Tag Archives: Nedbank

New MyCiTi Bus Camps Bay route: whale of a good value, not running smoothly yet!

My CiTi Bus Camps Bay Whale Cottage PortfolioThe MyCiTi Bus finally started operating on Saturday, about eighteen months behind schedule!  Given that we want to inform our Whale Cottage Camps Bay guests about the service, my colleague and I went for a test drive of the Camps Bay – Civic Centre – V&A Waterfront Silo route yesterday.

The first step was to obtain our MyCiTi Bus cards, which one needs to load credit on to, for swiping when stepping on the bus.  It was announced that one could obtain a free card (a saving of R25) from the Camps Bay Library, where an official from the City of Cape Town sold us R30-loaded cards, the only cards one can purchase at the library this week.  These can only be bought for cash, and only one per person can be obtained, ID details being taken.  The City representative was uncertain about the other places at which one can load more credit onto the card, saying that Kauai was to be a point to do so, but that its system was off-line yesterday.  He thought Pick ‘n Pay Camps Bay would be another point, but he wasn’t sure.  There does not appear to be any place to purchase cards once the City’s generous offer of free cards ends on Saturday. One would then have to go the Queen’s Beach station, or to the Civic Centre to buy cards there. Each card comes with a pin, which one can change at a station, and is required to load more credit.   There was only one newspaper advertorial on the table, and no leaflets, saying he was waiting for more. When I asked for more information for the guest house, he gave me a pile of the newspaper copies from under the table!

We took the bus from the Whale Rock bus stop opposite Pick ‘n Pay MyCiTi Bus Whale Rock stop Whale Cottage PortfolioCamps Bay just after 14h00, and we were delighted to see the name choice.  The bus travelled alongside Victoria Road, up Argyle Road , into Geneva Drive, onto Camps Bay Drive, down Kloofnek Road (this seems to be a very dangerous stop, as we observed a tourist family getting on the bus, which had been to Table Mountain and must have crossed the very busy road without a pedestrian crossing to get the bus stop), connecting into Kloof Street (very long Continue reading →

Cape Winemakers Guild Auction 2013 breaks all the records!

Cape Winemakers Guild Carl SChultz Whale Cottage PortfolioThe 29th Auction of the Nedbank Cape Winemakers Guild, the who’s who of the wine industry, held at Spier yesterday, was a huge success, with a number of Auction records broken.  Generally buyers said the prices paid were very high.  Total sales were R 8,4 million, up 47% compared to 2012.

A number of new records were set this year:

*  record of 163 buyers

*   R6200 was the record price paid for a case of six Hartenberg Auction Reserve Shiraz 2010, made by winemaker Carl Schultz.

*   Cape Winemakers Guild Jeff Grier Whale Cottage PortfolioThe average price paid per bottle increased by 14,5%.  I spoke to the beaming Cape Winemakers’ Guild Chairman Jeff Grier of Villiera at midday, when the 2012 total had already been surpassed and was at R6 million at that stage.   He said: ‘The Guild has become a reputable brand in the South African wine industry and our contribution to the industry Continue reading →

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 27 September

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*  It’s World Tourism Day, with a theme focused on water!

*   Klein Constantia has received excellent in-depth coverage on Nederburg Auction 2013 American key-note speaker Joe Roberts’ 1 Wine Dude Blog.

*   The American State Department has issued a world wide travel warning about potential terror attacks.

*   The first ProWein China will be held in Shanghai on 13 November, and all its 500 stands have been sold.

*   Cape Town Mayor Patricia de Lille is placing pressure on SAA to reinstate a direct route between Cape Town and the USA. and she is routing for Miami, just having returned from a trade visit to that city.  Such a direct route would be beneficial for tourism.

*   Noise is the most common complaint of hotel guests in 19 tourist destinations, but Cape Town hotels are an exception in not receiving complaints about noise.  Modernity, location, and service speed are the most common compliments.  Cape Town hotels also ranked top on GRI (Global Review Index), the average online reputation of hotels, followed by Melbourne, St Petersburg, Sydney, and Dublin.

*   Hamilton Russell Pinot Noir and Chardonnay will be paired with a 5 course dinner at Nobu at the One&Only Cape Town on 2 October, at a cost of R595. (received via newsletter from One&Only Cape Town)

*   Author E.L. James has launched a Fifty Shades of Grey wine Continue reading →

New Cape Town Tourism CEO Enver Duminy accommodates his members, listening and learning!

enver-duminy-cape-town-tourismOn his 46th day in the hot seat as CEO of Cape Town Tourism, Enver Duminy was generous with his time yesterday, and we covered a lot of ground, each interviewing the other! I was impressed with his ability to listen, really wanting to know my views on tourism and Cape Town Tourism, even though many of them have been documented on this blog.

Enver and his predecessor Mariette du Toit-Helmbold could not be more different. Enver is very much quieter, more reserved, gentle,  interested in others and their views, is not opinionated in presuming to know all the answers, is friendly, is diplomatic, is not focused on himself but on his job to attract more tourists to Cape Town, and surprised me when he gave me a hug on leaving instead of shaking my hand!  He didn’t want the interview to be about him alone, and he took the opportunity to ask about me as well, and I realised that he knew little about me (he did know that I enjoyed MasterChef SA, and has read this blog, being intrigued about how I see things so differently!).

Enver grew up in Mitchell’s Plain, studied Computer Sciences and Mathematical Statistics, and his first job took him to IBM in Johannesburg.  He returned to Cape Town, working at ESKOM, running a computer training company with friends, working at Nedbank in their ATM, software and home loans departments, and at Integer, a home loans company.  All along his career he has done management courses, believing in ‘educating yourself’, but with a focus on ‘how to apply the knowledge‘, as ‘anything is possible‘, he says.  He is currently doing a Continue reading →