My final day in Cape Town and I actually cannot believe I've already been here for over a month! It really is a city that has managed to capture my heart, and made me seriously consider it as a hometown - lovely people, perfect weather, the perfect mix between cosmopolitan town and great nature. What's not to love?!

I've done a couple of standard essentials for any visitor to the city: Picking up from where the last blog left off, the Johnny Clegg concert was awesome - there were a lot more people creating a buzzing atmosphere, I enjoyed his mix of modern along with traditional African sounds, and was joined by Tim (Natalie's grandad) and his girlfriend.

Another essential touristy outing was to go to Robben Island. I watched the Mandela film the day before to give myself some idea of what to expect, and it did help. It was an impressive tour, although considering the boat to the island took an hour, the tour of the prison itself was rather rushed (about half an hour) with a bus tour of the rest of the island taking the rest of the time. Having said that, the prison tour was given a personal touch by being led by a former inmate. He explained that he had been imprisoned at Robben Island for four years for organising a demonstration / riot at his school as a teenager! I think he said the youngest "political prisoner" had been 14 years old… clearly a threat!

Monday was a full-on touristy day: I took a BazBus tour of the peninsula. It was amazing all the things we fit in to one day: we stopped at Hout Bay and took a boat out to Duiker (seal) Island - does what it says on the tin taking us to an island over-run by seals basking in the sun and squabbling over island-space. Then we continued south and east to Boulders Beach. This is inhabited by the largest colony of African penguins, and some eggs had just hatched as we could see some penguins with their young! The day also included a bike ride around table mountain national park, a visit to Cape Point, and a stroll from there to Cape of Good Hope - the southwestern-most point of Africa. It was a great day with a very knowledgeable guide and a, er, friendly ("I want to have you as my girlfriend") driver. It was also the first time I had spent with fellow travellers, and there were some really interesting characters - a guy from Boston who had come for the Springsteen concert (I'm hoping that wasn't the sole purpose of his trip), a law graduate from DC, a couple of Swiss guys, and plenty of Dutch. I'm looking forward to meeting many more people and hearing their stories - so much fun!

Off the beaten track, I discovered Cape Town's best kept secret, you should be grateful that I'm sharing it: the Sea Point pool. Because the ocean at the beaches around the city is freaking freezing you won't find many people swimming, so the Sea Point pool is the best of both! There is an amazing olympic-sized pool (along with a paddling pool and a separate diving pool) right on the coast at Sea Point pavilion, and it's the perfect way to cool down after a tad sunbathing. I wish I'd found it sooner!

I've also had some fun more laidback days (being a tourist is exhausting!), having a "lockdown" day watching about 5 games of rugby back-to-back (had to catch up on the Heineken Cup), watching the Saracens play the Sharks with Leanne - it was a win win for me really but I tried to back the SA team more out of solidarity! I also helped Tish - my temporary flatmate :-) - with her autism surf project day. The day was a success as most of the surfers seemed to have a good time and the sun was out for us. After that, we had some celebratory drinks which turned into rather a late one!

All in all, looking back on my time in Cape Town I have loved the mix of seeing the sights and just getting properly comfy with the town. Walking along the coast past Camps Bay and Clifton beaches today, I really felt at home here in such a short time, and I can see myself really enjoying a couple of years here… who knows what the future brings! Seeing as this is my first proper stop on my travels, I can just see myself wanting to stay everywhere I go… Rather than "finding myself" I might end up getting lost in every place I visit - doh! Thanks for all the fun times, Cape Town and all the wonderful people I've met and spent time with here!