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Day 58 - South Africa - Cape Town, Wine Tasting, Whales, Beaches and Sunshine!
Hello from Jeffrey's bay! We've been on the move lots since our last entry and only have one day left in Africa.
We flew to Cape Town from Livingstone, possibly one of the smallest airports ever - we had checked in and gone through security in about 2 mins!! We arrived in Cape Town in the evening and went straight to our first hostel which was interesting (just a bit dodgy really!!) so moved on after a couple of days to a much nicer place.
We spent a week in Cape Town trying to see all the sights. Unfortunately we found it really difficult to get around without a car, even though it isn't that big. We had a few encounters with the public transport including a rush hour train back to the city where we got wedged in by many (large bottomed) local women!! We didn't manage to get up table mountain as the cableway was shut all week due to the wind, which was disappointing. We did however get out to Boulders Beach to see the african penguins, which were very sweet but smelly!
We have spent the last week making our way east along the coast and the garden route, which is very beautiful. We spent 2 days in Stellenbosch, a very pretty old town with lots of oak trees, surrounded by mountains and more importantly... vineyards!! We did a great wine 'tasting' (i.e. drinking) tour and sampled at least 20 local wines, neither of us could taste the supposed 'coffee' or 'strawberries and cream' aromas - mainly just wine - but it was very nice!
In Hermanus we spotted whales from the beach, 'doing flips' as john robbins calls it - technical term for breeching! Our hostel there had a jacuzzi on the deck, which was great in the evening rain with the mountains in the background.
In Mossel Bay we stayed in a great hostel with very freindly owners who did a braai (bbq) for us. They even had 3 dogs so Louise was right at home! We went sandboarding on the dragon's dune, which was a fun 350m way down but really hard work climbing back up. We missed the ski lifts!!
We had a couple more stops by the beach along the way before stopping at Tsitsikamma national park, which is a beautiful forest and mountainous area. We did a trek through the forest and got absolutely soaked in the first heavy rain we've seen for weeks. We were so wet by the time we got back the owners of the hostel offered to wash and dry our clothes!
We've now got one more day left in Africa before flying to Perth on Monday. We're sad to leave Africa but are excited about the next part of the trip. Time is going so quickly, we can't believe we have been away for 2 months!
Thanks for the messages, we really like reading them. We should be able to upload our photos in the next week. Australia here we come!!
Lots of love, Louise and John xxx
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