Capetown is lekker, man!

[this'll make more sense if you read it in a South African accent (you know, the whole "diplomatic immunity" bit...)]

Capetown is seriously lekker, brah. We had a jawl. Everyone keeps asking us what we got up to in South Africa - as there's actually heaps to do - regardless we spent a large amount of time lying around on the balcony of the house we'd rented BBQing lamb on the braai and sampling the local dop... Attempts were made to go shark diving and do exciting stuff, but if never panned out. Instead a great week of grazing and enjoying a really sweet part of the planet. Seriously, you may as well be on the Northern beaches of Sydney - just a hell of a lot cheaper!! - it ain't Africa, not by a long way...

For an actual description of what we did (and ate!!) Mas has been kind enough to save our lazy bums with her blog here. There's a couple of videos as well - inc a pretty cool one of a cooper banging away at a barrel that we saw on a tour of a brandy distillery - yeah we know, it was a tough holiday...

Anyway, we do have a few pics to share...

One good thing about Africa, there's always awesome stuff to look at out the window of the plane...


straight off the plane and into the nearest cafe...




(l-r) John, Rob, Rachel, George, Sarah, Maslina

enjoying a couple of "man cans" on the balcony

Cooking lamb on the braai

We went for a drive down to Cape Point to have a look at the National park. Unfortunately there was a strange thick fog that covered the mountains. Only in the hills though, then it would disappear. Made for great effect as it swept over the hills and then disappeared in the ocean below.




made for interesting driving

and you couldn't see much at the light house at the Cape...

On the way back we stopped at Simonstown where the local penguins have integrated themselves into the locals lives. Everyday, they come home from a day at sea and just wander across the beaches through peoples games of beach cricket!! Apparently they like shiny things and will sometimes nick off with your wallet...



Sunset over Hout Bay

A cool building in Capetown that warranted a photo (can't remember what they sell though..)

A few quite ones down by the waterfront. Seriously this place could be Sydney - very darling harbour

One day we headed out to Stellenbosch to sample the local vino. Very good stuff. Why we were tasting Brandy at 10:00 in the morning is anyone's guess..

The cable car up to the top of table mountain which overlooks Capetown. Some smart idiot thought that it would be a great idea to make the gondola floor spin around as you go up. Great in principle so that you can see the whole view, not so great when your moving vertically at a great pace and end up feeling like you're inside a washing machine with 30 other people...

Once on top of table mountain, the whole place is dead flat (hence the name i guess) rather strange feeling though - completely different planet to coastal Capetown.

what's a dassie you ask? Well, it's a fat, lazy little fella that kinda looks like a cross between a small wombat and a meer cat with a few other things thrown in for good measure (apparently they're related to elephants - seriously, go figure). Anyway, according to one site these little guys "spend very little time moving around to conserve energy. They also allow their body temperature to drop by up to three degrees centigrade to save metabolic energy. They then spends lots of time basking in the sun to warm up again." lazy little buggers... But, if you feed them after midnight... well, that's a whole other story. Either way, they were too lazy to come out for a photo op, so you'll just have to use your imagination.