Camps Bay to Table Mountain

The next day we had the car until noon.  Taking advantage of having wheels we skipped around to the other side of Table Mountain to Camps Bay.  This is a beautiful seaside town facing the Atlantic Ocean.  There was a surf competition held in the bay last weekend.  Don’t know how that went after seeing the lack of swell the day we were there.

We did a bit of shopping, and bought some crepes from a French man in his little crepe shack.  He said that he has travelled the world making crepes, but has returned to Cape Town because he thinks that it is the best place that he has ever been.  That says a lot about the city.

Camps Bay

We returned the car at noon, and headed off to Table Mountain for a hike.

We started our hike at around 1:30pm.  I was a little sceptical about starting so late because it is a strenuous hike, and is best to do it when it’s not too hot.  Nevertheless, it ended up not being as warm as it was the first time I had hiked it with my friends from the programme.  Perhaps it was because I wasn’t wearing jeans this time.

Mel and I made it to the top in an hour and a half – half an hour faster than last time I did it.  We were blessed with views all around due to the high pressure system in the area; however, it was windy at the top, which worried us because we thought that they might not run the cable car in the winds.  We weren’t prepared to hike back down.  Fortunately the cable cars were running and we bought tickets and hopped aboard.  An hour and a half hike up takes only ten minutes to get back down by cable car.  The cable car not only ascends and descends, but spins while it does either, so you can get a 360 degree view of the area which includes the Atlantic Ocean, Lion’s Head and City Bowl.

Stretching it out for the 1000m vertical accent.

Proof

Looking back at City Bowl

Looking up at where we are heading - that gap, and the people on the trail above are specs.

Melanie on trail with City Bowl in background.

Longshot of Muizenberg from top of Table Mountain.

Looking into False Bay from Table Mountain

Top of Table Mountain looking towards Cape of Good Hope.

Cable car ride down.

Muzin' about

After Sancob we decided to use the car to get to Muizenberg to show Mel where I’d been for three weeks and who I’d worked with.  Before entering Muizies I showed Mel the soccer pitch where I’d been playing with the kids in the afterschool activity.  After that I decided to show Mel where I had eaten some of the best pizza in South Africa.  We ate and hung out in the Village area of Muizenberg.  This area has a European feel to it, except maybe for the gates on the front of the stores where you have to be buzzed into in order to get shop there.

Once we had finished our pizza, taken a few photos of the area, and got lost in the one-way streets we found our way down to the beach where we surf with the kids.  It was still early and the programme didn’t start for another hour, so we headed to Shebeans to get a coffee.  Just a little information point here, a “shebeen” is a township tavern that sells liquor illegally, but is basically looked at by officials with a blind eye as long as the patrons or owner don’t cause too much of a hassle.  I originally thought that the owner of the coffee shop’s name was “Shebean”, but instead it’s a clever play on the word shebeen with a coffee twist (she-“bean”).  In case you’re wondering the name of the guy who runs Shebean is “Guy”.

"Ubuntu", kid!

Village at Muizenberg

Black flag means bad visibility, and commonly a sand storm.

Once the kids started showing up we went down to the beach side of the promenade and were met by my colleagues in the programme, and not to forget that we were also met with a sandblasting not uncommon to Muzies due to its high winds.  Mel not only got to meet my colleagues, but also a couple of the kids as well.  We were fortunate to see Widi perform various athletic feats in the sand before they began there warm-up and headed into the water for the surf lessons.  It was sad to leave the kids.  One of them came up to me in the car to give me a farewell.

Since we still had the car we headed further south through Kalk Bay, Fish Hoek, and Simon’s town to see the wild penguins at Boulders Beach.  After the penguins we headed as far south on the Cape of Good Hope as we could before we had to pay.  The last 10km of the Cape of Good Hope is parkland, so you have to pay to enter.  Besides the cost, we were running out of daylight.

With whatever light we had left we headed along Chapman’s Peak I had driven this pass before with my roomies when I first got the car.  Unfortunately, my camera was acting up and I didn’t get any photos.  Nonetheless, Mel and I had our camera for this passing of the pass and we got some amazing photos.  This drive is one of the most picturesque I’ve ever taken, and that includes the Great Ocean Road in Australia.  Perhaps it was the time of day, but the views are incredible – especially the sunset into the Atlantic Ocean.

Wild South African penguins at Boulders Beach

West side of cape

More west side, Misty Cliffs?

Noordhoek

Typical SA boy with no shoes

Hout Bay

Sunset over Hout Bay

Sun heading west towards the Americas

Back to CT

Upon return to in Capetown we immediately headed to Sancob, a penguin rehabilitation centre.  Melanie had organized a tour of the facility months before our arrival, and was keen on checking it out.  The centre, like many rehab centres, is dependent on its volunteers.  Although it has paid employees such as vets and rehabbers, the majority of the people there were volunteers.  Volunteers came from all over the world, and the minimum stay is six weeks. 

