Picnic in the Park!

Yesterday we went on a picnic! It's one that has been in the planning stages for at least a month, but the weather kept upsetting our timing, which was just as well as it turned out. Keep reading to discover why!

Our wild flowers are out! Beautiful but shy if the sun is not just right, but on a sunny, calm day the few hours between 11 and 3 are the best viewing time. And the best picnicking time! So, it seemed the perfect way to kill several birds with one stone, namely, see our friends, see the flowers and have a lekker relaxing time with a picnic and all those forbidden things like crisps and brownies and koeksusters!

Pam and Rob ready for action!

We had previously decided to go to the West Coast National Park and trundle through Postberg, the area that is only open during our short flower season. Rob checked the weather, clear and cool (16 deg C with an icy wind as it turned out!) and Pam and I synchronised food! And on top of all that, this week was free entry to SA citizens! Bonus!

Look at the rock 'hand' saying 'Stop, look, enjoy and do not litter!'

So, after finally convincing Alfie that we really were leaving him behind and twice removing him (and his ball) from the car, and persuading Basil that the car was not a good place to hide under, or climb into, we managed to slip out un-noticed with chairs, table, jackets, cooler box, food and drink. And off we set to rendezvous at 11 hours precisely!

The colours are amazing, and never clash!

The park, understandably, was busy. And most of the cars had wrinklies and blue rinses on board, like the 'Return of the Pensioners' or 'Revenge of the Wrinklies'. (And sad but true, we are among that multitude! Without the rinse!) But, we had a wonderful time, the flowers were at their best with swathes of purple, white, yellow and orange at every turn. I took a lot of photos but sadly it doesn't do them justice, you have to see the depth and variety of colour with the naked eye.

Schaapen Island from the lookout point.

The Langebaan Lagoon was a stunning turquoise and there were literally hundreds of  flamingos all heads down and feeding while gulls bobbed around. After a slow mosey through the Postberg section, we set off to find a perfect spot, sheltered from the wind if possible, as everybody in the open was huddled with hoods pulled up and braai fires burning away before the meat was cooked!

We had company, of course! 

We found a perfect spot in-between the rocks overlooking the Atlantic and unpacked our goodies. We were joined by several gulls and a little stripy field mouse who dodged between our feet and grabbed the bits and pieces that we dropped for it.

A very happy mouse!

We were very good though, we didn't feed it meat or sweet things, oh no, we gave it healthy corn to eat in the shape of nik-naks!

Houseboats on the Langebaan Lagoon

I just love picnics!