mariner’s wharf | Rambling Litchi

The end of January is usually time to slow down from the excitement of the new year. But not in our family. For the past two years this has been the time of year my parents-in-law have come to visit us from Joburg (here’s a reminder of last year’s visit) – it’s the perfect time for them to do so as it’s slap bang between my husband’s birthday and mine, and this year they also had a 90th birthday to celebrate – I’ll blog about that another time though.

Why not blog about it all in one go, you ask? Well, with over 200 photos taken across our various cameras and phones it was hard to pick just a few, but these are my favourites from their first few days with us…

Saturday, 1 February 2014 – collected parents from the airport, explored Hout Bay, had supper at Simply Asia

We had 'Boy' and 'Girl' cans of pop at Mariner's Wharf in Hout Bay along with a fish-and-chipp-y lunch once we'd collected the parents from the airport — We had ‘Boy’ and ‘Girl’ cans of pop at Mariner’s Wharf in Hout Bay along with a fish-and-chipp-y lunch once we’d collected the parents from the airport

We ate at Simply Asia that night as a delayed birthday meal for the lovely birthday boy. The waiter was kind enough to take a photo

Sunday, 2 February 2014 – we visited the Sunday Market in Milnerton and the Italian Club’s lunch buffet

We celebrated the parents' visit with my parents the next day, by having the buffet offered by the Italian Club once a month — We celebrated the parents’ visit with my parents the next day, by having the buffet offered by the Italian Club once a month

The queue to eat! Such delicious, authentic food

My favourite coffee milkshake from the Italian Club

Not enjoying the dessert quite as much as he did the mains

Tuesday, 4 February 2014 – boys climbed Lion’s Head

Success! They conquered Lion's Head — Success! They conquered Lion’s Head

Wednesday, 5 February – dogs were walked on the beach, lunch at Driftwood Café, home-braaied roast lamb

During his walk, Bertie made his way on to some rocks and couldn't find his way back. See the panic on his face? His dad had to hop across to rescue him — During his walk, Bertie made his way on to some rocks and couldn’t find his way back. See the panic on his face? His dad had to hop across to rescue him

Lunch at the Driftwood Cafe is always filled with the sound of ruffled feathers as various birdies come to see what you're eating — Lunch at the Driftwood Cafe is always filled with the sound of ruffled feathers as various birdies come to see what you’re eating

Lunch at the Driftwood Cafe to celebrate hubby's new job — Lunch at the Driftwood Cafe to celebrate hubby’s new job

Very suspicious of this photo-taking business, the cooks were

The only way to cut up left over lamb bone... — The only way to cut up left over lamb bone…

Much to the doggies' delight — Much to the doggies’ delight

That’s all for now, folks – watch out for my next blog post, which will cover the last bit of the parent’s visit this past weekend, including snaps from three parties (two for the same person) 🙂

What a great decision this move has been. The doggies love their almost-daily walks on the beach, the endless sunshine is gorgeous, and we’ve just found a housie to move into! Everything’s starting to fall into place and we’re starting to find our way around. I’ll blog about the new house as soon as we’ve taken some pics of it (definitely adding ‘new camera’ to my Christmas wish list) – until then, here are a few pics of our first few adventures in this lovely salty city. They’re mainly from the camera before it took an impromptu swim in the sea and ones Clifton’s already tweeted, so you may have seen a few of these before. There’s still so much to experience but we’re trying to pace ourselves as we have all the time in the world (insert witty ‘world did not end’ joke here) …