Tag Archives: iPhone

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 14 May

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   The South African wine industry should be more assertive, and not try to please everybody, says Johann Krige, owner of Kanonkop and outgoing Chairman of Wines of South Africa (WOSA), who has handed over the reins to Dr Michael Jordaan.  Transformation in the industry of 680 members of WOSA and exporting collectively 550000 litres of wine is vital, Krige said. He said that the two windfalls of the ‘Mandela factor’ and a weak rand may have been bad for the industry, despite benefiting it financially, allowing inferior wines to be produced too.  The Board of WOSA has the five largest ‘black exporters‘ on its Board of 15, a positive development, Krige added.  He praised his Board members for working together for the ‘good of the whole industry‘.   Bulk wine exports are environmentally-friendly, it being more ‘green’ to bottle at the destination.  He urged the industry to be ‘terroirists‘, planting cultivars suitable to the soils on its farms.  He added that the government sees the wine industry as ‘too white, too male and too Afrikaans‘, and has not acknowledged the transformation that has already taken place.

*   Cape Town is praised in the British InStyle, writing with the headline ‘Why Cape Town should be your next holiday destination’ and stating that ‘Cape Town is the place to be’.  Focusing largely on the Mount Nelson Hotel, almost sounding like an advertorial, it does encourage visitors to go up Table Mountain and to experience Robben Island; go on a walking tour of the city centre; visit the ‘Boulders Penguin Colony‘;  see whales, dolphins, and seals, and even Great White sharks; experience the Neighbourgoods Market on Saturday mornings; and go to Greenmarket Square.

*   An Africa tourism tax on flights and accommodation, currently being considered by the African Union, would have a Continue reading →

hi Sweet Service and Pick ‘n Pay V&A Waterfront Sour Service Awards!

hi TFGThe Sweet Service Award goes to hi, a new outlet with an odd name I discovered in the V&A Waterfront, and which belongs to The Foschini Group (designated by a TFG circular logo outside the store).   I was looking for a new iPhone cover, and priced those at Vodacom (who have an irritating new queue numbering system, except that the number issuer was not at his post) as well as at the Apple store, both of these stores being out of stock of iPhone 4s covers.  At hi the cost was only R149 for a reasonable looking cover.  I also found a car charger for the phone at R99, something I did not know existed until I saw a guest using one last week. Continue reading →

Streetsmart smart move for restaurants and beneficiaries!

StreetSmart Banner Whale Cottage PortfolioI have not been a great fan of the forced R5 addition to one’s restaurant bill without permission in Streetsmart restaurants, but after attending the presentation of monies to support the good community work for street children it is funding, and hearing what a difference the money makes to the less fortunate at a function held at The Salesian Institute on Thursday evening, my perception about Streetsmart has changed completely.

Established in 2005 by tour operator Margi Biggs as a means of helping street children, and now chaired by committee junkie Nils Heckscher (he has been or currently serves on the board of FEDHASA Cape, Cape Town StreetSmart Nils Heckscher Whale Cottage PortfolioTourism, the former Cape Town Routes Unlimited, and Tourism Marketing of South Africa), Streetsmart generated just over R900000 in the past year, and a total of R7 million since its establishment.  R5 is added to the restaurant bill per table, irrespective of the number of patrons seated at the table.  This money is transferred to Streetsmart once a month.  Streetsmart is also collected in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and in India.

Heckscher suffers badly from being in the shadow of his very well-known Continue reading →

iFix Sweet Service and V&A Waterfront Sour Service Awards!

iFixThe Sweet Service Award goes to iFix and their technician Theodore Ellis, who assisted with a problem when I could not get the photographs on my iPhone to download onto my laptop.  Theodore assisted me immediately when I arrived, tested the phone and the laptop, and suggested that there may be too many photographs on the phone (MasterChef SA being to blame!).  I spent an hour deleting about 1000 photographs, and was relieved when the download worked fine in time for the Finale of MasterChef SA last Wednesday.  He did Continue reading →