Cape Town: Cape Peninsula Tour

Today has been busy - took a 9+ hour tour of the entire Cape Peninsula. Was joined by six others who have been traveling together for five weeks, randomly on a camping trip from zanzibar to here. So they were happy for someone new to talk to! Here's a map of the Peninsula, so you have an idea of what I am talking about.

We started in Cape Town around 8 this morning and drove up Signal Hill to get a lookout over the city and the waterfront, as well as table mountain. This picture doesn't capture how beautiful it was.

The we drove along the Atlantic Seaboard and stopped at Camps Bay, vacation spot of the rich and famous. It is quite pretty. Everything slows down in the winter (now) though, but I can just picture it packed in the summer.

You can see a bunch of mountain peaks in the background - these are called the 12 Apostles....yes, there are 12 of them. Table Mountain is off to the left, and this is all part of the same range.

After driving by several other nice beaches as well as little towns called Conservation Areas because they commit to things like organic wine and recycling we got to Hout Bay where almost all of us turned down an optional boat ride to see 20 000 cape fur seals (can't beat the Galapagos) in favor of coffee and exploring the harbor. Very pretty.

We kept driving along the mountains, a route called Chapman's Peak. We stopped and got out at Chapman's peak, and our guide (Fredl, which I though was a Von Tromp family member but apparently am wrong) told us that the man being interviewed there is a famous Springbok rugby player - the ex captain in fact - Bobby Skinstad. Kind of like seeing Mario Lemieux or something I guess. I found out he wasn't single so didn't bother saying hi. Haha.

We made it to the Cape of Good Hope national park after stopping to see an ostrich farm and an alpaca farm. The Cape of Good Hope is, of course, also very beautiful but quite windy. This is the point where the iPad began to act like a flag and I really had to hang onto it while taking pictures!

A very short drive took us near Cape Point which is the most south westerly point in Africa, and where the Indian and Atlantic oceans meet. We had a nice lunch there then did the 20 minute climb to the lighthouse to look out over the actual point.

On the way back we drove past a wild ostrich eating about 5 meters from the beach. One of the only places in the world you can get an ostrich and the ocean in the same shot. Pretty cool!

Our next stop was Boulders Beach in Simon Town, home to 5000 African penguins. Very cute!

Then....we were tired but the day wasn't yet over! We drove back to the outskirts of Cape Town, past other interesting things like the largest hospital in the southern hemisphere, and to the Kristenbosh Botanical Gardens. Nice place to walk around and lots of interesting plants. (dad I took pics just for you. I'm not really into plants.) The girl from calgary livened this up with stories of people who call the suicide hotline she volunteers at...was cherrier than it sounds. The gardens, city, and mountains are in this picture but it didn't really turn out.

We finally made it back around 5:30!! On Fredl's advice I checked out Van Hunks for dinner, just up the street from me. It's a Cape Malay restaurant which describes the food that evolved from South East Asians brought to Cape Town by the Dutch East India Company. I had bobatie, which is curried mince meat with an egg based topping, baked. It was amazing. Spicy and sweet. Will definitely be trying to make it at home. (Get ready M&D&Mitch) Was served with bananas dusted in coconut and rice. The house wine was great, and only 2 dollars a glass! A great end to the day!