Wk2 Cape Town and off to Garden Route

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Week 2 Cape Town and off to Garden Route
Wed 23
An American couple from Seattle has joined us at the guest house and on the tours for the next few days. Although its a bit too early in the season for the spectacular wild flower displays along the West Coast, we headed up to see the area.

We stopped at an ostrich farm where our guide explained the anatomy, feeding habits and reproduction cycles of the birds and showed us all of the products - meat, eggs, leather, feathers. We visited and hand-fed both male and females and saw some emus too. Their pecking of the corn from your hand was quite violent and very quick, but they don’t have teeth so its not painful. We took it in turns to sit on one of the large males and to stroke his soft and very bendy neck - luckily they kept him standing still in a wooden brace, as I certainly would have lost my dignity if he had taken off. Boy they run fast. We also stood on the eggs which are very strong One ostrich egg is equivalent to 24 hens eggs and takes over an hour to boil and although their meat is really healthy and low in cholesterol, the eggs are very high. We saw photos of some bushmen cooking omelettes over a campfire using tortoise shells as the pan. There were a couple of tortoise at the farm who were rolled over to show the difference in the shape of their lower shell which denotes their sex; poor things looked very indignant.

There is a yellow flower that is blooming all around the area at the moment that has the same smell as cannabis. I first noticed it when I visited the botanical gardens last week and spent the first few minutes looking around to see who could possibly be smoking a large enough splif to cause such a strong smell.

Its strange to see some of the exotic flowers that we pay such a premium for in the UK growing wild and some are even seen as weeds here - there are arum lilies and proteus everywhere. I will be visiting the main wild flower region towards the end of October when they should be out in full glory.

We were scheduled to go on the Robben Island tour in the afternoon but there was a problem with the boat, which wont be fixed for a few days, so we had another relaxing few hours at the V & A Waterfront instead.

Thurs 24
Did a tour of the city and learned a lot more about the apartheid period when we visited some of the key government and administrative buildings. It was Heritage Day so there was live music and marching bands in the Company Gardens, where we stopped in the Garden Cafe for lunch. We visited the Bo Kaap area where the Cape Malay community have painted their houses in individual colours, from gentle pastels to knock-your-eye-out electric hues. Apparently a long time ago before street names or house numbering, this was the best way to describe which house you lived in - you can find me in the magenta house between the acid green and the baby blue neighbours. Had a look around the tiny but interesting museum there.

We went to the top of Signal Hill for the great views and saw the new stadium and sports fields being prepared for the World Cup next year in 2010 and Table Mountain was hidden behind dark clouds. There were a couple of intrepid skateboarders who whizzed down the steep winding and bumpy road at breakneck speeds.

Back down in town we looked around the natural history museum that is part of the Planetarium complex and saw lots of good exhibits about both the sea and land animals of the Cape area. Afterwards we went to an hour-long show in the Planetarium where it was cool to see the different star-scape of the southern hemisphere. The narration was delivered in really gentle and soporific voices and I found it hard to stay awake. K didn’t have that problem and gently snored through the whole show.

We sat on the stone steps to catch some of the live music performances outside but the wind was picking up and our bottoms were cold, so headed home for hot coffee and a pasta supper.

Fri 25
Quiet day catching up on laundry and boring stuff. Really bit the bullet today and wrote up this blog from day one. I need to do these logs every couple of days even if I wait to edit and publish later in batches, as its really hard to remember details of such action-packed days. I want to start including more of my thoughts and personal observations, rather than just listing the places I have visited. Having read back through what I have written so far, I realise that its quite boring, so I hope to get better and more interesting as I get used to putting this experience down on paper.

Also I must take less of the same shot as when I viewed my photos on the laptop screen I culled at least half, then reviewed them again and deleted lots more.

Sat 26
Travelled to Hermanus via lovely countryside and passed through areas that are famous for growing apples and wide valleys that are full of wheat. The Cape apples are from here but they also grow pears, plums etc. We were just a bit too late for the blossoms which have just finished but saw a few fields of late bloomers. We stopped at one of the farm shops that line the main road, where you can buy loads of goodies. The others all tucked into fresh muffins and pastry, but I refrained as I knew we were going on the boat soon and it proved to be a very wise move.

Hermanus is the best place to view the Southern Right whales that come to the large bay from late June to November to mate and calve the following year. Around 140 whales appear each year and can be seen as close as 5 metres from the cliff-lined shore. You can see them rolling over and extending their large fins towards the sky and also see them breaching and crashing back into the sea. Amazing sights.

