These are mostly Jessica's words instead of mine with some of my comments. Sorry she is helping me write until I get caught up...
from there on it was on to the african coastal life, wild beaches and roaming animals. real sheppard's in the countryside attending to their sheep. in jefferys bay we a glimpse and a few photos of an amazing FULL double rainbow. one side beginning in the atlantic and the other ending in the indian ocean. quite special indeed! spent a few days driving to cape town and surfed a bit along the way. our unlucky friends managed to stung by a blue bottle ie; portuguese man o war, jelly fish. this is where i learned the next best thing to vinegar is to wee on a jelly fish sting... hhhmmm. who knew?
cape town is fantastic. not to much else to say there. a visit to robben island taught us more about the extended history of the island and focus minimally on the recent history of nelson mandela and his counterparts that spent upwards of 17 years here. some of the former political prisoners still live on the island and work as the tour operators unfortunately they have refinished all the buildings that harbored the prisoners and you are not allowed to walk around the island independently, you must be on a tour. -(This is Michael) For me Robbin Island was a huge disappointment, after all there is no more famous person in Africa and much of the world then Nelson Mandela and we really di dnot get to learn much about his life. I am not sure the reason for our weak on substance tour but my suggestion to SA is to let the world know more of Mandela's story once they enter the country.
Michael again-check the amazing sunset photos we took in Gordons bay!!! I love the sunsets.
the next few days near the cape we visited boulders beach, home to thousands of penguins,(Michael again-I tried to pet a penguin and in case you did not know they bit-ouch!) drove around the cape and many of its lovely beaches. spent an afternoon hiking table mountain. that story i will not even go into considering the hiking route suggestion came from a local south african, who recommended the hike after declaring 'we looked fit'. i will abbreviate -
trail head warning. dangerous. experienced only.
mid trail. michael "where is the trail boot print now"?, jessica "up there on that rock face".
trail end. warning sign reads. NOT AN EASY WAY DOWN.
--Michael---It was not that bad, really??!!! Ok, more then I had expected but Jessica was a major trooper and made it through, she is tough if not stubborn!! But we got to see the cable car overhead and make all the people feel jealous, right?
off to teiteis bay. and yes it is pronounced tittys or titties or whatever. would have been nice had we made it there, but having pulled of the side of the road near the ocean to look for a camp site, we got stuck in the sand. as the setting sun dipped behind the rocks we dug furiously with our little spoons and our -plastic bowls, but to no avail. luckily there was a nearby camp and a very sweet couple who hopped to our rescue-named Martin and Mercia(she kept yelling at Martin because he kept going before we were ready-I think that is why the rope kept busting). after busting a few rope and about 2.5 hours later our new friend martin decided just to drag our little car out of the sand... and viola!(Jessica did not mention he dragged it twice because after he got us out the first time she backed the car into sand again...oops) we were on our way back their camp ground to spend the rest of the night. the stars were amazing and in the morning we were treated to a visit from the local mongoose as well as a breathtaking view of the little bay.
This pretty much ended our trip in South Africa although now that we have kept the car we are returning it to Joberg. We have beat the hell out of our little Toyota Yaris since entering Namibia and are actually turning it in for another car but that is for the Namibia story....keep reading...
