Table mountain

Saturday 4 May
We at last have Internet so now is catch up time. Today we went up Table Mountain, ,something I did 45 years ago. Fiona &Stewart took us up on a fair weather day as the weather was all over the place. We drove up to the cable car which is now a big flash one that goes around so every one gets to see the view. I had forgotten just how spectacular Table mountain is, it is only just over 1000 meters up but much more impressive than larger mountains. The sheer ruggedness and sheer walls have to be seen to be appreciated. When we got to the bottom of the cable car ready to start going up I realized I had come out with a flat camera and could take no photos!!!!! Fortunately though Fiona had her camera with her and took a lot of photos which we have copied, so we have a good record of our visit. The weather turned out to be almost perfect with a mixture of sunshine and swirling clouds. I am so glad we got to do this trip as the terrain around Table Mountain and on towards Cape of Good Hope really is a sight worth seeing <

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On our way up the mountain


sitting on the table C T behind


photos cannot do justice to this place


another one with us on top of the table

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Cape of Good Hope

Friday 3 May
Today Stewart and Fiona took us on a grand tour showing us the beautiful sights around Cape Town. We set out travelling through a number of townships along the back of Table Mountain until we came to Simonstown, which is where Stewart did his naval training. Here we met up with Just Nuisance, who held the rank of Able Seaman during the Second World War. This would not be unusual other than the fact he was a great dane dog. His story is very similar to Red Dog’s in Australia and there is a statue commemorating his contribution to the war effort. We travelled on through some very spectacular scenery and ended up at Cape Point where we had lunch after having gone up the funicular (a cable car) to the top. Usually there are loads of baboons around here, but today they must have been on strike as we didn’t see any. After a very nice lunch we headed off to the Cape of Good Hope nearby for a photo opportunity. This is the most south western point of Africa. We could see heavy clouds swirling out at sea, but we managed to avoid the rain and it made for rather nice photos but it did turn rather cold. As we came back along the other side of the Cape we saw some ostriches and finally came across a congress of baboons (a mob) eating pine cones alongside the road.
Heading back home we did the Chapmans Peak, Clifton, Bantry Bay, Seapoint drive. This beautiful area is similar to the Great Ocean Road and although we took many photos, they don’t adequately reflect the spectacular scenery, which has to be seen to be really appreciated. We could see Table Mountain in the distance as we approached Cape Town with Signal Hill, where the canon is fired at 12pm every day and Lions Head and then Devils Peak next to Table Mountain. The area around Cape Town makes it perhaps one of the most scenic cities in the world .

Cape of Good Hope where over 600 ships came to grief

One of the locals we were watching out for

Able Seaman Just Nuisance

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More SMS

Dad was so excited he sent me this message 3 times!!!

I’ll only post it once…

Had fantastic trip around Cape of good Hope. Table Mountain still under cloud. Going to Robin Island Sunday. Maybe internet next week Dad

LOL was about to post and got this one…

Took many attemps to send that this is Africa

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Johannesburg to Cape Town

Thursday 2 May
We have just borrowed Fiona’s mini card as there are problems with Wi-Fi so we’ll do a quick update.
Our last day in Johannesburg we went and saw Granny for the last time in the morning and left her in very good spirits with Jill having reminisced over old times and her showing her memory is in good condition. The rest of the day was spent relaxing, packing and organizing the car collection etc.
The next day we left Eagles Nest at 10 am and headed to the airport where we ultimately caught a plane for Cape Town. Fiona and Stewart were there to greet us after an uneventful trip.
Since our arrival there has been much laughter discussing old times with the Govans and Joan and Hugh who live very close by. We have spent a lot of time going through Granny’s albums retrieving family photos to bring home.
Today we did a tour of the Cape Town Waterfront development which was even more interesting because we had Stewart showing us around and he had spent a lot of his naval time here and had a very good knowledge of the place. We had lunch at a very old restaurant near the docks together with Joan which was very nice and tasted the local fish and chips.
We are booked to visit Robben Island on Sunday with Hugh and Joan so we hope the weather will be calm for the ferry ride.

Jill getting attached to a local

lunching with Stewart and Joan

I had a South African beer for lunch

view from Fiona’s lounge of Table Mountain.
As you can see we haven’t seen a lot of it yet

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