So it's that time of year again! Jiz's annual trip to somewhere on the map of the world. This years destination...South Africa! Yes that's right, two Whole weeks of Safaris, whale watching, eating great food and drinking lots and lots of wine! Excited is not the word.

We set off on our journey to the airport. Typical that we were flying during the most important match of the Rugby World Cup...England vs Wales. But not to worry, the Welsh shirt was on to show my support!

We spent most of our airport time trying to get upgraded to Business Class as Liz was told by one of the Qatar reps that we were on standby for it...but a delightful man named Rowland, who was definitely someone important at Qatar ruined those chances! He clearly didn't want us to be upgraded and was putting all obstacles in our way to stop us. Why couldn't he just say no instead of making excuse after excuse!

As we went to board the plane at the very classy economy class entrance we had to pass smug old Rolly's face one last time. We smiled and passed on through to our seats. It was very spacious and there were so many movies to choose from, i was loving it. Vicky and Becky (my flat mates) would have been in heaven as there was the whole Harry Potter series to watch! Score!!!

8pm hit and the biggest game of the year had begun. I knew it was going to be a tense couple of hours. There was 15 minutes of free wifi on the plane so I made sure I had updates for the last 15 minutes of the first half and liz would check for the end of the match. It came to the last 10 minutes and we were refreshing and refreshing. It was 25-23 to England with Wales waiting to convert a try. Then the Wifi decided to freeze! Can you bloody believe it? Minutes left of the game and the wifi decides to freeze!!!! As soon as it kicked back in a txt came through and we had won!! What a great moment and a wonderful start to the holiday!

Leg one of the journey done, we had landed in Doha and had 25 minutes to get to our next flight. We thought that was plenty of time, but we had clearly never been to Doha airport before. It was HUGE! And the walk to our gate was right over the other side of the airport. It took us about half an hour but we made it and boarded the next flight. We were on our way to Cape Town! Wahoo!

On arrival, Liz asked me the question... Why is Cape Town called Cale Town? Any ideas anyone? As I have no clue. And the only clue I had from Liz was: 'well think about it, Cape and Town!' Haha. I'm still waiting for the answer.

As we left the plane, we went through security. I was asked by this fat, grumpy lady for my return flight details. I told her that Liz had them if she needed to see them. She said ' listen ma'am I'll let it go this time but you seriously need to read the requirements at the airport before you leave your country next time, you can't just enter another country with just a passport.' Well I'm sorry for thinking that a passport (the main document you need to go on holiday) is not as important as my return flight details printed out. What a b****!

After a stupid little brawl with the airport lady, we picked up our baggage and went to meet our chauffeur. Yes that's right, we walked out into the arrivals lounge and there he was holding a little sign with miss A Arnold and Miss J Lawthom written on it. I don't care what anyone says, when someone is holding your name on a sign at the airport, you instantly feel kinda special ha!

Our driver kindly showed us to the car and we began the short journey to our hotel. On the way into the city you pass so many Townships. Liz made a comment saying that it's quite sad to see, I agreed with her to be honest. Our driver then told us that the people living there are happy, some even have houses but sell them to go back to their Township. It's like a little community, all the guys have satellites poking out of the roofs, he said they don't live a bad life. And even crime rate in townships have dropped, if someone in that township was caught stealing they would instantly be dead. Scary right? Well we won't be going to visit one just to be on the safe side.

Liz and I were having some confusion as to whether we could see Table Mountain. We could see a mountain with clouds over it and a flat top so I thought ah that must be it. It turns out it wasn't, not sure how we can confuse table mountain with another mountain, but it happened. The driver said he'd show us where it was but before we knew it we were at the hotel and still hadn't seen this famous mountain!

