Needed to keep Rebecca happy and make a lightning trip to Cape Town to visit the penguins in Simonstown.

We stayed in our nicest hotel so far, right on Boulders Beach where the penguins were. The penguins put on a fantastic performance. So many of them and they're pretty entertaining birds to watch. So clumsy on land but acrobats in the water. Rebecca was in paradise as she's loved penguins all her life. We woke up early for the sunset and that was magical. Beautiful beautiful colours silhouetting the penguins. I was tempted to pppick up a penguin but apparently they have razor sharp beaks!!

We stayed in Cape Town at Long Street Backpackers for a few nights. Had lots of fun most of which I can't remember! Cape Town's a fun place to be though the amount of stories about muggings and crime we heard from fellow backpackers made us a little cautious. Unfortunately the cable car to the top of Table Mountain was closed and we didn't have the time to make the climb. The Waterfront is fantastic. It's like a very up market and polished British seaside resort without the tack and the bad weather and with African music playing in the background. Great for a stroll. We went on a day's wine tour. Got to taste lots and lots. I'm still not all that good at telling the difference though!

Be warned of flying with kulula.com for domestic flights in South Africa, they are looney!! I booked our tickets over the internet from the UK, amazed at the very reasonable prices but little did we know!! the planes themselves are like giant flying aphids. All the interior of the plane is also in a fetching bright lime green. The flight announcements are a comedy act! But by far the most memorable event thanks to kulula was on our flight back to jo'burg. We completely miscalculated the journey to the airport and ended up arriving there 15mins before the flight when check in was supposed to close 30mins before so we were already expecting the worse. When we arrived at the desk they took our luggage and then informed us that our flight was closed and we had been put on reserve for the next flight however there were no places left and we were very unlikely to get on it. They also said we were very unlikely to get on the flight the next morning as well. A big problem as our Madagascar flight was the next day. They said the only way to get seats was to pay the equivalent of about 100 pounds a person, money we definitely didn't have. I just didn't know what to say. We looked absolutely panic stricken and I was! This went on for about 20mins before the man kindly told us, 'I'm pulling your leg!!' EVIL!!! He'd managed to keep a completely serious face for 20mins whilst he watched us squirm!! Was a huge relief we got on the flight though, after my heart had started beating again!