So off I go on my train adventure to Cape Town. I decided to get the 26 hour train as it gave me a chance to see a bit of South Africa, and what nice aprts there are to see. I opted for the 1st class sleeper train, 280 rand, which works out at about 14 pounds-not bad hey? For this you get to share a compartment with one other person-in my case a lovely old lady called Agnes, from Cape Town-with a seat which turns into a bed, staff that come round with meal orders whenever you're feeling hungry, and the carraige even has a shower!

We left Johannesberg at 10am and the scenery was very green with rolling hills, towards evening we were going through the middle of the Karroo (upper and lower)which became more barren and bushy, passing through Kimberly-a town famous for having the biggest mad made hole in the ground on earth-done so for the mining industry when they discovered diamonds here. That wbrought us to night time, and by morning we had travelled into wine country, green vines as far as the eye could see, and huge red mountain ranges either side of us.

The final leg into Cape Town gave me a great view of Table Mountain, against the backdrop of all the shanty houses-a bit more 'real' Africa. Sarah and Mark were there to meet me at the station, and it was nice to be with the locals, rather than just another tourist.

On my first day in CT Sarah and I went to see Table Mountain-the oldest mountain in South Africa, or possibly Afrtica-cant quite remember. We had to queue for an hour and a half to get the cable car up the mountain (would have been quicker to walk!) but it was worht the wait. The 360 views over the city are amazing, and you get an idea of just how big Cape Town really is. After we walked around for a bit admiring the view and taking lots of pictures of dasis (a little bit like wombats) that seem to populate the mountain, we headed back dow. We then drove down to the Waterfront, a beautifully designed shopping and leisure complex by the water; lots of people watching, music listening and drinking fun to be had in the sun-a good afternoon.

On the next day, after my visit to Hermanus, where I was lucky enough to see the Southern Right Whales, we had our big night out. Marks flat mate, Michael, is a pianist and we were going to see him play at the Ritz, a very swanky hotel in Sea Point, in a revolving restaurant no less! We had a lovely dinner with some of Marks friends and enjoyed the good food and wine while the sun went down voer teh city. Then it was onto some clubs...at around 6.30am we crawled back from Donna and Henrys house in our PJ's having had a very good night!

After recovering I managed to pick up my hire car, and off I drove along the N2 on my way to Port Elizabeth, my final destination.