We got on a special boat that has permission to go quite close to the whales, as it has a protected propeller and the engine has been adapted so that the noise doesn't bother the whales. The weather was very changeable and the wind had picked up, giving quite a large swell outside f the harbour. At first we stayed in the quieter waters inside the harbour area where we saw a mother and calf. We stayed near this pair for a long time but they were just chilling and not doing much at all so we moved out to sea to try to view the breaching whales that thrust right out of the water.

As soon as we turned into the open sea it felt like a roller coaster, with big swells and lots of crashing over the waves, with up/down and rolling motion. I was OK as I had taken a seasickness tablet and put on some acupressure wristbands (thanks Chris) but several people went green and a couple threw up. Last night K had shown us a video of a trip he had done a couple of weeks before where they had been really close to lots of very active whales and had got amazing photos, but we were not so lucky and to be honest we didnt see any more then we could from shore on this occasion.

We had lunch in a converted container right by the harbour which was pretty basic but atmospheric. The food was great and the place had won several awards. I had grilled kingclip. Then we set off to find the guest house that I had booked for the next 2 nights which was only a 10 minute walk from the centre of town.

This weekend was the annual Whale Festival so the place was rammed with people, but it also meant there was lots of extra stuff going on, which suited me. Said a temporary farewell to Kyrt as I will be back with him in Cape Town for the last week of my stay and dropped off my case and walked into town to check out the fun. Sadly the weather got worse and it poured with rain all evening, so retreated to a cozy bar with some live music.

Sun 27
Hermanus Whale Festival was in full swing today and the sun was back out so started the day with a 2 hour walk along the cliff path which has benches at regular intervals where you can sit and view the whales at sea. I saw loads but none came really close to the shore and sadly my camera does not have a strong enough zoom to capture the breaching whales in enough detail to publish. However I was quite happy to just stand and watch these huge creatures leaping and crashing and appearing to be just having a whale of a time - ha see what I did there ?

There were markets, funfair, musicians galore and I had a lovely day wandering around, interspersed with more whale watching from either the cliffs or second-floor restaurant windows. The sun started to disappear around lunchtime and the showers started, but there was enough to do indoors while it rained. Had hake and chips for lunch.

Spent the later part of the afternoon back at the guest house trying to sort out the next leg of my trip and once that was done, walked back to town and found a third floor bar with amazing sea views and watched the whales and sunset. I had a good day and have not done as much walking for ages, which I badly need to offset the food and wine that is sooooo good here.


Mon 28
Most of the day was taken up with travelling from Hermanus to Knysna (the K is silent) which was a shame as the sun is back. Had to be at the backpackers hostel by 8.30 to get the shuttle to Botriver in order to catch the Baz Bus which is the backpackers hop on/off bus that goes to most of the main towns along the coast. Everything was running late so hung around until after 10am when we finally left the hostel.

The Baz was pretty full and we were last on, so squashed into the four back seats which was very uncomfortable and so tight that you couldn't move your arms. When we next stopped for a loo break I chatted nicely to the driver and managed to move up to the front seat next to him, which was bliss. It was great to see some of the towns that I may stop at on the way back to Cape Town such as Mossel Bay and Wilderness, but it was a long day and we didnt arrive in Knysna until 5.30pm.

I had booked the Wayside Inn guest house which is really central to the main town, with shops and restaurants within a few minutes walk. It was a great choice and I got a lovely room with a large balcony overlooking the square, with a big brass bed and a wonderfully powerful shower.

Wandered almost next door to a fusion restaurant for dinner with a craving for meat after having had so much fish over the last few days, so had five spice crispy pork. Ended up in the pub next door that was full of interesting local characters and had a really good “set the world to rights” chat with one of the guys who works in my guest house that had met earlier. Starting to get a taste for Hunters Dry cider which is served with a lemon slice in the neck of the bottle.

Tue 29
The weather is beautiful - warm and sunny. So decided to explore Knysna town and waterfront which proved to be a lovely compact and easily walked area with lots of interesting shops and boutiques. The waterfront is on a large and attractive lagoon rather than the sea, which is full of birdlife and has very clear water.

Had grilled hake and salad at a lovely harbourside place and watched the boats and ferries come and go. Even managed to get a bit of colour from the lovely sunshine. This place has a really nice vibe.

There was an internet cafe close by the guest house so managed to send some emails and give out the link to this blog.

In fact I really liked this town and so I was pleased when Tina the manager gave me a good deal for a four night stay. Tina is a fellow Brit and we had a good chat over a bottle of wine.

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