“Okay Andy, just stand there with your back to the ocean and throw it!” I’m taking part in Tintswalo’s traditional farewell ceremony and General Manager Ryno is making sure I don’t mess it up. After all, throwing a stone over your shoulder and making a wish at the same time is a complicated business.

Staring out of the floor-to-ceiling glass windows of my extraordinary Black and White room at MannaBay I was having a moment. Not quite an epiphany you understand, but mighty close to one.

Rising like an elegant colonial Grand Dame The Cullinan has such distinctive architecture you can spot it from almost anywhere in Cape Town. Yet, despite its classical veneer, it is a relatively new build and without a doubt the signature property of South African hospitality group Tsogo Sun.