Ostriches rock!

I made it!  The morning we were set to leave Cape Town I woke up and looked down on the street to see if our car arrived.  I then looked up and there it was – Table Mountain in all the beautiful glory of no cloud cover!  I urged my companions to take a trip up there first thing, so we packed up and drove to the cable car and made our way up there.  The views were spectacular so I am so glad I made it up before I left CT.

From there we started the drive down to Cape Point, stopping to check out the penguin colony along the way.  The drive was amazing, all along the coast and on winding roads.  I wasn’t driving yet.

I’ve been nervous about it as we have a stick and I’m not used to driving on the left side either.  Ash lives in Australia, has for about a year, so he’s a pro.  Anyway, after checking out the penguins, we kept on the way to the point.  We noticed some baboons along the road and when we rounded the corner, there were cars parked with baboons hanging on the roofs!  We had to pull in there and sat and watched them play.  Then we thought it a good idea to get out of the car.  Well, a real big one jumped on the roof of the car next to us and we took pictures.  He noticed Ash standing outside the car door and started heading for him so we all jumped in the car.  Ash shut the door thinking that was the end of that, but the baboon opened his car door!  Ah.   It was so fun watching them.  We tore ourselves from that entertainment to try to get to the point. 

One thing I’ve wanted to do here is see where the Atlantic and Indian oceans meet on Cape Point. I heard that you can see the different colors.  However, the cost to get to the point was pretty high, so we drove as far as the park reserve and then turned back to get dinner in Simons Town.  Later we learned from a local that is really a myth and you are not seeing the two oceans meet, just a difference in currents in the Atlantic.  

After dinner we decided it was good enough to head to Stellenbosch for the night so we could get up and hit a winery the next day.  The drive there again was stunning, all along the coast, but we passed some remnants of the Apartheid.

  I saw a shanty town that made me just shocked really.  It was so vast, huge, acres and acres, as far as the eye could see!  I couldn’t believe it.  It was set amid some beautiful landscape, but the small tin shacks were just piled together.  It was a small city.  A not so small reminder of the way things were here, and well, there is still a lot of ground to cover.

We hit Stellenbosch and immediately saw the rolling hills of vineyards.  Just beautiful.  We stayed at the Stumble Inn, but actually had an early night for once, waking to grab some food and then hit up one winery.  We picked up a case of Shiraz for something less than 20 bucks and made our way to Wilderness on the Garden Route.

  It was quite a long drive, so by the time we got there it was later in the day.  We found this hostel set in the woods.  I was so excited, but we found out they were booked.  We were going to leave but Ash quickly made friends with a group who had extra tents, so we camped for the night.  It was so fun.  There was a group of Isrealis who’ve lived in SA for a year or so and this local guy from Cape Town who works on the Survivor South Africa.  They were loads of fun!

In the morning we jumped in the car to hit up Oudtshoorn, the ostrich capital, intent on riding an Ostrich.  Again, the drive was amazing, through the mountains on winding roads.  South Africa is just breathtaking, really.

  I’ve been a lot of places now and the drives along the coast have been right up there with some of the best.  We hit town and first stopped for lunch of Ostrich. It was really tasty actually.  Then we hit up the Cango Ostrich farm where for a mere 50 Rand ($7) we got a great tour and talk about Ostriches, and then, the best part, I got to ride one!  No one would go first, so I volunteered to just see how this worked. It was the oddest and most hilarious thing ever.  Ostriches are not the smartest animals.  You cover their head and they think if they can’t see you, you can’t see them.  So they put them in this corral and you get on, hug their body with your legs under their wings and hold onto the wings.  They take off the hood and off you go. I thought they’d just let me go but we had two ostrich wranglers who held on to the ostrich, so I managed to stay on for the minute and a half ride. I laughed so much, but was shaking afterward.  They didn’t hold onto the ostrich for Ash, being a guy and all, so he had about a 5 second ride.  So much fun.  Then we got ostrich back rubs. You hold a bucket of feed and back up to the fence where they are and they lean over you to eat the feed, their necks hitting your shoulders and their heads in your face.  Good stuff.  After all that fun we made our way back to Wilderness to hang at the hostel, this time getting dorms in an old farmhouse converted into a hostel.  I love this place.  We’re having so much fun.  Renting a car is the way to go here.  We plan to continue on the Garden Route and soon enough bungee jumping time!  I’m already nervous.