On Monday morning, we were scheduled to go to Robben Island for a tour. Elliot and Niv had planned to meet us, but weren’t assured of getting tickets, as you have to book WAAAY in advance in order to be sure of getting tickets. As things went, the guys couldn’t get tickets, so JD and I decided to renig on ours in order to spend the day with our friends. We wandered around the Waterfront and showed Niv the sights since he hadn’t even been in town a week—not that he really needed our help, it was just more fun that way. We browsed the CD store considered to have the best selection of African music around (I bought Norah Jones, Oliver Mtikudzi, and Amandla!, a compilation of music of the apartheid struggle) and then headed to a long lunch and discussion. As always happens, JD and I were called upon to be the voice of the South—too bad we don’t form much of a unified voice, as I consider myself mostly a Democrat, and he mostly a Republican! Regardless, it’s always nice to hear what is thought in another part of the U.S. since we don’t get much differentiation of thought in the South sometimes.
After lunch, we wandered over to the aquarium which, while it doesn’t even begin to rival Chattanooga, was really nice. There was a huge shark tank (I thought about you, Katie) with manta rays and sea turtles (and you, Mommy), as well. If you’ve never taken a five-year-old to the aquarium, a good substitute would be taking Elliot, who was fascinated by all of the nerd wisdom supplied by myself and Niv. I have a feeling that Niv and I spent similar childhoods reading ridiculous books and going on field trips with our parents…anyway, it was great! We saw Flotsam- and Jetsam-style eels, huge crabs, tiny seahorses, and even got to touch sea anenomes! We had a great time, even though we had to cover it all in an hour—quite a push for us!
Tuesday was definitely my favorite day, by far. We set out at 9 a.m. for Boulder’s Beach and the Cape of Good Hope. Those of you who have been cheating on facebook have already seen pictures of this, but it’s worth another look. The drive to Boulder’s Beach took us about 45 minutes, and we spent it playing ridiculous music (think Toto’s Africa, etc.) and singing.
We were fortunate when we arrived to meet a parking attendant who directed us away from the main penguin colony to an area of beach where you could actually get really close to the penguins. It’s situated under a few houses (oh, to have an ocean and penguin view!) and was relatively deserted. This was great for me! Those of you
who know me well can imagine me traipsing through the knee-deep water taking pictures of sea life, penguins, and the ocean. Niv, JD, and I took a quick trip to childhood, singing “It’s a Jolly Holiday with Mary” and dancing like penguins.
I even got some great penguin waddling footage which I will post if I can ever convince the powers that be at Wits that video isn’t sooo bad for taking up bandwidth.
After probably an hour or more of hanging out with the penguins, the guys suggested that we go (I was still in the water at this point) in order to get to Cape Point for lunch. I relented, but really could have stayed in that spot for another two hours or so.
Thus, we began the drive to Cape Point, another 30 minute drive or so. This drive follows the coastline where with a little fog, we saw some of the most amazing views yet—keyword yet. JD had suggested that we eat at the restaurant at Cape Point, which was definitely a good choice. It looks out over the bay from about halfway up the mountain and served some wonderful cuisine including ostrich fillet and biltong salad (biltong is a specifically South African delicacy. It’s basically jerky of many different types). We then set out on the trek up the mountain to the lighthouse at Cape Point. It only took about 30 minutes and was a beautiful hike (though it’s paved, it’s incredibly steep). I stopped at every lizard that I saw (which was a bunch) and made the guys stop while I took pictures of aloe for Carl. No, Carl’s not really interested in aloe, but after doing a long research project on it, I felt like he deserved to see that it really does exist in Africa. The view from the lighthouse was beautiful, regardless of the fog all around. In fact, I think the fog added to the mystique a bit.
The most important part of the day, however, was seeing the Cape of Good Hope which technically lies below Cape Point at the water’s edge. This was important mostly because Daniel taunted me with pictures of BSC students at the Cape for my entire last year at BSC. I insisted that we go and I get my picture taken with that sign! On our way to the waterfront, we saw a huge backup of cars and began to get really excited. In this area, the only thing that a backup of cars can mean is baboons! And we were lucky—we saw about five baboons sitting within feet of the road.
