EXCITING CAPE TOWN

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Arrived in Cape Town via Mango Airlines, quite efficient airline, took the taxi to the Long st. Area at center bowl in the heart of town, found a hostel called Carnival court hostel, will stay here until the truck arrives on Saturday. Went for a walk in the waterfront with Mark and Brian, then chilled out a bit at the hostel met some random people, Terri, Canadian girl among others, went for a drink at the hostel bar but was quiet so me and Brian went back to the room and took a power nap, joined Mark at the bar later and went for dinner then a bit of bar hopping then off to bed.

Next day internet for 4 hours with Brian, mark was still hung over so he went back to the hostel, fetched him then off to lunch at Debonair's pizza, really good cheap pizza place, went back to waterfront, then back to do some grocery shopping and cook in the hostel, we met a lovely English couple in the kitchen Katy and Dave and 2 pretty Germans, Jasmin and Heidi. We all shared a laugh and tips on cooking. Me and Mark cook while Brian chit chat so he ended up washing the dishes, Jasmin finished the bits of veggies left as we are stuffed. Chilled out with the same group in the veranda had a few drinks then off to bed, our room is next to the street so it is very noisy so for the first time i used my earplugs.

We decided to go to Simonstad to see the penguins, so we asked for directions to take the train, it cost only roughly $3 for the scenic hour ride, We have to walk half an hour to get to the beach where the penguins were and pay the National Park fee, they were nesting and there's a platfrom walkway you have to follow to get to them. Then we went around to go to the beach and it was an awesome experience being right next to them, you can get close though, they just go about their business, walking, or swimming or sunning on top of rocks! Brian decided to sunbathe among the rocks and in the process lost his shirt when it fell in the crevice so have to lent him the one I am wearing cause i have extra in my bag. We were all tired so fell asleep on the train back, oh yeah great lunch near the pier in Simonstad, nice quaint town.

When we got back to our room we have a new roommate, Phil the German kid moved out to another room, Nicole from Australia is lovely, great personality, lots of fun, we hang out with her the rest of the night, had dinner then chill out at the Carnival court veranda, lots of weed being smoked by people around us, quite annoying cause we dont want to smell it.

Moved to the Backpacker Boutique Hostel on New Church St. to meet up with the truck, took us forever to find it, up and down the hills, the reception lady at the Carnival court gave us exactky the right direction but we did not follow it so we got lost and tried to find the hostel and took us more than an hour, it was not even 5 mins walk from where we were at the Carnival. Saw the truck drive past as we were looking for the hostel and met up with them there. Got dorm rooms, walked to the Cafe Mojito on Long St. my fave restaurant here in CT, they have excellent food!! and cheap.. Walked to the Aquarium at the waterfront, had a great time there, the sharks, turtle, penguins among other things kept me entertained for a few hours, met up with Mark, Jo and Chrissy there, we watched the feeding of the penguins. In the evening we went out with our former roomie Nicole for dinner then had drinks and enjoyed live music at the Dubliner, we had a late night, the place was rockin, some Fijians that belong to the british Army were there and having a great time with us. Got back to hostel and collapsed, got woken up suddenly by commotion under me, Brian and Jen talking, did not sleep well after that.

Decided to check out some gardens nxt to the South African museum, lied down on the grass and fell asleep. Went back to the hostel after having a fine sushi lunch at Noodlebosch on Long St. only to find our dorm room is empty, our luggages was taken to another room adjacent but our things are strewn about everywhere, it took me an hour to find my things! Really ticked that they moved us without warning. I had a word at the reception and gave her my piece of mind, but she countered our group leader should know it and should have told us, hmmm... That afternoon decided to climb up Lion's head with Mark and Nicole, took us an hour walking to get to the base from the hostel, then an hour and a half to get up the top, spectacular views, only I suffer from mild vertigo and have to concentrate not to look to my left where you can see the vally below on a steep drop, so I focused on the path, towrds the end scrambled on rocks to make it up there, well worth the effort!! Started to head down just as when the sun is about to set, it would have been good to stay there at sunset but we have no torch to guide us back down and the trail with rocks are tricky and slippery we dont want to end up as part of the trail down below...Quite knackered we had dinner at an all you can eat sushi place then said our bye to Nicole she leaves the next day for the garden route, then we are off to bed. Apparently Stu had to nudge me during the night as my snoring was quite loud, I was so exhausted i slept like a baby did not even remember being woken up due to my snoring...

