Cape Town

I just got back from a very needed vacation to Cape Town. Mel and I took a taxi to Bloemfontein, rented a little red Kia Picanto at the airport and started the 1000km (620 mile) drive southwest towards Cape Town. We didn't make it very far (downtown Bloemfontein) before finding a McDonald's to pick up some McNuggets, fries and fountain soda. It tasted like America.


We left Bloemfontein at around 10:40 am and got to the hostel in Cape Town at around 10pm. It was a very long drive, but it ended up being very handy to have a car with us in Cape Town and the price was about the same as flying or taking the bus. Our first full day in Cape Town we went up to Table Mountain. It was so windy that they weren't running the tram to the top, but we found this tree and bench, which was a great alternative.


After Table Mountain we decided to spend some more time in the care and drove down to Simonstown to see the penguins. Before we got to the penguins we stopped and had some fish and salads near the marina and found these cool little boats moored there.

After lunch it was off to find the penguins, which were not difficult to find. They were adorable if not terrible active. We did see one penguin that had somehow climbed up on a rock in the middle of the bay that must have been 2 meters out of the water at it's lowest point. We named him King Penguin because he kept waddling around to different sides of the rock to survey his territory.

The penguins were only entertaining for so long, and because we were so close, we decided to head down and check out the Cape of Good Hope. Along the way a troop of baboons crossed the road and Mel caught a good picture of this big boy. That thing around his neck is a tracking device of some sort I think. There were a couple guys with "Baboon Monitoring Team" on their vests who were just watching the troop take over the road.

The land around the cape is pretty barren, which is understandable considering the gale force winds that were pummeling everything over a foot tall. We made it out to the cape regardless and got the necessary photo documentation.

We both somehow forgot our cameras when we went out to wine country, but be assured that it was gorgeous and the three wineries visited all proved to have deliciously smooth wine. I'd go back.
We didn't have a very packed schedule, so we took a few walks along the beach and ran into a teatertotter, which Mel had never been on before. It was thoroughly amusing as you can see below.

This last photo is from the V&A Waterfront and that big red guy is made out of Coke crates. In the background there is Table Mountain.


Overall the vacation was terrific. We ate huge amounts of delicious food, walked on sidewalks, drove ourselves around (Mel learned how to drive a manual transmission), went outside at night and found some delicious wines. Work starts again for me on Monday, and it's going to be busy, so this might be the last post for a while. Much love all.