Capetown

It was good to finally be in one place for a while (8 nights). I now had plenty of time to see Capetown, as well as to run errands and relax. Capetown is a beautiful city, but also dangerous like all other major cities in South Africa. I met several people staying at my hostel, Ashanti's, who were mugged just around the corner, in daylight. Despite having to be on my guard when out and about (and having to take taxis after dark), it was an eventful and week. I also met some really cool people here - Ben, Tess, Chris, Simon. I'm not sure that I would have enjoyed my stay as much had I not met them.

Here were the highlights of the week:

• Hike up the Table Mountain

• Victoria and Alfred Waterfront

• Cape of Good Hope

• Penguin Colony at Boulder Beach

• Robbin Island

• Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens
  

• Nights in the hostel's bar with friends

Hermanus

Ronan, Noel, Garet, and Mark (the Irish boys), were also going to Hermanus and they let me squeeze into their car for a ride down. Saved me a day of waiting around for the BazBus. (Thanks, guys!) We booked into Moby's right in town and another night was spent drinking.

During the day, I walked down to the water and spent about an hour watching the whales. There were few of them here and there, blowing water and flapping their tails. Afterwards, I walked along the beautiful path on the coast and back to the Whale Festival.

Oudtshoorn

Oudtshoorn is the ostrich breeding capital of the world(?) and I went there to ride one. I met an entirely new group of people at the Backpacker's Paradise. 2 Aussies, 2 Kiwis, and 4 Irish guys, as well as the bar man Johan who nearly broke my camera! By end of the night, I had 6 shots in me, 4 of which were free. We played killer pool here as well, and I won the second game, though instead of winning a free night, winner buys everyone a round of shots with the winnngs (R10 per player to play). Most of the night was spent playing pool and Jenga.

The next morning, I was in no kind of condition to do the bike ride from the mountain top through town as planned. Luckily, I was able to hitch a ride with the 4 Irish guys to the Cango Caves, and then to the Ostrich farm where I got my few seconds of thrill riding an ostrich. Btw, ostrich meat is quite tasy....