Plettenberg Bay & Oudtshoorn (part 1)

Cape Agulhas

We were up bright and early on the morning of Monday the first of August... and when I say bright and early I mean it! We were on the road by 7am, which is early when you are on vacation, headed for our first destination of the day: Cape Agulhas.

Cape Agulhas is the southernmost tip of the continent of Africa and the exact spot where the Indian Ocean meets the Atlantic Ocean. It's a fairly cool place to be able to say you have been too! It's also pretty much the only thing that is happening in Cape Agulhas... on our way in we saw quite a few houses, some guest houses, a petrol station, a police station and what may or may not have been a pub... that was pretty much it! A very quiet spot which is perhaps due to the massive storms that rage around the coast and can produce waves of up to 30 meters high. It is an area which is notorious for ship wrecks and due to the conditions is not necessarily the ideal place to settle!

It is, however, beautiful. The light house that stands high above the tide is a stunning landmark against the brutal looking cliffs that edge the water. The Cape Agulhas lighthouse was the third light house to be built in South Africa, completed in 1848, and it is the second oldest which is still in operation. More information on the Cape Agulhas lighthouse can be found here.

We arrived nice and early which meant that we were the only people there and we mucked around taking a few photo's before taking a moment to soak up where we were and find a way to mesh our location on a map with what we were actually seeing. Both of us were thinking the same thing though we didn't talk about it till we were back in the car. What would it have been like hundreds of years ago when the dutch first arrived to have sailed around that point? What must they have thought of the land and coastline they were seeing?

*****

Plettenberg Bay

We reached our accommodation in Plettenberg Bay in the early evening and after checking in, checking out our suite and bbq area, we jumped back in the car and drove into town to pick up a few things at the supermarket and grab dinner. We were originally planning on having a braai at the acommodation but we were both so tired that we opted for Spurs instead - a local restaurant chain specializing in burgers and steaks - and ate until we could barely move!

Up bright and early again the next morning we went to visit Monkeyland. We had hoped to be able to touch the monkeys (we heard stories....) but it was set up as a sanctuary to dehumanize the monkeys and make them wild again so we understood when they said we couldn't. We paid for our tour (guided tours only) and sat down to wait. When it became clear that our tour was going to include some (4) particularly obnoxious and loud children we returned to the front desk and politely asked if we could wait till the next tour. Thankfully they said it wasn't a problem so we ordered a cappuccino and waited for the next one...as it turned out we were the only people on the next tour so we had a guide to ourselves... perfect!

I was a little fascinated by the guide. He started out the tour by reeling off these huge portions of information in such a way that you knew he had memorised a script and given the same speech a dozen times a day for years. By the time we had gone a little way in, we started asking questions because that's who we are, he started to relax a lot.

He was a mine of information having worked at the place for 4 years and he was actually really funny. The tour was supposed to take an hour and an hour and a half later we were back at the front gate having seen and taken pictures of some of the cutest monkeys. Many of the monkey's there had originally been pet monkeys. People find them really helpful pets for the first 5 years but once they mature they become like all other monkeys marking their territory and so on. Apparently most people don't like the smell of monkey pee in their bedroom...It begs the question though, if you are going to get a monkey as a pet, why wouldn't you do some research about that sort of thing?

We wandered back to the car and decided to check out a

place called Tenikwa, which was a wild cat sanctuary right around the corner from Monkeyland, we hadn't seen any brochures for it so we had no idea what it would be like but as it was only a 5 minute drive we figured it was worth a look. We were glad we had chosen it in the end as we were lucky enough to fill a spot on their daily walk with the baby cheetahs.

We began with a tour of the sanctuary, looking at the various big cats, from the African wild cat to the Rooi cat and the Leopard. The Leopard being the one cage you are not allowed to go inside. We hadn't yet finished the tour when we were collected by our guide and taken for a brief safety video. There are a number of rules when you walk with a cheetah. The first thing to remember is that the Cheetah is actually walking you and not the other way around. You are warned not to look into the eyes of the cheetah as that is a challenge and they will feel the need to dominate / fight you. You may not pull on the leash but rather if the

Cheetah starts to run you must run as well. You are not to crouch down in front of the cheetah as they will either view you as a new game or as lunch. After the guide was certain that we were clear on the rules we were escorted back to the baby Cheetah's cage and handed a leash.

We walked them through the forest for almost 2 hours, even though the brochure said the tour was only 1 hour, it was only a small group of us and we were all pretty good at doing what we were told! We took turns walking the Cheetah and taking loads of pictures and video footage of the experience. It was amazing.

We started out so nervous but by the end of the time we were feeling a lot more confident about handling these gorgeous cats. They were so cute and fluffy. The thing we were most surprised about was the way the traveled. They would run for a few seconds, or walk for a minute, and then flop on the ground for double the time. The guide said it was because it was an unusually hot winter and the heat really tired them out. When we finally said goodbye to the babies, Zeus and Gabriel, we stopped in quickly with the grown up Cheetah's.

My first thought was that I was really happy we had been walking with the babies.... they were so much less intimidating than these massive beasts in front of us! The Cheetah politely stretched out for us so that we could stroke her and snap a few quick pics with the guide assuring us that as long as we followed the rules she wouldn't attack. I was just concerned about the odds... 1 giant female Cheetah lying down, 1 even larger male Cheetah wandering around behind us. If those Cheetah's wanted us for lunch we were, quite literally, toast.

Finally we were escorted back to the main building where they provided us with an ice-cold drink and a plate of nibbley foods, which we were so grateful for after our two-three hour experience, especially since we had forgotten to eat lunch! More information on the Tenikwa Awareness Centre can be found here.

