Thursday

After such a beautiful day yesterday we didn’t think our luck would hold but it did.

Today we had decided to head south to Simonstown, used to be a Royal Navy base and on to Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope, which we remember from our history lessons. 

It is a nice run down to Simonstown which has clear English connections both in the buildings and the place, street names.

Just past Simonstown at Boulders, there is a colony of South African penguins and we had been told that we should give them a look.   As this is tourist spot there is the usual collection of souvenir shops, plus a singing group.

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These penguins actually nest in burrows in the sand dunes amongst the trees/bushes.

   Heading south we get to Cape Point which is in another part of the Table Mountain National Park.   This too is a very popular tourist spot and we are not tempted to linger but lunch calls and the Two Oceans Restaurant looks quite good so we have a very nice lunch and glass of unwooded Chardonnay over looking False Bay.

       We decided not to climb to the lighthouse!     Nearly stood on this little fellow    On the way to the Cape of Good Hope…………..      ..and this is the Cape, close up ..  …. and from a distance     Mission accomplished we headed back to Cape Town, via the coast road, which included a section round Chapman’s Peak, which you have to pay to travel on.   It is worth it for the spectacular views.

This is the resort town of Kimmitjie, the buildings which reminded us of Hobbitt holes are part of a resort village.

        

The rock has been carved out to make the road wider and in places is undercut to the extent that it needs support.    The little bird has lovely red / brown wings when it flies.

            

Although it’s difficult to tell which is an ‘apostle’ and which isn’t, these outcrops are called the Twelve Apostles.

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Friday

We leave Cape Town today and have really enjoyed it.   Our flight doesn’t leave until 1830 so we decided to visit Kirstenbosch Gardens, which is the home of Cape Town’s botanical Gardens and is situated on the eastern side of Table Mountain.   Pat was able to recognise many of the flowers and shrubs as they are not dissimilar to those that we have in the garden at home or in our area generally.    The gardens, originally a farm owned by Cecil Rhodes, were very well laid out by Mr J W Matthews from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

                       

   After lunch in the tearooms we left for the airport and the two hour flight back to Johannesburg.    We picked up a hire for the 180 k drive to our friend’s house in Rustenburg. It was dark by now and for part of the way they have been relaying the road but there are no white lines and no real definition of where the edge of the road is.   The traffic is still travelling at 120 + kph and it is quite scary in places.   However, we do arrive safely and go straight to bed!

Saturday we have a run out to a dam where there just happens be a German brewery, I’m not a beer drinker but I have to have something to drink with the proper German pretzels, which I’ve never had before but which I could get to like.    In the afternoon we have to repack our suitcases ready for our return to Johannesburg tomorrow.   As previously mentioned there is not much in the way of culture in Rustenburg and we have to make do with the Golf Club for dinner tonight.  

Udo, our friend, was billeted here when he first arrived to work near Rustenburg and they know him well.   The food is nothing to write home about but we really came for a bottle, or two, of Delaire Graff, a brilliant shiraz.    Udo is devastated when it’s no longer on the wine list but the waitress managed to find a couple of bottles in the cellar!

  Udo’s next project is in Brazil but we don’t think that we will be going there!    Next day we have a leisurely drive back to Johannesburg where will stay in an hotel at the airport for two nights.   The freeways around Johannesburg are generally very good although some are toll roads, fortunately the hire car has an e-tag which just beeps as we drive under the toll bridges.