Hello from Cape Town, South Africa...

So I had a great flight from Buenos Aires with Malaysian Airlines as I had 3 seats to myself... so I watched a movie... don't remember what one and then had a sleep.

Landed in Cape Town around midday and cleared customs nice and easily then arranged a transfer to my hostel. I was on my way... as I stepped out of the airport the first thing I saw was Table Mountain, it was quite an impressive sight, the next thing was a billboard on HIV not quite as impressive but found it an interesting way of welcoming new arrivals. Anyway the drive to the city was interesting as we passed a lot of the townships along the way. Townships are the poverty areas in the cities. They are made out of scrap materiel, tin, wood, plastic sheet... they have communal toilets and shower in tubs... but they seem so happy... the thought of it is completely foreign to me.

Anyway we get to the hostel; I check in and have a lay down. Then Sam walked in, his a 19 year old aussie from Melbourne we chatted about our travels and then headed to the hostel bar for some food, then I met jess an English girl from Camden. The three of us had a few drinks and chatted away and we got talking about the cricket. Australia were playing Sth Africa in Cape Town but were getting smashed so the 5 day test was going to be 2 and a half and the next day would be the final and 3rd day so we decided to go. As the night progressed we just drunk at the hostel bar and chatted and chatted to a few others along the way... Cameron another aussie from Brisbane I think and Steve an Irish guy and James a welsh guy and max and max two German/Russians that were here for the judo championships and Thomas a stereotypical American guy but his arrogance was his sarcasm and was rather amusing.. We just had a few drinks and got a bit of a group together for the cricket the next day.

The next day woke up in the morning and about 6 of us headed to the cricket... we sat in the sun drinking castle lager with Table Mountain to the right. Aussies were bowling like crap and the saffas just kept hitting 4's on them... it was a good atmosphere and a bit of fun... was unfortunately over just after midday.. When it finished we then had the whole arvo to fill in so we all decided to go to Caprice a cafe on the water at Camps Bay. It was a great afternoon with some awesome people; we had a meal and drank savannah drys until the sun went down... literally. We watched the sun set over the Atlantic Ocean, a view and afternoon I'll never forget was just a great day with some great new friends. After the sun settled in for the night we headed back to the hostel to do a costume change then headed to mamma Africa's for dinner. Mamma Africa's is a cool place where they have an African band playing and game meet so things like springbok, ostrich etc.. I in true fashion had the chocolate pudding as it was all too exotic for my plain tasting palate. After Mamma Africa's we headed out clubbing. We went to some booty shaking clubs as I call them which were good fun...good end to a good day.

The next day I slept in a bit then got up, Jess, Thomas and the two max's headed off on a road trip to see some cheetahs and wine tasting.. Lisztomania by Phoenix was our road trip song. We went and saw the cheetahs they were really cool and then came the wine tasting.. I stuck to white wines and they were really nice.. Jess new a bit about wines and max and max bought some as gifts for family jess helped them as they were as lost as I was.. After the wines we headed back to go up Table Mountain.. As we got closer we realised the top of Table Mountain was under a cloud... we decided to still go up. Sam had been at the shark dive and when we got back we invited him to come along.. So we all headed up Table Mountain.. Sam and I were a tad scared of the height factor and been suspended on a cord.. But we got to the top unscathed. The view on the way up was amazing.. Then we hit the clouds.. On top of Table Mountain we couldn't see a thing... so we had stupid picas and went to the cafe and I had a savannah cider, Sam had a beer and jess and Thomas had coffees... we then headed back down and went back to the hostel.. at the hostel we sat up drinking and talking until about 4am... was another good day and fun night... the pool table got a work out and when the bar closed we hit the vending machine for booze as they had beers in them... but the beers got jammed so after like 3 we couldn't get anymore out.. Was a deadset tease!

I hit the sack for a whole 3 and a half hours sleep.. Not enough but ah well.. I got up and got ready and then headed on a Township tour, max and max, Luda, Cameron and James were all on my tour, We headed off and went a learnt about the townships which is what I explained earlier, there history, how they survive and the different areas of a township. We visited local families and saw how they live. We then went to a Sunday gospel session and it was fun at the start, there was a band and singing and the crowds were dancing.. but then it got a bit strange as the prayer started and the people in the crowd got on their knees and raised their hands and they were like chanting... kind of got a bit intense and freaked us all out a tad.. But was still an experience. After the gospel session we headed to a hostel (this is what they called the accommodation for the families) here we visited a youth program where they teach them dancing to encourage the kids to get off the streets, keep out of trouble and make good choices with their lives.. The kids performed a dance for us and the younger kids watched and copied the older ones dancing.. It was pretty cute. We then got a chance to learn their dancing which was fun. After this it was time to head back to the hostel. I met up with Jess and Sam and we all headed to the waterfront for some lunch. After lunch was time for me to head back get my things together and hop on the overnight but to Port Elizabeth for the volunteer program. I said my goodbye and was on my way. Cape Town was great fun, finally got to see a sporting match overseas, met some great people and just loved the town itself. Next stop was the volunteer program.. Can't wait