Another incredible day. Again though, I am exhausted! Today I was in Knysna, a town located along the Garden Route of the East Coast. The town is built on the Knysna Lagoon, a body of water that is connected to a river to the north, and the Indian Ocean to the south. The huge lagoon opens to the ocean at a spot called The Heads: two cliffs of rock on either side. It is known as the most dangerous river opening in the world because of its rocks and sandbars - most of which are hidden. Today, I did a cruise [View Full Entry]

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I think I’ve found a piece of paradise . . . Late yesterday afternoon, I arrived in Wilderness, a small town in the Garden Route along the East Coast. The drive was nice. The Baz Bus is excellent. We dropped someone off at a Wildlife Reserve. It was gorgeous there - and I saw another zebra! We passed through Mossel Bay and I got my first glimpse of the Indian Ocean. Soon after that, we turned a bend in the road and suddenly there was forest everywhere. Wilderness. My hostel is about 2 kilometres out of town, at the bottom of [View Full Entry]

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This morning I took the Baz Bus and started moving up the coast. I had one final drive through the winelands. East of the Cape, are mountains that have to be passed over to continue East. Past them, the area is called Overberg (over the mountain). We snaked our way up the mountain, having a perfect view down onto George, the Strand with it’s lovely beach and right around and across False Bay for one last view of Table Mountain. I love love love this part of the country. I could happily spend a very long period of time there. Cape [View Full Entry]

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The last few days have been so incredible! My friend Jackie, who I know from my first cruise contract on the Carnival Legend, came to Cape Town on Thursday. She and her friend, Rico, picked me up and whisked me off to the Boland. It was so good to see her - it has been a long time! Going home with Jackie has given me the opportunity to experience a different culture - Afrikans. Everyone in her home area speaks Afrikans, so most of the time, I haven’t a clue what people are saying! Most people know English to speak to [View Full Entry]

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Today I decided it was time I explored some of the city on foot. So I headed out from my hostel and walked down Long Street, one of the main strips in Cape Town where there’s lots of restaurants, cafes and shops. I spent quite some time in Greenmarket Square, an open area lined with stalls selling crafts and curios. I ended up doing all of my gift shopping, buying more than I’d intended to purchase. I have very little Christmas shopping to do! Now I just need to decide if I’m going to carry it all around or try to [View Full Entry]

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The sight-seeing bus the other day talked about property value in Cape Town being based on view and wind. We passed proof of wind: trees growing on extreme angles. But it was such a beautiful hot sunny day, it was difficult to imagine. Yesterday however, the wind was out and it was intense! It really whips. The South-Easter wind is also called “The Doctor” because when it comes, it clears everything out and brings along good weather. Very very rarely however, a Black South-Easter comes along and with it comes black skies and storms. A Black South-Easter is here. Today i [View Full Entry]

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Today I went to visit Shale! Shale was a good friend of mine when I was on the Destiny last November-February. She lives in Table View, on the other side of the bay from Cape Town, out in the area where they take all the postcard photos of Table Mountains. Getting out to see her was a bit of an adventure . . . The plan was to meet at Century City, Canal Walk, a mall about halfway between us, but still quite far for me to get to. I could take a taxi which would be easiest, but rather expensive. [View Full Entry]

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Today I’d booked myself a wine tour, one of the things I really wanted to do while in this part of the country. There was some initial confusion about getting me on the tour that had me stressed for a bit, but it got sorted, I joined the group and it was fantastic. The first winery, in the Paarl region, was Fairview Estates. I took a look at the distillery, saw vats holding 50,000 litres of wine. But of course the feature is the tasting. Tried seven different wines: Sauvignon Blanc, Viognier, Merlot, Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinotage and Pinotage Viognier. They [View Full Entry]

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Yesterday we were up early to pack up and leave camp. We had about an hour safari drive before leaving the park. But it was so quiet. And we were so tired. I could barely keep my eyes open. A few impala. A few kudu. Two zebra were the last animals I saw. And then a long ride back to Johannesburg, made longer by flat tires and crazy rain storms. This morning, I was again up early. Happy to be moving on from my hostel and from Joburg. My flight was only 2 hours and kind of rough at times, but [View Full Entry]

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We all thought (and hoped) we had another night drive today, but we didn’t. So we were back at the camp by about 5pm. We were feeling disappointed and perplexed with what to do with the time. But it turned out to be an exciting evening! In one of the trees in our camp was a pair of owls. I’m not sure of their name, but they were incredible! They were tiny, maybe the size of my hand. And they were sleeping in a tree. Their feather pattern exactly matched the bark of the tree. They blend in so perfectly, they [View Full Entry]

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