So we are in Cape Town now, arrived last night. We are staying on Long Street which is basically the main area for nightlife. We have already enjoyed staying here as we got a really cheap price for our room...only because the lady working in the backpackers was plastered. We are now staying in a double room rather than dorms...also got 10% discount due to amys bargaining skills. Works out that we are now only paying 8.50 a night.

Our last blog was from after we did the bungee, ..a lot has happened since then. The day after the jump we attempted to do a 22km mountain bike ride...this turned out to be a bloody disaster for me (andy). I had the poorest excuse for a functional bike. We managed to get about 20 mins away from our starting point before it all went wrong. We were going down hill on a rough track when suddenly i hit a rock...the back tyre blew out, a slammed the breaks on as i was losing control , the breaks snapped and then the chain came off. I almost went over the edge of the hill. By this point amy (with her toungue hanging out like a dog) went flying past me and never stopped. 20 minutes later we met up again.

We left for a place called Wilderness, back along the coast. This was nice place , and where we were staying it overlooked a beautiful stretch of the coastline. I attempted to surf, with very little success. Working at the backpackers were 2 swiss/german girls. They were idiots. We had planned to have a few drinks that night but they decided to shut up early and go to bed at 8pm. They left all the guests with no lights, beer, internet etc. All we had was a fire for outside light. Needless to stay we left the next day, after some sabotage of the place.

We had planned to go to Oudtshoorn, ostrich capital of the world, the following day. It is situated inland in the Swartsberg mountains. We would have to get a shuttle from a meeting place after being dropped there by the BAZ BUS. The shutlle was a little family car? There were 4 of us wanting to go up there, plus I am now travelling with a 7" surf board. The Baz bus driver as well as the shuttle driver tried to convince me to leave my brand new board in McDonalds (this was the meeting point). Yeah right!? No way was i leaving anything in McD's. So we had to get back on the bus and head further along the coast to Mossel Bay.

Mossel bay is perfect for retirement...old snobby South Africans love this place. After an hour being there I had been on the phone and booked us 2 new tickets to head back the other way so we could go to Oudtshoorn. I arranged with the backpackers to bring a proper shuttle this time to accomodate my board. The next day we finally arrived there early evening. And for tea we ate Ostrich!

We spent 3 nights up in Oudtshoorn and had a really good time. Our 2nd day here turned out to be one of the best days in S.A for us. Eraly morning we were taken futher up into the mountains to a place called the Cango Caves. Inside of these caves are huge Stalalgmites and crazy lime stone formations. We did a adventure tour inside the caves which meant we got to clime down, up, and through some tiny caven walls,..trust me, not for the claustrophobic, amy got stuck...ha! The tour took about 1.5 hr, it was really hot and wet inside..it felt a lot longer. We were driven back down the mountains and dropped off at a tea garden. With us were 2 working mountain bikes. We were to ride 12km back to our backpackers. We had lunch in a tea garden that all women would love.... Very English. Our next stop was an ostrich farm. We had heard a lot about these places....you can ride one of them. Amy doesnt like this animal...to be fair it is one ugly animal. Inside we met Betsy... a rare non-aggressive Ostrich. It was really funny. We both fed her by hand and then had an odd experience of being hugged by her. An ostrich can turn its head and neck around nearly 360'. So you get hugged by its neck turning around your body. Next on the agenda was to ride one. I was too heavy and amy was definatley a no for this one. We watched others do it...it looked so cruel but we laughed our ass off!

We cycled about 8km to a wildlife ranch. We joined a tour...full of annoying people. Glad when it ended. Afterwards though we had an amazing experience. For a little extra you could get up close and personal with a Cheetah or Infant Bengal Tigers. I chose the Cheetah and Amy played with the Tigers. Got some great pics of all of this! Between then and now we have been to Hermanus, really relaxing place, world famous for whale watching. We didnt see any as they only migrate aug-oct. We have just spent the last 3 days in Stellenbosch. We did a full day wine tour 2 days ago. Learnt about how to appreciate wine....but end of the day we both agreed...it all goes down the same way . This was though a fun day and we tried a huge variety of wines /brandy /champagne....we got quite drunk.

We have lots planned for the next 9 days in Cape Town. We can see Table Mountain right now...crazy.