Cape Town

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We drove along the coast to Cape Town, stopping frequently and looking at the beaches full of weekenders. We organised a guesthouse right outside the City Bowl with a view of the city/waterfront from one side and Table Mountain out the other. We had intended to go up Table Mountain and our host suggested we climb it. It is a fairly taxing hike to the top, and it had clouded over while we were ascending, so unfortunately we did not have the pristine views we had hoped for, but a definite sense of achivement for the afternoon. We had a BBQ with our hosts that evening and the next day went into the city to explore. After a morning at the waterfront and aquarium and lunch in the Company's Gardens, followed by a driving tour of other possible sites, we found ourselves leaving the city to go to Simon's Town to see the penguin colony. The penguins are a riot -- from two breeding pairs in the 1980s they now have 3000. We spent a fair amount of time watching their antics and returned via the scenic route. That evening we'd arranged to meet Si's friend Sophie and her boyfriend Tom for dinner, and they took us to an excellent fish restaurant called The Codfather in Camps Bay. The next morning we had a leisurely drive down via Kalk's Bay to Cape Point, a fantastic place to wander around and whale watch (we saw several swimming along the peninsula), though it was full of other people which was a phenomenon we only really found near Cape Town. After a nice Italian dinner we packed our things and caught our flight the next day to Asia . . . E