It’s time to move on again...this time the flight is domestic and not international. Jo’burg to Cape Town. Brian took me to the airport and on our journey there is evidence of the country getting ready for 2010 – this is when the World Cup Football will be held in South Africa. There is a new high rise railway being built between Jo’burg and Pretoria, what i mean by high is that the place where we went under the motorway there were big columns on which the railway is to be built, they were at least twice the height of the columns for the motorway bridge... Also there is much construction work happening to roads, and of course the terminal.
We were early for the flight, but after 20 mins the flight was listed and i could get booked in and go for a coffee. The flight was at 12, and a couple of hours later i was landing in Cape Town. Again, my fortune with my bags and they were in the first few off, so again i was quickly out, and there was my aunt (great to get a hug from family) and her friend Gilly. Here also was major construction for 2010.
Dinner was out at a vineyard restaurant in Constantia, which is South Africa’s oldest and most enduring vineyard region, Groot Constantia, which is south of Cape Town and round the back of Table Mountain. We had a stroll around the classic gabled, white washed Cape Dutch buildings, and admiring the architecture, when we were joined by some baboons, who had come down from the mountains. We decided to keep out of their way and go for dinner. Most excellent repast and a nice bottle of red to help as well.
Tuesday dawned not quite as warm, but warm enough, so we went for a walk along Muzienburg beach, which is in False Bay. The sun was shining, and walking along the beach there were multicoloured beach huts as well. Muzienburg is a place for surfers, although not many out today. Then it was off for lunch at the next village along Kalk Bay, a fishing port, where the boats were coming in to sell their catches – tuna, crayfish... Lunch of course was fish and chips for Gilly and I, but Aunty Cathy decided to have the fish platter – a meal for 2... – king prawns, calamari, cob, crayfish (looked more like a small lobster to me), mussels. Well, i tried the calamari, i wouldn’t rave about it, but i didn’t dislike it either. The Prawns and Crayfish were great. We walked along the harbour to see what the boats were bringing in, they were not big trawler boats, but 1 boat had 37 boxes of the big crayfish. Then back to Gilly’s. Cathy flight was this evening, so time to get back and finish packing, but not before a quick dip in the pool.
Wednesday, Gilly had a couple of clients to see, but mid afternoon we went for a walk in the woods (or slight climb) as we went up the mountains (well part way up), that are part of the range that Table Mountain was part of. We could see Bishops Court – the Bishop’s Palace is there as well as a few other exclusive properties. We could also see Muzienburg, Constantia, Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens. The view across False Bay was slightly hampered by the clouds so didn’t realise the size of it. It is called False Bay, as long ago ships came into here thinking that it was Cape Town Bay. The plan was for me to catch the Baz Bus (a hop on/off shuttle that calls at Backpackers) and see some of the Garden Route which is East of Cape Town (but known as the Western Cape). So i needed to plan where to go and what to see. Decisions, decisions.
Thursday was slightly cloudy, so in the afternoon Gilly and I went for a drive around to Cape Town and then to go on around the coast road. When we got around to Cape Town and the mountain, the sun was shining and not a cloud in the sky, so we changed plans and opted to go up Table Mountain by Cable Car. This is a quick 3 minute trip, but the cable car turns 360 degrees so you get a full view going up to the top at 1.073m. Having taken our jumpers, as we thought it might be windy, we discovered that we didn’t need them as it was so warm, and not a cloud to be seen. We soon spotted one of the locals a “dassie”. We did the longer stroll around the Table top, looking out over the amazing views and reading up on the history and facts that were there. As we walked around we could see Muzienburg and the clouds moving in and away over the town. We got back towards the cable car and watched the huge tanker ships going along the coast, whilst the sun was starting to set. So back down in the cable car, and followed the coast road to Llandudno and back through Constantia. I had finally sorted out a vague plan for the Baz Bus trip, but only need to plan 1 stop at a time, and book my seat. This meant an early leave Friday morning, and only take my two small rucksacks with stuff i would need!!!
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