Cape Town

Tuesday 29th December 2015 – After a leisurely breakfast we walk to the waterfront and follow the coastline west past Three Anchor Bay and Bantry Bay (neither good for swimming due to the abundance of kelp and rocks) to Clifton Beach. The weather is hot and when we get to the beach we dump our things under an umbrella and head straight for the sea to cool off, although we get more than we bargain for as the water turns out to be a rather bracing 11 degrees Celsius! On the way back from the beach, while looking lost a woman recommends visiting Kloof, the area just past Long Street. I check it out while Alysa is blogging and we have a delicious Italian meal there in the evening. Our hostel is the only place I’ve ever been that hands out free earplugs on arrival. Thanks to the impressive sound system installed in the bar opposite it also has the distinction of being the noisiest place I’ve ever stayed.

Wednesday 30th December 2015 – By 9am we are walking from our hostel up Table Mountain. We pick up a little food and several litres of drink and gradually make our way up the stony path, while the sun beats down upon us. As we ascend red winged starlings swoop and play around us. We reach the top, sweaty and triumphant in the early afternoon and after cooling in the shade snap panoramas until the camera flatlines from exhaustion. To Alysa’s delight, while we are queuing for the cable car a rock hyrax makes a brief appearance. Bar opposite winds down about 3am.

Thursday 31st December 2015 – We board the open-topped red double deckers that follow sightseeing routes of the city. Earphones plunged into our lugholes we learn a little of Cape Town and its history, ranging from the whimsical (how to wind up a Cape Town local by enquiring when they are going to build a hotel on Table Mountain) to the more sobering tale of District 6 which was razed and the residents forcibly removed in the Apartheid era to make Cape Town a whites-only city. In the evening we see in the New Year with fireworks at the waterfront and then return to Long Street to dance into the early hours.

Friday 1st January 2016 – We try to take a boat trip to Robben Island but they are fully booked until the 4th Jan. Instead we go shopping and get a new daypack to replace the current one whose growing hole is threatening to start leaking our possessions onto the pavement. We also buy a Tshirt and shorts for Alysa and another sunglasses cord for me although ironically I leave my sunglasses in the shop and have to retrieve them later. Bar opposite starting the new year in style.
A little jewel from Alysa while we have been on our travels 🙂
Alysa, on spotting an ostrich as we’re driving through Namibia: Look, look, an emu!