I’ve been out and about all week. On Monday my week started picking up David from the airport. He has been out for a few days to visit me and see some of the sights. First off then, since it was a pretty clear day, was to the top of Table Mountain. We walked all the way over to the other side of the mountain where there is a beacon used to do triangulation on. It was a two hour round trip during which we got sunburnt and dehydrated. Well done us.
The next day was spent going around the penisula. We had lunch and saw the penguins first, followed by a wander around Kalk Bay and a visit to the Waterfront. David’s proudest photo is him with a penguin, so I reproduce it.
Wednesday we went around the district six museum. A suburb of Cape Town that was destroyed in the 60s and 70s by the aparteid government. It was once a vibrant community of mixed race and language and was literally flattened. We spent over two hours in the museum - marked down as a must do in many guidebooks - and I can only report morbid fascination. In the afternoon we went to wine tastings in Spier and at Waterford (the latter did chocolate and wine tastings, very good :-) In the evening we headed back to Spier to have dinner at Moyo. A fun evening complete with face painting, dancers, music and unlimited african food.
On Thursday we drove out of Stellenbosch and into the Little Karoo. First of all we had lunch en-route in Franschhoek. The Little Karoo is an area that ispretty arid. The area gets little rainfall as it is behind ranges of mountains away from the sea. We stayed at Warmwaterberg Spa, a lovely little place with three pools: cold, warm and hot (43 degrees!). Lauren from my course hosted us for the two nights we stayed there. We spent quite a while trying to become prunes in the various pools but we made it to Oudtshoorn to experience the Cango Caves and riding Ostriches. We went on the adventure tour of the caves - basically a quick introduction to squeezing through small holes and climbing up very small ‘chimneys’. I’m not claustrophobic but these were small spaces that we had to squeeze into and through - all the trickier with long legs.
We travelled back today. It was incredibly hot on the way back - in a little car without air-con. The relief on the other side of the mountains (the side with the fresh sea-air) is indescribable. This evening took us out for a lovely meal at a Stellenbosch winery and now I’m sitting with David who is clearly wanting to go to bed so we can all get some sleep before going to the airport in only a few hours time.
Soon I will be flying on a plane myself and regretting not relishing the ridiculous temperatures of the Karoo :-)