Day 6 - Westward Bound

I have a bit of a weird night’s sleep, and when Vicki wakes, she tells me she’s been the same. Some loud noises through the night, and I actually wake up during the night feeling a little queasy - the result, no doubt, of the oversized feasting at dinner last night. We skip breakfast, and get ourselves ready to head to King Shaka, the new international airport built outside Durban for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. As it’s a domestic flight, the security protocols are quite a bit lighter - no real worries about liquids and the like. We’re here in plenty of time, so park ourselves after security control at the brilliantly named Zululand Brewing Company pub for a couple of wines/Savannas to ease us into the flight. The 2 hour flight is largely uneventful, and quickly enough, we’re landing into Cape Town International, where we’re told the temperature has been in the high 30s for the past week.

Happily, our drivers MPV is heavily air-conditioned, and the traffic gods are kind to us. We’re soon checked into Hyde Hotel, our home for the next week. It feels quite luxurious to be unpacking clothes, rather than living out of a rucksack as we have been for the first few days of our trip. We’ve not eaten much today, so head out in search of sustenance. We find a great little seafront bar called Rockpool, and settle in. It’s busy - for a Wednesday night, really busy. The views of the dying daylight sun over the South Atlantic are beautiful. There’s a real southern California feel to this part of the Cape Town coastline - palm Trees, long stretches of beach… Fed and watered, we head back to our hotel, and have a bit more of an explore. There’s a rooftop pool and bar, which has amazing views towards Table Mountain and Lion’s Head. We sit at the bar, and chat to Adrian, the bar manager, over a glass of a decent Pinotage/Malbec blend. We start to watch a movie, but the long day is rapidly catching up with me. I’m struggling to keep my eyes open by 23:00, and collapse into bed.Read more