Cape Town

So this is the third time of writing this post due to notes destroying all my notes  for no apparent reason, then the blogger app refreshing to the home page and not saving a draft. I mean seriously it's an f*ing joke!

Rant over.

So Cape Town... This is a brilliant city which combines natural beauty (mountains, coastline and green spaces) plus city living (events, nightlife and shopping). Like many before me, I'm going to say, I could live here.

I stayed at The Sunflower Stop which is an amazing backpackers. The staff (Jon, Forrest and Andrew) all made us feel really welcome. Jon took a group of us out drinking, Forrest showed me around town, went to Truth coffee and played putt putt with me and Andrew and I grabbed lunch with his girlfriend Lotta.

The vibe at Sunflower was fun and drunken. We mainly had one day of drinking, one day of recovery. I loved Long Street the backpackers party spot and Jo'burg in particular. We were a a little merry and while some hesitated at the door, I jumped right in, grabbed a few of the locals and started a dance circle while we danced to hip hop and R&B. I also had massive culture shock in a gay bar on Pride weekend, which I got over when we got to dancing to the heavy dance music. I also have to point out that I ate a lot of sushi and read a lot of comics on my hang over days so they were not a waste of time!!

Despite all the drinking I did manage to climb Table Mountain with some new found friends, Anouk and Bart from the Netherlands and Chloe, a Scot who's been travelling most of her life. The mountain was pretty cloudy, so after the first hour or so visibility went down to about 10m. It was actually quite fun as the mountain took on a weird, mysterious, ethereal quality. Later in the week Chloe and I climbed Lions head for sunset with Tina, who had just moved to Cale Town to start an internship in journalism and Brad and Krissie a couple from America who were really sweet. The sunset was beautiful and Chloe, Tina and I all drank a beer at the top - we were the only ones on the mountain prepared, I felt smug about that! I also found out that Chloe has a mean 'move bitch get out the way' hustle when she thinks she's going to miss a sunset!! It's also worth noting that the best view of Cape Town is from Lion's Head as it doesn't look like Cape Town if you can't see Table Mt. The five of us formed a bit of a posse which was great and I have to admit I miss them all. 

We (minus Tina) also went to the botanical gardens in Kistenbosch which were nice and had good cake. I wish I had been able to get tickets to see a Sunday night performance there though. 

One trip I can definitely reccomend is the Baz Bus Cape Peninsular tour. It ticks off a lot of the boxes. Seal island was great, though I'm not convinced that in parts it's not just a pile of seals ontop of each other... So many seals! The boulders beach Penguins were cute too.

I also went on a wine tour which was a lot of fun. Wine Flies (the tour company) are the only ones who offer wine and cheese, plus wine and chocolate pairing sessions. I was trashed by the end and took one of their hats (they said it was ok). When I got back I met up with Steph and Marie-Helene, two flight attendants from Montreal. These girls are super fun and got me hugely drunk at this great restaurant. It was my fault really, it was something like 11:30pm and I mentioned it was my birthday the next day. I would have done the same thing. We ended the night with Steph displaying her awesome rap skills at the bar in the backpackers.

The next day, my birthday started off a little hazy, but good all in all. I went out off cruise with Neinke (who I met in Transkei), her friend York and Tina who had by that point moved into her new place. The yatch was amazing and the sunset beautiful, but the night was made when we saw a whale about three meters away from the boat. One more thing ticked off the bucket list!

If that wasn't enough drinking the next day I met Tina's new flat mate Caroline and her friends Charlene and Machael. We went out and I ended up at Tina's flat, but it was OK as they got me to the airport. What was not OK was 24hrs+ flying and trying to sleep in Dubai airport! 

So that in a nutshell is my time in Cale Town, I'm sure I've missed out loads and I really do have a few more people to me too mention. Alba and Cathy keep it fashionable. Bill where'd you go? Wine Flies companions hope you all recovered and got home safe!

Can't believe my South African adventure is over. I've loved it and will definitely be back!

Storms River and The Crags

 

This section of my journey has been fairly idilic at times and adrenaline fueled at others having taken in amazing hikes and the world's largest commercial bungee jump.

The Crags

I started in the Wild Spirit backpackers, which I had been referred to by a lot of people. It's an amazing backpackers with a brilliant view of the surrounding mountains.

After arriving I was soon onto the area's main attraction. The Bloukrans bungee jump is the tallest commercial bungee jump in the world at over 216 meters. Having sky dived and bungeed before I thought I would be cool and pull my best James Bond impression as I threw myself off the bridge. However, when you look over the edge, that bravado seems to disappear. The team are really good at getting you over and I did the jump. In total you fall about 185 meters and its a weird experience. My mind couldn't really comprehend what was happening at first and everything seemed to slow down and then it all came hurtling toward me. The strangest part was the hanging once it was done, you're all full of adrenaline and then you just have to hang there. I was convinced my feet were going to slip through, but apparently this is normal. I'm glad I did it!

The rest of my stay involved a lot of hiking, which I am loving. I've been trying to do as much as possible as its great fun and good exercise. During the hike (which is free including our rather full shuttle), we (pic below L to R: two Danish girls, Irene, me and Dom) saw a huge variety of landscapes and an amazing lagoon, though the most memorable sight has to be a dead jellyfish being eaten by these weird snails, that was just plain odd.

Storms River

After a couple of days I then went to Storms River to meet up with a friend and ended up bumping into an English doctor called Sarah (hi Sarah). We soon became firm friends and spent the rest of the trip together. We hiked the Tsitsikamma park together which was stunning, the suspension bridge is fun and jumping from rock to rock along the beach is brilliant. We also met a guy called Ruben and explored a cave where we came up close and personal with a tiny and very cute bat :).

The best bit had to be the waterfall though. The water itself is brown as it had been dyed by the local plants, so swimming in the pool was like being in a big cup of black tea. Also the water was hot in some places and freezing in others as the water from the fall mixed with that of the pool - It's a unique experience.

Sarah an I also did a canopy zip line tour which was a little less thrilling after the bungee jump, but still a great way to see the first from a different angle.

I'm now in Wilderness, but I'll tell you about that another time :)