Before getting out of the car we were trying to figure out the tipping etiquette here, how much money do we give? We didn't want to give too little so gave him 50 rand (about £2.50). As soon as he had seen what we had given his eyes lit up and he had the biggest smile on his face. That is when we realised...we had tipped too much ha. He must have thought all his Christmases had come at once.x

Checking in was a bit of a problem, they had no recollection of our booking, even though we had 3 print outs stating we had a booking. Not ideal, we didn't want to end up with no accommodation in Cape Town, we might have ended up lodging with someone in a township. Luckily the staff were very helpful and friendly and made a new booking for us, and lucky for us the room was ready straight away so we could go and freshen up. We were pretty stinky from the flying.

As soon as we were clean and fresh again we took a trip down to the V&A. It's like their Bay Area with lots of restaurants and bars. It's pretty cool, there's lots of quirky little shops and bands playing African music on the steel drums. I just loved it.

While we were at the V&A we were hoping to get on the Ferry there to visit Robben Island but unfortunately they were fully booked. A trip for another day. We were starving anyway so went to get some dinner at a restaurant called Belthazar. Apparently they do the best steaks in Cape Town. Liz went for a steak and I had some white fish beginning with a K, can't remember the name but it was delicious. We thought as we were in South Aftica that we would also try some wine. No lie, the wine list was huge, definitely bigger than the food menu. There were so many to choose from we had no idea what to try. We called one of the waiters over to ask for some help. We told him that we like quite a non dry, fruity wine and he pointed to two in the menu. We went for the fruitier one. He honestly got it spot on, the wine was delicious. I'm not a huge wine drinker but this I could have drank a whole bottle. During our time at the restaurant we had moved seats 3 times, as the weather turned from glorious sunshine to very windy to rain. The waiter wasn't a fan of us by the end but never mind, we can't win everyone over with our Welsh charm. After the second glass of wine we made our way back to the hotel.

We were both zonked from travelling but it was only 4pm, we got some more drinks and watched the rugby for a little bit. At about 6pm I was holding my eyes open, I didn't want to go to bed that early but I needed to nap, I was falling asleep in the bar. A nap turned into our bed time really as I didn't wake up until 9.30pm. We needed to be fresh and ready for day 2 in Cape Town anyway as we had lots of things on the agenda.

Wakey Wakey rise and shine. It was time to get up and explore the City. After getting ready we took advantage of the delicious buffet breakfast before heading out to catch our double decker, city sightseeing bus. We hopped on and took a seat upstairs. We were on the move, passing lots of beautiful areas along the sea front one of which was Table Mountain. We finally got a great view of it!

As part of the tour we were told an old myth about Devils peak. Apparently years ago someone had a smoking competition wth the Devil, which is where Devils peak gets its name. The legend says that so much smoke was produced from the competition it covered table mountain like a table cloth. Do you believe it? Ha. The weather here is very strange though, even with the skies completely clear and blue, out of nowhere clouds can just turn up and cover only the top of the mountain. It's very surreal.

We drove passed the boardwalk, V&A, clock tower even through the CBD area. The City is HUGE. I couldn't believe that Strand Street (one of the main streets in the city centre) used to be a beach area years ago. The city centre used to be completely under water and now it's full of high rise buildings. Crazy right?

The next stop for us was Table Mountain. We drove up and up and up until we reached the foot of the mountain. The road was windy and narrow. Those are not the best combination as it is but add a sheer drop to the mix as well, it was pretty scary, and it was such a relief to get to the top. We had already bought our cable car tickets to go even further up the mountain, (as if I wasn't scared enough already) so thought we would be able to go straight on. How wrong were we?

We got there and the queue for people with tickets was bigger than the one without. It was crazy? We waited for a little while but after an hour we gave up. After staring at the cable cars for that long, I'm kinda glad we gave them a miss, they were stupidly steep and went very high! I probably would have freaked out. Plus there was a huge cloud covering the mountain so there wouldn't have been much of a view from the top. The view we saw from the foot of the mountain was incredible enough.

