Tuesday 27th January
Woke up to rain! John is known for inducing rain wherever he goes! Tunisia, Trinidad, Durban….
Planned our day with Gerry whose encyclopaedic knowledge was useful and his suggestions helpful.
Destination Cape Point – the most southernly tip of the continent. Via Kalk Bay – a seaside town of antique shops, galleries, good quality hippie/ethnic boutiques. Didn’t stop at Fish Hoek but unfortunately a blip in navigation skills took us round a very unprepossessing ‘Wimpy’ estate before finding the scenic hairpin bend route across the peninsula and down into the Table Mountain National Park where you are frequently reminded that baboons are dangerous – quite disappointed though, not to see any.
Stunning views at Cape Point – rocky outcrops and crashing surf. I walked up – John took the funicular. Busy but not annoyingly so.
On the way back, an article in a magazine I’d picked up at the B & B suggested a detour to Bordjiesrif for coastal landscape and a sea-fed lagoon guaranteed to be deserted… and amazingly it was. Bonus sight was a family of ostrichs, a flock of terns and something resembling a sandpiper.
Further along the road a troop of baboons were occupying the road unperturbed by the locals who’ve seen it all before and just want to drive through and by us tourists who want to take snaps. Alpha male very evident…
In all the excitement we’d forgotten to have no. 2 of 21 gourmet lunches that John had been looking forward to! so popped into Simon’s Town Golf Club. The snack pack of biltong was no substitute, so we made do with a drink entertained by an interesting guy who we suspected might have owned the club.
Then to Boulders Beach for the Penguin colony. Hundreds of South African Jackass penguins just starting their breeding season, so we witnessed the start of the next generation of these cute birds who make an amazingly loud braying noise as part of their courtship.
Bonus sight was a ‘dassie’ – a guinea pig sized animal which is the closest living relative of the elephant.
Then back to freshen up, and off to Wasabi in Constantia for sushi and steak and langoustines.