Daisy's Adventures
Click on the relevant heading below to read about them:
Township Touring
- March, 2010
For all the adrenaline, beauty and culture on offer in Cape Town, for true inspiration you can't do better than to head to the townships. Most people assume that these are places of crime and squalor which should be avoided at all costs. But go with the right guide and you'll find that behind the rows and rows of shacks that line the road from the airport there are real life stories full of proud, positive and caring entrepreneurship. read more...
Penguins
Kayaking With Penguins
- December, 2009
So anthropomorphism isn't very PC but I defy anyone to resist indulging in a voice-over when looking at African penguins. Visit the colony at Boulders Beach for instance and all you'll hear is falsetto penguin impersonations in German, French, Japanese, Spanish, Danish and Italian. Penguins are funny in every language.
read more...
South African Astronomical Observatory
Starry Eyed
- September, 2009
Contemplating the vastness of the universe has always been a great chat up technique. Since the dawn of speech, men have been making things up about the stars in the hope of getting lucky. So in theory, what with 2009 being the International Year of Astronomy, 2010 should be a baby boomer year.
read more...
Rob Caskie
Rorke's Drift
- June, 2009
Hooray for the ancient art of story telling. When did you last come across someone who could use a phrase such as “that long, dark, desperate night...” and keep a wide-eyed audience enthralled for over an hour? read more...
Unwrapping Opera
Behind the scenes at the Opera
- July, 2009
Thanks to a lift with a mind of its own I’d managed to get a bit lost in the tangled maze of corridors behind the Opera House. It was fun to imagine them on an ordinary working day, filled with a buzz of scales and arpeggios, toe tapping and Kids from Fame-like shenanigans, love trysts and leg warmers. I stopped short of doing a little samba, á la Patrick Swayze, down the length of the deserted hallway... but it was tempting. read more...
Quad Biking
Making Tracks
- August, 2009
Rounding a precarious bend I hit an unexpected dip in the rough road and was thrown forward in the saddle. Feeling sheepishly amateur, I looked up to see the shape of the inscrutable trail boss silhouetted against the late afternoon sky, one foot up on a rock, motes of dust swirling around him as the sunlight streamed across the mountaintop. read more...
Driving in Cape Town
Fly a Fighter Jet
- December, 2004
I drive like I ski. That is, not very well. I like to think of it merely as lack of practice and thereby neatly sidestep the issue of ability, but now a full 12 years after obtaining my driver’s licence (at the third attempt) I actually own a car. Not only that, but I am living in a city where public transport is minimal and as a result I find myself driving at least a little bit almost every day. Much to my surprise I am enjoying being a part of the Capetonians’ cheerfully haphazard driving jamboree. read more...
Whales
Whale Meet Again
- August, 2005
The whales have arrived! Yes, whale season is here again. And I don’t mean that we Capetonians grab our wellies and harpoons and wage once more the age-old ritual of man against beast, gorging ourselves on fistfuls of blubber come nightfall. We have far too many excellent restaurants for that (a fact reflected in the personal skirmishes of Man v. Blubber, perhaps?) No, we like to take a bottle of wine down to the coast and sip delicately while watching the leviathans frolicking often just metres off shore. read more...
The Old Townhouse
The Art of Discovery
- February, 2005
I like to think everyone has those days when a gentle stroll amongst the shops turns into a cross-eyed, hobble-legged search for a loo. Just the other day I found myself once again misjudging my essential tea/bladder ratio in the middle of Greenmarket Square. read more...
Riding on Noordhoek Beach
Riding High
- April, 2005
When my school needed to raise money for, say, a new set of gym mats we would normally have a School Fete or perhaps a Bring and Buy Sale. Or we might collect milk bottle tops and tin cans and the teacher would put a big cardboard thermometer on the wall so we could see just how far we still had to go. read more...
Winter in Cape Town
Thank you for the Music
- May, 2006
OK – I confess, we do get winter in Cape Town. In the last couple of weeks it must have rained at least twice and the temperature at night has plunged to as low as three degrees. But even the weather succumbs to Cape Town’s laid back attitude. As I write this, I am sitting in the sun under our lemon tree, thermal vest long since discarded. read more...
Parents in Tow
Travelling With Parents - The Toughest Test?
- November, 2006
“And in about 500 yards the road should take a slight bend to the left,” my father informed us, one cigar-stained finger tracing our route along the map as we topped yet another breathtaking mountain pass. read more...
Riding Harleys
March Madness
- March, 2007
However intimidating motorbikes, leathers or facial hair might be, no-one could possibly deny that Harley-Davidsons are damn cool. And I have ridden one! read more...
