Arriving in the Mother City (Cape Town)

We left Simonstown hoping to drive along a famously scenic route into Cape Town called Chapmans Peak. But when we got there we were told that the whole road was currently closed due to a major landslide, and wouldn't reopen for about another month. So we swung around a different route and arrived on the outskirts of Cape Town quite early in the afternoon (after stopping off for a drink in the lovely Constantia wine region in a 'not-really-that-nice-of-a-place' that looked lovely from the outside).

Because we were quite early we stopped off at the Kirstenbosch gardens, a world famous botanical garden - and deservedly famous it is too. There really is so much to see and explore, the gardens are very extensive, with huge variety. Yet again I was in a place that I could have spent all day (I particularly liked the short walk into the forest that borders the garden and leads on up into the foothills of Table Mountain itself). But eventually Negator started up as usual, and since we had been there for quite a while we left and headed on towards the city centre. On the way we passed the Rhodes Memorial - I wanted to pop in and have a look, but Negator wanted to push on ahead. We did get to see it later though (after a failed attempt getting lost in the adjacent University), and it is worth a stop off I reckon as it's set in a wonderfully peaceful location and has good views.

For our first couple of nights we stayed in the city centre in a smallish place called Zebra Crossing Lodge, simply because it had parking (often a problem with city centre backpacker places). From here we just explored about locally a bit and then because we planned on keeping the car for a couple of more days to explore the hinterlands of Cape Town, we decided to book a place in one of the nice suburbs (St. Johns Waterfront Lodge, in Green Point), and then move back into the centre (where we could walk around easily), after we'd given the car back. The Grren Point place was lovely, nice and quiet, with two swimming pools and a good location for strolling to the Waterfront.

The next day we used the car to explore the gorgeous beach-strune coastline all the way down to Houts Bay. First stop was Clifton Beach, with a quick stop off for a peek from the cliffs, then a stroll along the beaches themselves, followed by Camps bay for a spot of lunch and people watching, and another quick toe-poke in the ocean (I'd forgotten my swimming shorts unfortunately). After a quick stop in Houts Bay it was back to the five-star Twelve Apostles Hotel that we;d passed on our way down the coast. Naturally I went for my usual nose-around, although I didn't partake of their luxurious pool, instead having a sundowner on the balcony (and witnessing the crazy car jam caused by a pretty serious car crash just a couple of hundred metres from the hotel - a rescue helicopter had to land on the road and ferry someone directly to hospital). It's a pretty impressive hotel though, so we came back the next evening for dinner (and very nice is was too).

The next morning we dropped the car back to the rental company (after 3 months!), and moved into a nice-looking new place on the main drag, Long Street. That evening I headed out to use the Internet for a few hours, and when I got back Sarah was in near hysterics in the room. At first I thought somebody must have really hassled her or attacked here or something, but it quickly became clear that instead we had simply had a number of creepy-crawly visitors in the room - cock-a-locks (Dutch for cockroaches, apparently (they also call flip-flops 'flip-flaps', which I think is cute too)). Sarah had even stepped on a huge live beauty in her bare feet, and it was that that had really freaked her out. But at this stage it was nearly midnight, and there was no chance of getting any other accommodation in the area. I explained the situation to the girl in reception, and she was really nice about it, but explained that they had a problem alright - probably due to the number of restaurants in the immediate vicinity. She doused the room in insecticide as I calmed Sarah down and we eventually went to sleep (cockroaches don't bother me at all, as they don't actually 'do' anything really). All in all during the 10 hours we stayed there I flushed 13 huge cock-a-locks down the toilet, so clearly they had a big infestation problem (and of course, the insecticide didn't stop them coming into the room, it just killed them when they did).

Needless to say, we moved immediately the next morning, to the Carnival Court, not far down the road in the heart of the heart of Long Street. It turned out to be a great place to stay, albeit noisy, and we met loads of people there.

Over this first week or so we spent in Cape Town, I gradually began to fall in love with the place. It's a seriously hyped-up place, with everybody telling me how amazing it is, so I suppose I was a bit skeptical at first (you hear that about a lot of places as you travel about), and the town did seem a bit quiet while we were there (even though it was peak season). But I guess I've just gotten too used to the night scene in Dublin, which I still think has got to be one of the most vibrant cities in the world when it comes to night life and pub culture. But after exploring around Cape Town , doing the ferry trip to Robben Island (where Nelson Mandela was held captive for 17 years), strolling around the Company Gardens around the corner from our hostel, cycling up to the Table Mountain cable car station (a serious climb I can tell you), heading out to the city beaches a couple of times, doing a free guided tour at the summit of Table Mountain on a gloriously sunny day, eating out at some of the seriously funky restaurants and cafes (Fork, Savoy and Cabbage, the Mount Nelson Hotel, Willoughby's in the Waterfront (twice!), the Twelve Apostles Hotel), etc. - I really came to appreciate many of the varied aspects to this great city. So much so, that after touring Namibia we came back to Cape Town for another week before flying back to Johannesburg to visit Kuda again and to get our flight on to Oz.

But first, after checking the various options, we decided to get the bus to Windhoek, Namibia. The original 'plan' was to spend three weeks touring about, but in the end we only needed two weeks there (thereby offering us the option to return to Cape Town for a week). It was a 10-hour bus journey, but the bus was a top-quality double-decker job and even had a simple hostess service offering food and drinks. The roads were great too, so the journey was quite painless, apart from the South African border control...