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Published: April 29th 2008
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But it's not a fiesta
But we like it anyway! It did take a while to arrive though - 1 1/2 late to drop it off and only after a phone call reminder - we need to chill out!!
I make Andy drive but unfortunately this means that I am map reader! After a false turn or two we manage to get ourselves on the coast road and head out to Camps Bay where we decide that we have done well enough to warrant a rest and a smoothie! It seems that Camps Bay is where the hip and trendy of Cape Town hang out and off course we fit right in! Lots of beautiful people at pavement cafes and the sun is shining - lovely.
Still we have the open road ahead of us so we head off further down the coast and along Chapman's Peak Drive, a really nice mountain hugging coast road with great views of the bays.
Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope are wild and not dissimilar to Land's End, where we were last week. We take the touristy pics and are careful not to get blown into the water.
We head off back up the Cape but on the other side, heading for the Jackass penguin colony at Boulder Beach, Simon's Town. We get there a bit late so the tourist section is closed but there are still loads of them around (I don't suppose that they know which bit is which) so we get to see some of them anyway, really close up. They arrived in the 1990s and decided to stay. They've taken over the beach, effectively kicking the people off. Apparently they mate for life and they wander round in twos checking up on each other - cute!
We decide to stay in Muzienberg a bit further 'round the coast. The accommodation isn't great, but it'll do and it's right on the beach where there are loads of surfers and loads of signs telling people to keep a look out for sharks - thankfully it's too late for Andy to get an ideas about renting a surf board!
Next stop is the winelands. We don't know where we are staying so we head to the tourist info in Stellenbosch where we are given a map showing all the wineries and told to stop
off at any that we like the sound of. Sounds ok, but are we supposed to buy lots of it? (Not on our budget?!) Tokara is our first stop, it's really grand looking, Andy says it's like a Bond lair (?!). Not sure what we are doing, we kind of hang around at the bar and realise that it's really easy, they ask you what you want to try (red, white, sparkling, etc) , you tell them and then they bring a selection for you to try .... for free!! Great! This was going to be an easy couple of days!
The winelands scenery is stunning, big mountains and a lot greener than I thought that Africa would be. We stayed in Franschoek at a great b&b run by a nice English couple. They had three dogs that we took for walks (well they followed us around a bit. I liked the terrier and Andy wanted to adopt the biggest one.) I like it here so I persuade Andy that we can stay for two nights even though it's not really in the strict Andy budget! (And all the good food and wine and general feeling of nice holiday
aren't helping us to want to get back on track!) Andy here - my overwhelming feeling from Franschoek was one of being about to burst!
We reluctantly leave, and head out on Route 62 to Oudtshoorn - the Ostrich capital of the world! The Lonely Planet recommends lots of places to stop off on the way. Maybe it's because we did the trip on a Sunday, but they were all hicksville - one street, one horse towns and we skipped through them wondering what the fuss was about. Oudtshoorn is a bit bigger but first impressions are that the ostrich had better be good.
Well the ostrich were interesting. You certainly get close and are encouraged to ride them. They are big and pre-historic looking, although I have to admit that their necks are very soft, like velvet. Andy took to the ostrich riding and was soon going quite fast around the pen until it stopped suddenly and threw him off forwards over it's head! After watching that I refused to let the handler leave my side, although he did a good job of running fast beside me whilst slapping it's arse to make it run faster!
Next up was caving at Cango Caves. This was fun, although the holes were very small and safety equipment was lacking (sorry Mum!).
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