Aug 05

I had to do it. I could have stayed in Cape Town for my whole trip and still have been satisfied, but I had to leave. What a fantastic place. So much to do. I took a tour to the most South Westerly point in Africa (another way to say "we're almost the most Southerly point) two days ago on the second of August. It was such a good time. We were on a bus with 19 people and spent the day cruising along the coast to Cape Point. We took what is called the "Baz Bus", a popular backpacking tour company in South Africa. It was one of the best tours I've ever been on. The guide knew practically everything about the wildlife, vegetation, geology and history of the area. It was amazing. The people were a fun bunch too. Yesterday I went on a tour of Robben Island to visit the maximum security prison where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for most of his sentence. I met some Dutch tourists there and ended up spending the day with them. We went on a sunset cruise in what was definitely the biggest catamaran sailboat I have ever seen. They served champagne and toured Table Bay while we sat on the front deck and watched the sun slowly set. That was incredible! After that, we ended the night at "Mama Africa"; a very popular (for good reason) restaurant. They had the most incredible food and entertainment. We arrived at 7:30 and didn't leave until almost 12:00 because they were so good. They were a traditional African drumming and Xylophone group. One of the drummers could sing Italian Opera so well and so authentically that we all thought the voice we heard was coming from another source. They were just stunning. It was a great way to end off my time in Cape Town.
This morning, I left Cape Town and made my way East along the Coast about 400 kms to Mossel Bay, a quaint medium-sized town on the start of what is called "The Garden Route", an approximate 200 km long stretch of coastline. I haven't had a chance to properly explore the town yet, but its claim to fame was in the 16th century, the Portuguese used to use this place as a fresh water stop as well as a mail drop spot for returning ships to grab. I am staying on a converted passenger train in my own berth right next to the ocean. It's just awesome. Having a great deal of fun.

Hey everyone. I'm still in Cape Town and having a fabulous time. I have been keeping busy with the wealth of activities they have here. From shopping to abseiling; they have it all here. I tried to go abseiling (rappeling) from the top of Table Mountain today, but there weren't enough people to make a large enough group for them to take us. As the gondola is closed for repair this week, they must drive us to the lower gondola station and hike up. At over a 1000 meters, it's a good sized mountain. Next time I guess. Today I went sand boarding at the dunes west of the city. It was very different from snowboarding. It's almost like snowboarding on really wet sticky snow. I almost got the nack of it. It was pretty good all the same. If I'm still here on Friday, they are going to run us up to a pretty hairy mountain bike course. They are trying to find another guy to go with me as they need to have at least two people to run the tour. Not too many tourists can or want to take this tour as it's too difficult. I hope i'll be okay. Tomorrow, I think that I'm going to take a trip to the Cape of Good Hope. It's supposed to be very beautiful. I picked up another brochure for the bungy jumping excursion 200 kms from Cape Town. 216 meters (708 feet!). I still haven't talked myself into that yet. I am yet to see if I have the courage to try it. There's just too much to do here! I'm going crazy trying to decide what to do.