Last Day at Birkenhead House in Hermanus

Today was one of the only days of this trip that we have absolutely nothing planned. I tried to talk Jess into doing a couple of wine estates, which he vetoed. We had a leisurely breakfast and then did the cliff hike into the town of Hermanus (about an hour and a bit). The homes along the way were stunning, complete with electrical razor wire fencing! The security business is huge in this country. We toured the art galleries and Jess fell in love with a painting which, after measuring our luggage, fits and he has gone with the hotel driver back to town to buy it.

Every stop on this trip has been so different and every stop has totally exceeded our expectations. This stop has been all about whale watching and sharks. Yesterday's shark dive was something I never thought I would (or could) do and absolutely amazing.

Our room here at Birkenhead House is lovely, the best in the hotel, right at the front of the property overlooking this view from our front balcony. I completely rearranged our itinerary so that we could get this room and I'm so glad I did.

It is whale season here and viewing is better from the shore than from any boats. Boats are not allowed to get closer than 300 metres from the whale and they are much closer to the shore than that. We have seen tonnes of whales, often breaching where they jump right out of the water. They often breach 3 times in succession so it is quite something to see. Here are a couple of pictures taken from our balcony. Unfortunately, all our pictures show the final stages of whatever was going on. We never quite get the money shot.

Birkenhead House has been amazing. This place is an all inclusive where, well, everything is included in the room rate... food, booze, laundry, transfer, you name it. When we arrived, Ricardo (some super hot, sexy, latin flavoured man) toured us through the property and took us by the hotel bar and told us to order anything we want and to also feel free to step behind the bar and make something for ourself if we feel we can do it better. He also took us by this table and told us to help ourself whenever we like. Surprisingly, we have yet to partake in either of those activities. Shocking!

The room is the smallest of the trip so far but the decorating is lovely and the hotel service superb. The food has been amazing with special vegetarian menus for us at dinner each night.

Here are some of the common areas of the hotel.

This is the living area below our room (this is not our room, that would be TOO much). Jess is chilling here after breakfast waiting for housekeeping to refresh our room. Man, how long does it take to pick up 10000 rose petals ladies?! Honestly!

Tomorrow morning we fly from Cape Town to Kruger National Park to Londolozi Granite Suites. This is supposed to be the highlight of the whole trip (with the exception of the wedding). I hope they have an internet connection considering it is very remote. Forgive us if we don't blog.

Until then we will pretty much spend the rest of the day doing what we've been doing until now. We're both in heaven.