We had a hectic morning today. Nick and Millie’s Chinese visa applications got approved yesterday but mine was stuck in the ether. We woke up unsure what to do – do we drop off their passports at the visa office and mine later? Luckily at 8:30 this morning, my approval came through. But then the clock started…

I packed up and ventured out at 9:30 to print our visa paperwork. We had to check out of our Airbnb at 10. We took an Uber to the rental car agency. We were in the rental car by 11. Then we had to get to the visa office by 12 to drop off our passports. After a confusing kerfuffle that I will not bore you with, we were able to drop off our passports at the very last moment.

It was a stressful morning but everything worked out in the end. When we drove away from the visa office, we could finally exhale. We were starving and drove the 45 minutes to Stellenbosch for lunch. We visited Stellenbosch in 2019 for one day and had such a great time that we vowed to come back. And now here we are. It is wine country, like Texas’s hill country but 10x nicer.

A quick aside for our rental car. Every time we get a new car we add it to the Big Trip Rental Car Rankings. We’ve had a lot of doozies: the old VW in the baltics that smelled of smoke, the Rav 4 in Tanzania that was entirely in Japanese and the alignment was off, and the brand new Kia in Germany that beeped at every little thing. We always talk about what we like or hate about these cars. Today’s Toyota is a front runner for the #1 spot. Apple car play, no weird smells, small but fits our bags, good enough pickup to pass people, etc.

After the quick drive we arrived at our first stop, the Tokara Delicatessen. The drive in was beautiful. Today was the first day since we’ve arrived in Cape Town that was sunny and warm(ish) and we really appreciated it.

Tokara had a huge playground and Millie made fast friends with a sibling duo named Nala and Teo. Nick and I enjoyed a glass of wine and a delicious meal. After the stressful morning, everything felt extra sweet.

It was Ice Cream Friday so Millie got her cone. We hung out for a while until Nala had to leave. Nick and I were happy to have the time to talk and for Millie to have the time to play.

From there we moved to our second location, Rainbow’s End. It was so, so pretty. We did some more wine tasting and had a charcuterie board.

We drove the short 10 minutes to our Airbnb, which is a small guest house attached to a larger place. When we arrived we were invited in to have yet more wine with the hosts and their friends who are wine makers. They were having a traditional Friday night South African braai (barbecue) and invited us to eat with them. We were so full but couldn’t say no.

Millie and their 4-year-old, Bertus, took a while to warm up to each other but were jumping off the furniture together in no time. We ate corn, avocado, and freshly grilled ostrich, which was more delicious than I expected.

We talked about what it’s like to have house staff, what their feelings are on Elon Musk, what other wineries and areas we should visit, the downfall of South African cities other than Cape Town, and how much tv we allow our 4-year-olds to watch. It was an unexpectedly warm and fun evening. This is a very special and unbelievable beautiful little area of the world.