Day 122 Hout Bay

The pounding from the descent of Table Mountain had taken its toll, on our thigh muscles, so a short hobble to find a restaurant for lunch (an Asian fusion tapas restaurant!) was the sole activity of the day, except for lying on our balcony’s sun loungers and Ian finally getting his hair cut!! 

For New Year’s eve, we had decided to venture to the V&A Waterfront rather than staying in Hout Bay. The traffic along the coast was nuts but surprisingly we managed to find a parking place quite easily.

The party was already in full swing when we arrived with a number of stages set up around the Waterfront.  We stopped by one of them to watch the local acts – the man with the ukulele was particularly memorable.  His ability to take a beautiful, classic song and ruin it was quite astonishing.

We found ourselves positioned right next to a complete log jam with queues of people trying to get around the corner (blocked by the crowds watching the acts on stage) to a bridge over the another area – the bridge was also so narrow it had caused a massive bottleneck so hundreds of people were surging back again.

At one point there was a stampede.  Somehow no-one was seriously injured although we did witness folks having panic attacks – the security staff seemed completely overwhelmed.  Eventually a security guard realised some form of action was required, so he started to move people, including us, to relieve some of the pressure on the bridge. Luckily we managed to find somewhere else to stand which was an awful lot safer.

The main act of the night (and the reason for the complete chaos by the stage) was Jimmy Nevis who turns out to be Cape Town’s very own pop idol.  Midnight arrived with the countdown clock lasered onto the wall behind us and an impressive fireworks display.

That is when the fun started and our memories of the first few hours of 2016 will forever be one of total chaos.  It took an hour to escape from the carpark and then a further hour to get through the gridlock around the Waterfront – the traffic police were notable by their absence.  We finally made it back to the flat for quarter to three.  Ian had a beer to toast in the New Year – Greg and I just went to bed.  

Day 121 Hout Bay

From the weather forecast we had predicted that today was the best day to go up Table Mountain, clear skies and no wind so the top wouldn’t be covered in cloud and the cable car would be running.  Unfortunately the whole of Cape Town seemed to have had the same idea!  We were initially really happy to get a car park place in the Tafelberg Road lower car park but then found ourselves in the first queue of the day which took over half an hour for the bus to arrive to take us up to the chair lift.  At this point we realised that we had made a fundamental mistake and should have driven up the road ourselves and parked at the side of the road.  The queue for the cable car was horrendous and we heard varying reports that it was taking from 2 to 4 hours to reach the top – we very nearly turned around!  In the end it took just over 2 hours from here so 3 hours from arriving at the car park which wouldn’t have been too bad had it not been in full sun for most of the time. 

The cable car is really cool as it has a revolving floor so that everyone gets a fab view back down to Cape Town.  

The top was just like the summit of Snowden with hundreds of people in strappy sandals, high heels and flip flops milling around – not sure what they would do if the cable car stopped running! The panorama of Cape Town was fantastic.

We managed to replenish our water stocks (yet another queue of course!) and set off for an hour’s hike across the top of Table Mountain which gave us great views back to Hout Bay before reaching the highest point.

The views from the summit were superb – it was definitely worth the hassle to be up here on a clear day.

We had discussed walking down but decided that it was far too hot, however, when we returned to the cable car station it was clearly that the rumours about it taking at least 2 hours to get back down had not been exaggerated so we decided to walk down afterall.   So with our water replenished yet again we headed off for the route down.

The path down is through Platteklip Gorge.  

A rocky path has been laid the whole way down so for much of the route it is like climbing down a giant rock staircase – really tough on the legs and feet!  Luckily the first part was in shade and was entertained with music from a guy playing the xylophone but the lower slope was in full sun and was blazing hot.   After about 1.5 hours, Greg started to suffer from the heat – he has not had 4 months to acclimatise.   As our water supplies were rapidly running out, Ian raced on ahead to find more water – luckily within a couple of minutes he reached a mountain stream!  We refilled all our water bottles and doused Greg in water from head to toe (this was a popular spot for this activity!).

