Cape Town so far

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Hi All,

Just a few words as so far generally been relaxing rather than sight seeing! I had a fab flight after the first hour through a very violent thunder storm, which was amazing to watch but quite scary at the same time!

Jan, Anna-Marie and Anna have made me very welcome and we have had a succession of lunch and dinner guests, mostly dutch speaking which has been interesting. However I now have a contact to stay with in Amsterdam which is fab - at this rate I will never be home (except for the wedding Lin!!).

On Saturday we walked the 4 dogs in Hout Bay, an amazingly beautiful beach that I rememeber Dave talking of often - it was beautiful and I can understand why he loved it so much (and I have also decided I will definitely be getting a dog as soon as I settle somewhere!!)

On Sunday we went for what was described as a picnic, in the Boschendal winelands, but in reality was an amazing meal served outdoors, complete with table, umbrella, crockery, cutlery etc (unfortunately in the wind and rain but was great all the same) but definitely not a picnic as I know it!

Today I hired a tour guide who took me to Table Mountain, where the cable car was closed due to high winds (I was so upset as you know how much I love heights!!! - but it's ok I have been told we can try again on Weds morning - joy!), then on to several beautiful beaches and then to the slave museum and the District 6 museum - very interesting and great to get a real grasp of the reality of history and apartheid in South Africa, although I have to say it did make me feel guilty to be white and staying in a very white area of Cape Town. District 6 became famous because about 60,000 people were displaced from their homes in a very short space of time so that the area could be used for white development, following the 1966 Group Areas Act. all of the coloureds and blacks from the area were spread throughout the suburbs.....anyway, enough of the history lesson...it was just quite disturbing to someone quite unfamiliar with anything other than the obvious aspects of apartheid.

Tomorrow I am heading for the V and A waterfront followed by dinner with Anna Marie and Amanda (a girlie night out - Jan has to babysit!!) and on Thursday am doing a tour of the Cape peninsular, which will include Simonstown, Boulders beach (where you can swim with jakass penguins - another thing Dave talked about lots - as you can probably tell I am thinking about him a lot on this trip so far) and whale watching, something I am very excited about! I am also trying to arrange a tour of the townships and a tour to the West Coast, which is supposed to be stunning, but I am running out of time and am in danger of spending about 3 months cash in Cape Town,so I may not manage both or even either of these - I will keep you posted!!!

I will be flying to Joburg on Saturday, hopefully not at the same time as the Rugby (should be interesting if I try supporting England in public in Joburg!!!). I will write more next week and hopefully by then should be able to upload some pics (although at this rate they are likely to be - 'mountain', 'sea', or 'lots of people you don't know'!!!).

Hope all is well at home and hope to hear from some of you soon. If you want a postcard send me your address if I don't have it - that includes you Mup and Mandy!!!!! Lots of Love, A x x x

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