So here I go again!!
When I go travelling, I usually do it alone, or I have a few trusted souls who I will go with, because we know each others like and dislikes and that's a big part of travelling the right way for me. There are people who I really love being around, but I would never want to travel with, because I just don't like to get overly fussed about things and some people really do.
For me, if you have the right travel companion, it means that you don't have to do EVERYTHING together - sometimes it is nice just to read a book without the bother of having to actually DO anything. My friend Mel gets that.
After a mammoth 30+ hour commute, I finally made it to Cape Town, South Africa! Thankfully, nothing organised for the first day - just a pot of tea while I wait for Mel to arrive from where she has been a volunteer for the past two weeks - looking after cheetahs and leopards! She arrives and we reconnect immediately - even after 4 years or more without seeing each other! That's the great thing about good friends - it doesn't matter how much time passes, you always know you will have a great time together! Today, I don't really make sense to anyone- I am almost coma like - not sure what day it is or what time zone I should be responding to?? Got to love jet lag! If I go through Dubai airport one more time, I may have to buy a house there... enough already.
Tonight we eat a traditional South African dinner braai - basically it's cooked meat on sticks so we taste springbok, ostrich, lamb and kudu! We have the most amazing hotel to call home for a few days - the Table bay hotel!! Once you stay here, you can never stay in any other hotel - just amazing! They have a pianist playing music while you eat breakfast! The weather is not as welcoming as the people and the hotel, so we have to make adjustments to our schedule as the rain and wind have cancelled our shark diving experience the next day! Swapping things at the last minute, we rearrange and plan to visit the penguin colonies and wineries in Stellenbosch area tomorrow!
The Penguins were at Boulders Beach and we had a nice drive through the area to check out the homes and coast line! What amazing homes there are here! Penguins are cute, but the weather on this side of the city is horrible so we head back and get ready to visit wineries for the rest of the day!
If you have not been to Cape town - get planning and go there soon - it's a beautiful city, great restaurants and friendly people, and wine to die for!! We get hammered after our fourth winery visit, and retire for the day - ready to go shark diving tomorrow!
Shark diving has always been on my bucket list - but never on Mel's. She is happy to come along and document my stupidity ha-ha The weather is much better but still not great and so only our boat is brave enough to head out! The swell is massive and we feel like we are George Clooney in his perfect storm movie! At one stage we did think we were going to roll over in shark infested waters.... But Captain Stubing saved the day and we made it to shark alley and ready to get into the water - which is a brisk 15c
Firstly, let me just say that no one looks good in a wetsuit!! Double that when you need a large one and a few ship mates to push and pull it on for you... By this stage all dignity is lost and I am not even concerned that I may intact be the 5th Telly tubby member - especially after they chuck another 20kgs onto you in a weight belt!! Like I really need that ha-ha
Once you are in the water though, it gets very real, very quickly, and the sharks are encouraged to come over and say hi - by way of a rotting tuna head and chum in the water! They at first seem quite placid, and do a couple of drive byes before deciding that they might actually like to try and sample the 8 humans in the cage!! Seeing that face coming at you underwater is amazing, terrifying and epic and totally worth the humility of being in a wetsuit in such cold weather!! So glad we did this and have some great videos and pictures to look back on!! Getting the wet suit off was just as fun as trying to get it on, and I required the assistance of a very obliging deckhand to get me out of it!! Poor guy!
Next stop Namibia - and camping.... Going to be a big drop in the quality of our accommodations and not entirely sure we will cope with the reality check of pitching tents and being dirty....Mel didn't tell me about this part..
Here I go again!
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