Nevertheless we did have a very good time in the city. Although everyone had warned us that it would be wintery and cold, we were lucky to get some great weather. Especially on the morning that we caught the gondola up to the top of Table Mountain. There was a wee bit of mist over Signal Hill (the locals call it the 'Tablecloth'), but we still had amazing views out over the city and further along the coast to the Cape of Good Hope.
We also did a half day out to Robben Island.
Although we both knew that Nelson Mandela had been imprisoned on the island for a number of years, the island has had a very long and interesting history - as a jail for political prisoners from the Dutch East Indies, a leper colony, there was even a gun emplacement built there during WW2 (lthough it wasn't actually completed until 1947). The guide had heaps of stories, and tried to adapt his spiel to show that everyone on the bus had some connection to the Island. In our case, after the mandatory sheep jokes, he talked about the protests against the Springboks, and how there were African repdemption songs dedicated to Graham Mourie, to honour his refusal to tour SA when he was All Black captain. The guide even managed to incorporate stories involving Estonia, for one of the couples onboard.
The view back to Table Mountain was stunning:
We were shown around the prison by a former political prisoner, who had been imprisoned on the island. His eyes welled up when he spoke of the torture and depravity they'd had to endure.
After four days, we wanted to make our way out to Stellenbosch, where we were going to pick up our rental car. After a total debacle trying to catch a train there (the staff were all on strike), we eventually needed to negotiate a taxi fare as there were no buses going directly to Stellenbosch, but made it there safely eventually. The whole area around Stellenbosch is South Africa's winegrowing region, so on the Saturday we did a wine tour with two vanloads of Germans and a Scottish couple. The vineyards themselves were very beautiful, with some great architecture and amazing views over the surrounding hills, but we weren't big fans of the actual wine. Give us NZ Sav any day. One of the vineyards also had cheese tasting though, and that was a huge hit. We went back for seconds and thirds. Alex regretted wearing such a distinctive dress, or we might have been able to sneak back for fourths.
On the Monday we picked up our nippy Hyundai Accent, and headed back down to the tip of the Cape of Good Hope for a look and some photos,
... before driving to Hermanus, our base for the next day's shark diving!
The shark diving was a real highlight. As soon as I heard about shark diving, years ago, I've always wanted to do it, and although Alex was slightly more sceptical, both of us had an amazing day and would thoroughly recommend it. It was a bit rainy, and the sea was choppy enough for at least one client to get a bit seasick, but we both spent most of the time in the cage anyway. We used Brian MacFarlane, who's the guy that Nat Geo and the Discovery Channel use. He took us out to Dyer Island, which is about ten minutes off the coast. Sharks stop off there as the migrate along the coast, to eat some of the resident seals. We anchored up, and then they started mashing up 'chum' (basically fish guts and sea water) to throw overboard. The chum doesn't attract sharks, but it does attract the fish that sharks eat, and within about fifteen minutes we spotted the first shark, and got into our wetsuits. The cage was about eight feet high, with buoys lashed to it so that about two feet of cage was out of the water (and we could come up for a breath without getting eaten). There was room for six of us at a time, and Brian and his crew would cast bait (fish heads, and a polystyrene 'seal' named Gladys) in front of the cage so that the sharks would come in to feed. When a shark came near, the crew would tell us to dive, and the direction in which we should look. We saw about six sharks, one was as long as the cage itself - five massive metres. The sharks would snap at the bait, jump out of the water, crash into and even gnaw at the cage.
Alex and I went back into the cage a lot of times, until it got too cold - and by the end it had gotten a bit 'chummy' in the water anyway. Back on shore they gave us hot soup and coffee, and we drove back to Hermanus on an absolute high. I took a disposable underwater camera down with me, but the results were pretty underwhelming. I might try to scan some of the photos when I get a chance.
Since Hermanus, we've been travelling along the coast to Durban - along the Garden Route and through what they call the Wild Coast. The Garden Route wasn't as beautiful as we expected - the coastline and beaches are gorgeous, but unfortunately the road doesn't run very close to them. We've spent more time on the road than we would have liked, as we have a lot of ground to cover, but we've had some interesting stops. My superlative sense of direction failed me and we got a bit lost in Mossell Bay, ending up in a very dodgy neighbourhood. But Plettenberg Bay was beautiful and pretty high-end with some great cafes.
We spent the last two nights in Coffee Bay, which is between Port Elizabeth and Durban, down a very long and very very poor road. The guidebook described it as 'easy access' (of course), so we weren't quite prepared for the tough two hour drive. After about an hour, when we were too far in to turn back, it started to get dark, which meant you couldn't tell when you were about to run into another of the cavernous potholes, or the unlit mounds of dirt in the middle of the road, or the people ducking out of the shadows to cross in front of you, or the goats or sheep running across the road, or the maniacally driven cars that raced past us. When we eventually made it to Coffee Bay my nerves were shot, but at least we had a decent hotel to stay in. The place was empty "because of the road", and the hotel manager was desperate for anyone to stay there - even two grumpy and disshevelled New Zealanders.
We awoke to a howling gale the next morning, but we still went on a hike to the 'Hole in the Wall' with a group from the backpackers down the road. Coffee Bay was tiny, but had an amazing surf beach, and the surrounding countryside was very undeveloped. Our guide (who looked like the young, surfie, Nelson Mandela) told us that the whole area had been called Transkei, and during the apartheid area it had been designated as an 'autononmous' black homeland (no other government recognised its independence). It was only re-incorporated back into SA in 1994. Plainly, the locals still lived a rustic and traditional life. The villages we passed all comprised circular, thatched huts, curiously painted in garish candy colours, and there were very Coffee Bay was a nice reminder that South Africa is part of Africa after all.
This morning we got up early, so that we had plenty of time to attack that road, and then once we hit the motorwy, had a reasonable drive into Durban. We'd spotted a town named Turton on the map, and hoped to stop there for a photo, but after a detour that was a bit too long, we had to give up. It looks like Turton was a tiny village of ramshackle huts and stalls.
We've needed to stock up on a few supplies before the next leg of our travels, through Egypt and Jordan, into Israel and then through Syria into Turkey (any hot tips appreciated), and Durban has been a good shopping base. Otherwise the highlight has been my diiscovery of my new all-time favourite food "Bunny Chow". No rabbits involved, it is actually half a loaf of bread with the inside scooped out, and filled with awesomely hot curry.
Tomorrow we're off to Jo'burg for a couple of days, kindly being put up by Alex's brother in law's uncle and aunt, and we'll hopefully fit in a bicycle tour of Soweto, before it's off to Egypt for us. Woohoo!
No comments:
Post a Comment