Trip report: Southern Africa
OK, so I've had my takeaway and a bottle of Belgian beer. The cats have stopped attention-seeking and the house is quiet because Sally is 20 miles away with an IV antibiotic drip in her arm failing to...
Forum Discussion
Day 16: Sunday - Kirstenbosch Gardens
We had a relaxing lie-in this morning and a nice breakfast in the hotel, though as ever there wasn't much Sally could eat.
I wandered out in search of a supermarket to find a newspaper and a new plastic bowl. We had accidentally melted a hole in the one supplied in the camper.
I walked down to the rocky shore where I could see our hotel and Lions Head looming above. Sally said she waved to me, but I didn't see her.
Another expedition truck at Seapoint:
By the time I returned Sally was ready for the day ahead - she had been enjoying the luxury of a nice hotel room and warned me that she didn't want to spend 8 hours sitting in a 4x4 today. so I decided we should do some gentle things.
So first we drove back to Hout Bay. I had been on the beach there five years earlier, but not seen the fishing village. It was on the beach that I realised I had lost my handheld GPS, but thankfully the companies travel insurance replaced it. The replacement was now worn out and could only be powered on and off by forcing the car keys into the power button on the top - so I could have done with losing that replacement one as well!
The harbour was nice. A guy sat feeding a seal bits of fish - it darted around below him.
From there we drove over Constantia Nek around to the east side of Table Mountain - to Kirstenbosch Gardens, the national botanical gardens. We got one of the last car parking spaces in the overflow car park - I'd never seen it so busy. But they do have evening concerts in the summer and many had turned up with a picnic to spend the entire day.
The tree-top walk way gave a good view towards the back of Table Mountain - the Maclear's Beacon end - where we had climbed to yesterday. The previous time I had climbed there I had taken Skeleton Gorge from these botanical gardens.
From Kirstenbosch we drove a bit further along the mountain towards the centre of Cape Town and visited the Rhodes memorial:
Then back to the hotel for a rest in the afternoon sun. We checked out the pool down on the 6th floor:
For once I had booked a restaurant table. Again a restaurant I have used before, but on the Atlantic coast north of the city centre - on Woodbridge Island, actually adjoined to the golf club.
The location offers a great view of Table mountain and the sunset, and as you eat you can watch the sun go down and the lights come on in the city and waterfront.
However, by now Sally was feeling fairly unwell from the infection that was building up in her arm. The restaurant had a nice open balcony you could eat on, but Sally didn't want to sit in the breeze so we sat inside. You could still see the view though, and since I had seen it before several times it was more about what Sally wanted than what I wanted (as was the last few days, since we were visiting places I knew well).
Heading home tomorrow...
We had a relaxing lie-in this morning and a nice breakfast in the hotel, though as ever there wasn't much Sally could eat.
I wandered out in search of a supermarket to find a newspaper and a new plastic bowl. We had accidentally melted a hole in the one supplied in the camper.
I walked down to the rocky shore where I could see our hotel and Lions Head looming above. Sally said she waved to me, but I didn't see her.
Another expedition truck at Seapoint:
By the time I returned Sally was ready for the day ahead - she had been enjoying the luxury of a nice hotel room and warned me that she didn't want to spend 8 hours sitting in a 4x4 today. so I decided we should do some gentle things.
So first we drove back to Hout Bay. I had been on the beach there five years earlier, but not seen the fishing village. It was on the beach that I realised I had lost my handheld GPS, but thankfully the companies travel insurance replaced it. The replacement was now worn out and could only be powered on and off by forcing the car keys into the power button on the top - so I could have done with losing that replacement one as well!
The harbour was nice. A guy sat feeding a seal bits of fish - it darted around below him.
From there we drove over Constantia Nek around to the east side of Table Mountain - to Kirstenbosch Gardens, the national botanical gardens. We got one of the last car parking spaces in the overflow car park - I'd never seen it so busy. But they do have evening concerts in the summer and many had turned up with a picnic to spend the entire day.
The tree-top walk way gave a good view towards the back of Table Mountain - the Maclear's Beacon end - where we had climbed to yesterday. The previous time I had climbed there I had taken Skeleton Gorge from these botanical gardens.
From Kirstenbosch we drove a bit further along the mountain towards the centre of Cape Town and visited the Rhodes memorial:
Then back to the hotel for a rest in the afternoon sun. We checked out the pool down on the 6th floor:
For once I had booked a restaurant table. Again a restaurant I have used before, but on the Atlantic coast north of the city centre - on Woodbridge Island, actually adjoined to the golf club.
The location offers a great view of Table mountain and the sunset, and as you eat you can watch the sun go down and the lights come on in the city and waterfront.
However, by now Sally was feeling fairly unwell from the infection that was building up in her arm. The restaurant had a nice open balcony you could eat on, but Sally didn't want to sit in the breeze so we sat inside. You could still see the view though, and since I had seen it before several times it was more about what Sally wanted than what I wanted (as was the last few days, since we were visiting places I knew well).
Heading home tomorrow...
