E African Adventure begins

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Our South African adventure started with a 14 hour flight to Johannesburg from Sydney. We managed to be seated together in a centre row of 4 which made the "up close and personal" not so awkward 😊 Through customs at J'Burg before our next flight to Cape Town.....by the time we got to our apartment we'd essentially been awake for 26 hours....feeling shattered But excited to be here.

Day 1: picked up at 8am by Super (he was Africaan) for a half day city tour including a trip up to Table Mountain. A combination of 3 things=Sunday, beautiful weather and the last day the cable car was running for 5 weeks due to winter maintenance caused the queues to be horrendous...but it was worth the wait!!!! The views were spectacular. Super was a font of information (perhaps a little too much at times) but we saw most of the important sights. Our last stop was a diamond shop where we relearnt about the 3 Cs cut, colour and clarity. There were some magnificent stones but none of us were tempted to buy. We had a late lunch and a wander around the V & A Waterfront precinct. It's a secure area...you have to swipe in and out and there are CCTV cameras and security guards everywhere. Back to the apartment for a couple of beverages before heading back to Waterfront for a lovely seafood dinner - an early night to see whether we can get our bodies back into some sort of normal rhythm.

Day 2: 8am another early pickup, this time by Philip (a white Africaan) for a tour of the Western Cape, the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point. We thought we'd be on the most southery point in Sth Africa but that is another cape on the other side of the bay from where we were. BUT we were at the point where the Indian & Atlantic Oceans meet. Unfortunately the line we were expecting to see doesn't exist 😊 Funny about that!!!! We saw some small antelope, ostriches, dassies, baboons, penguins and seals today. We had lunch at a restaurant at Cape Point and I had an ostrich burger...not much different to a beef burger really. While we were there a flock of opportunistic red wing starlings swooped onto our plates to get anything they could to eat. If they're weren't doing that - they were pooping on everything. Most of the 8 people on our tour copped at least one dose of poop 😞 We ended the tour at the botanical gardens which were lovely but we were all exhausted and probably didn't do them justice. Dinner was at the Waterfront again - this time we did Italian...not bad.

Day 3: Our plan was to hire a car and drive ourselves around the wine region - minor problems getting a car though. We couldn't book one on the internet, then we tried calling direct but were told to call a toll free number (but using an international sim in your phone doesn't make that too easy) THEN after huge assistance from the apartment manager, he took the boys to Avis, organised the car BUT they didn't have there passports....bugger. Instead of taking off at 9am we managed to get away by 11am. We woke up to wind and rain after two spectacular days....but we were well prepared. Brian drove so that Pete could wine taste!!!!! Lucky Pete. First winery was called Fairview at Franshhoek where Pete tasted some lovely wines while we managed to taste ALL their delicious cheeses. Then we drove to Stellenbosch (the French wine area) for lunch and then we managed to fit in another tasting at Neethlingshof before racing back to get the car to the depot before they closed. We're being picked up at 5am tomorrow for a flight to J'Burg and another flight to Livingstone where we'll be staying a the Royal Livingstone for 4 nights......

More later

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Photos

The cable car -
There are only 2 but they hold 65 people and the floor rotates so that everyone can see the views

Comments

[Maureen & Richard Allen]

Hope you're over your jet lag by now - you've certainly had a busy start to your holiday - sounds great - look forward to your next posting