Category: 2006 Trip

No, I haven’t started posting any of my pictures yet (it seems to take a long time). My brother Cullen has started posting his – you can take a look at his blog to see some of them from this trip.

I arrived in Cape Town early Monday morning (only about 10 minutes later than anticipated). Everything went very well on the way over (and I actually enjoyed having a lot of time to spare at the Frankfurt airport – after sitting so much on the plane it was great to walk around).

My arrival coincided with the first rainy morning this area had seen in weeks AND coincided with significant power outages. So the roads were slippery and the traffic lights (‘robots’) weren’t working and the 30 minute drive from the airport to the Nine Flowers guest house where my parents and Cullen were staying took more like 3 hours (Cullen was wondering where we had gotten to! Since I arrived before 6 am my parents had let him sleep in).

Jetlag wasn’t too bad, so we spent the day visiting the Cape Town waterfront (known as the ‘V and A’ for Victoria and Alfred). I got to see the clouds cover Table Mountain. We saw
Umoja (a South African dance/music troupe my parents had seen perform in Toronto) do a show for free (to promote their upcoming concerts here).

That first night, my parents took Cullen and me out to Khaya nyama for a dinner of wild game. I ate ostrich (it was really good!) and Cullen had a skewer of assorted vension (I’m not sure what exactly, but I think one of the meats was eland). After the great dinner, we went across the street to Mama Africa (and stayed until close – they had to keep flickering the lights to get us to leave).

Tuesday morning we tried to go up Table Mountain, but the cable car wasn’t running (due to the power shortages). We then tried to take the ferry to Robben Island but tickets for that day were sold out! So we got tickets for Wednesday.

What we ended up doing was driving around the Cape Peninsula to Cape Point (where you can see the currents of the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean meet). The drive took much longer than we expected, but
it was fantastic. We really liked the views along the way (and the penguins we saw on our way back). The baboons we met at Cape Point were also interesting (but more scary than the penguins, I must admit!).

On our way back to Cape Town we stopped and visited with my mom’s aunt and her daughter. Then we had a very late dinner in Cape Town and that was the end of my second day in the country.

Wednesday we did manage to get to Robben Island – the island itself was much larger than we expected it to be, and the experience was very interesting (I’m really glad we managed to see this).

So we didn’t make it up Table Mountain, but we did visit my mom’s cousin who lives directly below Table Mountain (you can literally see it from her back porch and her front door). It’s amazing to see all these places and things my mom has told us about for years! We also stopped in at one of her old schools, and got to see the outside of the house where her grandparents once lived.

Now we’re in Blouberg, just an hour or so outside of Cape Town. This afternoon we head into wine country and then to Churchhaven (to spend the night in an area my mom visited a lot when she was growing up and to visit with her friends that are still there). On Friday we expect to start our road trip along the Garden Route (along the coast, roughly from Port Elizabeth up to Durban).

Arrived in Germany at the Frankfurt airport 1 hour early! Didn´t know
this could happen. Too early to check in for my next flight though –
I´ve been here hours now and the desk doesn´t open for another 20
minutes!

Yesterday I got to visit with Shelley at JFK airport (of all places in
the world for us to meet up! – first time there for both of us).
Shelley bought me a bon voyage dinner and was even able to wave me off
at the gate! We hadn´t seen each other since she moved to NYC.

Better go check on that next flight now…

So I fly out of Ottawa tomorrow! Just a few glitches this past week (having to deal with travel insurance twice and falling on the ice – again!). It will be nice to be away from all this crazy winter weather. I’m not a fan of the cold, but this year Ottawa has just been too icy (it’s not usually like this – I’ll take cold winters over mild yet unpredictable ones). This is as slippery as I remember Kingston being!

I got a huge, surprise bonus – Jancey gave me some South African Rand, so I actually have the proper currency to use when I arrive! This is such a treat – I wasn’t expecting it, and figured that it would be the first thing I would have to get once I stumble off the plane (around 5:30 am South Africa time – 10:30 pm or so our time, so maybe I will be alert…).