Kim and Allison Stephens

Matt and Kelly Lewis

John and Tricia Reilly

Eric Pitts and Joni Thrift

Naples -  Florida - USA

17 April 2005

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I met all at the Table Bay Hotel. Everybody on this incentive tour were in South Africa as members of the Winners Circle of the Gartner group. As my vehicle could only seat 6 people on the first day of our travels Brian Aldridge assisted me in tourguiding Tricia and John.

We first ascended Table Mountain where everybody had a chance to do the Titanic up on the mountain.

Kim and Allison Stephens

Tricia and John Reilly

Metsi and Zindebu (two ladies from Botswana who we met on the mountain) do the Titanic

Joni and Eric do the Titanic thing!

Kelly and Matt atop of Table Mountain

A group panoramic picture on Table Mountain

Doing the Table Mountain shuffle. JJJ

Matt, Kelly and Kim in the Table Mountain cable car

We visited Muizenberg and moved onto Kalk Bay for lunch in the Kalk Bay harbour

Lunch at Kalkies was a great experience

Joni just could not wait! JJJ

Having fun with the fish traders in the Kalk Bay harbour

Meeting Just Nuisance in Simonstown

The Gartner group says "Hello Mr. & Mrs.Penguin"  JJJ

Joni and Eric enjoying themselves at the Penguin colony

Bargaining at the penguin colony flea market

Kelly and Matt in the cable car going up Cape Point

The whole group with the Cape of Good Hope in the background

Having Don Pedros at the restaurant at Cape Point

Allison greets a Chacma baboon on Cape Point

Eric meets a buddy at Cape Point. JJJ

The above foursome decided that they wanted top stay in Cape Town permanently while on Chapmans Peak

Sunset pictures on Chapmans Peak

We returned to Cape Town and all except Joni and Eric (who were very tired) went for a fabulous meal to Baia Restaurant in the Waterfront.

Day 2

Cape Winelands

Kim, Allison, Matt and Kelly

We started our day with a visit to Backsberg wine farm where I took the above picture of Kelly and Matt

Allison and Kim at Backsberg

The foursome in front of the "Backsberg tree tunnel"

In the vineyards of Backsberg

Winetasting at Backsberg

Amongst the barrels in the word maturation cellar on the farm

In the Backsberg gardens

We stopped in at Muratie winefarm to admire the cobwebs J and enjoy the port on the farm. 

We had a late lunch at the Mugg and Bean in Stellenbosch

We travelled on to Ernie Els's winefarm where Kelly had a go at measuring her hand up against Ernie Els's handprint

Matt and his buddy behind him. JJJ

Matt in deep thought

We moved on to Kayamandi where we met Nosandile as well as the Sarafina girls

Click here to watch a video taken of the foursome in Kayamandi
Please exercise patience when downloading this video as it is a large file.

Mzwake making a point while explaining the Water Church to the foursome

Enjoying Ban Bagotsho

We travelled back to Cape Town where we met up with Joni, Eric, Tricia and John so as to go to the Africa Cafe for a wonderful meal

Day 2

Cape Winelands

John, Tricia, Eric and Joni

We started our day at the Afrikaans language monument

We moved on to Backsberg where we enjoyed a winetasting as Joni illustrates

In the corridors of the cellar at Backsberg

Great picture of the foursome in the wine cellar at Backsberg

In the Backsberg gardens

We had a great lunch at Cotage Fromage

Eric was in his element on Ernie Els's winefarm as the above picture shows

Eric measuring up to Ernie on handsize JJJ

In the cellar at Ernie Els

Lazing the afternoon away at Ernie Els

Click here to watch a video taken of the foursome at Ernie Els's farm
Please exercise patience when downloading this video as it is a large file.

Enjoying the wine on the farm

Eric in Ernie Els's trophy room

Signing the guestbook on the winefarm

We moved on to Kayamandi where we took this great group photo.

Enjoying the music of Bana Bagotso

Mzwake explains one of the songs to the foursome

Joining in the fun which was being enjoyed by people of all shapes and sizes. JJJ.

