Although we were a bit worried about flying with Egypt Air, the flight down to Cape Town went very well. We were greeted at the airport by my uncle (Grant - yes this is Simon writing this piece) and soon after arrived at their amazing house in Constantia. After 2 weeks on the road this was bliss so most of the next week was spent relaxing, swimming, enjoying the sun and going to beaches.
Christmas day was spent with the relies and their extended family. It was great to be back to the summer Christmas Day, with cricket, plenty of wine and beer and of course more time in the pool. Grant put on a great act as Santa Claus and we all ate and drank way too much. New Years was also great with a party of about 60 people at my Uncle and Auties place.
Since Christmas we have kept up the relaxing regime and also started ticking off the touristy sites. Cape Town is a great city with heaps to do and great beaches. The weather has also been great with most days either at the beach or swimming in the pool. Here are some of the highlights from the Cape Town area:
- Days out in Stellenbosh and Franshhoek wine areas (yes the days after were very slow)
- Numerous beach visits and coastal drives
- Cape Point - walking trails and almost getting blown off the point
- Shopping (more one for Anneke than me)
- Walking up Table Mountain, this was possibly the hottest day of the summer so it was like a sauna and workout in one
- Elton John - fantastic show at the cricket ground
- Madame Zingara's - Dinner and a Cirque de Sol' type show in a big tent in town.
We also spent a week up in Hermanus (about 2 hours east of Cape Town on the coast) for a bit more R&R. As well as having great beaches this is normally the big whale watching place in South Africa. Unfortunatly for us we were out of season, but we did see a couple of (probably) lost whales while we were there. Fortunatly Hermanus is also close to the action for seeing Great White sharks and I spent a day out on a boat shark cage diving. This was an amazing day and we saw about 10 sharks in the day. It is quiet strange being down that close to the shark that you can touch them (and these were not small sharks). However, after that day I did tend to stick to the shallower water when I went swimming. Sorry also forgot to mention Anneke didn't quiet make it out that day. She said shopping was more of the type of excitment she was after.
The rest of our time at Hermanus was spent mainly at the beach, skiing behind the boat and also a bit of time out catching crayfish (yes they tasted great!!!). Kind of like your typical kiwi summer holiday.
Our final little trip around was up the famous Garden Route for 5 nights. We started the trip by driving up to Kynsna (about 5 hours from Cape Town). Our first day there the weather wasn't great, so we drove around the main sites and went up for a walk through the National park and around the old gold mines. Later on the sun came out so after a bit of time at the beach we went and sat out at the local oyster company to indulge.
The next day we moved up the coast toward Jefferys Bay. On the way we stopped off for a tree top tour (basically a set of flying fox's set up between the trees in a National Park). That was great fun and also a great way to see the park (including a few local monkeys and some Chameleons). After that we made our way to the famous surf spot of Jefferrys Bay. Unfortunatly Anneke spent most of the rest of the day in bed (one of the oysters from the night before had decided to put up a fight) and there was no surf. So all I could do was pretend what the surf should have been like and check out the local surf stores (which were very good). That night we also had one of South Africa's now famous power cuts, but luckily the local fish and chip shop had a deisel generator and I didn't have to rely on our stash of biscuits.
The next day after a bit of shopping (yes Anneke was feeling better) we headed back west to Plettenberg Bay. Again another spot with beatiful beaches, so more time at the beach, another power cut and fish and chips for dinner again.
Our final day on the Garden Route we got up early to spend some more time at the beaches before heading for Outdshoorn, the Ostrich capital of the world. The place kind of reminded me of Dannevirke (apart from the Ostiches it wasn't very exciting), so we decided to move on after the compusory purchase of a feather duster taking the scenic route through the Klein Karoo back to Hermanus.
Now it is all winding up before we go to central Africa and we are getting everything ready for the safari. It does seem to have gone far too quickly and I can't thank Grant and Nicky (Uncle and Auntie) enough for having us stay and helping us get around. We have had a great time here and look forward to the week we are back here before heading back to London.
Next step, Uganda. We are not sure on the quality of internet but we will try to update this soon.