Riding in a Jet Boat
Jet Lagged
- September, 2007
It’s funny what we’ll do for an adrenaline rush. Recently I was telling some clients about my abseil down Table Mountain. Their eyes lit up when I whispered, “I nearly died I was so scared” and they couldn’t book themselves in fast enough. read more...
Newlands Cricket Ground
Jiminy Cricket
- October, 2007
I’ve found a whole new chunk of Cape Town to love. Newlands is the most wonderful cricket ground I’ve ever been to. OK, so it’s the only cricket ground I’ve been to, but I’m a very recent convert to the game, and finding myself sitting in the sun by a large green field with Table Mountain as a backdrop, I knew this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship. read more...
International Kite Festival
Kiss me Kite
- November, 2007
For a minute I thought I was hallucinating. But then I saw it again - a vast purple octopus floating in the heavens. It lured me closer and drew my attention to its companions, a colossal frog, a lumbering caterpillar and, as you would expect, a gigantic penguin. read more...
Excellent Township Restaurant
A Taste of Culture
- December, 2007
It had been a big gig at the castle the night before, and leaping around to the pumping sounds of Prime Circle while downing vodka shots had seemed a good idea at the time. Less so now as I found myself rinsing large chunks of raw meat under an industrial tap in a converted container. read more...
Christmas in Cape Town
Taking the Waters
- January, 2008
As each one hit I felt myself black out for a millisecond. It was as though the dust in my head was being forcibly ripped out from between my eyes. It was hard to gauge my own sanity. read more...
J&B Met
Horses for Courses
- February, 2008
Groomed to a lustrous finish the magnificent creatures pranced on the grass, their silky skin gleaming over well-toned bodies. Glossy manes flicked through the air as they aimed the occasional playful nip at one another... and that was just the race-goers. read more...
The Design Indaba
Designs of Life
- March, 2008
With a houseful of dusty bits of junk and mismatched furniture and a wardrobe that includes my old school skirt (yup - still going strong after nearly two decades) I am not necessarily the best person to judge what is groovy and cool and This Season’s Must-Buy. But believe me – if you weren’t at the Design Indaba last week, you should have been. read more...
Greenpoint Stadium
2010 Vision
- April, 2008
It took helicopters and stuntmen to deflect me from my purpose, but I merely arched a cynical eyebrow and strengthened my resolve. But darn it, the second attempt was also foiled... by none other than Dr Viacheslav Koloskov and his international henchmen. Bah. read more...
Taste of Cape Town
- May, 2008
An event held on a school sports field generally holds promise of little more than a ponderous brass band and a tombola manned by an Enthusiastic Father. But Camps Bay High School is no ordinary venue. And the event was, well... the restaurant equivalent to winning a golden ticket to Willy Wonka’s factory. read more...
Polo Farm
Polo Technic
- June, 2008
The photo on his website shows him sprawling in an oversized chair, glowering at the camera, mastiff lolling at his feet. As if the tight white jodhpurs and gleaming leather boots don’t indicate clearly enough his apparent freshness from the polo field, there is a pony grazing behind him and a saddle slung over the white post-and-rail fence. His hair is slicked back and, you guessed it, his blue shirt is unbuttoned to the navel. He even has the faintly ridiculous name - Dijonne du Preez. Oh come on. read more...
Food & Wine Pairing
- July, 2008
We were still at the polo farm* and the unaccustomed exercise along with the heat and the wine were beginning to make me hallucinate. At one point I could have sworn I saw Baroness Thatcher slip into the house behind us. And yet... that unmistakeable hair, the power suit, the pair of sensible yet elegant heels disappearing through the door... I moved a little closer and could hear a distinctly low-pitched, enunciated voice giving orders. Surely it couldn’t be? read more...
Simon's Town Boat Company
Close Encounters
- August, 2008
We all have days of being Data Deficient, but to be globally listed as such could be rather an insult. Yet such is the fate of the Bryde whale. On further investigation, the implication is not so much that it is naturally blonde but simply that there is insufficient information about the species. This very shy mammal is estimated to number just 90 000 - that’s approximately the population of Hemel Hempstead - sprinkled throughout the vast tropical and temperate waters of the world. There have been more sightings of the Loch Ness Monster. Probably. read more...