Most of the penguins found at Sancob are, wait for it…the African penguin.  The ones that end up in the hands of Sancob are usually a result of a near fatal encounter with seals, or are found orphaned for any number of reasons.  However, there are other seabirds at the facility, and interestingly another species of penguin: the rockhopper penguin.  This penguin you might know as “Koby” from the animated movie “Surf’s Up” with the ear tufts.  And, as you might remember from the movie these penguins are found in Antarctica.  Right now you’re probably asking yourself the same question as Mel and I had: “how does a penguin from Antarctica get up to South Africa?”  This is a very good question, and has an interesting, if not gruesome answer.  We were told that these birds show up on African soil via Japanese fishing boats.  What happens is the birds get caught up in the trawling nets that the Japanese fishing boats put out when fishing in the waters off of the islands close to Antarctica.  When the birds are brought aboard the vessel the crew keep them alive so that they can eat them; apparently it’s a nice change from their regular meat diet of fish.  However, not all of the rockhoppers are eaten, and rest onboard when the vessel arrives into the South African port.  The South African wildlife does not allow for these animals to be let loose in their waters, so they are sent to Sancob to live out their lives.  According to Sancob one of the rockhoppers “Rocky” has been with them for 18 years.  I suppose not many boats are willing to take Rocky back to Antarctica on their way back to Japan.

The tour was fascinating.

Entrance to Sancob.

Penguin getting a drink.  Although Penguins are used to salt water, Sancob uses fresh water for all pools.

African penguins at Sancob.

Rocky the displaced rockhopper penguin.

Leaving J-Bay

We headed back towards Cape Town and stopped off at the highest bungee jump in the world.  Mel was too chicken to do it, and I was too cheap so we opted out of the jump and watched others plunge into the canyon.
Upon the good suggestion of the hostel host in Jbay we headed inland on the way back to Cape Town.  This took us through the mountainous region of route 62, the Karoo.  This region is known for its wineries and fineries (i.e. nice scenery).  We stopped off in Ladismith (not Ladysmith) at a winery and tasted two of their reds.  We walked out with a nice Pinotage, local to the area.
Like we said the scenery was exquisite with the red dirt, mountain ranges, fynbos (fine bush) and tortoises, of which we saved a couple from being HBC (hit by car).  There was also this unusually blue grass on the side of the road.  We inquired, and apparently they are trying to eradicate this grass due to its invasiveness by spraying it, which turns it a blue colour.

Boneyards at sunrise

Around wilderness

Views along route 60

More route 60

Road to..?

New definition for bluegrass

Picturesque Route 62

Mountain views

more mountain views

Ronnies along route 62

Pale chanting goshawk

Vineyard

We stayed the night in Montague, a small mountain town.  The accommodation we found was in an old horse stable.  Not as bad as you might think.  It was renovated recently, cozy, and a really good deal.  No horses as stable mates.  Too bad, because they would likely be cleaner than most hostel mates we have come across.
After waking in Montague Mel went down the road to take picutres at a bird santuary which housed cattle egrets, grey herons, ibises, and two types of weavers.  We were soon on the road again with Cape Town a two hour car ride away.  One place of interest that we stopped at, or more like I slept at, was Ronnie's Sex Shop.  Now, it's not what you think it is.  Instead, it is a harmless pub in the middle of nowhere along route 62.  The story is the pub wasn't doing well, so the owner decided to spice up the name a little bit.  Ever since Ronnie's Sex Shop has been doing well for itself, and known as a national land mark.

Horse stable we slept in

Outside of stable (hostel)

Cattle egret in bird sanctuary

Cat crossing outside of bird sanctuary

Further along 62

62

Wild baboons

Table mountain on the way in to Cape Town

 

Garden Route to Jeffrey's Bay

From Hermanus we headed along the Garden Route to Knysna. We stopped off at Mossel Bay and Wilderness. These were both very nice stops; although we again ended up in a township in Mossel Bay, unscathed.   Once in Knysna we settled into our hostel then went on a mission for 'Milk Tart', a South African dessert similar to a Creme Brulee but more awesomer. Everyday so far Mel has searched for the best milk tart in the country. The best up to this point is from a bakery in Britz, a farmtown near Pretoria, SA.

We arrived in Jeffrey's Bay the next morning. This is a surfers destination. This reminded us of Torquay in Australia because of the numerous surfing outlet stores. Our hostel had a view of 'boneyards' (for you non-surfers this is a surf break right next to 'SUPERTUBES', for those of you non non-surfers this is the longest right break in the world!!!!). Neal didn't make it out in the waves as there was no one else out in the water and the waves were very large. We walked along the beach finding shells such as abalone and a family of 3 Golden Retrievers: the dad Kei, the mum Scuzzy (don't really understand that one) and the puppy Summer. They followed us down the beach until their owner had to come and fetch them. They all barked at the guy who came to retrieve them.  We think they enjoyed their time with us much more than the idea of heading home.  Really, what dog in their right mind would want to leave Mel? In fact, Mel wished she could take them home for Kennedy.
A funny thing we saw was on the sign for the hostel was a Sitka surfboards sticker from Victoria. We thought we'd even it out by posting a Coastline sticker above it - represent. To make it to Cape Town which is 8hrs drive from Jbay We had to leave the next morning early.  Unfortunately, we also left some nice wave sets coming through Supertubes.

Jeffrey's Bay

Boardwalk to Boneyards and Supertubes

Supertubes with no one out except the oystercatchers...

...and a few landlubbers

Only wave caught in Jbay, and it was at a mall - embarassing.