Taylored Trips – Mid-week Meander

We took a break from our busy schedule at home and headed west for the day. The weather was nice and warm with not too much wind, a perfect

day for the West Coast. Philadelphia was our first stop and we pulled in to see what’s new. Not much has changed except that Helena se Hoekwinkel has closed. Pity about that but there are a lot of other shops to choose from in this quaint town.

The [closed down] Helena se Hoekwinkel The Pepper Tree Art Stable & Coffee Shop

Philadelphia

Grotto Bay was next. I remember diving here with Spookie when there wasn’t a single house.

Grotto Bay

Directly across the West Coast road from Grotto Bay is a gravel road leading to Groote Post, winery and restaurant. This historic establishment dates back to 1808. The area around the present day Mamre was

used for grazing sheep and cattle, as well as being the garden for the supply of vegetables to the Dutch East Indian Company’s fleets of ships calling into the Cape of Good Hope on their way to the East and back. The local Hottentot used to raid the cattle quite frequently until it was decided to build a

system of guarded posts to stop the cattle theft. The biggest and most important station was Groote Post. The first, shall we call him, Minister of Agriculture, was William Duckitt and he was stationed here. Many years later his second son, Frederick, managed to get back to Groote Post and they stayed

here and had ten children, the sixth of whom was the renowned author Hilda Duckitt, who the restaurant is named after.

Groote Post Wine

Groote Post Restaurant - Hilda's Kitchen

Instead of carrying on with the gravel road to the R307 Mamre road, we went back to the R27 West Coast road so that we could go on to !

Khwa ttu to see what that was all about.!Khwa ttu, Way of the San, is a San Culture and Education Centre on the R27 West Coast road. !Khwa ttu means water hole and the ! combines with the K to form a click sound when you say the word.

San Spirit SharedAt !Khwa ttu we share with our

visitors’ authentic interactions, inspiring San guided tours, good food, compelling art and photography exhibitions, and professional friendly hospitality.We offer our San students a safe learning environment and share with them appropriately designed training in sustainable tourism, culture, heritage, nature and general life skills, in order to support them in becoming San ambassadors and following their chosen

career path.

A very interesting place and well worth a visit.From !Khwa ttu it was just

a short stint on the R27 to Yzerfontein, a lovely little fishing/holiday town on the west coast with beautiful beaches, a caravan park, a small-craft harbour and some over-kill holiday mansions/monstrosities with views that go on forever.

Yzerfontein with Meeurots on the left, the harbour down on the right and 16-mile beach in the background

The town is known as the “Pearl of the West Coast” and it is clear from the very beginning that this community means business. Yzerfontein Conservancy cares for their

natural environment and the fauna and flora of the area. Things like educational environmental awareness kiosks, combating intrusive plants and weeds in their green belt areas, beach hygiene with signs and facilities to prevent pollution by dogs and humans, dune rehabilitation programs and

my favourite, facilities for receiving and removing harmful waste products such as batteries, florescent tubes, oil etc. They even have CCTV monitors all over the town.We spent a very pleasant afternoon here enjoying the beach and sea and the lovely weather.

The two red arrows indicating the sign and the dog poop bags. They take their commitments seriously in Yzerfontein

I was being bombarded by the seagulls but it was one of the best pies I have ever eaten and there was no way they were getting it from me.

Hey, check out those two, they look familiar

After a very nice drive back through Darling and Malmesbury, there was just one more stop

just down the road from us at Perdeberg Winery to end off a super mid-week meander.

Until next time, “Keep on tripping!”

Just as a foot-note, in my previous story, “Whistle-stop tour”, I mentioned that

the Wolfgat restaurant in Paternoster came fourth in the country at the Eat Out Awards 2018 and the chef/owner grabbed the “Best Chef of the Year” award. Well, last night, 18th

February 2019, Kobus van der Merwe grabbed another two world awards for his restaurant Wolfgat, namely, “Off the map destinat

ion” and the coveted “Restaurant of the Year” award at the inaugural “The World Restaurant Awards”.Not bad for a little West Coast dorpie of Paternoster. Well done Kobus!

Restaurant of the Year - Wolfgat Paternoster South Africa