Cape Point, Boulder's Beach and Stellenbosch
We’re up early again and today I’m not going to be stubborn and we go out for breakfast. We haven’t walked 100 metres when we see a tiny place with a few tables and chairs outside. The owner quickly brings us the menu and we like what we see: yoghurt, cereal and fresh fruit. Delicious! This is where we are going to have breakfast tomorrow as well.
We drive by bus to Hout Baai, where we are enjoying the scenery before the clock strikes 8. In the bay lies a village where there is no electricity, running water and gas are available as normal. People from the city come to live here with as little commodities as possible for a while. Getting away from everyday life.
It is absolutely necessary that I remain in the shade today, I got a severe sunburn yesterday on the mountain.
We continue our bus ride, the next stop is at the entrance of the “Kaap de Goede Hoop park” where Johan has to buy our tickets. While waiting we see a busload of people who look like they have escaped from a Mad Max movie. Those folks have to be actors of some kind, they can’t dress like this in normal life!
In the park, just before we get off the bus we see some bonte bokken posing for us. At 8.45 am we are at the most south western point of the African continent. On a rock in the sea sit a small colony of birds, but the amount of faeces tells us that they have lived on this rock for some time now. Every once in a while the waves smash into the rock, spraying into the air in a spectacular way.
At Hout Baai I told Johan that I proposed to Trudy yesterday and he was very happy for us. At Cape Point, just before leaving the bus, I tell the rest of our fellow travelers and all of them start congratulating us and wishing us all the best.
In the restaurant at Cape Point we have our “koffietje”, after all 10 am is the time for a cup of coffee.
We can choose now, walk to the lighthouse up on the cliffs (15 to 25 minutes) or go by the purpose built cog-railway. Trudy and I decide to walk, because the weather is fantastic again and we reach the lighthouse in thirteen minutes. The lighthouse that was built in 1860 stands 249 metres above sea level and could be seen from a distance of 67 kilometres, except when (like very often here) it was hazy.
From here we drive to Boulders Beach, where a planking leads us to the large colony of African penguins that lives here. The animals are free to go when they please, but they choose to brood here year after year, in spite of the many tourists that come here every single day. With patience one can take beautiful close-ups of the penguins here, that keep on doing their thing like nobody’s watching them. We see a seagull stealing a penguins egg and gobbling it up like a local delicacy.
From Boulders Beach we drive to a whine estate called Neetlingshof, located just outside Stellenbosch.
After lunch we’re up for a whine tasting. Trudy and I don’t drink alcohol, but since you get a pot where you can spit everything back out again we decide to participate. First we get to taste what the Germans call Federweiser, this whine has not fermented yet, so it is very sweet (I like that). Next is the tour in the estates’ whine cellars and last but not least the actual whine tasting. Five different whines, but none of them as good as the Federweiser.
After leaving the estate we drive to Oom Samie se Winkel, a shop looking like it has been teleported from the past to the present, selling everything someone in the 19th century could possibly need.
We make a tour through beautiful Stellenbosch by bus and then have half an hour to have a look around on our own. Quite some old buildings are still present, the church, the arsenal where the gunpowder (plofstof) used to be stored and the Stellenbosch University. This is the only university in the world where Afrikaans is the language in which the matter is taught.
The half hour in Stellenbosch is over quickly and then we have to go back to Cape Town again. During the ride, Johan gives every one of us a present: A whine glass from the Neetlingshof estate.
This evening our party eats together for the last time.
Our espetada tastes great, service however is slow.
We hit the sack not too late, tomorrow is our last day and we want to be fit when we go to Robben Island.
