Off to Robben Island (Dutch for seal) in the morning. This island lies about 12km off the coast of Cape Town. Once upon a time is was a leper colony (it currently has one of the world’s largest penguin colonies) although it is arguably best known as the place where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 28 years (or something like that according to Jon). We saw his cell and the mat he slept on (appalling conditions) and the cave in the quarry where the political prisoners got together to educate each other and put together the basis of the post apartheid constitution. One of our tour guides was an ex-political prisoner from the same era as Mandela; imprisoned for terrorism (according to him he was a freedom fighter, apparently vastly different), a self proclaimed socialist (although came across as quite communist) and very militant. He shouted rather than spoke, was barely comprehensible and largely spouted off political rhetoric. This annoying American lady (it is always the Americans) kept asking him questions. He would yell back answers that completely missed the point. Her husband told her to shut up much to our relief.
Michelle’s friends’ parents Willem and Margriet picked us up in the arvo and took us to Hout Bay for lunch (a favourite pirate haunt a while back). Seafood over here is sooo cheap as is good wine. Afterwards I suggested we go to the Cape of Good Hope if we were close. A local told us it was only 20 minutes away – they lied. Try an hour and a half. We arrived at 5pm and they shut the exit gates at sundown (6pm). It was a race to drive and then climb to the lighthouse, take pics, run back downhill and then make it back to the exit before the sun went down. I have never climbed up hundreds of steps in my life. I nearly died despite my thousand step training in Australia (I went twice). I don’t know how Jon and I are going to survive Machu Picchu.
The view from the light house was spectacular (our photos really don’t do it justice – mine especially as I had the settings all wrong and everything is pixelated). The Cape of Good Hope is located at the junction of two of the earth’s most contrasting water masses – the cold Benguela current on the West Coast and the warm Agulhas current on the East Coast. It is where the Atlantic and Indian oceans meet (well not quite but near enough).
Apparently there are zebras there but naturally I didn’t see them. I did spot an ostrich – not so exciting.
On the way back Michelle, Margriet and I got lost (we were in two cars) and ended up in a dodgy looking suburb. I got a bit scared when a crazy looking guy and a guy started wandering over with a pipe in his hands. We got out of there pretty fast.
Michelle’s friends’ parents Willem and Margriet picked us up in the arvo and took us to Hout Bay for lunch (a favourite pirate haunt a while back). Seafood over here is sooo cheap as is good wine. Afterwards I suggested we go to the Cape of Good Hope if we were close. A local told us it was only 20 minutes away – they lied. Try an hour and a half. We arrived at 5pm and they shut the exit gates at sundown (6pm). It was a race to drive and then climb to the lighthouse, take pics, run back downhill and then make it back to the exit before the sun went down. I have never climbed up hundreds of steps in my life. I nearly died despite my thousand step training in Australia (I went twice). I don’t know how Jon and I are going to survive Machu Picchu.
The view from the light house was spectacular (our photos really don’t do it justice – mine especially as I had the settings all wrong and everything is pixelated). The Cape of Good Hope is located at the junction of two of the earth’s most contrasting water masses – the cold Benguela current on the West Coast and the warm Agulhas current on the East Coast. It is where the Atlantic and Indian oceans meet (well not quite but near enough).
Apparently there are zebras there but naturally I didn’t see them. I did spot an ostrich – not so exciting.
On the way back Michelle, Margriet and I got lost (we were in two cars) and ended up in a dodgy looking suburb. I got a bit scared when a crazy looking guy and a guy started wandering over with a pipe in his hands. We got out of there pretty fast.
No comments:
Post a Comment