We hopped back on the bus and made our way to Camps Bay, the Monaco of Cape Town. Where tanning and beauty are a big thing! We were told, 'Don't be surprised if you see Leonardo DiCaprio sipping on cocktails on the sea front!' What? Imagine just seeing Leo chilling with a cocktail on the beach.

We thought we'd chill there for a bit, if Camps Bay is good enough for Leo, it's definitely good enough for Jiz. As we went for a stroll down to the beach, a man selling paintings made eye contact with me. As soon as he did I knew I was in for a sales pitch. He said 'c'mon, looking is free,!' I thought to myself 'I know, but I know what comes after the looking...you trying to sell me something.' He went through every painting he had, they were beautiful but I didn't want one. Plus he was telling me all about how long it takes him to paint them and that they are unique but two other guys were selling the exact same things 5 meters away. I let him get to the end of his pitch and just politely said no thanks. We took some snapshots on the beach, this time with the other side of Table Mountain in the background, then went to find a nice bar to sip on some cocktails, and maybe find Leo.

Whilst we were enjoying our refreshing cocktails, we saw a girl in a bikini on the beach, she must have been absolutely freezing! She was just taking photos of herself with a selfie stick and then a guy with a camera was taking pictures. Apparently this is quite normal to see in Camps Bay. Vanity is a big thing there. But she seriously could have picked a warmer day to prance around in a bikini, everyone else on the beach were wearing coats.

As we drove away from The Bay we passed many beautiful and very expensive houses, people who live there even have lifts to their front doors. What is that all about. Also a parking space on the roof areas of these houses costs the same as a small apartment in Cape Town. Can you believe that? How ridiculous! I guess that's just how the other half live.

Onwards to the clock tower at the V&A to await the next part of our sightseeing, Robben Island. We had some time to kill before the ferry journey so we took a walk through this place called 'The Watershed'. What a cool space! Up stairs was a funky open area where people (if they were a member) could come and work or study! There were meeting rooms opposite, all glass so everything was open. Downstairs there were local businesses selling handmade items, clothes, shoes all sorts really. Some things were just beautiful and I wanted to buy most of it, but unfortunately my luggage allowance wouldn't allow that. It just had a cool vibe there. I think I'd want to be a member if I lived here in SA.

The ferry was slightly delayed so we sat down in the queue and made some friends with 3 very posh and very rich doctors that were on some sort of conference. They had a meeting later that day and didn't realise the tour we were just about to go on was 3 and a half hours long. They didn't seem to care, they just giggled.

Finally we boarded the ferry and went straight to the only comfy seats on board...the sofas. The 3 doctors said we followed and sat opposite. During the journey over, the one male doctor who was wearing tight white trousers and the female doctor were getting on very well, giggling and chatting away. The other guy felt a bit left out I think, he just kept glancing over at them. Well that all changed when the woman doctor got up to take a picture, the boat rocked and she fell into the lonely doctor, not only that but her hand went to his private area. That changed everything haha he was back in the group.

To the side of us were two African ladies who wanted us in any picture that they were taking. They didn't even ask our names so it's kinda like we were politely photobombing them. The older African lady also took a trip when the boat swayed. She was walking back from the deck outside and as the boat went to the left she went with it all the way behind the bar. It was like she just disappeared. All you could hear was her laughing as she ran back to the seat next to me.

40 minutes of bumpy Ocean we had made it to Robben Island. We were last off the boat which meant we were the group that got to do the prison tour first. As we walked up to the front door of the prison a man was there to greet us. His name was Zozo and he was an ex prisoner on The island. All the tour guides are ex prisoners which is amazing. They relieve their terrible time in the prison every day to tell their story and make it known to the world.

There was a man on our tour who was seriously like the BFG, he was massive and by the time he got to the front door, the introductions were finished. I think he thought 'ah they're all stopped, I can have a 10 minute breather!' You were wrong there mate, you might have got that if you got there 10 minutes ago.

