Hi all,

So we finally made it to Cape Town in one piece after 16 weeks - we travelled via Cape Agulas (the most southernly point of Africa, where the Atlantic and Indian oceans meet) and Stellenbosch (the wine region) once we got into South Africa. Cape Town is a pretty cool city, its very westernised and very white, which is strange after months of being in Africa. Our trip actually ended quite disappointely, as we didn't have an official final meal or send off with the group (we went out for dinner, but didn't do the awards etc similarly to South America). Luckily the people I liked the most were around for a couple of days, so we hung out for a few days.

I've really enjoyed the 16 weeks, the group has been great and some of the things I've seen have been amazing. I still prefer the South America trip though if I were going to compare, as there we interacted more with local cultures, whereas here its often felt quite detached. I would definitely recommend this trip though.

The first day we actually travelled out of Cape Town to Gaansbaii to go shark diving - beforehand I was really scared, but on the day I was actually really calm and wasn't nervous at all, it probably helped that I drove there so was focusing on that! When we actually went down into the cage, we were in hysterics and couldn't stop laughing. We saw a number of great white sharks (visibility was only 1m, so they were really close to the cage) which was really interesting and I actually really enjoyed it. As we kept laughing, we were told to be quiet by the guides, as apparently we were scaring the sharks - good tip if you're ever caught in water with them...just laugh and hopefully you won't be eaten!!

Our next tourist trip was to Robben Island which was good and interesting, but think I preferred Alcatraz in San Francisco. On Robben Island you went on a bus tour around the island, and then got a guided tour around the prison by a former inmate which was really interesting, but it did feel like you were being herded around in a massive group. Mum then arrived and we all headed up Table Mountain for sunset (by the way if you ever go, its half price after 6pm). The next few days we spent exploring Cape Town and the surrounding suburbs, in addition to spending 4 hours shipping all my various souvenirs home hehe! Cape Town was fun, but I got a bit bored after a while, so I'd only recommend a few days there.

We finally left Cape Town to go to Stellenbosch for wine tasting, and also down to the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point, where we saw penguins (yey!). The wine regions were really pretty, and definitely worth a visit, as was the Cape.

So we're now in Mossel Bay at the start of the Garden Route, spending the next week travelling through the Garden Route to Port Elizabeth. Hopefully today I'm going to go ostrich riding (don't ask, but it sounds hilarious), plus visiting an elephant park and some beaches, before meeting up with a couple of guys from the trip. Looking forward to a random, but hopefully fun few days!!