Radiac's South African Adventure, Part 10
African Adventure Parts: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13
Day Eleven - Monday 25th October
Being our last day in Cape Town, we wanted to see the view from the top of Table Mountain. And as it's only 1073m, we thought we might as well climb it. So we went to the Waterfront for supplies in case we got lost or stuck (water and chocolate), and headed for the cableway station at the bottom. Unfortunately, on our way over we noticed that the tablecloth was on (there were clouds pouring off the top) which wasn't a good sign, and sure enough when we got there, they said the mountain was far too windy for the cable car. I managed to persuade Paul that climbing a mountain in the middle of a cloud might be just a little dangerous, and that even if we survived to the top, it would be a little pointless since we wouldn't be able to see anything, so we decided to wait for the afternoon.
We passed a couple of hours by going back over to the Waterfront again, this time for a drink and a last wander around. We saw that the clouds had lifted, and rang the cableway station again, who said that they were now open. Result! But when we got there, they said that they advised against walking, on account of how incredibly windy it was. Never mind - we got the cable car instead. We wandered around on the top for a few hours, and I spent that time taking lots of photos and generally standing as far away from the edge as possible. What can I say, I'm a wuss.
After coming down the mountain, we went around the corner to the last of the famous bits of Cape Town - Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, situated in approximately 2,000 acres of land at the bottom of Table Mountain, and home to almost half the 22,000 South African plant species. But in the visitors centre, I found it was home to more than just plants - I found an i-point! But there was no information on spousal abuse to print out, and there wasn't even any e-mail facility. Bitterly disappointed, we went into the gardens themselves.
Growing up with two keen gardeners, I have been dragged around a fair number of gardens as a child and have therefore seen some of the best in England, but I was impressed with the scale of Kirstenbosch and variety in the plants they had, not to mention the backdrop of the mountain we had just been up. Not really a gardener myself, I was mostly just impressed by all the pretty colours, and I rather liked The Dell because there was a river and a pond, where I saw a frog swimming, which I'd never seen before. At one point we got extremely lost, but I figured out how to make the electronic guide we had been given speak in German, so we wandered around for a bit listening to someone explain the plants we were looking at in a language that neither of us understood, which I found far too amusing. I'm sure if I had been an avid gardener I would have loved exploring the different varieties of palm-like plants, but they all looked the same to me so I can't help but feel that the experience was a little wasted on me, but I enjoyed it nonetheless and I reckon that's really what gardens should be about.
Day Twelve: Tuesday 26th October
Today we have said goodbye to Cape Town, and are sitting in the airport waiting for our plane to land and be sorted out ready for us to board. I've found some wifi! I have bought internet access for an hour, and have mostly been talking to people on MSN, something I couldn't do at St Stitians. I have put a temporary entry up with the photo of me on top of Table Mountain to show everyone I'm still alive, but this one will replace it when I have longer to put up all the older entries!
Comments
I assume that if you're at the airport then you're coming home. Of course, if this is actually the case, you probably won't see this until you get here anyway, at which point it'll be obvious as to whether you're on your way home or not.
Hmm, actually he's not on his way home, he was on his way back to Johannesburg (not sure if i spelt that right?), and he will be flying back tomorrow, via Dubai, no that's not actually a joke!
woo yay, a b3ta t-shirt!
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