Cape Town

Hi All,

One last post from Africa.  I’m really not that keen to go back to Australia and to work on Tuesday. I could easily just take a few more weeks off and go up to Namibia.  I’ve met a few people who are doing two week trips from here in Cape Town up the coast of Namibia.  I think that will be my next trip to Africa.

Anyway, I’ve spent the last 4 days in Cape Town and it’s a great city. Unfortunately I didn’t get the best weather while here, as it is winter. All things considered, it could have been worse if it poured the whole time, but I had a lot of grey skies and clouds. So I didn’t quite get to do everything I wanted, but it was still good. Just means I’ll have to come back.

On Wednesday when I arrived the weather was wonderful.  Sunny and warm. Unfortunately I didn’t arrive until 2:45pm, so by the time I was checked into my hotel it was already 3:30-4. Not wanting to waste the afternoon though, I booked it down to the V&A waterfront, which is a tourist area with lots of restaurants and a mall. Table Mountain was visible, so I took the opportunity to take a bunch of photos, which was goof that I did, as Wednesday was one of the best days and I didn’t see table mountain from the city again until sunday. 

I met up with a friend who I used to work with in Sydney, and his wife, for dinner, which was fun. Nice to have some locals take you out. Originally they suggested steak and red wine, which I was fine with, but when they changed the booking to Mexican last minute I was happy - I’m a little meat-ted out. Too much rich food the last two weeks.  I think my stomach is going to kill me.

On Thursday I did a wine tour to Stellenbosch, which is one of two well known wine regions just about 45 minutes from Cape Town. It was a fun day, as wine tours usually are.....funny that days spent drinking wine are usually great days. We went to 5 wineries, and tasted soooo many wines. Everything was very good and my only real annoyance was the fact that I couldn’t buy anything. I enquired about shipping,  but it costs a fortune. And I’m not about to lug a case back in my luggage (although I did think about it given my luggage allowance....). The scenery was lovely, although it was a fairly cloudy day. Again, not complaining as it was warm-ish and could have poured rain all day.

Given I was doing a fairly technical hike up table mountain early Friday morning, I was somewhat responsible and made sure I drank a lot of water throughout the day. Speaking of water, as I’m sure you are aware Cape Town is undergoing a water crisis at the moment. Due to a few very dry winters back to back over the past three years, the water table is super low. Thankfully they have had lots of rain this winter, but they say it will take a few years to fully recover.  To be honest, as a tourist I didn’t notice it much. The main impact is in the bathroom.... flushing the toilet, washing my hands, showering, brushing my teeth, etc. Some simple measures have been put in to help conserve water - for example everyone is asked to take two minute showers. Rinse, turn off tap, lather, turn on tap, rinse, turn off tap. It’s actually ok, except for on hair washing days where it’s a bit of a race to stay close to 2 minutes. Similarly, the taps are all low water pressure and everywhere has hand sanitiser by the sinks instead of soap and they ask you to use that instead of the tap. I would imagine it would be tougher if you lived here - doing dishes, laundry, watering plants, etc. would have more of an impact. I’ve heard there are “water police” as well who monitor water usage and penalise those who are not following the rules.

Friday I had a hike booked up table mountain on a route called India Venster. It’s not safe to do the more complicated hikes up by yourself, so I had a guide and a couple other Aussies with me. The problem was that I had to book it in advance, before I had any idea what the weather would be like, so it was a bit of a gamble. I could have had torrential rain, or fog covering the entire route. So when I woke up that morning to see the city covered in fog, I was pretty bummed out. But, amazingly the fog was low sitting and as soon as we got to the starting point of the hike, we were above it. Which meant we got to see a spectacular sunrise and had a beautiful sunny hike up. Our guide, who had been hiking the mountain for decades said it was one of the most special mornings he had seen in a long time, which I believed given he was talking just as many pictures as us.  So, while I didn’t get the city and ocean views I was expecting, I did have a pretty beautiful view and perfect hiking conditions.

India Venster is one of the more challenging “tourist” routes up. There are other more complicated ones, but those are for more experienced mountaineers. I originally had enquired about a different route, but this was the only one being offered during my 4 days. So although it’s a bit more of a technical climb, with some steep heights and scrambling, I figured that I was up for it, given I have climbed legit mountains. It turned out to be a great route, and a lot of fun. Mostly pretty steep uphill for 3 hours, but there was some scrambling and complicated rock manoeuvres (at heights) so it was not for the unfit or those afraid of heights. Luckily I’m neither of those things, so I really enjoyed the scramble sections and the more technical parts. There is a cable car that 95% of people take up, so we took that back down, through the fog. The floor of the cable car spins, which is a cool idea. Gives everyone a 360 degree view.

