Wed 1st October

Arrived to a windy, but sunny Cape Town after a nice 2 hour flight from Durban. Very different atmosphere compared to Durban with everyone noticeably more laid back. Uncle Nathan greeted us at the airport before heading back to his house (in a Mini of course, inconspicuously parked in the car park...the graphics on the car are craaazzaaayyy). So we got to the house, off loaded the backpacks and chilled for a couple of hours, catching up before opening some wine/beers and heading out for dinner with Louise (one of Nathan's good friends who only lives up the street). Went down the road to a local restaurant for.....garlic snails!! to start after persuading Emily to give them a try. Curtis tucked into Kudu, Ostrich and Springbok for his main (kudu is great, wasn't a fan of the Springbok), Emily thoroughly enjoying the ostrich fillet. Rounded the evening off with a Amarulo Don Pedro for Curtis (tasting a bit like a Toblerone for you Coco Tang goers), and a Franjelica Don Pedro for Emily, both of which went down far too easily.

Thurs 2nd October

Grabbed ourselves a bus card for our time in Cape Town, with the service in general actually very pleasant to use and nice and easy to get around, first stop...the beach :). Walked down the coast, finding out the hard way just how cold the Atlantic sea is here! Aunty Helen, I now fully understand now how you can get a headache in your feet! Found a nice spot sheltered from the wind, table mountain in full view, to relax for the afternoon watching all the kite surfers 20+ just in front. Saw a couple of people learning to kite surf and we have decided that we may have to give it a try, probably in Oz!

Fri 3rd October

Kept our selves busy the whole day, but in essence summarised very easily...went to the Waterfront, walked around the shopping centre for a while before finding an exit taking us to the harbour. Nice harbour, and easy to see why it's so popular with everyone. You know your a first world traveller when you decide to dine at a restaurant that you can pick up on your Wifi finder! Decided to eat at a place called San Marco, sitting nicely in the harbour. Lunch was great, but now finding ourselves toooo full to go on the canal cruise over the rocky waves. Walked along the harbour, taking pictures and finding a great company to take us on a bus tour of Cape Town tomorrow.

Sat 4th October

So, like proper tourists now we jump on to our snazzy open top double decker bus with our headphones in. Nice way to get around the city and see everything. We decided to make our first stop at Kirstenbosch Gardens, if anyone reading this visits Cape Town this is well worth a shout, but allow at least half a day if the weather is nice as it's very easy to spend the day here. Had a nice brunch at a restaurant in the gardens after all the walking around had made us too impatient to wait for lunch. Then made our way to the tree canopy walk, taking in the views from above the trees, appreciating views of the gardens and looking up at Devils Mount.

Next stop, World on Birds and Monkey jungle. To start with, Curtis was not fussed about looking at some birds, but the place was actually very well run, with so many types of birds and other animals to look at. The highlight being when we were in an enclosure with some playful monkeys, not only coming right up to you, but climbing all over you (keeping an eye on our pockets!!).

Managing to keep our phones, we went to Hout Bay. Was a nice place, but not much to do unless you want to sun it up on the beach. Grabbed a cheeky ice cream before hopping back onto the bus to continue the tour. We drove past camps bay which would have been much nicer than Hout Bay, but sadly time was not on our side so headed back to the Waterfront but still enjoying the views as the bus hugged the coastline, with table mountain towering over us on the other side.

Got off the bus at our stop and headed straight to the Spaz Bar (lol) to meet Nathan. Very much enjoyed watching the rugby, South Africa beating New Zealand with a tasty (or few) in hand. Great atmosphere, with South Africa managing politely shut the kiwis up behind us in the last few minutes of the game :).

Still feeling adventurous, we headed to ocean basket for our first time eating sushi, in summary, salmon roses are amazing, wasabi sandwiches...not so awesome. Emily and Nathan washing it down with a wine eloquently called fat b******.

C & E