Table Mountain and winery...

we took the cable cars up Table Mountain, it was a beautiful day, no clouds (which locals will call, "table cloth") covering the mountain. awesome view from the top of the city and the bay. did a bit of hiking up there which was great.

hungry after our hike, we visited the winery, Buitenverwachting*, to have lunch and do some wine tasting....and tasting we did. i did get a couple of bottles, one of which is their flagship, which i'll have to wait til 2010 to open.

*means "beyond expectation" in Afrikkan. as for pronounciation, "ui"= "a", "v"="f", "w"= v".

Cape Town Bound...

what amazing views in this part of the country! we chose to hug along the coast on our way to Cape Town, and the southern peninsula.
yes, those are little African penguins roaming the beach!

Hermanus...

Left Wilderness and drove toward Hermanus today. we made stops in Albertina, known for aloe stuff, as well as Heidelberg for a tasty lunch at a farmhouse. Hermanus has some great sandy beaches, and is renowned for whale watching, however, it's not the season for it right now. we spent the afternoon walking one of the top 10 beaches in SA...quite windy, but beautiful, with mountains on one side. i now understand why everyone we have met has a pity look on their face when they learn that becky is living in joburg (a land-locked city).

we went to a bar for drinks and to watch the sunset, where we struck up a conversation with a young guy about the state of SA. he (as well as other's we've met) believes that SA is going downhill. there's a real unempolyment problem there, especially for white men....some sort of affirmative action thing. however, recently there were some reclassification on race --which is really not just based on race, but social economic level as well, and he (who looks completely white, but insists that there were some Malay blood in him way back) has declared himself "coloured" (it's the term for anyone with mixed races) in order to have more job opportunities. becky said she had to fill out some forms for work, and had asked what she should put down, and they told her "white" (she is 100% Chinese).

our "waitron" (as the wait staff is called here) for dinner, Marco, another young white male, also confirmed how hard it was to get a job in SA. he is currently living and working in Richmond, Virginia, but is back for visa reasons.

if only oysters were medicinal...

we drove to a town called, Knysna, last night. it's a quaint ocean front town, where a lot of locals like to vacation. it's known also known for it's oysters, which i was excited about! becky is not an oyster eater, but i got her to try some, and have converted her.

waking up this morning i knew i was sick...sore throat, fever, chills, etc. had to go to a pharmacy to get some meds. becky had some really bad flea bites, and she was feeling miserable as well, so we took it easy today, and explored the town, doing a little bit of shopping...it was gloomy and a bit rainy anyway, so nature was commiserating with me, and i felt better about not being able to do too much. we stop in a town called, Wilderness, tonight before heading down to Hermanus.

like monkeys...

it's Easter, and we spent the morning 90 meters above ground, swinging through the trees (a tree-top canopy tour)....celebrating Christ's resurrection in a different way this year, a worshipful experience, none the less.

in the afternoon we hiked through some AMAZING scenery to get to a waterfall. all trail should have the promise of ocean on one side, even though you're trekking through the forest vegetation. there were times when we question whether we were going the right way, as the possibility of immenent death by plummeting down the side of some rock walls was evident. but, we survived to tell the tale, and show the pictures.

South Africa!

becky and i picked up our car for the start of our road trip down the Garden Route (south western part of South Africa), in Port Elizabeth. we asked for directions to the main road from the rental agency, and i hear the agent saying some signs/landmarks we will see, not realizing that a "robot" is not really an android or statue, but a traffic light.

we explored part of the Tsitsikamma National Park today, and had dinner at a restaurant recommended by our B&B host...the direction included "turn left at the light and drive over the mountain..." right, just a mountain. it was worth it though, we ended up eating at a place called "Norma Jeans Diner" where the owner was really into American culture in the 50's. anyway, the best part was meeting locals. we were on our way out of the place, when this guy who was sitting at the bar with some friends came after us outside the restaurant, and asked us to join him for a drink. normally my city girl guard would've turned him down, especially since he was a bit loud and possibly drunk, but i thought, "why not? i'm in SA, let's hang with some locals!" (and yes, i did know that SA has one of the highest violent crime rates in the world.) it was harmless enough, these Afrikkans were friendly, and our bartender, Marissa, was looking out for us by telling the boys to behave and not be rude, etc. in the end, we learned a little about life there, and i learned to say "dankie" ("thank you").