Capetonians have been ever so grateful for the winter rains we enjoyed this year. We all breathed a collective sigh of relief, because not only does it mean the water restrictions have been relaxed (although we’re still saving as much as we can), it also means that the spring wildflowers up the west coast were out in full force.

We love packing a flask of coffee and taking a Sunday drive – remember that’s what we did as a family when we were young. So we left nice and early (the West Coast National Park gets really crowded during flower season) and went to visit the Postberg section which is only open for a short period of time each year.

This year the colour was predominantly yellow – bright and buttery. Simply gorgeous against the sea and lagoon in the distance. We admired the many tortoises that were all very busy missioning across roads and fields as well as the weaver birds who were industriously building their nests. They made us feel positively lazy. LOL.

On our way home we made a little detour to see the Tienie Versveld Reserve near Darling, which was very electrically pink and orange. More wonderful in real life than you can ever capture on camera. But beware the ‘miggies’ – oh my word they were everywhere – buzzing in our ears, flying up our noses, generally being a pest. So we didn’t linger any longer than necessary. We soaked up the colours and then got on our way, a little more relaxed than when we arrived.