Muizenberg

A few weeks ago we went to Muizenberg beach for a swim...

Abi drove us out to a sweet little old restaurant and I ate the best Mussels in the world.

The waves weren't great because the wind was crushing the caps, and there was a pretty black shark flag up.

The Getaway

I haven't posted in a while because we didn't really have internet any where we went in the last week.

Here we go...

Wednesday night the 15th of Dec – It's sad to see Damon leave. We were over in the Cape by the Stadium at a Sushi place called Wakame. Myself, Chris, Damon, Reinhardt, my mom, Marlene and Dr. Death (See this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wouter_Basson) This place had the BEST SUSHI I HAVE EVER HAD. Pic below show's the outside:


On Thursday the 16th, we dropped Damon off with Abi - my cousin on my mom's side, and she took Damon around to a few places that he hasn't been. We unfortunately had to leave without him to Oudtshoorn. (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=11+Benurban+Street,+Durbanville,+Western+Cape,+South+Africa&daddr=Oudtshoorn,+South+Africa&hl=en&geocode=FaKW-_0deJccASk5so1tO1fMHTElotpH7CpuNw%3BFQ-B__0d6rdSASm1E7XqhsHVHTFh6wiOdEdDjQ&mra=ls&sll=-33.934245,20.939941&sspn=2.110142,4.213257&ie=UTF8&ll=-33.532237,20.418091&spn=2.120049,4.213257&z=8).

Luckily we picked up Chris's luggage the very same day before leaving around 2pm. Chris and I drove with my mom while Gerhardus and Helanie (brother and his fiance) drove behind us in their car.

First night in Oudtshoorn. We’ve arrived safe and sound. Luckily Chris survived my mom’s shannigans and the lack of good music in the vehicle. It was beautiful drive and the land was fortunate to receive some rain – they are usually desperate for rain at this point of time. We’re at Berluda – really cosy bungaloos up on a bit of a hill on an ostrich farm. I wasn’t hungry because I ate too much Biltong (delicacy – dried/cured meat). Reinhardt almost took the most dangerous route to get here – "Swart"-something "pas" (Swartpas = Black pass) but luckily turned around since he was out of cell battery power and almost ran out of petrol. Helanie and I went to meet him in town so he could follow us to the bungalows. Beautiful old school haunted cottage:


Second day in Oudtshoorn. A somewhat great start to the day… I had allergies, a big fat eye, and asthma during the night. Also, I think the cabin/cottage we were staying in was haunted. I kept hearing an array of different noises inside of our cottage during the night. In the morning we had a delicious breakfast. We ended out to the Congo caves where Rein, Chris and I decided to do the 90 min adventure tour during small passageways in the cave called “Devil’s Chimney” or the “Love Tunnel”.

Look a penis!


We then headed to see the Cheetah-Croc farm near our Safari spot. We use to come here when we were young, so the place has changed quite a bit. Below: Baby cheetahs, crocs and white lions:




The animals were truly amazing. We ended up being late for our Safari at Buffeldrifts lodge but took the 5-7pm Safari with a lovely guide named Sonya. It was AMAZING. We stayed in Luxury Tents - check out the pics!






The best thing was shaving my very gorilla hairy legs in the outside shower. We even had white robes that we wore around. Rein missed out on the Safari because he was so tired...he missed the Giraffes, the antelope etc. We didn't spot the lone pregnant Rhino although we were blessed with the sounds of the hippos nice and early in the morning in the dam in front of us. We saw the three orphaned elephants that were brought from the Kruger National Park where their mother's were poached for their tusks. As babies they were sent to the Elephant Sanctuary that I've visited in Knysna a few times in the past. They decided to bring the two males and one female to the Buffelsdrift for more space. They are very friendly and trained, but have alot of free roaming space. Pics of the Hippos...how many do you see? And our elephant friends :)

Prisoner 466/64

We took a trip to Robben Island to visit the historical site of so much oppression during the years of Apartheid. Robben Island's significance is due to it's very important political prisoners. Among them was leader of the PAC - Pan Africanist Congress - Robert Sobukwe, and our former president and leader of the ANC - African National Congresss - Nelson Mandela. Robert was the forefather of the revolution against Apartheid, and Nelson made it happen. There was segregation within the prison amongst white, asian, colored and black prisoners. Black prisoners received less food than the rest, and did not have socks, underwear, long pants or a jacket. They were only allowed to send and receive one letter per month and weren't allowed any visits. Other inmates were allowed to send and receive 2 letters per month and receive 2 visitors, as well as buy sweets and candy, whereas the other inmates were forbidden to do so.