Round the next corner we could see the cable car station but the route to it seemed to take us back up into the rocks and was in full sun.  We decided to take the quickest route off the mountain so that we could at least find some shade.  Ian went on ahead, power-walking up the road to the cable car station bus stop.  Greg and I found some shade and waited for Ian to return in the car – we had the better deal and it had probably still taken less time to reach the bottom than if we had waited for the cable car!!

Day 120 Hout Bay (Greg’s view)

After the rather hectic day yesterday, I was promised a nice relaxing day with a slow start. However, after a very poor attempt at a lie-in, breakfast was served at half 9, not such a slow start if you ask me. It then transpired that this lazy day had been completely abolished and instead we were up and out on route to the national botanical gardens, Kirstenbosch. As we were driving to there, Mum decided to casually mention the fact that she’d actually been for a run at 7 o’clock in the morning, showing that it had never been her intention to have a lazy day. Last time I believe her it seems.

Everything we’ve done in Cape Town so far seems to have had a common theme, every tourist wants to do the same as us, which of course meant the car park was full. After parking up we headed in the gardens, where we stupidly gave Ian the map. After several dull minutes of Ian trying to firstly find his glasses, followed by where we were on the map we set of in search of a canopy walk. We started off walking up a beautiful road with trees up either side covering us in shade. 

Having seemingly walking only a couple of hundred metres, Ian had already lost where we were on the map.  Having fluked our way to the arboretum we found a fascinating tree, called Knobwood so anyone would be interested.

Luckily this tree also happened to be under the canopy walk, brilliant. The views from this walkway were fantastic, from one side you could overlook Newlands and from the other the back of Table Mountain.

Sadly these views were ruined by the feeling of motion sickness, thanks to the slight sway of a very high walkway. Now back on solid ground, we headed up, passing through swathes of people and the odd dinosaur, until we reached the top of the gardens. From here you got another fantastic view of the gardens with Newlands in the background, and this time no motion sickness, result!

As I’m on holiday with two Adventurers, it wasn’t enough to go look around the gardens and relax. No, what they had to do was find the most remote path with barely any people on it.  Thankfully, this path was mostly downhill and finally brought us back in the middle of the gardens.

Ian’s next job was to navigate to the otter pond, so of course we didn’t walk down the huge path taking us directly there. Instead we slalomed between this big path and a large clearing on the other side of some bushes. To be honest, we needn’t have bothered finding the otter pond as it had one lonely otter which was made of metal. The final path took us past some African sculptures, some were outstanding, whilst others were better ignored!  

Mum and Ian insisted we went to the greenhouse before we left as there was a plant in there, called Welwischia, which was apparently special. I was unable to see this plant due to the fact that I was melting in the fifty degree furnace.

Day 119 Hout Bay

Today was planned as an educational day with trips to Robben Island and the aquarium planned.  We arrived at the Waterfront early for our 9 am boat to the island but were surprised by the SA efficiency as we had no sooner got on the boat when it left twenty minutes early!  The ferry took 40 minutes and luckily the sea was relatively flat so no green faces. Having booked the tickets back in July we hadn’t actually done any reading about Robben Island so we were surprised to find that the island is really quite large with lots of buildings in addition to the prison.  

From the harbour you are taken on a bus tour around the island, stopping for the view back to Cape Town, with a fantastic tour guide – I loved his description of the Europeans having watches whereas the Africans have time!  We have definitely experienced African time many times on our trip J.  

The island has a fascinating history even before it was used to incarcerate political prisoners in the 1960s – 1990s, including being used as a leper colony in the 19^th century.   Some of the main points of interest on route were the prison house where the Pan African Leader Robert Sobuke was held in complete isolation and the lime quarry where Nelson Mandela and many others slaved.  The tour around the prison, with a quick look into Nelson Mandela's old cell, was conducted by a former inmate so he was able to provide a first-hand experience of life in the prison with his own personal story.

The ferry back gave us great views of Lagoon Beach with all the tankers waiting to go into the cargo port and of the tablecloth being laid on Table Mountain.

