Day 178 - Buying supplies

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A trip to Cape Town wouldn't be complete without taking the cable car up Table Mountain, the aptly named backdrop to what must be one of the most breathtaking city-views around. So this was our first stop. Plans quickly changed though when we saw the length of the queue - 2 hours standing in line was never going to happen and since we've been up Table Mountain before we were happy to leave it. So we caught a taxi downtown to the V&A Waterfront, the main tourist attraction which consists of a marina with loads of shops and restaurants. It wasn't just because of a lack of imagination that we came here, but we knew there was a huge outdoor equipment shop here. For the next leg of our journey we are travelling through 8 southern African countries over 6 weeks on our way to Kenya, so we had a number of things to buy like anti-mosquito soap, cream, spray and anything else we could find.

Gemma went to the aquarium with the others and was half tempted by the possibility of feeding the fish. This is only possible if you've done your advanced PADI diving course, which we did in Honduras, and they actually put you in the tank to be literally surrounded by fish. The photos were quite dramatic but we never did end up taking part.

At lunch we read that a round-the-world yacht race was currently moored in Cape Town so decided to take a look. We couldn't find them where the leaflet said they would be, but after asking around we drove out to the Royal Cape Yacht Club. This prestigious club is very much a members only place, but one nice chap on their committee (and strangely from Brighton) signed us in at the security air-lock and we went for a wander around the jetties admiring some sleek and expensive looking boats. And thinking 'One day maybe'. It turned out we were a year late for the round-the-world yachts, a minor fact that must have been missed at the leaflet's proof reading stage.

After this we went back home for what could well have been our last ever dinner. Read tomorrow's entry for details...

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