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So. Our first week has passed! What an amazing first week. We've spent most of the time driving and sight seeing around the Cape Of Good Hope near Simons Town, which is South of Cape Town. The area that surrounds Jame's aunts house is beautiful - you can see the sea from their terrace - a view that never grows old! :)
With made our second attempt today to climb table mountain (it was too windy the first time we tried so it was closed!) but today it was open - yippee! We got the cable car to the top - it was far too hot to walk! .. When we got to the top it was literally breath taking. I walked around for about an hour with James - standing on different rocks and just enjoying a 360 degree view of Cape Town and it's surrounding districts! I am glad that we got a second chance to go up the mountain as it was an amazing trip! There wasn't a cloud in the sky and it was just beautiful. I would recommend it to any one coming to Cape Town!
From a trip on land to a trip on the sea, we took a guided boat tour on Saturday (a speed boat named Awesome) to Seal Island. Seal Island is home to 74000 cape fur seals and 24 bird species; it is also the hunting ground for great white sharks and our guide informed us that on a good day there can be up to 60 great whites patrolling the island waiting to eat a seal! Luckily - we are out of season so there were no sharks for us to see; to be honest I was a little pleased about that!
When we visited Cape Town we drove to the V and A water front (interestingly Victoria and Alfred not Albert!) - here there was a shopping centre, a ferris wheel and some restaurants overlooking the harbour. There was also a craft market where I brought a hat as I stupidly left mine at home and an aquarium. We decided to visit the aquarium as to get a break from the sun. I enjoyed looking at all the different fish of the 2 oceans - and some from the rest of the world!
While in Cape Town I also managed to track down a nandos - well seeing as South Africa is the home of nandos it would have been rude not too! Unfortunately we had already eaten on Table Top so we didn't stay for food but I did have a quick nose inside and it looked pretty similar to home! :)
We have been staying close to Simons Town which is a maritime naval town home to the African penguins. The penguins reside in a place called Boulders bay and we went to visit them on their home at the beach. We were able to go into the water in the bay but unfortunately there were none swimming - just a few lazing on the the rocks. It was amazing to be able to get so close to these animals! I love penguins :)
After Boulders we carried on south towards The Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point. The Cape of Good Hope holds some of the freshest air in the world and is Africa's most south westerly point. While in the reserve we saw wild baboons and ostriches! We had to be careful not to get too close to them but did manage some photos!
We arrived at cape point and caught the funicular 238meters above the ocean to the old lighthouse where could admire the most breath taking panoramic views.
Among these fantastic sights we also managed to drive to Chapmans Peak where the wind managed to catch the maps that we had borrowed and send one over the edge into Hout Bay! Luckily we didn't need that one! It was a long and windy 9km route to the top of Chapmans peak and I was surprised to see so many cyclists and joggers attempting this vast hill to the top!
We have visited many pretty beaches on the peninsula - these include the beaches of Muizenberg and Fish Hoek.
Muizenberg is a 36km stretch of beach and has a series of coloured houses stretching along its sand (you'll see in my photos soon!) We visited on a Sunday so both of the beaches were very busy but we still had a good walk up and down them both!
On our journey home from Chapman's peak we drove to the east of the peninsula and visited a pretty beach called Scarborough (home from home!) - here unfortunately the winds were too high to fully enjoy the beach here.
This is just a brief summary of what I have seen and done in the last week! I've gotten to know the area well and would recommend people to visit!
We leave South Africa tomorrow on Qatar Airways to Doha, where we have a small stop over before carrying onto Bangkok. We will spend 5 weeks in Thailand and Laos - at the moment the weather isn't looking too good but I'm hopeful that it will get a bit better! Will pop my photos up from South Africa when I get a chance! :)
Will blog again soon!
Sabrina
Xxx
- comments
Sam Very detailed blog....lol looking forward to seeing pictures of Table Mountain...enjoy your next flight later today! xx
Mat Two clear themes emerge from your blog- mountain tops and your apparent love of animals. A very detailed, yet informative blog. Whilst hearing about your exploits I also feel like I just learnt a few things!!! Safe trip to Thailand!! M