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We finally arrived in Cape Town at lunchtime on March 15th. After so long on the bus every one was excited to be there, and though I've loved (almost) every minute of the trip so far 42 days is a long time to be camping and living on beans and carrots, so the city was a welcome change. The city is amazing- completely dominated by the moutnain. You forget it's there, and then every now and then you glance up and are surprised to see it. The first afternoon we spent exploring the city and shopping, before a big last group meal at Panama Jacks, then a night out on Long Street. The next morning we planned to climb Table Mountain, but the wind was too strong and the mountain shrouded in clouds (even when the entire sky is clear, the mountain can be completely covered by the 'tablecloth' and the winds almost knock you off your feet). So instead a few of the girls headed off to the Waterfront, to some nice shops and a nice lunch, then we met up with someone we'd met on another tour further north and headed out to a nice cocktail bar. The third day was calmer and clearer, so we headed to the mountain, and found a reasonably difficult trail which took us a couple of hours to complete. After six weeks just sitting on a bus it felt good to be getting some exercise, and although the walk was quite hard it was worth it for the views on the way up. The mountain is quite strange- it's very odd to be hiking, then turn around and see this huge city behind you. The views from the top were incredible, of the city and the sea behind it. After lunch on the summit we took the cable car down. That night we headed off to Camps Bay, one of the nicer areas of town to watch the sun go down over the ocean at a beach bar there. The next day Becky and I, along with someone from our tour and another guy we met in the hostel drove out to the Stellenbosch wine region. We drove there the long way round, doing the incredible Chapman's Point drive, visiting Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope and then heading through Simon's Town and the pengiun colony at Boulders (where we saw a penguin giving birth!) We did a couple of wine tastings that night, and the next day went on to Franschoek, in the next valley- which had even more beautiful scenery than Stellenbosch. The whole place is surrounded by rolling hills, and the vinyards stretch out as far as you can see. We bought a bottle of wine from one of the tastings, and had a picnic lunch of salami, cheese and french bread in a beautiful little picnic spot we found. Back in Cape Town we had a big braii at the hostel, with a group of people we'd met there. The next day Becky and I went on a cycling tour around the wine regions, which was good fun and we got to do some cheese tastings as well (we were meant to do chocolate tastings but ran out of time, which I was not happy about!). Then, on the Friday (our last day in the city) we took a shuttle to Hermanus, where we went Shark Cage diving. We set off on the boat at about eleven, through very choppy waters. After waiting an hour or so we spotted our first shark, and we spent another hour or so viewing them from the boat- chasing after the bait the guys were throwing in, and occasionally jumping out of the water. Then it was our turn to get in the cage (which we did extremely reluctantly- not because of the sharks but because of just how cold the water is!). Dressed in the thickest wetsuit I've ever seen we climbed in, and waited in the water until they shouted 'go down', meaning there was a shark nearby. We were in the water about thirty minutes, and saw about five-six sharks- the biggest one was about 5ft long. They're not scary though- underwater they seem to move so slowly, and are incredibly graceful. It was a wonderful experience, although we were all very glad to get to the shore for hot drinks and soup after several hours out at sea. Tomorrow we are leaving Cape Town, and heading off up the Garden Route.
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