Sitting in the hotel lobby waiting for our coach to the airport we can reflect on two wonderful weeks in South Africa thanks to Arena Travel their excellent tour director Karin Hellaby.

Our adventure began in Cape Town where we met our guide Sarah and her driver (who we later found was her husband) Izak. Some of us did suspect an affair!

A chilly trip up Table Mountain, where the views were stunning, followed by exploration of the surrounding area and the Cape lead us to a visit to the wine lands and then to Pniel, near Stellenbosch where we were greated by local quilters who gave us delicious cakes and showed us their quilts.

After a night in Outshoorn we visited an ostrich farm and an aloe factory before two days in Knysna, where the recent fires had devastated huge areas.

Finally Port Elizabeth gave us more of the lovely warm sunny weather we have enjoyed for most of this winter trip and time to look at quilts at the National festival.

The group of 18 ladies and one brave husband has become a group of good friends with Karin providing constant support and help. She also had time to instruct us in two quilting projects which many of us have worked on in our few spare moments. This has certainly added an extra dimension to a top quality holiday staying in 5 star hotels.

Thank you Arena Travel and Karin for looking after us so well.       

Here we are waiting for our airport transfer.

Rachel H