Think of this as a long postcard! We've just come back from Cape Town and thought that you might like to hear a bit about it. We took an overnight flight and arrived at 08:00 the next day - there is no jetlag because the time difference is only 1 hour (your just fly down the Earth rather than across it). Get to the Baggage re-claim area and I see a sign saying "No Smoking" - nothing unusual there but next to it was another saying "No Firearms". Hmmm, interesting.
Cape Town itself is beautiful and we had brilliant weather virtually the whole time we were there. Looking for something to do we visit the Tourist Info Centre on the Victoria and Albert Waterfront. The young girl was very helpful. I noticed a leaflet for trips to Robben Island (more of this later) and was reading it when I noticed the phrase "Robben Island is a gun free zone". Hmmm, intersting.
On the first night we went to the V&A waterfornt and selected "Quay 4" as somewhere to eat. On the way in, the security guard ran a metal detector over us to check for - you've guessed it - guns. Hmmm, interesting.
I got talking to the chap and he said that it's not really dangerous (compared to say Johannesburg) but it pays to be careful. Fair enough, then he tells me that some restaurants in Jo'burg have Cloak Rooms for coats and a special room for guns to be handed in (the Armoury I'd call it). We opt for a taxi back to the Guesthouse even though it was only about 1/4 mile away. Better safe than sorry.
Anyway, prices are really cheap. I always use my "Steak and Chips" currency convertor - find out the price of "Steak and Chips" and it will give you a good indication of relative costs. Well, a "ladies" portion (consisting of a mere 12oz steak) was R32, a standard protion (16oz steak) was R38 and a Texan (32oz Steak) was R65. There are R10 to the pound!
We mostly stayed at guesthouses on a B+B basis and the room was typically R125-200 pppn. The standard of accommodation was very high. We decided to drive along the "Garden Route" - along the "base" of Africa to a Place called Plettenberg Bay and then back to Cape Town for the flight home. By the way, petrol is R3.7/litre.
Anyway, we started the journey by going through the Cape Winelands - stopping at Stellenbosch and Franschoek (French Corner). The countryside reminded me of the Cotes du Rhone or Borgogne areas of France. Of course we sampled the wines. One winery (Spier) in Stellenbosch has a Cheetah Sanctuary within it and you can get in the enclosure with them. I went in and took Wendy with me (even though she didn't want to go). We got to kneel right next to them, have a photo taken, stroke them, etc. Afterwards Wendy was really pleased that she went in with me. Were we being brave? Not really, Cheetahs are non-aggressive (unless attacked) and can't climb trees! Oh, you can actually hire these cheetahs for your birthday party, wedding, barmitzvah, etc.
One of the things they do in the winelands is the September/October Wine Challenge. Basically, they select 100 or so of the best restaurants and send them free cases of wine. The deal is that the chef has to come up with a dinner that goes with the wines. Consequently, you can find a complete dinner for very little. For example, a two course Wine Challenge dinner costs R60-100 and the three course version R100-130. Remember that this includes a different wine with each course! Wendy had one with a quail starter, and a smoked duck main course. She went for the two course version simply because the portions in restaurants are large!
We stayed on an Ostrich Farm, which included a tour of the farm and hatching your own ostrich - you need a hammer to break through the shell and then you carefully take the "baby" out because it's weak and can't lift it's head up. That night we ate one for dinner! Actually, I've had it before and it tastes virtually identically to beef but perhaps slightly drier because it has much less fat. The owner of the farm makes his own wine, brandy and schnapps (called "witblitz" or lightening) - you paid for the wine (R40/bottle) but the brandy and witblitz was free. Bit of a bad head the next day!
We continued down the Garden Route and eventually reached Plettenberg Bay. It is beautiful and has a mile-long walking beach with no-one on it. Wendy was wandering down it whilst I was reading a book. For some reason I suddenly looked up and there in front of me about 50ft away and only 30-40 foot of the ground was a small plane! He was taking his passengers for a "walk" along the beach. Oh, at this part of the coast it's common to see whales off shore.
We drove back to Cape Town and explored the whole peninsular - eventually reaching Cape Point itself. This was the only day we had bad weather and it was blowing a gale. I can see why Bartholomu Diaz named it the "Cape of Storms" when he landed here in 1488. He told the King of Portugal about it on his return, but the King didn't like the name so he re-named it Cape of Good Hope. Bit of history there for you. The whole of the Cape Point is a nature reserve and is chiefly inhabited by Gibbons. They were everywhere!
We took a trip out to Robben Island - it's main claim to fame is as a maximum security prison and housed prisoner number 221141011 there for 19 of his 27 years behind bars. You would know him better as Dr. Nelson Mandela. All the guides are ex-political prisoners now released after the end of apartheid. The picture below was taken from Robben Island and looks over to Cape Town. The shipwreck is a tiawanese fishing trawler that ran aground in 1977.
Back in Cape Town we went up Table Mountain on the Cable Car - fantastic views as long as the cloud stays away. The cloud is known locally as the tablecloth. You can see the whole of the peninsular as far as Cape Point itself from the top. The animal below is a Rock Dassie and lives on the mountain. It's just under a foor long. They seem to have "magnetic" feet since they jump from precipice to precipice and just seem to stick as they land.
We also took a helicopter ride over the peninsular on our last-but-one day. This for me was the highlight of the trip - the pilot took us over to a place called Hout Bay and then flew along the shoreline about 30 feet above the water. I was sitting in the front and it feels like your going really fast because we were so low. He then flew us over the Constantia wine region before approaching Table Mountain from the back.
We slowly drifted up the back of the mountain until we reached the top. Again we were only 30ft or so of the ground when the pilot pointed the helicopter at the edge and began to accelerate ... it felt like you were running off the cliff. Closer and closer the edge came until suddenly we were over it and the whole of Cape Town lay before us 1000ft below. It was amazing because with no reference point to check your speed it felt like you had just run off the top and stopped suddenly in mid-air. Absolutely brilliant. The photo below is from the cock-pit.
Everywhere we went the people were so friendly. What was interesting is that there were a lot of "school trips", primary, secondary pupils having a tour of the country during the break. What's unusual about that? To me it was a direct display of the end of aparthied - remember that only 10 years ago these kids would not be allowed to leave their "homelands" - now they can wander freely anywhere they want to. They also burst into song at any opportunity - no musical instruments, just their voices and beatiful harmony. Possibly the best MOBO sounds you will ever hear.
Finally, a bit of techno-babble. I bought a web camera recently (I'm trying to encourage my brother to get one but he's not playing yet). Anyway, the one I bought can be detached from the computer and used as a low-resolution digital camera. All the photos in this letter were taken with it - it's obviously not as good as a film and scanner or a high quality digital camera but it's fun. Oh, it has a built in microphone so you can hear the picture as well as see it!
