The next phase of this South African holiday meant an 8 hour drive west to Rustenburg where our friend Udo is living while he is working on a contract in a platinum / chromium mine.   We left Kruger an hour later than planned but the drive was straight forward, just about all on motorways which are very good and the speed limit 120kph so we arrived about six o’clock an hour later than we intended.

Rustenburg is a mining town with no outstanding features, apart from hills and slag heaps.    Udo’s residence is in a compound with 14 other houses surrounded by 3m walls surmounted by razor wire and electric wire.    The entrance is protected by a 3m steel gate which only the residents can open.   This is standard for most places, some of course, have even higher levels of security including armed guards. 

We are only here overnight, as tomorrow we fly down to Cape Town but we go out for a quick meal and then get into a bottle of South African red that Udo has been saving ‘til we got here.   Udo is working until lunchtime tomorrow so Pat puts the washing machine to good use and I catch up on the blog.

As soon as Udo returns we set out for the airport, ie; back to Johannesburg.   The flight is delayed for an hour and we fill in time with a meal.   Eventually we get airborne and land in Cape Town two hours later at 1100, so it is nearly midnight when we arrive at our hotel having picked up the hire car and driven into Cape Town.  

Saturday dawns quite miserably, it is raining and there is a cold wind blowing off the ocean, we remind ourselves that it is winter.   We use Uber to get down to the Waterfront and and start with a coffee, before doing a bit of window shopping and getting the feel of this country.   Coloured people represent some 82% of the population but most of the money belongs to the other 18%, it is a very unbalanced country.   The colonial influence is obvious in the buildings.

            Left – Sometimes they run out of money!        These statues are are of Mandela, Le Klerk, Tutu and Lethuu, all heroes of the South African people.   The Victoria Wharf is a massive Mall, filled with good quality shops, coffee shops and restaurants.   The whole Wharf area is a place of entertainment of many varieties, from a ferris wheel to street music.   Even on a wet and miserable day in winter it was still quite vibrant and busy.

Off the coast is Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela spent 18 of his 22 years imprisonment.     

On the Saturday evening we set out for the wine growing region of Stellenbosch for dinner at one of the restaurants Udo had booked for us this weekend.   It was pouring with rain when we arrived but we were met in the car park by the staff with umbrellas to escort us to the restaurant which is called Rust en Vrede.   Roughly translated this means rest in peace but it is meant in the practical sense rather than the funereal one!   The food is superb as are the wines and it is fairly late by the time we have driven back to Cape Town in heavy rain.   On Sunday morning we make a fairly early start so that we can grab St George’s Cathedral Cape Town.   For lunch we are heading out into the wine country again, this time towards Franschhoek and a place in Paarl.   This are is very beautiful area but unfortunately we are not seeing it at its best due to the weather.   The vineyards are surrounded by high mountains which also makes a lovely setting for the restaurant.

   On Monday Udo leaves us to return to Rustenburg and having dropped him at the airport we head for the wineries again, this time in Constantia Glen, where we have another lovely lunch and very good wine.   The grapes here are dry grown as in France and have that particular taste.

     The rich here are very rich. 

Tuesday dawns grey and damp but we plan to head for Hermanus today which is about 150km east of Cape Town and is a good place for whale watching.   We are pleasantly surprised when the sun appears as we are clear of the influence of Table Mountain.

        Hermanus is a busy little seaside town, even at this time of year, people come mainly to see the whales, the Southern Right variety and sure enough there a several in the bay.

   This little creature is a dassie or ‘rock rabbit’    

Of course, it’s soon lunchtime  

We head home again and are concerned about hitting the traffic but it’s not too bad and the weather has changed for the better since we left this morning,    We have planned to go up to Table Mountain in the morning so we’re keeping our fingers crossed!