💸 R140 flat whites are coming... probably

TOGETHER WITH

Yes, you read that correctly. Stellenbosch is having a corporate duck race.

On Saturday, 19 September, local businesses will swap spreadsheets and meetings for the riverbank at Spier, where customised rubber ducks will be sent racing down the river in the inaugural Stellenbosch Corporate Duck Race. 🦆💨

Organised by the Rotary Club of Stellenbosch together with Spier, businesses can “adopt” a duck for R2,500, decorate it in their company branding and then watch their highly trained plastic athlete attempt to bring home corporate glory.

There is, however, a serious and worthwhile purpose behind all the silliness. ❤️

Money raised will support the Stellenbosch GBV Centre, a 24-hour facility providing free assistance to survivors of gender-based violence, including medical care, trauma counselling, legal support and emergency accommodation.

We rather like this idea. It gets local businesses together, raises money for an important Stellenbosch organisation and involves grown adults becoming unnecessarily competitive about rubber ducks floating down a river.

And knowing Stellenbosch businesses, somebody is absolutely going to arrive with a duck featuring a professionally designed logo, custom paint job and aerodynamic modifications.

It’s for charity, people. Please try to behave. 😂🦆

Stellenbosch gets plenty of attention for its wine farms, oak-lined streets, university and rather impressive collection of very wealthy residents. But there’s another local institution with a pretty extraordinary claim to fame: the Stellenbosch University Choir. 🎶

The choir was founded all the way back in 1936 and today consists of roughly 100 Stellenbosch University students. Under conductor André van der Merwe, who has led the choir for more than 20 years, it has built a reputation that stretches far beyond the borders of our little town.

In fact, according to the Interkultur rankings cited by Newsday, the Stellenbosch University Choir was ranked the number-one amateur choir in the world every year from 2012 to 2024. And apparently they didn't lose the top spot because another choir suddenly became better. They simply hadn't competed in enough international competitions to maintain the ranking. 😅

Their record is quite ridiculous. At the 2014 World Choir Games in Latvia, they won all three categories they entered and achieved a then competition-record score of 99%. They've also collected major wins in China, the USA, Wales and elsewhere around the world. 🌍🏆

The same article also points out just how unusual Stellenbosch itself has become: a university ranked among South Africa's best, more than 350 wine farms in the broader region, and a town that's home to some of the country's best-known business figures.

So yes, we have the wine. 🍷
We have the mountains. ⛰️
We have the billionaires. 💰
We have the students. 🎓
And apparently, when the students start singing together, they're among the best on the planet.

Not bad for a town where finding parking in December remains one of our greatest unsolved challenges. 😂

There are certain things in Stellenbosch that we probably don't appreciate enough because they're right on our doorstep.

The Stellenbosch Art Mile along the Eerste River is definitely one of them.

It stretches for 1.6km from the pedestrian bridge near Markötter in Krige Street all the way to the Coetzenburg bridge, crossing the Eerste River six times along the way. And scattered along the route are sculptures, installations and interactive artworks, essentially turning an ordinary riverside walk into a free outdoor gallery. 🌳🎨

The current exhibition is called “Reflect: Beyond the Surface”, with works from both emerging and established artists integrated into the landscape. The idea isn't simply to walk past and look at art. Some pieces encourage you to touch, interact, sit, stop and actually notice the river and surroundings.

But perhaps the nicest thing about the Art Mile isn't even the art.

It's what has been done with the Eerste River itself.

For years, this beautiful ribbon running straight through Stellenbosch felt like something we largely ignored. Now there are paths, places to sit, artworks, people walking dogs, families wandering along and cyclists passing through. It feels like we're slowly rediscovering one of the nicest natural spaces in our town.

And it's completely free and open to everyone. ❤️

If you haven't walked it properly yet, pick a sunny afternoon, put the phone away for a bit and go explore it.

Sometimes we travel halfway across the country looking for beautiful things to do.

Meanwhile, there's a river, mountains, trees and an outdoor art gallery sitting right here in the middle of Stellenbosch. 🌳⛰️🎨

Have you noticed that everything seems to be getting more expensive?

Coffee. Groceries. Petrol. Electricity. Eating out. School fees. Insurance. That little trip to Woolies where you went in for milk and somehow left R700 poorer.

But here's the thing.

This isn't actually new.

Our parents complained about how expensive everything was.

Their parents complained about how expensive everything was.

And somewhere in Stellenbosch in 1954, there was probably a man standing outside the Eikestad complaining:

“TWO SHILLINGS?! For THAT?! This town has gone mad.”

😂

It's happening everywhere in the world. Prices rise. Salaries rise. Property rises. A coffee that once cost R10 becomes R20, then R30, then one day you're sitting under an oak tree in Stellenbosch casually paying R48 for a flat white without even blinking.

We used to open a restaurant menu and ask:

“What do I feel like eating?”

Now we occasionally find ourselves asking:

“Do I really need a starter?”

And don't even start with Stellenbosch property.

🏠 R8 million: “Needs a little TLC.”

🏠 R12 million: “Charming family home.”

🏠 R20 million: “Conveniently located near town.”

Apparently the convenience is that you can walk everywhere because you can no longer afford a car.

But perhaps there is something comforting about knowing that every generation thinks prices have finally become completely ridiculous.

And every generation somehow carries on.

So yes, life is expensive.

It always has been.

And 20 years from now we'll probably be sitting in Stellenbosch paying R140 for a flat white, telling our children:

“You know, when I was your age, this was only R48.”

And they'll look at us and say:

“R48?! That's basically free.” ☕😂

Optimism isn't pretending that everything is wonderful.

Sometimes things go wrong. Plans fall apart. People disappoint you. You make mistakes. Life throws things at you that you absolutely did not order.

Optimism is deciding what you’re going to look for next.

Because in almost every difficult situation, there is something worth finding.

A lesson.
An opportunity.
A new direction.
A reason to be grateful.
Something you can do differently tomorrow.

Two people can experience exactly the same setback and walk away carrying completely different things. One carries the frustration. The other carries the lesson.

Neither can change what happened.

But they can choose what happens next.

And perhaps that's the habit worth practising: when something goes wrong, don't spend all your energy staring at what you've lost. Start looking for what might still be gained.

You won't always find it immediately.

But keep looking.

There is usually more good hiding in our lives than we notice. ☀️

It looks like Stellenbosch has decided winter can take a few days off. The latest forecast points to a remarkably pleasant, dry stretch, with Thursday looking almost suspiciously warm for August.

☀️ Tuesday: Sunny and crisp. 8°C – 20°C
A chilly start, but once the sun gets going it should turn into a beautiful Stellenbosch day.

🌞 Wednesday: Sunny and pleasant. 10°C – 22°C
Warmer again, with plenty of sunshine. The sort of winter day that makes you wonder why you own so many jackets.

🔥 Thursday: Mostly sunny and very warm. 12°C – 26°C
Yes, 26°C. In August. Definitely the pick of the week. Lunch outside, washing on the line and everyone pretending summer has arrived early.

🌤️ Friday: Sunshine mixed with some cloud. 9°C – 22°C
A little cooler, but still a really pleasant end to the working week.

The short version: Very little winter happening between now and Friday. ☀️😎 No significant rain showing in the current forecast, with Thursday the standout at around 26°C.

As always, thanks for reading. If you spot something in town worth knowing, reply and tell us. Half the best Stellenbosch stories begin that way.

See you around town,
Stellenbosch Brief

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