were breeching and that was the first time my children have seen that so they where loving it.

2021 is going to be a great year because I am going to make it a great year. How am I going to do that? I am going to continue to do what I am doing now. Meditation, gratitude for what I have, eating well, enjoying my family, my dogs and exercising. The Whales didn’t seem to be worried about much, my dogs don’t give a shit about politics and you and I will have a better chance of dealing with whatever life throws at us if we remember how great life is and how lucky we are to be here. This earth is 4 billion years old mate, even if we are lucky enough to manage 80 years here on the blue planet, so what? are you going to spend that fleeting time going crazy about politics and bullshit that you can’t control or influence?

Not me, not my dogs and I am sure the Whales agree. Life is awesome

Lets enjoy it while we can

Me and my Octopus

On the 7th of March of this year, just before the world went into a Covid induced tailspin, I got married. It was a great day, great weather and I was marrying the woman I love. It does not get any better than that chum!

Although it can and did get better, because we had a unexpected guest. An Octopus!

We were married in Kalk Bay in the Western Cape at stunning old house that I used to live in and now live in again (in a flat attached to the house) I am not sure how old the house is but I do know that in 1910 a British Lord build a tidal pool so he could take his disabled daughter swimming. The house is on the rock, right on the water on the False Bay coastline. For my money it’s the best place to live, or just be, in Cape Town.

Roberto and me. In my fantasy, this is us. In reality I saw her twice for a few seconds then she got eaten

The tidal pool attracts lots of different types of marine life as you would expect, but sadly none last to long in there as the locals soon spot them and take then out. I have seen fish, large and small Starfish (even a pink one like Patrick from Spongebob) and we have even had a Cape Fur Seal in there and on my wedding day, we had an Octopus.

I heard excitement and walked to the steps that lead down to the pool, and then the Octopus, a big brown one, started climbing up the steps to see me! I mean this guy came up 3 or 4 steps and we had a moment. He was waving his tentacles around and I was smitten. Then he went back into the water

Kalk Bay Tidal Pool in False Bay

I called him Roberto and it was the best thing ever. Getting married was awesome and so was this. Evelyn who has lived and worked at the house forever and who is very well known told me that he had been there for a while, she also told me she had eaten some of her babies.

Right, kill the motor dude.

I made Evelyn promise me that that she would not eat Roberto. It could be her wedding gift to me and she agreed. She did warn me though that the locals were aware that Roberto was there.

Then I knew that the game was up

See, Roberto was really big. Times are hard. That Octopus is worth at least R200 to the locals or even just a decent meal. The bottom line was that Roberto was money, a lot of money to a lot of people.

I saw him once or twice after that. Then he disappeared. I like to like she swam out to the open sea, found another boyfriend and had a nice happy family and who knows, maybe she did. People are often in the tidal pool looking for sea food or anything they can sell or eat. I would do the same if my situation demanded it. It’s not a criticism, it’s just life.

Roberto will always be my friend though and I will never forget her. She came to my wedding and that made me very happy. She will live forever

2020 & Beyond

Hello all, I hope that life is being kind and that you are finding a way through the new world we all find ourselves in. The new normal is not exactly great is it? Gloves, masks, no school, no sound of children’s laughter, no sport, pubs or hugs! When times are tough I always think of it as the weather. Good bad or indifferent, it passes. Everything is ultimately fleeting and Covid 19 will be no different. Acceptance is the key and I feel that we should not waste this opportunity to come out the other side of this thing a kinder, nicer, fairer world.

Tourism globally has been smashed and the job losses will be awful. In Cape Town we have had one of the strictest lock downs in the world. No exercise and a smoking and drinking ban although all that seems to have achieved is make the black market thrive. Every smoker I know is still smoking but I digress..

I am re-training in another field but Cape Convoy will go on and I will run the tours. Cape Convoy is now just me and a website. I have no buses or cars anymore. They have all gone. I will rent them as needed. The sector is just too vulnerable to invest long term in and I doubt this will be the last pandemic. I hope this causes  humanity to have a re think about how we treat our animal brothers and sisters. If nothing else this proves we are all connected and live in a connected world. There is also little difference in Asian wet markets and the factory farming in a western city. It’s not sustainable and its cruel. We are destroying the natural world that rely on for out own survival.

On a more cheerful note, I have made the best of it Meditating every day, exercising, learning Spanish, walking my dogs and online training. I have also started to take a few bookings for April 2021 so that is great news. I don’t have any fear in my heart. Everything happens for a reason and as the Buddhists say. Every grain of sand is in it’s perfect place. Anyone who is struggling should do themselves a huge act of kindness and read The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. A very important book and I also suggest watching his You Tube videos. He has helped me enormously in my life and can do the same for you

I made a small video to try to drum up a bit of interest in the tours for 2021. Any action is often better than no action. Cape Convoy will survive, it has too much heart and soul. As Shakespeare said in his play As you like it “This poor virgin isn’t much to look at, sir, but she’s mine”

Wishing you and your family good health and good fortune

Your Pal

Rob