Back to the Waterfront for lunch and then a quick whizz around the aquarium.  The Waterfront was heaving with people as was the aquarium – I am already missing the wilderness!! 

We had been told that any trip to Cape Town should include a walk along Long Street, so we finished our educational day with a meander along the street which is full of curio markets, second-hand bookshops, bars, and clubs – clearly it is a place that comes to life at night but it was still interesting in the daytime.

Day 118 Hout Bay

Finally ran out of excuses and managed to go for a run!  As this was only my third run in four months and the first since Malawi, I was really pleased to manage 30 minutes and actually felt surprisingly good by the end (Greg and Ian were still in bed asleep!).

After yesterday’s experience with Cape Town weekend holiday traffic we decided to avoid driving and stuck around Hout Bay.  We wandered around the curio market before having a lovely lunch in the Fisherman’s Wharf Restaurant washed down by some delicious South African wine.  After lunch Greg and Ian disappeared for a couple of hours to La Cabane to play pool.  They are not at all competitive!!  Ian had won yesterday so they had to have a rematch and this time Greg managed to win – I can see another rematch on the cards!

One of our challenges for the trip had been to swim in both the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean.  The Indian Ocean had been beautifully warm back in Tanzania.  The Atlantic is freezing and so far we had only managed to dip our toes but today we finally plucked up courage and plunged in.

Day 117 Boxing Day, Hout Bay

From our apartment we get a fab view of Chapman’s Peak Drive, the famous scenic cliff road from Hout Bay.  Our aim for the day was to drive along Chapman’s Peak Drive and then continue down to Cape Point.  We were hoping to be able to braai somewhere for lunch and had bought ostrich steaks to celebrate Boxing Day (slightly different to our normal turkey curry).

The views back to Hout Bay from the side of the road on Chapman's Peak Drive were superb but we were put to shame by the cyclists and runners doing the climb - it is certainly a great cycling route though so maybe one day!!.

As we drove along the coast road our hopes of having a braai diminished as there were signs everywhere saying no fires allowed – considering everywhere else we had been we had been able to cook on open fires we were somewhat surprised. We were also surprised by the sheer numbers of cars heading to Cape Point and eventually when we hit a long traffic jam we decided to abandon our plan for another day and headed to Simon’s Town instead

The traffic in Simon’s Town was also mad but we did finally find somewhere to park at the far end of town. The town has an interesting mixture of boats with a large naval base and busy port. 

We wandered through the town and its curio stalls to Boulder’s Beach to see the colony of African Penguins.  It was really odd to see penguins next to a town but even odder to see so many people viewing them as Ian and I are no longer used to having our views invaded by other people!

We had a very relaxed lunch back in Simon’s Town before heading along the False Bay coast past Fish Hoek and some spectacular beaches which were absolutely packed before returning to Hout Bay.  Having failed to find anywhere to braai we ended up back in the apartment cooking our ostrich steaks on the gas bbq – not quite the same as cooking on a wood braai but the steaks were excellent never the less.

Day 116 Christmas Day, Hout Bay

Up early to make a “Christmas Cake”.  Slightly tricky as we didn’t have half the ingredients or a cake tin, but I managed to cook something that at least resembled a cake and hopefully tastes OK.

Buck's Fizz drunk and presents opened, we headed to The Dunes bar round the corner for a large Christmas buffet breakfast.  We were clearly early as the place filled up rapidly after we arrived.  It was really chilly (only about 20 degrees!) and there was a hint of rain so we headed back to the apartment for a lazy few hours playing Greg’s Christmas present game, Bawo (known as African Chess).  In the afternoon the sun came back out and we had a great time flying the kite on the beach – a perfect Christmas pastime.

We had asked loads of people in South Africa what a traditional Christmas dinner is and got completely different answers from everyone.  The one common theme was the braai.   So our Christmas dinner was pork spare ribs in peri-peri sauce, lamb chops, roast potatoes, sweet corn, leeks in cream sauce followed by mince pies and “Christmas cake”.  It was all delicious including my cake!

(photo -  Christmas dinner)