Durban - Drakensberg - Joburg

We finally made it to Durban, checked into our hostel and headed straight to the beach!  We went for a long walk along the beach and watched the skateboarders, surfers, and volleyball players.  We also had a nice lunch on the beach with some awesome sangria.  There were some great sand artists with some cool sculptures on the beach as well.  That night we went and got some delicious Indian food for dinner, a Durban specialty. 

The next day we tried to take the bus to some tourist sights.  We did make it to city hall and the natural science museum and art museum.  They were small but interesting.  We then tried to visit the Victoria Street Market and a mosque nearby, however we couldn't find them and we were slightly freaked out by the area.  So we got back on the bus and walked down the beach a bit more.  We had another delicious dinner that night at a French restaurant. 

The next morning we headed for the central Drakensberg, specifically the Champagne Valley.  We checked into our hostel there and then went for a short hike before the sun set.  We went to see the Sterkspruit Falls and the Nandi Falls, the same route Dan and I did.

The next day we drove back to Joburg and stayed with my friend Roz.  We went out to dinner for one last taste of South Africa.  The next morning we reorganized all our suitcases and then went to the Apartheid Museum.  We had a good amount of time there and then headed out to the airport for our flight home.  It was a great trip of South Africa, I'm so glad we got to do it! 

Sand art in Durban

Surfing in Durban

Sand art in Durban

Champagne Castle

Jean LeCastor with the Nandi Falls

The Drive East (Oudtshoorn - Port Elizabeth - East London)

We left Stellenbosch early to get to Oudtshoorn in good time.  We wanted to go to the Cango Caves and an ostrich farm that day (Oudtshoorn is known for their ostriches).  We took the route 62 for part of the drive (a well known scenic route).  It was really beautiful.  All the drives had amazing views.  It really is an amazing country. 

The Cango Caves were very cool.  There were huge chambers and awesome formations inside.  You could choose to go on the "adventure tour" instead of the standard tour where you squeeze through tiny spaces to get to three more chambers but we decided we were a little too claustrophobic and slightly worried we wouldn't fit.  After the caves we went to the ostrich farm for a tour.  It wasn't really a great tour but we did get to feed the ostriches and stand on ostrich eggs.  There was an opportunity to ride an ostrich but we were too scared. 

The next day we drove down the road to a little town called De Rust because one of our dad's friends grew up there.  Unfortunately it was pouring but we took some pictures and then started our drive to Port Elizabeth.  It was still pouring when we arrived in Port Elizabeth so we didn't really do anything that night.  The next day we left early for our game drive in Addo Elephant National Park.  We went on a two hour morning drive and saw eland, red hartebeest, kudu, black backed jackal, and an elephant.  We also saw some lions in a cage as they were integrating a new lion into the park.  Since we didn't see too much on the drive, we decided to drive through the park to get to the other exit instead of going around (which would have been a lot faster).  We did get to see some zebra, ostriches, and a few more elephants, but those were the only exciting animals.

That night we made it to East London and had a delicious dinner at Sprouts.  The next day we took it easy and had a leisurely breakfast and walk on the beach.  It was beautiful.  After that we tried to drive to Durban, which according to Google Maps was a 7.5 hour drive.  Unfortunately, all long drives in South Africa seem to take like 3 hours longer than Google Maps tells you.  So we didn't make it to Durban.  We called our hostel there and the man told us to stop in Kokstad because the drive after Kokstad is very deserted at night.  So after a long drive, we stopped there for the night.

Cango Caves

Feeding an ostrich

So many ostriches!

Addo Elephant National Park

Beach in East London

Wine Country

After Cape Town we left for Hermanus, a small town on the coast of South Africa known for its whale watching.  We were there just at the beginning of whale season (supposedly June-November) but the locals said we were too early.  We did get to see some dolphins though which was pretty awesome!

We left to have lunch at a restaurant on the route to Stellenbosch where we were supposed to be picked up for a wine tour.  We had an excellent lunch (I had curry mince vetkoek and Rachel had springbok pie) but the wine tour forgot about us.  Always confirm by phone in South Africa as email confirmations are apparently not good enough.  So we decided to do our own tour and hit up two wineries (Haute Cabriere and Uva Mira) before going to our hostel in Stellenbosch.

The next day we were picked up by the Vinehopper at 9:35am for our all day wine tour.  We visited five wineries around Stellenbosch and over the two days we tried 53 different wines.  They were all so good!  Can't wait until I get to go wine tasting again!

Dolphins

Hermanus

Jean LeCastor at Haute Cabriere in Franschoek

Winery preserving their cobwebs.. yep, those are real

Cape Town

After a full day of driving, including two stops by the police (just regular license checks) and a realization that we would indeed make it to all nine provinces (since the highway briefly went through the Northern Cape), we made it to Cape Town Thursday night. 

