My best friend, bf, and I went out to the West Coast National Park to see the flowers in bloom. Apparently they’re supposed to be quite something. I say “apparently” because we didnt really see that many flowers hehe.

We packed a picnic basket, packed our cameras (bf used my Sony and 300mm lens), and off we went. We drove all the way there, paid our R33 each to enter the park (thanks, Viia!), drove about 8km only to realise we were low on fuel and probably wouldnt make it around the park and home again. Sigh. So we loaded up Garmin on my cell, shook it like a Magic 8 Ball and asked it where the closest petrol station was. It pointed us in the direction of Yzerfontein, 12km away. Off we went, refilled, and returned anew and with much gusto!

The first critter we came across was a tortoise crossing the road (see image). Of course Viia and I bounded out the car, cameras at the ready, knelt down on either side of the little guy…and grimaced in pain! That gravel was demonic on our knees! Fearing the pain if we moved, we stayed put and made do with the shots we could get (I got the tortoises attention…hehe must have been the gigantic L lens hehe) and eventually he grew bored and wandered off while we painfully got to our feet and returned to the car.

We continued on and saw some Ostrich and ostrich behbehs! They were so cute, but alas, too hidden in the long grass to get a decent photo of. Moving a little further, we thought we saw a flower, but were mistaken, so we continued on, still feeling hopeful.

We came to a beach spot where people were milling about and we got out to take some shots. It was fairly windy there, so we didnt linger, and moved off to find the next stop, which promised to be a picnic spot. When we arrived there, people were setting up their braais in the designated areas (being National Braai Day ‘n all for us) so we scrambled amongst the rocks looking for a sheltered spot, which we found and promptly set up our stuff and had lunch. We milled there for an hour or so, marvelling at the weather that was overcast, yet very warm. If it hadnt been cloudy, we would have melted!

After lunch, making sure to pack up everything and not litter, we stood around taking some more pics and then moved off to continue through the park. We eventually arrived at a summit where we took some shots of (woah!) flowers! and the scenery and each other. We were naughty, though, getting out of the car despite the “Please Remain In Your Vehicle” sign hehe.

Continuing on, the clouds got darker and more threatening, but by some chance of luck, a patch of cloud broke and the sun shone down onto the field of herd animals we were approaching. They were quite close to us, and my 300mm lens worked perfectly, so we stopped and got some shots of the behbeh buck and ostrich. We moved on a little way and found a small area of purple flowers, so of course we bounded out the car yet again and took some shots (we just had to get flower photos before leaving haha). Just as we were about to leave, we stopped off at the last lookout point, and took some shots. This is when it started raining hehe so we got back in the car and made our way home.

The day was super relaxing, and we ended up at Viia’s to have some tea and snuggle her rats. Unfortunately by that time Michael was plagued with a headache, so I ended up driving us home in his car hehe. I always get nervous driving his car…I keep forgetting he has a boot (trunk) since my car is a hatchback…

Maybe next time we’ll see those flowers…


Me with the 24-70mm L beauty


Michael and the Sony


Awesome view from our picnic spot


Flowers, flowers and more flowers


Flowers, flowers and more flowers


Flowers, flowers and more flowers


Flowers, flowers and more flowers


A field of flowers!


The last little bit of sunshine before the clouds took over for good