My Cape Town Holiday

For our first R & R holiday,  we spent two weeks touring Cape Town and the surrounding areas of The Cape of Good Hope, Stellenbosch and Franschoek (wineries), Mossel Bay, Plettenberg Bay, Jeffrey's Bay and travelling the Garden Route.

We had a fabulous time. Came back a few kilos heavier as the food and wines were amazing! We did lots of walking and hiking to try and exercise, but we also spent a lot of time driving in the BMW. Mr. O. liked driving this car so much that he let me drive it for one hour only!

There are 100 photos to look at. I don't mean to bore you. Just share some of our amazing experiences with friends and family.

 xx to you all from Africa with love!

Hello, Cape Town and Table Mountain!

Downtown Cape Town.

View of area near District 6 from a double decker tour bus.

The markets at Green Square

"I'm just looking, Greg!"

"Did you forget something?"

We happened upon a movie being filmed!

There were lots of interesting characters.
Not sure what the storyline was though!

"Peek-a-boo!"

View of CT from Table Mountain

I had to cuddle up. It was  very cold and breezy!

The view heading to Camps Bay.
Spectacular!

The surf! Mr. O. wants to go in, but it is too cold!!!!

Save the rhino from poachers!

A beautiful day and spot to have lunch!
@ Camps Bay. Absolutely picturesque.

The sea was  beautiful, but very cold and windy.

@ Victoria and Albert Waterfront.
Lots of great eateries there!

So where are you Mrs. O. ? Here!

Lillian and Howard.
Dear friends of ours from when we lived in Indonesia.

The view from their apartment.

CT Flower Markets are famous for their vast arrays and  amazing colours.

The Neighbours Goods Market.
Now, what to try....

I know! Oysters and champagne at 10 am!!

Can you tell it is Easter weekend?

Our son, Liam's look-a-like,
Cooking a big pan of paella .

Trying a boerworst.

Some poor children playing music for money.
I gave them some Rand (South African money).

An artist at work.
Can you see what he is painting?

You know you are in Africa when the traffic stops
 or slows down for a troop of marauding baboons!

Look where I am!

Ta-da!! About to climb up to the lighthouse.
Lots of stairs to climb and lots of other tourists doing the same thing!

There it is... The Cape of Good Hope!
Where the Indian Ocean meets the Atlantic Ocean.

We made it!

Now, where am I?

Here! Now, which way back to Australia?

More baboons on the alert!

The wind is subsiding. It nearly blew me over, it was so strong!

Dazzling CT at night.

A happy driver!

This lady was spinning silk spun by silkworms.
They weave it into scarves and clothes as seen in the background.

Lunch @ Stellenbosch.
Cheers!

Thinking... "I feel so blessed and lucky to be able to do this!"

Our double story villa at Franschoek. 

I made a new friend, kids!

Where am I now?

A Daycare centre for men!

How lucky am I? 

Having a cappuccino ...

....with a stalker!

Proud driver!
(Or is that poser?)

Beautiful beaches. Freezing cold water! 14 degrees!

Surfers below. Mr. O. is soooo keen to go in the water!
He is working up his courage!

Poor townships outside of CT.

I enjoyed listening to these men sing and dance African songs!
They had beautiful harmony.

Walking through CT's Botanical Gardens @ Kirstenbosch.

Enjoying REAL cappuccinos made with REAL milk!
(In Mozambique, we have only UHT/long life milk.)

Watching the fisherman come in with their catch @ Kalk Bay.

Seals hoovering for a feed of fish remnants.

They are fascinating to watch.
Like playful puppies!

"Come on! Throw me something!", he seems to say!

This lady guts, cleans and fillets fish all day, every day!

We stayed at Milkwood Manor @ Plettenberg Bay.
5 star delight!

This is Violet. She sells wooden bowls that her husband made.
She carries the bowls on her head and walks up and
 down the street to sell her wares. I bought one.

We walked to the end of Robberg Pennisula to see the seals.

There they are!

There were a lot of stairs!!!

The seals playing and sleeping. 

Indian Ocean side of the peninsula. There were climbing and
falling sand dunes that we could not go near. Very dangerous as
they were ever changing with the strong wind currents.

Breathtakingly beautiful landscape and seascape.
This cave was home for ancient tribes and has been an archaeological
 excavation site dating back 2000+ years! You can still see the soot from their fires on the roof.
they would have had million dollar views of the sea and fantastic seafood on their doorstep.

Little Dassies!

Suspension bridges @ the mouth of Storms  River.

Mr. O. loves bridges (and BMWs)!

I don't! Bridges, that is!
I walk very slowly and hold on with both hands!

Storms River is where they used to log timber. Imagine
 loading big heavy logs onto ships in the olden
days with rough seas worse than this!

Walking with elephants!!!!

So neat!

Am I excited, or what?!!!!

I had to give my elephant, Happiness, a reward
at the end for letting me take her for a walk.

Thanking the guide whose name was Trust. ;0)

The guides showed us tricks that they taught their elephants to do. The three elephants are about 18 years old. They were saved from being traffic across borders illegally. We learnt lots about elephants. They are really clever animals and communicate to each other using their feet as drums or their trunks to touch.

A magical experience for us!

Feeding them fruit and veggies to say thank you.
They were greedy guts, too!

Getting down so that their handlers could
 get up on top to ride them  back to their paddock.

Huge single span bridge built over the Storms River gorge.
I walked across it! Yikes, it was high up!! 

A township @ Humansdorp.

Jeffrey's Bay @ the  famous surfers beach called "Supertubes".
Billabong holds a pro-surfer championship here.
Mr. O. is showing me where he plans to go in!

Me, pretending to surf.
No way am I going in! It's below 14 degrees!!!

Getting geared up to go in the cold surf! 

Can you see Mr. o. out there on his boogie board?

I spotted 12 dolphins riding the waves one morning.
I love dolphins.

Farewell cheers to CT.
It's been a great holiday!
We will be back!
(Oh and Happy 31st Anniversary to us, too!)

Sunset at Cape Town.