Cape Town and the Coast

Well here are some pictures that we promised. It is really hard to choose twenty pictures from about 700 but we did and here they are. We were able to go on a road trip from Feb.22 to March 4. We travelled from Jo'burg to Cape Town and then up the Indian Ocean coast. Over all we travelled 3600 km and saw a lot of this country, everything from scorching 38 degree weather in the Karoo (a certain area of S.A) to dipping our toes in the freezing Atlantic Ocean. We had lots of fun and if called back, would make sure that we would stay along the coast somewhere. We met a lot of nice people and made some new friends along the way. We hope that you enjoy these pictures and are able to get a better idea of what South Africa looks like.



This is what the middle of South Africa looks like. A whole lot of nothing and very brown. This was taken near the town Three Sister's.
Our first night in Cape Town our hosts, Kate and Kyle, took us down to the beach for a beach supper which was really cool. We had a great time getting to know them and had lots of fun with them.
At the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town we saw this sign. If anyone is wondering a rough estimation of how far away we are, this will give you the best idea.
This is the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens in Cape Town. It is very close to Table Mountain and we stopped here on our way to Cape Point. We had a lovely time but next time would go earlier in the year cause most of the flowers had already bloomed and were dying (we are coming into winter here).
This was also in the gardens. We had walked down into this lush, green path way with a stream from an underground spring flowing through the middle of it. It was nice and cool, a great hide a way from the heat of the day.
This is a picture from Chapman's Peak on the back side of Cape Town. We had supper here the night before with Kyle and Kate at a ocean side restaurant. We are on our way to Cape Point and are taking the scenic route.

On the way back, we were told to stop off and see the South African Penguins so we did. These guys were so cute and were amazing to see up close. They are on the Indian Ocean side where the water is much warmer.We never knew that the Atlantic Ocean could be so beautiful. We are at Cape Point looking North West to where home is.....somewhere. The salty ocean air was very refreshing after being in the car for several hours.
The next day Jen and I went back to the Indian Ocean side to look at the old houses that were right along the ocean. We walked down by the beach and took some shots of the waves hitting the rocks.
Looks just like home doesn't it? This was taken near Stellenbosch where there are lots of vineyards and orchards. We were unable to get a tour of a vineyard but enjoyed looking at them from the distance.

We decided to visit Butterfly World while we were out of town. It was nice but kind of weird cause they are everywhere, taking swoops at heads and what not. It was worth the twenty eight rand though and you could also see spiders, iguanas, birds, and monkeys. We left the spiders alone and saw one snake which was enough.

This a scenic shot from the car on our way to Port Elizabeth. It was very beautiful there, it felt like you were near the Shuswaps in B.C.

This was on our drive to/from the furthest point in Africa. It was pretty cool shot. There was more farm land here which was nice to see. They grow a lot of corn(mealies) here.

This is where the Indian and the Atlantic meet, the furthest South you can go on the continent. Thanks to the local rocks we were able to get both of us in the shotThis is the steam train that took us on our ride from George to almost Mossel Bay. This is one of the highlights of the trip for us. No one told us about the the amount of soot that gets in your eyes but we had a great time!

This is a cool shot of the train working to get up the hill. Now you see why you get soot in your eyes.

This was at the Garden of Eden, a 1 km walk just off the road. The signs at the start showed to beware of leopards and elephants. Unfortunately we didn't see any leopards (I really wanted to see one) and the elephants were in contained in a farm further down the road. This baby elephant was born early January and is still very shy. Mother is still very protective of this young one but we managed to snap a few pictures of it. It is crazy to think that this little one will someday weight over 3 tons!
The other larger elephants have been trained to be around people and you are allowed to touch, feed and take pictures with them. Jen was a bit skiddish at first but got comfortable with going near them. They have trained the elephants to come in at night so that they don't rampage on the neighbouring farms (the farmers don't like that here).

This is my favourite picture. We saw this on our way home at the gas station. They could have been looking for "gas" for the horse. It looks it could use it. We laughed when we saw it.