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Helen's Travels
Hey Guys!
You'll be glad to know that I've arrived in Cape Town! After leaving snowy Manchester I'm pleased to say that it's boiling over here! Cape Town is an absolutely amazing place, there's so much to see and do!
I've managed to fit quite a bit in, last Saturday I went on a township tour and learnt all about the apartheid - when whites, blacks and coloureds were separated. It was really eye opening and depressing to see people live in horrible conditions, but at the same time suprising how happy everyone looked. After that I went to the famous Robben Island - or not so famous for those that don't know that it's where Nelson Mandella was kept as a poitical prisonner! I did the touristy thing and stood outside his cell - it was miniscule, probably could only just lie down fully!
On Sunday I went on a tour to the Cape Penninsula, which was beautiful, we did a 9km bike ride on an old bike with very interesting brakes, spent a while on the beach and walked up to the lighthouse on Cape Point. The view from there was immense. After that we walked from Cape Point to Cape of Good Hope - the most south westerly point of Africa.
My next main adventure was climbing Table Mountain.....a guy from my hostel said he'd drive me there and climb it with me, which to me seemed like a good idea at the start! However once we started the gorge walk, I began to realise that his height advantage of over a foot was a serious downfall on my behalf! It was a boiling day, a hard climb and I was knackered! We made it in a hour 20 mins - pretty good going really - everyone else I've spoken to took at least 2 hours, but to be honest I would have prefered to take that long! Once at the top we had a good look round, with amazing views all over Cape Town, then decided to abseil back down. Table Moutain is the biggest commercial abseil - 112m. The start wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, and to be honest it was great fun until I got to the 'suprise' that the guys at the top were chatting about....the cliff face just fell away and you were left hanging! After getting over period of 'what the heck do i do now?!', that bit was actually pretty cool because it meant that you could swing around and see the entire view. All in all it was great fun until I realised that I had to walk back up Table Mountain for another 30mins, an even harder walk with actual climbing on all fours involved! Back up at the top we took the sensible option and got the cable car down!
Yesterday a group of us went on a wine tour to Stellenbosch - we went to three estates and tried 16 wines! It was great fun, and I'd love to say that I learnt a lot...but I cant! All I've learnt is that I like cheap wine - I think I was a student for too long!
Well I think that's almost up to date, obviously I've been going out at night for meals, drinks etc and it's been good fun. Today is my last day in Cape Town before I start moving up the Garden Route and finally to Joburg with my first stop being Hermanus.
I'll try to keep this little bit of cyberspace update as much as I can for those that are interested and I'll try to upload some pictures at some point!
Hope you're all well and keep in touch!
Love Helen xx
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