The prison was huge, it could hold 2500 prisoners at the same time. It did mean that some of the shared cells could be filled with 60 people. That would have been awful. In the earlier years of the prison they just had a floor mat to sleep on and a few blankets to keep them warm, which were apparently useless. We were told that most nights the guards would choose a cell and tell the prisoner to get naked, they would then take him out to the courtyard and beat him until he was bleeding. It was their way of trying to break the prisoners down. But Zozo said it never worked, all prisoners wanted the same thing...Freedom and they would go through hell until they won. He was such an inspiration. The guards would also take any mail that arrived for the prisoner and rip it up, and they would tell the family that they might as well divorce the prisoner or stop contacting them as they were playing hell in prison doing things they shouldn't. The guards aim was to tear the families apart! How horrendous.

Through the prison we stopped at Mandelas cell. Where he Spent 17 years of his life. It was tiny, and Zozo said in the earlier years of the prison, prisoners would spend 23 hours a day in that cell. Crazy!!

At the end of the tour Zozo thanked us for helping them get their freedom and now calls our nation a rainbow nation and all equals.

Throughout our walk through the prison Liz had spotted a famous face. I wasn't sure, she looked kinda familiar but I had no idea where from. Liz was adamant her name was Linda and we kept trying to listen in on their conversations to get some info about who she was. We found out that she had twin girls, one called Natalie, she was from Kent and had a friend called Suzy. So our Google search would be Linda from Kent with twins and a friend called Suzy. Funnily enough we didn't get a result.

Now the tour of the prison was done we had a bus tour of the rest of the island. We got to see the other prison areas and the areas where the Leaders used to work out in the open in the blistering sunshine. Did you know that whenever Nelson Mandela used to have press talks that nobody in the press was allowed to use flashes? The reason for this was because his eyes got so damaged from the sun reflecting on the lime rocks when he worked on the land on Robben Island.

We were also told that years ago all black people had to carry something called a Dombas. It's like a passport, which had their name, picture and nationality in it. The translations for Dombas is dumb books. And if black people got caught not carrying their Dombas they were given a 6 months prison sentence or a 40 rand fine which back then was a four month wage for black people.

On the island there is a little village of houses which are lived in. Robben island residents are all ex prisoners and ex prison guards and current security guards. So all the prison guards that used to torture the prisoners and the prisoners now live together in the same village. Zozo said that they have all forgiven each other for the sake of their children. I couldn't believe it. These people are now friends.

Funnily enough Robben Island is the only place that has a Zero crime rate. They have a post office, shop, primary school but there's no police station because they don't need one.

The place is incredible to visit and would definitely recommend if anyone is visiting Cape Town. You can even get more photos of Table Mountain. Seriously I think I now have a picture of Table Mountain from every angle, and even in different weather conditions. When I come home people are going to wonder what else I saw in Cape Town. Anyway that was our tour done, it was back to the boats to get back to mainland.

Back at the V&A we went for a meal as we were both starved and then headed back to the hotel. It had been a long day.

When we got back to the room Liz began her research. And guess what...Lizzy the Google stalker managed to find out who 'Linda from Kent actually was. Let's see if you can guess! ' You Gotta speed it up, and then you Gotta slow it down...' Yes that's right, it was only Cheryl Baker from Bucksfizz! Haha. We had a few conversations with her on the tour as well! We can now say we are best pals with Cheryl from Bucksfizz. I do wish it was Leo DiCaprio though. He would have been a slightly better claim to fame. We could rest easy now we knew who she was.

Up bright and early for day 3 in the Cape. Time to pick up our car and get on the road! Wahooo!

We went to speak to our little taxi friend to get a ride into town. Things didn't go as smoothly as we hoped from there. We got to Europcar to find that the car was waiting for us at the airport, not in the city. Luckily for us they had a car there to give us but we had to wait an hour. We walked for five minutes to find a cafe or bar to wait. The city is so busy and we were kinda creeped out by one guy who stopped to ask us something but in a foreign language. He was super creepy. We just went into the next bar and waited there. Pretty cool place actually, it reminded me of a bar from Sons of Anarchy. Plus next door was the Harley Davidson garage full of brand new bikes!