Did the South African museum and Planetarium with Mark, the museum has good collections of fossils taken from different areas of South Africa, quite impressive! And we learned a lot about Paleantology, also they have collections of rock paintings taken from site to protect it from vandalism and destruction from development. We also went to see a constellation show at the Planetarium, not really my cup of tea and fell asleep the whole way through, apart from the time Mark nudge me to see the difference between the real and the fake Southern cross. The African mammals section was closed because apparently someone tried to steal a rhino horn from the exhibit, through the taped area you can see a hole on the glass enclosing housing the rhino exhibit and broken glass on the floor, the rhino exhibit is fake! how stupid can these robbers be!!!!desperate times i guess....had lunch again at the noodlebosch, i ordered some teriyaki beef thing large and some sushi, Mark could not believe i can eat that much, he helped me a bit but i finished most of it myself. Back to the hostel and chilled out for a bit.

Word got out that the cable car is operating at the Table mountain so we made our way there, took the taxi from the hostel and took the cable car, the lift is weather dependednt and have to take advantage when it is working. At the top Chrissy and Jo prepared themselves for their abseiling which I decided to skip at the last minute and did not hear the end of it from the 2 girls. I walked around for a bit at the top then went back to see the girls abseil, we met up with Brian, Helen, Zoe and Jen, took a long time for the girls to abseil , turns out the girl who went before them got her hair stuck and has to be rescued. All good though after they set her free. Got off the mountaine with Mark and Helen we decided to walk our way down as the taxi drivers are quoting us horrendous prices just to get down to the center of town, we had lunch at the Naked Restaurant then we tried to get to couple of museums but they are closed. We decided to head back to the hostel instead. That night some of us went to an all you can eat sushi place on the other side of town, for 99 dibdobs it was fabulous, better selection, lots of sashimis and service was good! I was so stuffed i could not sleep for hours as i am too full and my tummy hurts!

Touristy things today, we hopped on the blue route of the sightseeing bus tour, with Jo and Mark we got off at Kirstenbosch Garden, lots of plants really huge area. Then got off at Hout bay to have lunch and had one of the best seafood meal here in SA, I had oysters and prawns, well worth the cost. We finished the blue route tour and headed back to hostel, we contemplated on watching Rambo but is running out of time, we have to be back by 7pm for the Braai at the hostel and to meet the other people joining us here in CT.
The braai was good, lots of food and chatted with the newbies, Helen,Trudi, Harriet, Andy, Jack, Craig, and Chris. Lots of young people 3 are teenagers!! We leave CT tomorrow to make our way to Stellenbosch...

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Photos

CAPE TOWN
ME, WATERFRONT PHOTO COURTESY OF BRIAN

CAPE TOWN
WATERFRONT, ME AND MARK

CAPE TOWN
ME AND JASMIN, CARNAVAL COURT HOSTEL

CAPE TOWN
CARNAVAL COURT, THE BOYS

CAPE TOWN
TRAIN TO SIMONSTAD

CAPE TOWN
SIMONSTAD

CAPE TOWN
ON TOP OF LION'S HEAD

CAPE TOWN
SIMONSTAD BEACH, ME

CAPE TOWN
SIMONSTAD BEACH

CAPE TOWN
ME ON TOP OF LION'S HEAD

CAPE TOWN
ME AT SA MUSEUM

CAPE TOWN
SIMONSTAD PENGUIN COLONY

Comments

[Jonathan Lumb]

Capetown...
So... you didn't meet up with Charles in capetown then? I enjoy checking up on your blog from time to time - the photos are great and its nice to read what you are getting up to. Keep the posts coming, I read every one of them! :-) Jonny

[Myloes]

I miss my country.
I remember we would qo there to those little houses, change our cloths put our swim suits on -nobody cared wheather you look fate or cute in you bathing suit just GO IN THA BEACH and we would have the funnesttt times ever. Lord why did i move to america.? I feel like crying me eyes out.-memories.