Shark nets, too much wine, scenic mountains and sea

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What does Cape Town have to offer? Plenty! Beautiful beaches, rugged dramatic mountains, spectacular scenic drives, delicious wine farms and a howling South Easter! And that’s just scratching the surface.

On the down side there is crime as well. Drugs and gang wars are rife in Cape Town, like anywhere in SA or indeed the world. There have been a few high profile murder cases recently on the news - one of them took place on the Cape flats - not a place we frequent.



The minute we stepped off the plane and into our airport shuttle and we were greeted with a friendly typical Cape accent, it brought back memories of our childhood as we both grew up in the Cape. ‘Nay meneer (no sir), youse ah not supposeds to lifts a finger! Sits beck end relecks, youse on ho-leeday! I will kerry y're begs for youse!’ This holiday we were going to spend two weeks with Paul's mom. A quiet Christmas for us as we wouldn't be with our usual family. We had a few ideas of what we wanted to do, all depending on the mood and the weather and managed to do a few day trips to visit family and friends. Although the visits were of short duration it was wonderful to catch up with everyone.



A couple of highlights of our visit to the Cape:

Driving to Gansbaai to visit family we took the scenic coastal road instead of our usual hop over Sir Lowry's pass. We couldn't have chosen a better day. Cape Town showed itself at its best with views that are hard to beat. The colours of the sea and mountains were so vivid and clear. Hopefully our photos will do justice.



Having Christmas lunch at a restaurant was a first for us. Usually there is a hustle of preparation in someone's kitchen, beautifully prepared food, scoffed up within minutes and then dishes afterwards. We decided to book weeks in advance at Rhebokskloof wine estate. We knew many of the wine farms would be booked to capacity for Christmas Day. Some of them were extremely pricey, even for such a special day, but Rhebokskloof was quite reasonable and we knew the wines. It really was such a treat being waited upon for a change with the tables laden with the most delicious food. What a sumptuous feast of over indulgence! We missed the usual banter and companionship of the rest of the family though, but this was a good alternative under the circumstances.





We drove to McGregor to visit family and had discovered that friends we had met while travelling through Zimbabwe had moved there. What are the odds that they would be living right next to our family? Lovely to see everyone again. On the way to McGregor we drove via Villiersdorp, where my old Alma-Mater is. Such a trip down memory lane for me! I spent 6 years of my life growing up there, part of what makes me who I am today. How those memories came flooding back as we stopped to take a few photos. Because it is farming area I could still imagine the fragrances of the fruit being harvested and processed and the odd occasion where we as youngsters used to pilfer the odd peach off the trees from a very surly, scary gentleman who owned the property and be very pleased with ourselves that we got away with such a risky task. In essence you probably found he was watching us through the window of his house and felt sorry for us because we were boarding at the school and he let us get away with these mischievous pranks.



On New years day we were driving down the road and there were some signs of heavy partying the night before. One such sign was a person lying downhill on the grass, sleeping off her hangover. Her legs were on a raised section and her head on a lower section using a very rough piece of tar as a cushion, fortunately not in the road. I don’t think her hangover would have disappeared after her sleep as I am sure all that alcohol was rushing straight back to her brain, or maybe this is a new cure for a hangover?



Majority of the time that we were in Cape Town the wind howled non stop as it so often does, but on the last two days we were there, we woke up to glorious weather so we went to the beach early in the morning for a couple of hours. We strolled down the beach and along the walkway and when we felt brave enough we braced ourselves to step into the cold sea. Although we used to swim regularly as children in that icy water we have grown wiser to the fact that there are warmer oceans out there to splash in. It was really quite pleasant for a while but as the wind picked up, when you came out the water, your core temperature could be significantly lower. Such softies, aren't we! Spoilt, more like it!! There is a shark net deployed in one corner for those bathers that are wary of swimming in Fish Hoek. We watched the nets being taken out and tied up to the rocks to make swimming safer. I was hoping that the nets touched the sand so that a sneaky great white shark wouldn’t be able to swim under and snack on me. On our last day we had just finished swimming and were taking a walk along the beach again to warm up, when a siren warning the swimmers of a shark sighting started wailing. There are shark spotters placed on the hills around False bay because there have been numerous shark attacks in that area. As the siren sounded swimmers charged out the water to the safety of the beach. We were very grateful that we had managed a swim and tried to see if we could spot the shark. Of course, although the sea was relatively calm and flat and considerably clear, we would have a tough time spotting it. Then we noticed lots of activity near the walkway and we thought there may have been a shark attack. Lifeguards running, communicating on there radios, so we knew something was afoot. Aren't we a gruesome and curious bunch, wanting to see what had happened? We still couldn't see what the commotion was all about and eventually left. At that stage we saw paramedics were also on the scene. We found out later via various news reports and Twitter that a body had been found tied to the cable of one of the blocks that hold the buoys for the shark net. When we swam we couldn't have been more than a few meters away from this horrendous situation. The report was that they suspected suicide. Nothing further has been said, so we are not sure if it's a suicide, murder or just someone getting caught in the cables. However the seas were so calm, I am not sure of the latter assumption...either way, it was a very sad situation and a nasty way for a life to have ended. Once again we have been reminded how quickly a life can be extinguished willingly or unwillingly.



Flying back home we could so easily have stayed longer, but of course we had to head back home. It's the beginning of the new year and we can plan our holidays and trips for this coming year. At least we can dream about our next trip even if they don't all come to fruition!



P.S. Unfortunately I didn't carry my camera or cell around all the time for security reasons, so took very few photos. We had also heard of reports that people's jewellery were being grabbed off their necks through open car windows on Fish Hoek beach, so those gangs are continuously active, known for grabbing bags with your purse or wallet, cell phone and keys in, so we tried to be vigilant and probably over compensate. Even so, we managed to take quite a few photos.

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Photos

Rhebokskloof
Great place for a picnic

Christmas lunch starters for Paul
Too embarrassed to show main course

Pudding dilemma!
Not ashamed to admit I ate all that!