Click here to watch a video taken of the foursome with Bana Bagotso
Please exercise patience when downloading this video as it is a large file.

Why did this wonderful tour ever have to end? The whole group were absolutely wonderful people to travel with. We shared so much with each other and I cant recall one moment where we were not enjoying ourselves in our 2 days together. This was a fabulous journey tour with all credit having to go to this fabulous group of 8 for making this all possible as they were such easy travelers to tour with.

THANK YOU VERY VERY MUCH
Kim and Allison
Matt and Kelly
Eric and Joni
Tricia and John

Received 25 April 2005

Selwyn,

Can't even begin to say enough thanks for all the time, energy, and information you put into our trip. Joni and I both had a wonderful time and can't wait to get back. She's already talking about a 5 year anniversary trip! The plane ride back was long - almost 34 hours from start to finish, but we finally made it. We talked about your "tour" almost the entire way home and both agreed that we never once felt like sheep being herded along the tourist route. We always felt like we were in the company of a friend showing us around your town and spending time with your friends. And that is completely due to the effort you put into finding out what we liked or found interesting and the relationships you have built (and continue to build). Joni and I are both very proud to be able to call you a friend of ours and look forward to keeping in touch over the years and hopefully sharing many more of our travel adventures with you. We always knew we were lucky and blessed to be able to take trips like this one and appreciate it even more after our adventures with you in South Africa.

Thanks for everything (including the CD of our pictures - they came out great), and please pass along our thanks to the people of Kayamandi - it was truly one of the most special events either of us have ever been a part of. We went on the website and can't believe how good some of the pictures turned out. My Dad is already sending it on to tons of friends.

FYI - I'm putting together a web slide show of my own for our pictures and hope to have it up and running within the week. I'll make sure to put you on the list when it is complete.

Best wishes and good luck in all your efforts. Talk to you soon Mr. Wizard!

Eric and Joni

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Received 25 April 2005

Selwyn,

Thanks again for your amazing hospitality. I am truly blessed for the opportunity to meet you and very proud to call you a friend. You gave me a new direction in my life to be more like you in giving back more to our communities. Just a great couple of days that I will never forget!!!! 

We are putting together a slide show of all our combined pictures and would like to include all that you took. If you still have saved I would appreciate a zip file with the entire two days.

Wishing you the best, 

Kim 
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Received 25 April 2005

Selwyn,

Thank you for helping making our trip to Cape Town a truly unforgettable one. We enjoyed every minute of our tours with you, and appreciated your knowledge, insight and passion for such a beautiful place. We also love the pictures on your website!

Thanks again for a wonderful experience!

Allison
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Received 25 April 2005

Selwyn (The Wizard),

What can I say other that we had an incredible trip to South Africa and can't Thank You" enough for the time that you spent with us. I know in speaking to some of my colleagues, our tours with you far exceeded what other groups were experiencing. Your knowledge and insight gave us an appreciation that would normally not have been available to us. 

I know Kelly and I are already talking about a return trip in the near future to your beautiful country. Unfortunately our Shark trip was cancelled on Tuesday due to the weather so we need to come back and complete that part of the trip.

If you ever get the chance to visit Florida's west coast please let us know, we would love to get together and show you around. 

All the best,
Matt & Kelly Lewis

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Received 2 May 2005

Hi Selwyn,

John and I are finally back in the office after some extended travel outside Johannesburg and some subsequent medical issues upon our return to the US. So we just recently got to view your below email and your website.

Let me first say a heartfelt thank you for all your work on our behalf. Our two days with you were definitely the highlight of all our travels. We felt like a long-time friend was showing us around. Because of your infectious love for your home town, we now have a great appreciation for the Cape and really hope to return sometime soon. And of course we now look for South African wine wherever we go :)

We also are immensely enjoying the website, and have shared it with several friends and relatives.

Again, thank you for all your time and effort. If you ever have reason to come to Florida, please look us up!!

Regards,
Trish

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Seeing that I have been travelling with wonderful people from Naples, Florida let me mention that I have a good friend in Martin Rubin who also hails from Florida who specializes in real estate.