well we made it at last after a bloody long flight with two screaming kids in front of us. PJ from our hostel picked us up at the airport to take us back. our hostel is basic but clean but there is one women there who is doing our heads in, shes a bit in your face and wants to know everything. on our first day we caught the train into cape town central as were a bit out of the way hence the lack of calls, blogs etc. were even charged for receiving calls so dad, thats why it cut out the other night. cape town is massive but not as good as we thought perhaps we havent see the best bits. Pj warned us to ride only 1st class on the trains i think that the blacks dont like us whites too much. and there is only a thin layer of tolereance.. on our second day me and helen went SHARK diving whitch was amazing and a dream fullfilled, we were picked up at about 8am by a really small mini bus and my legs couldnt fit behind the seats, i was also lucky enough to have some bloke next to me sleeping, oh im a lucky boy! the journey was about 3hrs and the most tedious journey ever, no one spoke the whole way apart from me and helen. we arrived at Kleinsbaai at last AKA shark alley. we had a quick brief and we were on our way. to say the journey was bumpy is an under satement, it took about half hour to get too dyer island we then dropped anchor. within 5mins the first shark was circling the boat so the skipper asked for the first five to get wet suits on, i volunteered me and helen straight away. i never knew how hard a wet suit is to get on especially when wet! we were very lucky to see three sharks around us it was a truly amazing experience. obviously some people were sea sick and i was so nearly one of them but i held it off maybe it had something to do with the three metre swells. but what a day!
thursday we trecked table mountain on one of the hardest trails Skeleton gorge i think the name gives it away. first part of the trail was extremely steep and bloody tiring, the second part included climbing ladders and rock climbing, the things helen make me do. we were lucky as the first part was in the forrest and in the shade. the last part was trekking the ridges to reach the summit, in the direct sunshine, it was so hot. on our way helen saw a snake and was histerical which put a smile on my face :) after 3hrs of tiring trecking, climbing and a few drops of sweat we made it to Maclears Beacon the highest point of the mountain, as we were looking round we could see the bottom of cape town, beautiful blue skies, oceans and the view was for ever. but we were in fact above the clouds!! the achievment we felt was well worth the pain. when we got back at about 2pm we decided to go horse riding which was a funny experience indeed, we were cantoring through industrial estates, football pitches and local shanti towns!! at one stage the guide decided to cantor through bloody trees and i nearly fell off, what an experience this was but at least it was cheap. last night i took helen out for a meal at Fat Cactus we had a big meal,desserts and drinks for 23 quid,well cheap.
today (1-5-10) we are in cape town centre hence how i can do this blog and we are going down to Simons town to see the penguins as tommorrow we move on the Mossel bay for 3 days. we will try and get some photos uploaded soon and contact you all when we can, so bye for now
love Ben & Helen xxxxxx