See the links below if you're interested in more accurate historical accounts, not that Wikipedia is all that reliable sometimes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Mangaliso_Sobukwe
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_mandela

This was my third visit. I was accompanying Reinhardt and Damon on their first voyage to the island. We had the same bus driver/tourist guide as I've had twice before, but he is the best, and has the best historical accounts of the island. MUST VISIT.

The pictures below feature the prison and Nelson's miniature cell:

Cape of Storms

Damon and I took the car around Cape point to check the beaches for some potential surfing spots. We drove to Clifton beach which is BEAUTIFUL but ...has no waves. We chilled in the sun for a bit before we drove to Hout Baai. Apparently someone said Clifton has an exclusive Gay beach but most of the people around us were straight, or had their families out and about....strange. I wonder what it means to be Gay to South Africans.

The last picture is the view of "Leeu Kop' (Lion's Head) from Clifton Beach - almost looks like a lion's head.... go figure eh?





We went to Hout Baai, but still...no surf. I had the best mussels at a restaurant right on the beach here. There's a few century old castle owned by a German widow up in the mountains but due to the sunlight and the shade of the mountain the picture quality was bad, but it looks pretty medieval.




Third time's a charm: Llundudno is a beach down a very steep hill on the drive between Hout Baai (Hout Bay) and Clifton. The surf was great, and we're heading there next week to give it a whirl.

Hermanus

On our way back from Gansbaai we stopped in Hermanus - It's a well known place for whales to give birth in the bay of Hermanus. You can usually see them up close in the winter months (June-September). We use to come here quite frequently as children.

Below are a few pics of the scenery.

SHARK ATTACK

Today was a FABULOUS 32 degree in Cape Town, and we made our way to Gansbaai by car (pretty much the safest ...and only option). It was about a 2.5 hour drive over the mountain and through the rolling hills of the Western Cape. Gansbaai is well known for it's large Great White population and is situated on the East Coast (Mix of warm and cold currents from the Atlantic and Indian Ocean. Perfect shark temperature) Dyer Island forms the Shark Alley where plenty of seal colonies occupy the waters. Easy equation... Seals = Sharks. Fat seals = Big giant Great Whites.

We took a boat out to the bay of Gansbaai (translates to Goose Bay). In the high season which is June, you'll be able to go out to Dyer Island and apparently have fabulous visibility in front of you while in the cage, but today we were able to see about 5-10 metres in front of us. It was absolutely gorgeous and the water was a perfect blue.

We had 12 individual Great Whites approach the boat. They like to hunt/attack along the surface. So apparently you need to swim down if a shark approaches (fml). It was my, Rein and Damon's first time. YIKES!

To be continued...

IT'S A BEAUTIFUL DAY.....

U2 is very appropriate for today, it was actually playing on my laptop :) Yes, I'm cheesy.

We're at the pool... check it out:

Yzerfontein

Quick little update... we went to Yzerfontein about 30 mins away - long story short, my mom wants to buy a plot to build her retirement home on the beach and she is bidding on plots this Friday. It was super windy, but the ocean was beautiful. We've had an AMAZING view of our AMAZING mountain so far... just trying to find a beach for surfing. We saw my bro G's new house and it's reallyyyyy nice. Right now he still lives with my mom while his fiance lives in the house. Today was another windy day in the big city and we went to Canal Walk - nicest Mall/Center in the Western Cape. Ate the BEST PIZZA... Avocado, Biltong (South African dried meat), roasted red pepper and feta cheese on a thin crust. Mom made chicken schnitzels and mash for dinner - YUM. Rein, Damon and I hung out at the pool the rest of the afternoon. The pool water was AMAZING. Everything so far is pretty damn amazing....

