Tuesday 9th June-

In Jeffreys Bay we didn't do a lot except go into town for lunch and admire or view of the beach. At night we ate at the hostels bar and had a braai (BBQ) with pap and sauce, it was OK. We moved on to Knysna on Sunday. It was a nice little place, but again, not much to do. We don'tmind the relaxing though.

After Knysna we moved on to Outdshoorn, but we had to get a transfer from George. The drive to Outdtshoorn was very scenic and our hostel is very nice and has friendly staff. That evening we had the hostels dinner- an ostrich steak and ostrich sausage with a jacket potato and salad. It was very tasty and healthy. We also had some drinks as the wine and beer were less than 1 pound each!

Today we did one of the tours from the hostel. They took us to the Cango Caves and we did an hour long tour around them. It was quite impressive and we were allowed to take photos, unlike the ones in New Zealand. We then went to the Cango Ostrich Farm. We were told about ostrich farming and shown the egg incubation room. We then met a very tame ostrich that we could stroke and feed. We saw some more ostriches and were given the chance to ride one but no-one wanted to so we just watched one of the workers do it. We saw one ostrich doing a crazy dance to try and attract a female but it didn't work. Chris then got a neck massage from several ostriches by holding a bucket of food with his back to the fence. Then we all stood on some ostrich eggs- they're very strong! After that we went to a wildlife ranch. We saw crocodiles, lemurs, flamingoes, cheetahs, white lions, white tigers, hippos, meerkats, snakes, birds and a pettng zoo. It was good- especially the cats. We had lunch in their cafe and we both had a crocodile burger. It was very nice and tasted just like chicken.

Satuday 13th June-

On Wednesday we checked out early but had to wait til 1pm for our transfer back to George. We walked down the main street amd went to a cafe for some food. We also looked in a little Curios shop. We waited for the rest of the time in our hostel playing scrabble, playing with the cat and watching tv. We were taken back to George and then got the BazBus to Hermanus where we stayed for 1 night. It was qute late by the time we got there so we went straight to bed. The next day we wandered along the coastal path into town. We had some breakfast at a small cafe and then went to an internet cafe for a bit. We then walked further along the cliff path and looked for whales, but we didn't see any as it was still too early in the year. We walked back to tow and saw the 'whale crier', then went for some lunch. We spent the rest of the afternoon at the hostel reading and chilling out, and we watched a film with anothe couple. We were taken back to the BazBus later and went on to Stellenbosch. Our hostel was weird as it was abov a bar and was basically a block of flats that anyone could live in, but our room was ok. We managed to book on to the Easy Rider Wine Tour for the next day.

We were picked up at 10am the next day and taken to a hostel where everyone was meeting for the wine tour. There were 25 people so we had to go in 2 mini-buses. We first went to Simonsig Winery. We had a tour around the wine cellar then we sat outside and were given some wines to try. We tried 1 champagne, 2 whites and 2 reds- we liked all but the reds. We then moved on to Fairview where we tried more wines and some goats cheeses. We didn't really like the wines here but some of the cheeses were nice. We then went for a nice lunch (with more wine) at Essence in Frankschoek, then on to Dieu Donne, another wine place. This place had very pretty views of the area and mountains. Our last stop was at Boschendal where we tried 5 more wines. We were sufficiently tipsy by this time. We got back to our hostel at about 5pm and we went out for a nice steak. We then got the Bazbus to Cape Town and arrived hee at about 9pm. It's raning hard today so we just had a wander about. We looked at the market and also went to the Pan Afican Market- a 3-storey african souvenir place packed with wooden object, masks, drums, jewellery, and bags, and everyone was trying hard to sell us stuff.

Monday 15th June-

On Saturday evening we went for dinner at the Pasta Factory. It was interesting- you get given a swipe card and go up to whichever area you want to order from and they put it on the card. The food was very nice.

Yesterday the weather seemed a bit nicer so we got a taxi to V&A waterfront to go to Robben Island, but when we got there they said the ferries weren't going as it was too windy. We had a look around the shopping centre and then went to the aquarium. It was quite good but small. We walked back to our hostel down Long Street but all the shops were closed and it was very quiet.

This morning the weather was sunny and clear and it was the first time we could see the top of Table Mountain. We wished we could go up it but we had already booked on to a township tour for today. We got picked up at 9am, there were 4 other people on the bus too. We first went to District 6 (the most famous area around here where the blacks were kicked out of during the apartheid) and had a look around the museum. We drove to a few different townships nearby and our guide told us all about the apartheid and how people live now. At one place we could look around some houses. We were shown inside a 'hostel' which are very basic buildings where several families share 1 room. We were then shown a better house where people from the hostels can eventually move into. We saw a lot of tiny metal and wood huts that people also lived in. People were quite friendly but we felt a bit awkward about taking photos and stuff. We couldn't get off the bus at the othe townships as it wasn't safe. We then went to visit a kindegarten. The kids sang us some songs and then they all jumped up and ran at us and we all had 3 kids hanging onto our legs. They loved being picked up by Chris and they all kept doing up Helen's buttons on her cadigan and playing with her hair. They were very sweet and fun, but it soon got tiring and we had to say goodbye.

Wednesday 17th June-

On Tuesday night we went for a nice mexican meal. They even had fleecey ponchos you could where if you got cold. It was very nice.

Yesterday we phoned up the Robben Island people and they said the ferries weren't going again, very annoying. We wandered around town a bit, and eventually it got quite sunny and we decided we'd go up table mountain. We got a taxi up there, but when we got there they said the cable cars weren't going either due to strong winds, so we had to get a taxi back down as it started to rain. We just chilled out for the rest of the day.

Today we rang up Robben Island people again and they said the ferries were going today, so we rang a taxi and headed straight down to the V&A waterfront. We got to the ticket office and they said ferries had been cancelled as the sea had become too rough. We were very annoyed at this and we had to walk back into town. On the walk, 2 men started walking slowly infront of us, and as we tried to pass them they pulled a knife out of their pocket and asked for money. Chris had to give them his money and it was annoying as we'd just been to the cash point, then they ran off. It was scary but we are both fine and had been told that it happens a lot.

If we don't manage to get to Robben Island tomorrow we are not going to be impressed with Cape Town!