Kgalema Motlanthe
- October, 2008
I know that liking a politician for their appearance is as shallow as choosing a racehorse for its name or a wine for its label, but, well... I am that shallow. I am more likely to be found reading the derring-do exploits of The Four Marys from the Bunty Annual 1965 than perusing the political pages of the papers, but for what it’s worth, I liked the fact that Thabo Mbeki was always immaculately tailored just as I liked his upright posture, his quiet demeanour and his reputation for academia. read more...
Cape Cobra Cars
Bitten by a Cobra
- November, 2008
I hadn’t gone topless before. How alive it makes you feel to have the breeze caress your skin! How the senses are re-energised by the thrill of the tingling nerves! read more...
Paragliding
Getting High
- December, 2008
Travelling with a baby
Have Child Will Travel
- June, 2006
Apart from the occasional gumming of an air stewardess’s ear Joseph behaved himself pretty well on his first flight. Clearly a budding engineer, he mastered the seat belt buckle in seconds and once he had been transferred to the bassinet, he made repeated attempts to get at the screws which held it to the bulkhead. When awake he gahhed and burbled, noises which were lost in the white noise of the engines. When asleep he lay stretched out and tucked in, and I gazed at him partly in awe but mostly with the exponentially increasing envy known only to the economy traveller. read more...
Champagne Cruise
Three sheets to the Wind
- September, 2006
Thursday afternoons can be so dull, can’t they? The mornings too really, despite the thrill of racing to get the bins out in time. After that, the rest of the day has a rather limp ’not-quite-Friday’ feel to it. Last Thursday was a little different - there was various work to tackle, but the sun was out and Table Mountain was gleaming smugly outside my window so I pushed back my chair, picked up my bag, and headed off for a champagne cruise. Aah, life is tough in Cape Town. read more...
Jazz on the Rocks
On the Rocks
- January, 2007
Cape Town is cooking and my otherwise pale and blotchy legs are now complemented by orange streaks of fake tan. In this regard, I remain resolutely British. True Capetonians blossom in the summer. Endless lithe and perfectly bronzed bodies roam about, relaxed and laughing. Even their hair remains shiny and tangle-free whereas mine sticks out in small frizzy clumps where I’ve repeatedly got it caught in my sunglasses. read more...
Driving in a Ferrari
Daisy Ions P.I.
- April, 2007
I’m the type of person for whom the distinguishing feature of a car is its colour. I empathise with the girl at a dinner party who, when asked what kind of cars she liked replied, offhandedly, “Oh any old thing so long as it gets me from A to B” only to later discover that she had been speaking to Ayrton Senna. read more...
Shark cage diving
Great White Hunter
- December, 2006
Just because Brad Pitt and Nicolas Cage have done it is not a good reason. But it helps. I’d had an invitation to go shark-diving, and it occurred to me that if the sharks didn’t show up, it might be nice if there was a celebrity on board to gape at instead. read more...
Diamond Tour
Diamond Days
- June, 2007
No doubt you remember the episode of Hart to Hart when Mrs H gets kidnapped by the baddie. Held in a room with a glass wall, she uses her large diamond ring to cut her way through the glass to freedom. It is surely the perfect example (note to husband) of just how useful diamonds can be in day to day living. read more...
African Markets
On the Market
- May, 2007
I once had a client, a charming Essex girl, who asked me where she could buy clothes in Zanzibar. I explained that within the nearby villages she may be able to buy the local material, but there were no clothes shops or tailors to be found. She looked at me blankly and said, “No, sweetheart. Cloves. Like the spices, innit?” read more...
Abseiling down the Mountain
Intimations of Mortality
- June, 2006
Acutely aware of my own mortality I teetered on the edge of a sheer cliff-face, face green and legs trembling. It astonished me that I should have volunteered myself into such a situation. It seemed so easy while in the depths of pregnancy to promise that one day I would abseil down Table Mountain. But now that day had come. read more...
Riding in a Sidecar
A Bit on the Side
- October, 2006
Lonely and neglected, Candy was sitting in a dark corner of a Chinese army depot when Tim Clarke first set eyes on her. Instantly smitten, he resolved to make her acquaintance. He was sure that, given time, he could coax some life into her and restore the pride and vitality she’d clearly once enjoyed. read more...
Huey: Combat Mission
Chopperholic
- July, 2007
"I love the smell of Cape Town in the morning." I haven't even seen Apocalypse Now, but I know the line well enough to misquote it. I spoke gruffly, with a dodgy American accent. I couldn’t help myself – I was in a Huey, the iconic combat air vehicle and star of so many films, and I was revved up for a Combat Mission flight. The rotors were settling into steady whump whump overhead, and the sound system was playing The Doors’ This is the End. read more...