 Cape Town 2009 |
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Sunday 1st November Cardiff to Cape Town
Having decided to head for the sun the only fly in the ointment was that Jane’s ticket was a standby one and standby seats can only be made available on a first-come, first-served basis just prior to the flight. The flight that I was confirmed on was filling up rapidly; with only 11 seats available and 18 standby requests. However Virgin’s flight to Johannesburg had plenty of available seats and not many standby requests. So we decided that to be on the safe side Jane would fly to Johannesburg 3 hours prior to my Cape Town flight and then take a flight from Jo’burg to Cape Town; arriving just half an hour after my flight arrived. Good plan: pity it didn’t work out.
When we arrived at Heathrow we found that the Jo’burg flight was delayed three hours because of a “technical delay”: to replace a door hinge. So I arrived at Cape Town on schedule at 10.30 am on Monday and texted Jane in Jo’burg to find out when she was due to arrive in Cape Town. Jane’s arrival time was 2pm so I took a taxi to our hotel in Cape Town: checked in, had a shower then returned to the airport to collect Jane. So it worked out all right in the end.
Our hotel, the Protea Cape Castle, is a mid-range all-suite hotel located close to the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront (Yes, that’s Alfred not Albert. Alf was one of her sons, but I don’t know why the waterfront should have been so named). The V&A Waterfront is the main tourist/shopping/restaurant area in Cape Town and I ‘m familiar with it having stayed very close to it (in a converted prison as it happens) on a previous visit in 2006 with Lisvane Cricket Club.
Once we’d got ourselves settled into the hotel we walked across to the V&A Waterfront to have a look around. We had an early dinner at one of the many fine restaurants there and returned to the hotel as I was feeling increasingly tired, having not had much sleep on the flight. In the event I went to bed just before 9pm (7pm UK time) and slept right through to 7am: got up had a think about breakfast, and went back to sleep until 9am.
Tuesday 3rd November
After a slow start to the day: Jane feeling under the weather on account of a flu type bug picked up either in Cardiff or on the flight. We went up Table Mountain early in the afternoon. Great weather and fabulous views. We would have gone for a long walk around the summit to enjoy the views but Jane was still feeling rather weak so we headed down the mountain and off to the V&A Waterfront for lunch and retail therapy. The retail therapy worked wonders for Jane as, under her direction, I bought 2 pairs of shorts, one pair of trousers and two shirts; while she bought nothing! Then back to the hotel for a shower and change and off to dinner at a restaurant down the road from the hotel. The food was excellent and very reasonably priced; as seems to be the norm in most restaurants here.
Wednesday 4th November
The first objective for the day was to hire a car. The company recommended in the Rough Guide to Cape Town (essential reading) was also one of the lest expensive ones showing on a Google search; so we did a deal for an Opel Corsa at just under £25 per day. Surprisingly, petrol here is quite a bit cheaper than UK: 60 pence per litre. After sorting out the motor we headed off south towards the Cape of Good Hope via Llandudno: somewhere that we had to check out because of it’s name - I was born in the original town. Apart from both places being by the sea there is no resemblance at all between the two: the original being a Victorian resort with a long single beach, while its South African namesake is a small village (no shops, cafes, or pubs) with a white sand beach and very big surf - see photos). Then on to Hout Bay, a fishing port about 11 miles south of Cape Town, and a superb seafood lunch at the end of the jetty where the fishing vessels tie up. After lunch it was on south via the incredibly scenic Chapman’s Peak Drive, a road that’s been carved out of some very steep mountains which drop almost straight into the sea. Staying on the Atlantic (west) coast road we went through Scarborough to a tiny hamlet called Misty Cliffs where the surf was even bigger than at Llandudno. We stopped for a while here to watch a couple of surfer dudes kite boarding along the waves - see photos. Continuing south we came across some stationary vehicles in the road and found that they had stopped because a troop of baboons was crossing the road. Jane was entranced by these primates whereas I hate the buggers: having developed a strong dislike while living in Botswana, having them raid the garden and put my wonderful Botswana Hunting Dog Leo at mortal risk (baboons will kill and eat dogs if they get the chance). Finally, when we arrived at the entrance to the Cape Point National Park with another 5 miles to go to the Cape of Good Hope the time was 4pm. As we want to spend a decent amount of time looking around the beaches and walks at the Cape so we decided to leave it for another day. Also, I didn’t want to negotiate the Cape Town traffic in the dark. So we headed back along the same scenic drive as we came and, after a brief diversion for afternoon tea and stocking up on food and drink at a supermarket, we arrived back at our hotel at 7pm. As our suite comes with a mini kitchenette (two hotplates, microwave, fridge, plus plates: knives, forks and spoons) we had an enjoyable, quiet dinner “at home”. And so to bed.
PS. IF YOU DOUBLE CLICK ON ANY OF THE PHOTOS WILL GET AN ENLARGED VIEW
1 Comment - Add Public Comment or Send Private Message
November 4th 2009 - Darren: Awesome!!
Great pics!! Have a great time - I'm so jealous.
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