Pics below: Table Mountain from Blouberg beach, Reinhardt and I had calamari and prawns, and Yzerfontein view from the beach.

Lions and Tigers and bears.....

Okay so there weren't any tigers or bears, but we did get our fair share of Lions and Cheetahs :) Yesterday we went to The Spier ("Muscle" if translated) ... a really classy BEAUTIFUL Vineyard slash restaurant slash craft markets slash winery and tasting slash.... just gorgeous. They have an ampitheatre outside where we've seen live shows in the past (My cousin played in the orchestra during a Queen rival show back in 2003). The picture features my brother Reinhardt at the Cheetah farm.

Good morning South Africa

And the journey has begun...Damon and I flew together on the first flight to London, only to realize that we are actually on different flights to SA, which ended up working perfectly since we took off and landed at the same time, and may I add, ON TIME, despite our 1 hour delay at London Heathrow. Damon flew with Virgin Atlantic.... My brother "G" asked on the phone "So Damon is a Virgin eh?" Ha. Yes, I had to go there.

We ended up meeting Fiona in the afternoon but prior to that we braved it in the -5 weather with snow on the ground to do some sight-seeing. Before we even got on the express train to London we already dreaded spending 32 pounds for a round trip ticket and it hadn't even gotten us anywhere. I was freezing, jet lagged and for some reason we didn't have any place that we could chill out until we met Fiona. Thank you Starbucks for providing us with warm air and hot chocolate. We ended up going to a pub - surprise, surprise - and I had the old traditional pie and mash meal. Delicious! I used what must of been a bathroom stall for a hobbit, because I could barely fit my body in the stall, let alone sit on the toilet seat without having the garbage can stick half way up my backside. Everywhere we bought coffee, or food, the server was NOT English... and for some reason I could barely understand what they were saying - I forgot how many foreigners live in London. Thankfully we both made it back safely to the Aiport where I could unfreeze myself and meet up with Phil and his folks at the gate for our next journey. The flight was EMPTY and I had 4 seats to myself that I slept in for about 9 out of 11 hours. We were on an ancient SA flight where we had the old school TV's coming down from the roof instead of the brand new top class personal touch-screen TV's. I didn't mind since Phil and I chilled for a bit and most of the people on the flight were Afrikaans, including the flight staff who were absolutely hilarious and for some reason played jokes on Phil all night. "Sir you don't look good, you have a fever...put this under your armpit and keep it there".

From the sky SA looked super dry, but we've had rain in the last two mornings. My brother Reinhardt picked us up from the airport and took us to say hi to Mama Bear at work as we proceeded to pick up booze right after. We were barely in the car for about 10 minutes when we were already bombarded by child beggers at the first traffic light. I love you South Africa. Rein forgot his car keys in the freezer in the liquor store so we were very close to being stranded outside of the mall. Ha. We took a drive through Durbanville to give Damon an idea about where we live in relation to Table Mountain and said hi to big Brother G at his office. He looks good. In the spur of the moment we drove to Blouberg beach and got a perfect few of the cloudy mountain, walked on the white sand, and drank a milk shake at the Blue Peter Hotel right on the beach front. Thanks Reinhardt.

Mama Bear cooked up home-made lasagne which she thought was too soggy but DELICIOUS, and we had dinner outside by the pool with G and his Fiance Helanie, Damon, Mama Bear and myself. Reinhardt had to meet some friends at his flat but ended up coming home around 1 am because he had no pain killers in his flat and slept on the couch. I had the cat and dog sleeping with me at one point during the night. Nothing beats waking up to the sound of the doves, the neighbour's annoying dog plus an allergic reaction to both animals. Fun fact: Don't feed the dog feta cheese because he will clear the room with his farts.

Leaving on a Jetplane...

DAMON and I are flying to South Africa together today. He has yet to fly overseas, so I'm delighted to show him the travelers' ways.