Advertisement
Kelly at the Waterfront!
This is me, under a board showing the distances to other parts of the world, we are nearer the South Pole than the UK.... Afternoon from Cape Town.....
Just a quick update on what we've been doing since we left Greece, it's Kelly typing again, as Ju is trying to upload about a hundred photo's on a pc next to me, and it's taking ages. I can't believe how many thousands of miles we now are from home!
We left Gatwick on the 10.5 hr flight to Joburg, then got a connection to Cape Town which took another 2 hrs, so we were pretty knackered when we finally got to our hostel. (we did squeeze in a meal at Joburg airport, which I'm ashamed to say was a Wimpy! Ah well).
We had 2 seats each on the flight, as it was barely a third full, but we still only got around 3 hours sleep as we had lovely turbulence nearly all the way down. Fun! I also had the pleasure of a muppet of a guy in front of me who sniffed loudly every 12 seconds, for the entire duration of the flight. At first I wanted to offer him a tissue, but after a while I wanted him to fall asleep so I could belt him with my size 8!! Sadly, he remained awake, and sniffy, all the way down to Joburg.
Then came the culture shock - having never stayed in anything less than a 3 star before, the hostel room took a little adjusting to, especially as I'm sure there are bigger prison cells at HMP Norwich! It's spotlessly clean, but you couldn't swing a cat (especially not Jack). Thankfully it's ensuite, that's a blessing, don't think we were ready for communal type showers on the first afternoon. The bed in our room slopes downwards too, which is a weird sensation, like you're going to slide off in your sleep?!
Anyway, the kitchen area is good, although we've only had to make toast there, didn't realise how cheap Sth Africa was going to be. A meal for two in a decent restaurant has been 13quid at the most, including beers, which are less than a pound each. I'm not going to start cooking evening meals until we're down to our last credit card......
We managed to have a shower, without any shower gel or shampoo as we somehow hadn't brought either of these with us. We remembered the binoculars & travel washing line, but not the flippin shower gel!!! So, I rinsed my hair with conditioner (WHY did I bring that?), put on my trusty bandana (thanks NU for my leaving gift!) and decided we should head out for some fresh air.
Now I knew South Africa was a poor country, but the differences between white & black Sth Africans are immense. You don't see any white beggars, or any white people working in the service industry. Not at all. Makes me realise how sheltered my life at home is, and how naive we can be. We've been accosted for money a few times, and you can't give coins to everyone, so it is hard not to feel guilty at times. An American guy tried to cadge some money off us yesterday, when we down at the V&A waterfront, telling us he'd lost his luggage. Needless to say we didn't feel guilty about telling him to bugger off!
We went to Robben Island on the catamaran yesterday, which is where Nelson Mandela was kept in jail for 18 years, we did the guided tour and had a once in a lifetime chance to see inside his actual cell. Normally it's closed to the public, but because there were 5 Nuns on our trip, they had to open it, so the 'women of the cloth' could check it out!? So, we stuck with the Nuns and got some good photo's. Very humbling place. Robben Island is also a game reserve and we saw plenty of deer, rabbits and most strangely - penguins. Didn't expect to see any in Africa, but there are thousands of them, all squawking at us as the mini-bus went round the island's edge. We got a great view of Table Mountain, but it looks like we aren't going to be able to get the cable car up to the top, as it's rained loads. And loads. In fact, it's raining now! It isn't cold at all, and we are still able to see everything, but it'd be nice to get a clear sky!
We depart on our organised tour tomorrow, which is going to be camping, through Namibia & Botswana for 21 days, ending in Vic Falls, just in time for England's first world cup game! I do hope they have Sky Sports in Zimbabwe, but we may have to follow England's progress on the web. If we make any progress without Rooney that is, I'm sure we'll struggle without him, Couchy up front doesn't exactly fill me with confidence!
We hope everyone at home is well, and that you don't miss us too much!! 😊 We certainly aren't homesick yet, which is a good job. Keep emailing us, it's still nice to connect with home once in a while. Dont know how often we can log in once we're 'on the road' as we'll mostly be camping & looking for lions, tigers, hippo's, elephants, crocodiles..........
Bye for now
Kelly & Julian x
Advertisement
Tot: 0.069s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 7; qc: 44; dbt: 0.0426s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Mum & Dad
non-member comment
Reply from sunny spain
Hello to you both ,pleased to hear that you are both ok and "living it up"we are having a super sunny time here on costa del sol plenty of lovely food and drink,pool is great ,both have spent some time in it.going to check out marbella tonight ,should be good.incidently we went to a car boot today ,just like home!!!will keep in touch ,stay safe and well ,love Mum and Dad xx