If it wasn't for the fact that we were so excited about heading to Africa, we probably would have felt a lot sadder about leaving Rio, and Latin America, behind… the latter being a very welcome 5-month addition to our original route. Africa had always been very high on the agenda for this trip, and I particularly was so, so excited about getting there….however we wouldn't be arriving there any time soon, as our cash-poor, time-rich flight ticket from Rio to Johannesburg took us via both Madrid and London, the two long-haul sections luckily falling overnight each time, and with 5 hours at Heathrow, just enough time for Simon's parents to pop by for a Mothering Sunday lunch - a real bonus. Miraculously our bags somehow made it to Jo'burg airport at the same time as we did, about 40 hours and 12,000 miles later…..hello Africa!

We had just enough time in Jo'burg to squeeze in a visit to the excellent Apartheid Museum, full of very interesting and incredibly moving exhibits on the events leading up to and the implementation of apartheid…a harsh but good re-education of South Africa's 20th century history. We didn't spend much time in downtown Jo'burg, apart from a quick visit to the train station to get our onward travel tickets - we were kindly escorted there by some local guys we had met in our shared taxi there, 'for our safety' - I am sure there are nicer parts too the city but the little bit we saw did feel decidedly dodgy so we didn't mind that we didn't hang around too long.

From Jo'burg we took the sleeper train to Cape Town, a 27-hour journey which while not as luxurious as the famous Blue Train and probably 2% of the price, it was excellent. The service was impeccable, train staff came and made our beds up (instead of practically throwing bedding at us with a bit of a grunt on the Trans-Mongolian railway), knocked on our cabin door with tea and coffee in the morning, and we were delighted with the fantastic fry-up we had for breakfast in the dining car. It was a wonderful way to travel to Cape Town, passing some very pretty countryside and farms, and then the sprawling townships and Table Mountain looming closer and closer as we neared our end destination.

We fell very quickly under Cape Town's magic spell, and I cannot imagine any visitors being immune to its charms…however it would be fair to say that our huge enjoyment of the city was also largely due to the weak Rand, making it very easy for us to consume as much fantastic food and fine wine as possible! For the best part of 10 days we were like kids at Christmas, trying to ingest as many gourmet delights that the city could throw at us, from wonderful seafood to some great Italian restaurants and tapas bars. All washed down with plenty of wine of course….it was all certainly a relief from the beer/heavily fried food diet of Central and South America.

To try and combat the effects of totally stuffing our faces with food and wine we decided to tackle the 6km walk up the Platteklip Gorge to the summit of Table Mountain from the cable car base, as after all we'd done quite a bit of hiking up mountains/volcanoes on this trip so why not add Table Mountain to the list… What we weren't expecting was how ridiculously gruelling this walk was, as it wasn't exactly a technical ascent, and we weren't at altitude, but I think the heat and steep gradient made this the toughest climb yet, somehow making the ascent to almost 5000m in Colombia look like a walk in the park! We were starting to worry that all the gourmet delights of Cape Town had taken a very drastic and immediate affect, but luckily everyone else around us seemed to find it equally, and surprisingly arduous, so we weren't alone, and three hot and sweaty hours later we got to the summit, and then of course it was all worth it for the stunning views from the top as well as the exhilaration of having just climbed a b****** steep hill!! It was a wonderfully clear day, and we really felt on top of the world, both physically and mentally (once I could breathe normally anyway).

We managed to tear ourselves away from Cape Town for a few nights on a couple of side trips away - the first one to Hermanus, a very pretty coastal town 120km away, the once small fishing village having grown in popularity due to its fame as being a top land-based whale-watching spot. We were there the wrong time of year for whale-watching, however we did get up close and personal with another ocean-dweller that the area is well known for, and on our second morning we were trussed up in wetsuits and lowered in a cage into the FREEZING Atlantic Ocean, in an area known as 'Shark Alley', all in the name of 'cage diving' with great white sharks…it was one of those moments when you think 'what ARE we doing?', submerged up to our shoulders in teeth-shattering cold water, waiting in a 5-man steel cage for great white sharks, who are being baited in by crushed sardines, to turn up, and then suddenly we didn't have too much time to think about it at all as the crew in the boat shouted "down down!" and taking a deep breath, we pushed ourselves under water, waiting for the sharks to swim by….which they duly did, swimming along the length of the cage, one thrashing around a bit so that at one point a fin or a tail (I cannot remember which) entered the cage, sending a very different sort of shiver down our spines. I don't know if it was the icy coldness of the water or the proximity to these fearsome creatures which made our teeth shatter, or caused the involuntary yelps as we dunked under the water's surface each time a great white started to approach…though all-in-all it wasn't the terrifying experience I was expecting, more just very exhilarating. Although at one point, once above the surface again, it wasn't until Simon told me to stop pinching him that I realised I had been squeezing his arm very hard. That's when he also told me that in the excitement of getting under water to focus on the approaching shark, he went under a bit quicker than he should have done, and instead of breathing in a lung full of air, he managed to inhale some salt water instead, resulting in a smooth spluttering fit once he was above water again.

