It was Breeders Day at the races. Breeders day is where all the Cape Stud owners go to the races and everything is sponsored and paid for by the Cape Breeders Association. This includes tables and a buffet meal! There are also raffles and freebies and stuff being organised all day. On our table was Terry, Annabel, Pippa, Mel, Ian, Justin, Claudia, Lindy and Paul. The names you don't recognised are close family friends who we have met on various occasions. ...

Terry and Annabel decided to take us to see the Phantom of the Opera being performed in Cape Town. Their friends Ian (the vet) and Mel had been the previous week and said it was amazing. The performance was being set up by the West End crew and is using the same set, only the cast is made up of South African performers. Sarah has always wanted to see this particular show so was very excited about it. When we arrived we grabbed a pre-performance drink in a b...

The Queen's Place is one of South Africa's biggest race meetings. The theme for the day this year was blue and white as is was sponsored by Drakenstein Stud and their racing colours are also blue and white. The history of the race dates back to Queen Victoria and there were a few celebrities around but the best known to us was Prince Harry's ex-girlfriend Chelsy Davy. The race day was very good with many people at the racecourse and lots of stands, tents and...

Ant's is with us for a few days longer and arranged to "ride work" for a trainer called Mike Stewart. Mike had also asked Terry to drop of a 2 year old and as he was an ex colleague from many years ago wanted him to go for breakfast so we were invited along to. Riding work in South Africa is different to the UK. For a start the work is completely unpaid. The stable hands can exercise the race horses and most yards have local volunteers who do it just for th...

Justin, Anthony and their friends decided to spend New Year's weekend at South Africa's 7th largest dam, and we were invited. A dam in South Africa is probably a bit like what we would call reservoir and this one is known locally as Theewaterskloof (tier-varters-klurf). We drove there in the Bacci (backie) aka pick up truck with Justin and Claudia. The back was full of stuff including a mattress that was to be his and Claudia's bed for the next couple of nig...