That made JD a little nervous with all of our windows down, considering that baboons are the African equivalent of wild dogs. As we continued on our drive downhill, we found ostrich—about five of them—and a few by the water.
I think the picture of an ostrich grazing by the ocean is just ridiculous, you know? I mean, how Alice in Wonderland can my life get?! We also saw eland, but they were so far away that we never would have gotten pictures.
The Cape of Good Hope is situated under a large cliff where the water crashes against the rocks and creates a magnificent spray. Someone (I think Niv) noted that the boulders and rocks all around looked like rainbow sherbet with their striped color variations. We all sat on one of the large boulders and took in the scenery. We realized while sitting that we were on top of a large colony of some kind of insect closely resembling a roach. Instead of being repulsed, we were of course fascinated and began to taunt them by waving our feet nearby at which point the bugs would scatter and fall like a waterfall all over the rocks. I don’t have any pictures but Niv does, so maybe eventually you’ll get to see. I’m talking millions of bugs, here!
After taking a picture with the sign (I wore my BSC shirt just for this occasion),
we retreated to the car to begin heading back to the Mother City. As we were leaving the park, we saw a wildfire and water bombs being dropped by helicopters. It was really pretty cool.
We continued toward town by way of the Atlantic seaboard and saw some of the MOST beautiful vistas of the entire day, the best of which was the Chapman’s Peak Drive.
We stopped in at Hout Bay to see what all the fuss was about with this area and to get a little snack of fish and chips. We couldn’t see much since there was such a thick fog by this time of day, but we were still quite entertained. We happened to run into these two girls:
The Doublemint Twins, you ask? I would agree. They were raising money for a local hospital by presenting their very own variety show and selling small grandma-esque trinkets to passersby. Their entire schtick was in unison—the entire thing! They offered to sing in Afrikaans, English, French, Spanish, Xhosa, Hebrew, etc., etc. Being our feisty selves, we decided on Xhosa (the African language with the most click sounds) and Hebrew (Niv and Elliot are Jewish and speak good Hebrew…ok, that’s an assumption on my part, but suffice to say that they would know good versus bad Hebrew). The girls were really pretty terrible on both accounts, but considering their efforts and the fact that it was entirely in unison, we were really pretty impressed and donated what change we had. It really was very funny.
Obviously, Tuesday was a really fun day—the highlight of the trip for me—and so I think I’ll leave you with that for a while. The rest of the week includes less dramatic interpretation, but was still enjoyable, and I think I can finish it in just one more post, we’ll see. In other news, I am taking the job at McAuley House School, so as Katie says, welcome back to 1956! Actually, it’s not that antiquated, but there will be sewing and cooking. I have also managed to get another 2 80s on papers, so I’m feeling good about my academic standing and my ability to take on another responsibility and still do well. We have new ducklings (I think for Easter), and though it’s getting colder, it’s still quite nice. Think September weather. I have had irises for the entire time I’ve been here, so I’m pretty happy about that, though I’ve seen not a single daffodil. I do love daffodils. All is well here. Love you all so.
Wednesday was the first time that many of my friends had ever seen snow--and boy, were they cold! It hadn't snowed in Jo'burg since 1982, apparently! No, I wasn't born then. Yes, it seems like yesterday, even so. You old people are too predictable.
Penguin eggs!
Looks like a moonscape, hey? Once we arrived at Cape Point, we went to lunch at the Two Oceans restaurant at the Cape of Good Hope (where the two oceans meet). We met these pesky little birds who wanted to steal Katie's food:
They're pretty, all the same. Red-winged Starlings for those of you who care. After defending her food, Katie decided she wanted to fit in--look! A monkey!
I should know better by now than to think that she won't take my dares. And then we began our ascent.
This plaque points to all the nearest cities. I like this place--the nearest cities are nowhere to be found!
Katie, just four words...I told you so. After we enjoyed Cape Point to its full extent, we traveled back down the mountain to the actual Cape of Good Hope.
Yes, the BSC shirts were on purpose. I wasn't an admissions personnel for nothing...
The protea, SA's national flower.
Pictures at Chapman's Peak:
Apparently they allow spear fishing. It seemed odd that the fish would be smiling about this...
A good day had by all.
