The 7th Continent part 2: Cape Town
Now for the second half of my South Africa tour - after JoBurg, we migrated south to the warmer weather of Cape Town for the third match and a few days of relaxation. After arriving at the lodge we were staying (the very friendly Afton Grove) they helped set us up with a rental car, and following a small bit of local walking we made our way down the scenic motorways towards Simon's Town and Boulders beach. The latter is a popular tourist spot due to the friendly and large penguin colony, and it did not disappoint:
Note that after my Antarctica trip, this was the third continent fo the year I've seen penguin's on - the only one left in the southern hemisphere is, stragely enough, Australia! Hopefully a trip to SA at the end of the year can fix that... One other great thing in the timing of the visit to Boulders beach was that we saw not only penguins, but also a pack of about 50 dolphins swimming past in the distance, plus a pod of three Whales (apparently very uncommon that time of year at the beach).
The next day in Cape Town was match day - North Korea against the favoured Portugal, and there was no upset result, with the majority Portuguese supporters celebrating regularly in the 7-0 drubbing. Lots of scenes like this:
One unexpected extra joy of the match was the trip there, driving along the famous Chapman's Peak Drive. Considered one of the most spectacular marine drives, it was easy to see why - endless winding along the coast, with stunning water views one side and green mountains on the other, in some cases even above me as I wound my way around and through the rock. Cape Town in general was just spectacular in terms of views, I really like sharp mountain lines so the constant view of Table Mountain had me impressed:
The final flight home had been scheduled late at night so we made the most of the final day by heading all the way down to the Cape of Good Hope. It kept up the theme of very pretty countryside, green everywhere and wildlife scattered randomly around the place - Ostriches (I kid you not, standing wild near the carpark), loads of birds, and oddly enough, baboons literally stealing food from plates at lunch. There was a path up the rocks at the very southern point, from where I tried my camera's inbuilt panorama to savour about 180degrees of the amazing views: (note, click on this to make it much bigger...)
So there you have it - my summary of the 7th continent I've visited. Would I go back? To Cape Town, definitely - two days wasn't enough to drive around many of the places, we didn't seem much of the main city (missed out on going up Table Mountain) and I didn't get to experience its famous wine industry, so I'd be keen to return not during a major tourism event. Johannesburg less so - maybe the knowledge of car hire would help, but I think I'd be more keen to depart further from my comfort zone and visit Victoria falls or Kilimanjaro.
P.S: one unrelated thing to add; now that my old project (Google Wave) is being run down, after some final extra work on it, it now looks like my new project will be on Blogger! Yep, improving this very website and the ones used to post and manage blogs. Should be fun, I'm looking forwards to it :)
Note that after my Antarctica trip, this was the third continent fo the year I've seen penguin's on - the only one left in the southern hemisphere is, stragely enough, Australia! Hopefully a trip to SA at the end of the year can fix that... One other great thing in the timing of the visit to Boulders beach was that we saw not only penguins, but also a pack of about 50 dolphins swimming past in the distance, plus a pod of three Whales (apparently very uncommon that time of year at the beach).The next day in Cape Town was match day - North Korea against the favoured Portugal, and there was no upset result, with the majority Portuguese supporters celebrating regularly in the 7-0 drubbing. Lots of scenes like this:
One unexpected extra joy of the match was the trip there, driving along the famous Chapman's Peak Drive. Considered one of the most spectacular marine drives, it was easy to see why - endless winding along the coast, with stunning water views one side and green mountains on the other, in some cases even above me as I wound my way around and through the rock. Cape Town in general was just spectacular in terms of views, I really like sharp mountain lines so the constant view of Table Mountain had me impressed:
The final flight home had been scheduled late at night so we made the most of the final day by heading all the way down to the Cape of Good Hope. It kept up the theme of very pretty countryside, green everywhere and wildlife scattered randomly around the place - Ostriches (I kid you not, standing wild near the carpark), loads of birds, and oddly enough, baboons literally stealing food from plates at lunch. There was a path up the rocks at the very southern point, from where I tried my camera's inbuilt panorama to savour about 180degrees of the amazing views: (note, click on this to make it much bigger...) 
So there you have it - my summary of the 7th continent I've visited. Would I go back? To Cape Town, definitely - two days wasn't enough to drive around many of the places, we didn't seem much of the main city (missed out on going up Table Mountain) and I didn't get to experience its famous wine industry, so I'd be keen to return not during a major tourism event. Johannesburg less so - maybe the knowledge of car hire would help, but I think I'd be more keen to depart further from my comfort zone and visit Victoria falls or Kilimanjaro.P.S: one unrelated thing to add; now that my old project (Google Wave) is being run down, after some final extra work on it, it now looks like my new project will be on Blogger! Yep, improving this very website and the ones used to post and manage blogs. Should be fun, I'm looking forwards to it :)
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