Whale Watching
Creation Winery tour
Penguin Colony in Simons Town
Baby Ostriches on the Cape of Good Hope
Bird's eye view from Table Mountain
Table Mountain from the waterfront
The end of such a spectacular trip! I have feelings of satisfaction, accomplishment, and longing for more adventure. We could easily keep going and wish we have more time, but life and work are calling. However the adventure will not stop here.
Before I give too much away, let me tell you about our final week in the incredible country of South Africa. In total we drove 3500km (over 2000 miles)! We never did get pulled over by the police, but I hear from South Africans the phrase is "Can I make a donation to your children's education".
The country is plagued by 43% unemployment, which does not make it the safest of the countries we have visited. However, all-in-all, Southern Africa has been such a pleasant surprise. Several people were asking me prior to the trip about the safety and dangers, but I had felt very comfortable in Africa. Tourists seem to have far less problems in Southern Africa than say for example South America.
Our final path on the African continent: Hermanus > Stellenbosch > Cape Town
Just as I was writing you last time and telling you about the strong winds and the lack of whales; our luck took an interesting turn! Whales were everywhere; on the land, in trees, even one in the pub. Well not exactly, but hey, we saw a lot of whales! From the shore, I saw over 20 whale breechs (this is when the whale jumps out of the water creating a huge splash, in an attempt to remove the white callosities.
Sunday - Whale cruise: Our two Swedish friends had persuaded us to join them on the 0900 cruise for whale watching and wow am I glad I joined them. Picture this, only 10 tourists on the boat, only our boat, 8 whales. Now, it wasn't just 8 whales, it was 8 whales MATING! Unlike the life long faithful penguins who we saw later in the day; whales are a bit more bizarre so the party was 7 males and one female. We watched these beasts for more than an hour just a few feet from our boat! Later we went to South Africa's largest penguin colony.
Monday - Stellenbosch Wine tour: Most of our self arranged wine tours were more interesting where we were able to talk with the wine maker and enjoy things on our own schedule, but this trip was pure fun. We went to four wineries that day and with a large group of fun people. Not only did we sample fine Stellenbosch wines, but also excellent cheeses they make in the area.
Tuesday - Franshoek: With not a lot on the agenda today, we went to the lovely town of Franshoek literally meaning "French Corner" due to the Hugonouts who moved there from France to escape religious persecution. Now you all know why the wine is so exceptionally good in Stellenbosch. We enjoyed a nice meal in town and then enjoyed a few wineries later in the day. That night we met up with our Swedish friends Chris and Freida and went to enjoy the amenities of a University town.
Wednesday - Cape of Good Hope: Along with our new friend Aaron from the Stellenbosch pub crawl, we headed towards Cape Town and first visited the Cape of Good Hope, again seeing several whales, although, they just don't get boring! We visited another colony of penguins and then drove down to Cape for hiking around the peninsula. There we ran into several surprising guests, firstly a hungry group of baboons and also a group of ostriches. What was so special about he ostiches was the young babies they had with them. We were able to walk very close to look at them without the mother attacking us.
Thursday - Table Mountain: The climb up table mountain was a lot of fun. Unfortunately the views from the top were not as special. The clouds had rolled in just as we were climbing hiding its views of the city. We relaxed having a coffee after our 1000 meter (yard) climb and later we enjoyed the fruits of our labor seeing the city nestled on the coast. You may wonder about African cuisine, but we have just found a very delectable one. We enjoyed Ethiopian food for our first time that night. If you have the chance, I'd highly recommend it - delicious curries and a facinating way to eat them - with the table cloth!
Friday - Boks Rubgy: If your not aware, the Rugby world cup is happening right now, but in New Zealand. Nonetheless, support in South Africa for their Springboks is superb! We went out to the pub at 9am on Friday and cheered on the local team watching them win a deserved, but tight victory to Samoa. We visited a few museums this day, the best being the Slave Museum. That night we were escorted out by a friend of a friend in London. Chris a Cape Towner took us out for a good late night causing a wee bit of a hangover the next day.
Saturday - Two Oceans Aquarium: After seeing England win a close rugby match with Scotland we headed towards the waterfront. On the way we gatecrashed a tour of a diamond shop where they gave us free champagne and showed us diamonds. Marina being the perfect wife, was not putty in their hands and resisted any of the sparkling temptations. We then watched a game of kayak basketball which was a strange, but simple concept. Needing an easy tourist activity, we visited the Two Oceans Aquarium. Appropriately named due to the area where the Pacific and the Atlantic meet. Their display of 5 ragged tooth sharks gave us a reminder of how fun our diving trip in Umkomaas was! We found a concert later where we enjoyed two fresh tuna steak sandwiches. That night, we had our very last dinner of the trip - the highlight was Kudu steak, Springbok steak (a type of deer), ostrich, and crocodile - yummy!
Sunday - Robben Island: Our last day was the most culturally enlightening - a trip to Robben Island where Nelson Mandela and President Zuma were both incarcerated. The trip showed the true hearse realities of Apartheid and what people when pushed will do to stand up for themselves. Mandela's cell where he spent 18 years was roughly 2 meters by 2.5 meters. There was not a toilet and the bed was a small mattress on the ground.
So this is the end of our crazy tour! We are now in London and will be heading to Russia on Thursday and staying there for a week. Then back to London on the 13th and we will be only staying for a few days before moving to our new home - Australia!
Thanks for reading our blog and if you have enjoyed our weekly updates, feel free to drop me a line and let me know what you think.
All the best,
Dan and Marina