We saw about four different sharks in total, all around 4m in length, and it really was an incredible experience being so close to them. The crew we went with were a passionate group, all great-white researchers/fanatics, and certainly helped changed our perceptions of 'Jaws', for example assuring us that if we fell in the water from the boat while the sharks were around, it was more likely that they would get a fright and swim off than attack us, but none of us were willing to put this theory to the test.

Our next stop after Hermanus was definitely more in our comfort zone: exploring the wineries around Stellenbosch, South Africa's second-oldest European settlement, established in 1679, and a picture-perfect university town with beautiful architecture and great restaurants. We based ourselves here for a couple of nights, dedicating one day to touring three of the nearby wineries, each very different in style and setting but all equally enjoyable, you cannot go wrong with trying lots of delicious South African wines in such gorgeous settings! Our favourite though was the Warwick Estate, particularly well-known for its red wines, and unbeknown to me Simon had rung ahead and booked us in for one of their 'gourmet picnics'…soon we were feasting on yet more delicious food to accompany the wine-tasting, served on the estate grounds while reclining on comfy rugs and cushions, the gluttony and shade of the parasol making a post-lunch siesta unavoidable, and soon we were in a deep food + wine-induced coma. I never thought I would every say 'I've had enough wine now' but by the third winery it was actually a struggle to drink yet more wine - so we just moved on to dessert wines. It was a wonderful day, and felt so luxurious, like we were on a second honeymoon.

Back in Cape Town we paid a visit to the pretty string of coastal towns heading south of the peninsula, Kalk Bay, St James and Muizenberg, whose beaches are dotted with brightly-coloured Victorian beach huts, and the other side of the road with picturesque historic cottages. We also managed to squeeze in a walking tour around Cape Town, which provided us with a great pocket history lesson and some interesting insights into the city's historical spots: St George's Cathedral, where Desmond Tutu used to be bishop; the beautifully peaceful Company Gardens, named after the Dutch East India Company, and whose resident squirrels are descended from squirrels that were first imported there from North America by Cecil Rhodes; the High Court Civil Annex where people who were not black or white would come to be classified as one of the five other ethnic / racial 'labels' during Apartheid, and where the benches outside still had the engraved words 'WHITES' and 'NON-WHITES'; the Castle of Good Hope built by the Dutch between 1666-1679, and whose soldiers used to be taken off in the night by the lions who used to roam the area; City Hall where Nelson Mandela made his first speech as a free man after 27 years of captivity, when released on 11th February 1990, to a crowd of around 250,000 people who had been waiting for him to appear for around 9 hours in the scorching February heat, and heard his now world-famous speech; the Iziko Slave Lodge which up until 1811 used to house up to 1000 slaves, living in cramped, filthy conditions like animals, until they were bought/sold around the corner on Spin Street; and the incongruous slab of the Berlin Wall on St George's Mall which was given to Cape Town to mark Nelson Mandela's visit to Berlin in 1996. It was a great way to get a better understanding of Cape Town and its history - other than just eating and drinking our way round - and one of the most moving (and unplanned) moments was at the start when the tour was halted to watch a protest march pass by, a huge column of people dancing, clapping and singing their way to Parliament to demand better health care services…I don't know what it is but there is something so stirring about the way Africans sing and dance and clap, even when in protest, that it makes me well up every time.

On our last day in Cape Town we made sure we visited all our 'regular' haunts by way of a farewell to this wonderful city we had fallen in love with - our favourite cafe for brunch, the corner tapas bar for street-side pre-dinner drinks, and the same seafood restaurant for one last dose of seared tuna and grilled calamari. When you are always on the move you really appreciate being somewhere for more than just a few days and where you start to collect your favourite places, and where the staff start to recognise you… the closest you get to feeling like you belong somewhere when so far away from home! I don't think we need to say how much we loved Cape Town as I am sure it is pretty obvious, and although I think the wonderful food and drink was a big part of it, it is also just an amazing cocktail of friendly people, staggeringly beautiful surroundings, a very cosmopolitan vibe, and for me the feeling of being in part-Europe, part-Africa is just the best of both worlds! It is the only place so far this trip where I felt compelled to have a look on Google for any interesting jobs going there, such was the draw that we felt there, but I think we've decided that we might just have to make it our winter getaway later on in life instead.

Our last stop in SA was Pretoria, the administrative capital..after Cape Town we now felt like we were in a totally different country, but then Cape Town is pretty unique. We spent a day wandering around town, admiring the very grand old government buildings around Church Square, such as the Palace of Justice where Nelson Mandela was on trial and sentenced to life imprisonment.

And then that is just about all we had time for in South Africa, as by now we had committed to a very exciting work opportunity in Zambia and it was time to head on…but we are dying to explore more of South Africa, there is so much to see and do, and even though we just scratched the surface it really was one of the most beautiful countries I have ever visited. However I think next time we will come back with our own vehicle as having your own set of wheels must be one of the best ways to travel round, and it would be great to do this with any family or friends that want to join us…. any takers?!