An hour later we returned to pick up our car to find that we now needed our passports and a credit card., which were both back at the hotel. So the wait in the bar was pointless as we had to go back to the hotel anyway. The guy who worked there kindly gave us a lift back to the hotel. As we waited for him at the car we heard a huge gun sound which sounded close and quite scary. We asked him what that was and apparently it's called a noon gun, which goes of everyday. It was normal to them but scared the crap out of us. Imagine hearing a huge bang in the centre of the city?

Back at the hotel we ran in and spoke to our taxi man again. It was Dejavu. We went for take 2. This time equipped with everything we needed. We were ready to get our car.

On the drive back to Europcar we passed a Mcdonalds with delivery mopeds parked out front. How amazing. I wish mcdonalds had delivery at home, that would be the most amazing thing for a hangover. What do ya think?

All was well and good we finally got our car. A nice one at that, a snazzy, white Chevrolet! We were riding in style. It was time to head out of the city and on to Boulders Beach to see Pingu and his friends.

The road to Boulders was a long windy one which went right to the top of a steep mountain. The view was incredible but it was not fun to drive. Pretty scary in fact. It felt good getting to the bottom on the other side.

We had arrived at the famous Boulders Beach. We were so excited to go and see the penguins. They were literally everywhere, hundreds of them. It was incredible. Some were sleeping, waddling around some were even playing musical statues. Frozen in one position staring at each other to see who would break first. None of them did, they were very competitive. Some even posed for pictures, it was hilarious.

As we turned each corner there were more and more and the end of the trail there were loads just on the sand getting taken out by the waves, and waddling back to shore. They were so adorable. I have so many penguin selfies now. Ha.

On the way back to the car we stopped to get some lunch at the penguino cafe before heading back to our hotel.

In the drive back, before heading back up the mountain we stopped for a toilet break. While I was in the car opposite a petrol station some man jumps out of his car and attacks the petrol man, I think the petrol man did something to provoke him, but he hit back before the driver drove off. At that point all the other petrol attendants started running after the car. I couldn't believe what I was seeing! It was pretty scary. We left after that and began the journey back to the city.

We made it back, it was time to chill for a little while, but we were locked out of our room. Today has just been one of those days but the penguins made things so much better!

After a little chill time, we went downstairs to get some grub and a few drinks. As it was a match day I ordered the rugby special. 75 rand for a beer and a burger... Guess how much that is in £? £3.50! Such a bargain.

We were the loners of the bar, there was what seemed to be a tour group there all dressed up, there's us in our Scruffs not really made an effort at all. We ordered a couple of drinks and the waiter asked me what type of cocktail I liked. Liz at this point had ordered a chocolate daiquiri. I said I didn't like anything creamy, Liz of course laughed at this. Slightly embarrassing.

We knew someone would come and talk to us eventually...that person turned out to be a SA man. He was very enthusiastic about everywhere in the world. Even though he was slightly annoying we got a few hints and tips from him. He was definitely worth chatting to.

Day 3 over and our time in Cape Town has sadly come to an end. What an incredible city and an amazing experience. I'm still waiting for an answer from Liz about where Cape Town gets it's name. She told me she hoped I'd googled it by the time she asked me again, for some reason she thought the name has somethings to do with Batman. I have now looked into it and Cape Town used to be called Cape of good hope because the Europeans were able to cross the Cape successfully. Once a city began to develop they renamed it Cape Town. Not really the most interesting story, but now you know!

Anyway it's now time to head on for some wine and chocolate tasting in Stellenbosch. Yummy!

Thank you Cape Town it's been incredible. Let's see what Stellenbosch has to offer.

Ta-ta for now.

J.L
Xoxo