To say I was shattered in the afternoon was an understatement. That, combined with the fog which was still covering the city meant I wasn’t feeling like doing much. I ventured out to a beach area called Camps Bay to watch the sunset, but there wasn’t much sunset to see with all the clouds. I’m still glad I went to see the beach though to see it and smell the salt water. So add that to the list of things I want to do again when I come back here.

To get around I took Ubers everywhere. I see there are some public buses (which look a lot like the Vancouver buses actually) however given that the Ubers are unbelievably, ridiculously cheap (and safe), I didn’t bother doing anything else. And by cheap, I mean cheap. Most rides I took around the city set me back a whole $2. $2! The 15 minute trip to Camps Beach, on a Friday afternoon, was $6. So it’s pretty nice having a private drivers pretty much everywhere.

Things in South Africa are cheap. Cape Town is probably more pricey than Joberg, but food and drink and transport and basic supplies are very affordable. I was out of toothpaste, so I had to buy a new roll, which set me back $0.70 for a role of Colgate. Would have been $4 at home. I should stock up and start a small tooth paste empire.... I do have that extra baggage allowance. Screw the wine. Although, it’s worth noting that some of the wine we tasted at the cellar doors was $6 a bottle. $60 a case of 12. And it was good wine. I’d say the average bottle price was $12.

Saturday was forecast to be the most miserable of the bunch, with heavy rain. So although I had originally planned on booking a tour to Cape Point I was putting it off because the weather was looking so bad. So I was a little unsure as to what to do with myself,  until I saw I could rent a car for $40 a day. So I decided to do that. I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do, but I figured I would drive south and see how the weather was and play it by ear. This turned out to be such a good decision - having the car and the flexibility to do what I wanted was sooooo much better than some tour when they heard you around on a bus (and cheaper as well). The car I got was a Hyundai much like mine at home, so I was pretty comfortable driving around. Same car, same side of the street.... felt just like I was cruising around Sydney.

I headed down towards Cape Point, which is the southern most point in Africa. It’s where the Indian Ocean meets the Atlantic. There are a number of little towns on the way along the coast, so I stopped in a few and looked at the shops. I then went to see the Penguins who hang out on this beautiful white sand beach. “African Penguins” they are called. The beach was sort of similar to a lot of Sydney’s harbour beaches, but with penguins everywhere. There is a national park area where you pay to go in and they have built a little boardwalk. I think you can go farther down and there is public beach access where some penguins hangout and you don’t need to pay, but it was cheap and easy and I felt like I saw enough and got close enough. So I’m all penguined out.

The weather started to clear and the sun even made an appearance so I went all the way south to Cape Point. It’s very spectacular - windy and desolate but stunning. I did a few different walks while there. It’s amazing how many people just turn up on tours, take the fenicular up to the light house, take a few photos and leave. This was when having the car was so good as I could take as much time as I wanted. I did a 60 minute round trip walk to the Cape of Good Hope which is the southern most point. On my way to the Cape of Good Hope I saw almost no one, everyone just buses to the various spots. Fine by me - the last thing I want is tour buses full of people blocking the path taking selfies. I did get caught in a torrential rain storm, but it passed within 15 minutes.

Since I still had the car Sunday morning as well and it was a beautiful sunny day (figures, right when I’m leaving) I attempted to get up Table Mountain quickly via cable car. Unfortunately although I arrived at 8:10 (and it opened at 8), there was already a huge queue. In all honesty it probably wouldn’t have been too bad - the cable car fits 65 and goes every 5-10 minutes, but I was a bit crunched for time with my flight and I didn’t want to risk it (as there would be queues going down too). So I just went down to the V&A waterfront and had some breakfast in the sun, looking at table mountain. Fair compromise I think.

One other thing I didn’t really get to do while here was shop at some of the local markets.  There is one at V&A which I took a quick peek at, but I was in a bit of a rush.  So on the list for next time are: top of Table Mountain in the sun, Franschhoek (wine region), Camps Bay for a proper sunset and some market shopping.

Im at the Joberg airport lounge now waiting for my flight home. It’s one of the crumminess lounges I’ve ever been in. The wifi isn’t working, the food is terrible and they are out of champagne! Plus, my flight is delayed and my diamond shoes are too tight. #firstworldproblems. So I’m sitting here watching women’s rugby and drinking (non-sparkling) white wine.

Have to say I’m a bit sad to be going home. As I said, I think my stomach and liver will be relieved, and I need to get back to the gym, but I would love to just keep travelling. 10 days doesn’t really feel like enough.