Cape Town, South Africa

Next stop on this amazing trip was South Africa. We flew from Victoria Falls to Johannesburg with the 'newly' scheduled stop off in Bulawayo. From here we travelled overnight to Port Elizabeth on the luxurious Intercape bus. This was one of the nicest buses I've ever been on. It had reclining seats, air condition and even a toilet on board. This stopped the unnecessary stops and scramble for the bathroom on previous buses we travelled on.
We arrived in Port Elizabeth in the lashing rain, but being Irish, this didn't phase us one bit! We headed straight to the beach for a walk and then played in the playground like the big kids we are! Next day in the sunshine, we did the self guided walking tour of the town, as organised by our hostel, Hippo Backpackers. We visited St. George's Park and the Pearson Conservatory, climbed the lighthouse and got an amazing view of the town and coastline. We also visited the Southend Apartheid museum, which gave us a really interesting insight into the history of the town.
We hired a car for our trip to Cape Town and stopped off in many lovely towns along the way. Our little Chevolee Sonic (nicknamed Doris) managed well with fitting all our rucksacks in and getting through the steep mountainous areas.
Our first stop along the beautiful Garden Route was Jeffreys Bay. We stayed in the lovely Ubuntu hostel where they organised surfing and sandboarding activities for us. One day, we went to visit the waterfall just outside the town. Unfortunately the car got stuck in the gravel on the side of a cliff and a kind local farmer had to pull it out with his tractor.
Next we drove to Kynsna, and based ourselves in the amazing Jembjo's lodge for the next few days. This felt like a home away from home with proper kitchen facilities, chilled out sitting room and a large garden out the back. We visited the beautiful harbour on Thesen Island in the town and I sampled the local catch 'yellowtail fish'. We watched the sunset at the Kynsna Heads one evening and met an amazing group of elderly people on tour from Holland, sipping on their gin and tonics with their zimmer frames and all!
We visited Plettenburg Bay where we walked the beautiful beach and wandered through the Gardens of Eden. We attended the Plett Puzzle Park where we got a chance to solve the fun puzzles and played giant Jenga and Connect 4.
Along the Garden Route, we did lots of different activities in the various towns. We went Kloofing in The Crags which consisted of abseiling, cliff jumping, ziplining. We did a Segway tour in the beautiful Wilderness National Park. We revisited our Junior Cert history in the Bartholiew Diaz museum and replica boat in Mossel Bay and refreshed our Geography lessons in the amazingly beautiful Cango Caves in Oudhstoorn. We had a fantastic ten days in the Garden Route, with amazing scenery and activities.
Our last stop before Cape Town was Hermanus where we walked the beautiful coastal walk and went whale watching. This was another amazing experience to add to the collection.
Reluctantly we had to return Doris when we arrived in Cape Town and stayed at Once in Cape Town hostel on Kloof Street. Our first port of call was to catch up with Margaux who was over from Singapore for the week and we did lots activities together. Roisin and Nina went on a wine tasting tour, where they visited four different wineries and sampled various wines, champagnes and cheeses. Edel, Margaux and I did the city 'hop on hop off' bus tour and learned lots about the history and the recent development of the city. Some of the stops included the Groot Constantia winery, Sea Point, the Clock Tower, W&A Waterfront and Table Mountain. We treated ourselves to afternoon tea in Camps Bay, with a beautiful view over looking the Ocean.
Next day we went to the Woodstock Food Market, where we were spoiled for choice on what to eat and drink and sampled some of the local delicacy, which is strips of dried, cured meat.
Halloween happened to fall while we were here. Living out of a rucksack limited our wardrobe options for fancy dress. Margaux came up with the genius idea of dressing up as an alternative version of Ninja warriors. We spent the afternoon doing arts and crafts, making our 'Ginja' costumes while watching the rugby world cup final. Wearing matching black outfits (secretly celebrating New Zealand's win) we headed out for the night and sampled the Cape Town nightlife.
Later in the week we decided to do another road trip around the Cape, so we hired another car for the day, this time a Hyundai i20. We drove to Hout Head to see some seals in the harbour. Then we stopped on Chapman's Peak for an amazing view of the point where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans officially meet. We visited Boulder Beach in Simon's Town where we saw African penguins. Next we entered the Cape Point National Park, where we saw the famous Cape of Good Hope and had a picnic overlooking the sea. Just as we were packing up to move on, a large baboon came across the car park and chased after my food packages. Luckily a ranger was close by to scare the baboon away from me, and I survived for another day!
That evening we decided to walk up Lion's Head peak to see the sunset across the city. It was a beautiful way to finish off another great day.
Having not had enough exercise, the following day we donned our hiking shoes (or 'business shoes' as Edel calls them) and climbed to the top of Table Mountain. The hike took about two and a half hours and was difficult at times, but it was worth every effort as we had an amazing view of the city and surrounding areas. I had a great feeling of achievement as we stood on the top of one of the 'new Wonders of Nature'. This was a great way to finish our time in Cape Town and it was great to catch up with friends while we were here.
The last eight and a half weeks in Africa have absolutely flown by. There were plenty of highs and some lows along the way but overall it's been an amazing experience. It has opened my eyes to many things and I will hopefully be back someday again. We are now moving onto South America, first stop, Colombia. I'm looking forward to many more new experiences and seeing some more beautiful places! And we get reunited with Ms Sparrow which is always a bonus!!Read more