On Friday we decided to go to Boulder's Beach to see some penguins and to Cape Point to see... Cape Point.  On our way to Boulder's Beach I noticed some brightly coloured change rooms that I had seen on the front of the guide book.  I kind of wondered where they were but figured it would be too out of the way and so I forgot about them.  Luckily they were right on our drive so we got out to take some pictures. 


We parked at the far parking lot at Boulder's Beach so we had a bit of a walk to the actual penguin viewing area, but that just meant we got excited by every penguin we saw in the bushes before we got to the actual penguin beach.  There were so many of them!  We took tons of pictures and videos.  Who can resist that waddle?  On our way back to the car we went down to the actual beach and were lucky enough to have five penguins swim over to join us.  We took even more pictures close up and then headed on to Cape Point.

Cape Point is actually a huge nature reserve and the point is about 10 km in from the gate.  Once we'd driven to the actual point we climbed up the steps to the lighthouse and many view points.  We also stopped by the Cape of Good Hope view point on the way out.  It was sooo windy!  We were going to be blown away so we got back in the car and went for a seafood lunch at the Black Marlin.  That night we cooked our own dinner since we were staying in awesome suites with a kitchen.

On Saturday we headed to Table Mountain for some abseiling.  When we woke up we were a little nervous that it was a clear day because that meant we were actually going to do it.  I was extremely terrified the entire time, but it does give you the view and the rush of a lifetime.  Probably not the best spot for your first abseil though as it's one of the longest commercial abseils in the world at 112m.  Despite our fears, we made it down safely and climbed back up to the top of Table Mountain before taking the cable car down. 

That afternoon we went to the Old Biscuit Mill market for lunch and some shopping.  We had some delicious food including poffertjes, prosciutto sandwich, milk tart, craft beer, plus got some bread, cheese, and biltong (South African beef jerky.. but better) for later.  That night we celebrated our abseiling accomplishment by heading down to the infamous Long Street.  We went to a couple bars but ended up staying at the Space Bar since they had the best music.

On Sunday we went to Robben Island on a tour to see the prison where Nelson Mandela and many other political prisoners were held.  Since they need to ferry you to and from the island, the tours end up being very large which is kind of unfortunate as you can't take as much time as you would like to there.  We had some very good guides though, especially the ex-convict Derek who told us about his experience there.

We finished up our time in Cape Town with a little souvenir shopping and another dinner at the suite since many restaurants were closed Sunday night. 

Changing rooms at St. James beach

Penguins at Boulder's Beach

Going up in the cable car as the other comes down

About to go down!

Robben Island entrance

View of Table Mountain from our balcony

Kruger Park and Elephant Sanctuary

Alright, I'm back in Canada so I'm going to catch up on the things Rachel and I did in South Africa while we were there and then retire this blog. 

Rachel arrived in Joburg on a Sunday morning (June 16).  I picked her up at the airport and we headed straight to the Kruger Park for our safari.  We stayed at Timbavati Safari Lodge and did two game drives with them.  We started with a sunset drive when we arrived and then had an all day drive the next day.  On our drives we managed to see the Big 5 (even though the leopard and lion were a bit hard to spot) as well as hyenas, cheetahs, zebras, giraffes, warthogs, crocodiles, and hippos.

We had a great time at the safari lodge as well and met some great people.  There was a group of Canadian and American volunteers there on an adventure tour so we went on our safaris with them and then also hung out with them at the bar afterwards.  I finally tried a Sowetan Toilet shot.  I won't be too graphic but it looks the way it sounds, however it tastes quite nice! 

On our last night at the safari lodge during dinner, a group of girls came to dance and sing for us.  It was unexpected but they were very cute and very good.  It was a nice surprise!

On our drive back to Joburg we stopped at the Three Rondvals, Bourke's Luck Potholes, and God's Window, all viewsites in the Blyde River Canyon.  They were quite spectacular.  I especially liked the potholes.  I really had no idea what to expect from the name, but they were really cool, although hard to describe and hard to capture in pictures. 

Back in Joburg we stayed with my friends Cath and Liza for the night and then headed to L.U.C. Academy one last time so Rachel could meet everyone and so I could say bye.  After that, we went to the Elephant Sanctuary in Hartbeespoort so Rachel could fulfill her dream of riding an elephant.  On our tour there were only five of us so we got a lot of time with the elephants.  We got to feed, touch, walk, get kissed by, and ride the elephants.  It was a pretty awesome experience.  After we rode the elephants we started our drive to Bloemfontein, our stop for the night before continuing to Cape Town the next day.

Nursing baby elephant

It's girafrica, again

Monkeys!

Bourke's Luck Potholes

God's Window

Getting kissed by an elephant

Rachel riding an elephant!