hey everyone... this is a little late because i tried on monday but i took too long and i lost all the entry (so as you've guessed you should get comfy as its gonna be a loong ride as they say!) i'll do it in installments so i dont make the same mistake twice! well as the heading on this implies i spent last weekend in cape town with caroline gemma and the two laura's... we rented a car and did a "road trip" round and about cape town as well thought we might as well make the most of this weekend as caroline is leaving and was doing it herself and invited us along! we hired a really dodgy but cute car called a "chico" and we spent a lot of time saying 'come on chico you can make it up this hill'... etc etc but that just added to the fun! SATURDAY: we left at 9 o'clock having collected the car and started our drive down to cape point... we decided to go down to CP and then come back up to CT that evening and see that the next day! the drive should have taken us about an hour but we stopped quite a few times on the way to take piccy's as we past pretty things etc so it took us a good half hour extra lol! we passed a lovely beach where we got out ran around and took pictures and the whole palava but we passed one thing which was slightly more "stick-in-your-mind-ish". there was a point when we were driving down the road and one our right side was the largest township i have ever seen - it went as far as the eye could see! and then look left and just beautiful green countryside as far as you could see! was quite something to get your head round! we carried on driving though and we passed through lots of small seaside towns (although they were so small we didnt actually realise we had until we got to the slightly larger town simon's town). we stopped at simon's town at about 10.30 and from here you could take trips to seal island... we booked to go on a trip at 11 and we grabbed some tea while the time past (i've become addicted to milkshakes - its not good!). eventually the guy came over and we started out on our town - it turned out to be personal as no one else was up that early lol. the boat we went on was amazing was soo cool! it was like a squashy speed boat if you can imagine that and the seats were like saddles, just squashy comfy ones, and you straddled them and felt like a cross between a cowboy and a charlie's angel! (i was drew barrymore - obviously... yeh i wish lol!) we were on our way... the guy who was giving us the tour obviously knew the area better than you or i know the back of our hands... he was constantly showering us with interesting facts about everything we passed and sea water (but that was part of the contract!). we passed through false bay - name that because it lies in between cape point and cape of good hope and sailors often used to get confused as to which was which and would sail into the bay and crash, nice huh! anyway... on our way we were thinking we havent paid an insignificant amount of money for this so we'd better see the odd seal but nothing could prepare us for what we saw! there must have been well over 1000 seals. the pups were about 5 months old but still recognisable as pups as it were - the island is where the seals go to relax and play and such and it was sooo funny to watch them, there were some who were sliding down this ramp of smooth rock into the water, surfing if you like, and we just drove all around the island admiring them and taking it all in and laughing a lot. they were practically in touching reach, one advantage of our charlie's angels type boat was that it could go into REALLY shallow waters so we could get really really close... after we'd sailed all around and had a thoroughly amazing time we headed off back and about an hour and a half after we set off we stepped back onto dry land! we were told (and we believed him) that if they get 5 days a year with weather that perfect for the trip they're lucky - which was like YEAAAH and as you'll see as I carry on the weather gods were smiling down on us, we were very lucky indeed! we then stayed in simons town and grabbed some lunch by the sea... I tell ya those CT people do not believe in small portions and we had a huuuuuge lunch followed by in my case a divine apple crumble which I got to take away seeing as I was just too full - but in fact (don't ask me how I managed it) I ate it within about 2 seconds of leaving the restaurant! so simons town done we moved on on our way down to CP. we stopped off at boulders bay to see the penguins. there were some really sweet half baby ones which were still really fluffy lol. we then drove on to CP - we drove up as far as we could go and headed up the last couple of metres (felt like more I tell you) on foot! we got to the top and the views were literally like ones you'd find in a postcard, we did get a little rain but literally for like 5 mins so it was cool, and we spent a while up there just walking around staring like dumb-struck idiots and these views. there was also this thing that looked like a many pronged sign post and guess what: it was! on closer inspection it turned out that the different arms were pointing to the different main cities of the world stating how far each was away from that exact point! was pretty cool and london was pretty far, it felt it at that point! we started carrying on across to CP. you'll never guess what we saw on the way... go on guess... oh go on be a sport have a go... no - boring sods... give in... oh alright I'll tell ya... BABOONS! (ok so maybe I built that one up a bit too much but it was really sudden, we practically run them over!) man they are seriously ugly; what is with those arses??? there were a couple of baby ones clinging on for dear life though and that was quite cute... so after a little photo stop it was a clear drive down to CP. we arrived and in we drove. we were surrounded by beautiful scenery - again stuff like you'd find in a real life postcard and we got the the most southern tip of africa... there was a hill/mountain to climb to get to the top and see the full on view but we could see enough and from that view point the hill seemed a little too high to walk to and we just stayed at the bottom and acted like complete tourists getting our photo's taken with the sign! lol... ultimately cheesy I know but wouldn't you?!? after that it was a smooth-ish drive up to CT only getting lost once (that was impressive for us) before finding our backpackers hostel. oh the name was sooo origional it was wonderful! wait for it: cape town back packers. its beautiful isn't it - such a ring to it! well we checked in, checked out the beds for an hour or two and headed back up to ask about supper advice. they recommended this place called "the africa café" and what a recommendation - it was divine... I shall explain how it worked! we arrived and we were given a personal waitress. all of them were dressed in traditional african clothing which was fun and we got showed to our seats... we walked through all sorts of rooms each decorated in the style of an african country, it seems we ended up in egypt! she came and gave us a traditional hand washing ceremony which involved us holding our hands over a bowl while she poured rose water over them and we 'scrubbed away' as it were. the food came as follows: we were brought a small personal buffet per table and it included a small sample dish from each african country all of which were absolutely scrumptious!!! we could then order more of any of the dishes we had liked - trust me if we had had room we would have ordered the whole menu again twice over but the first array of foods had us completely and utterly stuffed! a wonderful night to finish off a wonderful day... we went to bed totally satisfied! that sums up saturday and I can see how long this is so I am gonna make a new entry for sundays activities.