Then we were home for a braai and then a grateful flop into bed for a good nights sleep before another busy day!

*****

Oudtshoorn

We were up bright and early (again.) to head to Oudtshoorn which was a few hours away from where we were staying. There was a lot there we wanted to do and this was the only chance we were going to have to do it so we wanted to make the most of the day. We were going quite nicely until we hit a detour that took us onto a dirt road for around 100km. It was horrible. It seemed that most of the people flying past us were driving 4WD's - they managed to ford the river quite nicely too - and the stones flying up at us did eventually crack the windscreen.

By the time we got to Oudtshoorn the car was filthy. Positively caked in mud. We drove straight to our first point of interest, the Cango Caves, and the car guard took one look at the car and offered to wash it for us!

To go into the Cango Caves you also have to go on a guided tour. The Cango Caves are a series of limestone caves that were first discovered in 1780 by a local farmer named Jacobus Van Zyl, who I personally think must have been a complete lunatic to climb down into the belly of those caves with nothing but a candle light. Especially since the first chamber he went into was roughly the size of a football field - candle light just doesn't spread that far! For a time the Cango Caves were used to hold concerts, the incredible acoustics and the ability to seat around 2000 people made it the perfect location, but due to the damage done to the caves by visitors these concerts were stopped. More information on the Cango Caves can be found here.

For our trip we were lucky enough to be given an English speaking guide who was absolutely hilarious... called me "Miss Australia" for the entire trip. The Cango Caves are incredible so we spent half our time marveling at the sheer size and beauty of it all and the other half laughing at the antics of our guide!

The next stop was the Cango Ostrich Farm which was interesting. Again this was guided tour only and to be honest it was pretty expensive for what it was. First we were led through the incubation rooms and then out to meet face to face with some Ostrich where we learned that the brain of an Ostrich is roughly the same size as a teaspoon, in fact their eye is bigger than their brain, so they are huge AND stupid...not a good combination in my books! From that point everything really felt like a photo opportunity and it all happened pretty fast. We were allowed to sit on, or ride if you didn't weigh too much, an Ostrich - unfortunately Karel was just over the weight limit (apparently you have to be a lot on the skinny side) and I have a slight paranoia about giant birds so we opted to sit only rather than ride. Then they demonstrated how strong an Ostrich egg is by having us stand on a pile of them... I swear I heard a crack!

We took a break for lunch in the Oudtshoorn township where we enjoyed some delicious calamari and a feta and avocado pizza...yum....

Onward! Click here for part 2

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Cape Town via Hermanus to Franskraal

We were off again... Cape town to Hermanus, where we had thought to go whale watching but the weather was frightening so we opted out, and then on to Franskraal where my friends dad lives. The first thing we did was go down to the shops to get a few nibblies and pick out the meat we wanted for the evening's braai (bbq), closely followed by lighting a fire, it was absolutely freezing! ...and then finding the hot water bottles at the super-market!

We spent the next few days with my friends family, popping down to do some whale watching, eating some of the best lemon meringue pie I have ever eaten in my life, and doing a little proper vacation relaxing!

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Day Two and Three in Cape Town

We were up bright and early the next morning on our way to Table Mountain, partly because there was so much we wanted to do and see, partly because we were still pretty much on Korean time so 4 am in Cape Town was already a sleep in. We made our way up to the car park and hopped out of the car talking about how fantastic it was that it was so quiet and clearly holidaying ing the winter was smart because there was less of an issue with crowds…only to discover that the reason it was dead quiet probably had more to do with the fact that the cable car that goes to the top of the mountain was down for maintenance until August and it was the 26^th of July.

We knew we still had a few days in which we could come back to see it in August,

before we left for Dubai, so we decided not to let it get us down and took a stack of pictures from the car-park (which is still a spectacular view) and jumped back in the car to go and find breakfast.

We stopped in Camps Bay, one of the most beautiful beaches, and had a delicious breakfast of bacon and eggs, smoked salmon, and croissants… me coming close to a heart attack when my friend worked out that even though it was the most expensive breakfast on the menu it still worked out to about $3 Australian. I felt a whole lot less guilty about ordering food that looked expensive after that! We went for a little wander on the beach after breakfast.

Then it was back in the car headed for Hout Bay. Wow. Hout Bay is stunning! When people talk about picturesque places Hout Bay is the kind of place you would imagine. The colours were spectacular and the scenery… It was also a beautiful sunny day and we had a clear blue sky which just added t it all. We pulled off into a carpark and wandered over to buy a ticket to go out on a boat and see Seal Island. The boat was due to leave in about 10 minutes which gave us time to wander around and look at the handcrafts that the locals were selling – some of which was really amazing. I was particularly fascinated by the hand-painted Ostrich eggshells.

Some of them were unbelievably detailed and quite beautiful…if we didn’t live in a shoebox on the other side of the world I would have considered buying just because they were so different. Alas, transportation difficulties, and not having anywhere to display it meant that it was really not an option.

The trip out to Seal Island and back took about 45 minutes and the view was even more stunning than the view driving into the bay. The seals definitely have some prime real estate! Needless to say I took loads of photos!

Next it was “World of Birds” which is a bird sanctuary…they have everything there from Australian kookaburra’s, to South American parrots, to local African birds…and then a really cute collection of tiny monkeys. We spent ages wandering around looking at the different birds, the owls and birds of prey were the most impressive, though some of the colours of the other birds were absolutely gorgeous!

*****

The next morning was a tad more leisurely, we decided to meet up with a friend of ours from Korea, Jaco, at Cape Town’s casino. First of all… wow. The casino is gorgeous! You have to go through a gatehouse to get there and it is a really beautiful building! Definitely not what I had been expecting, I have been to loads of casinos in Australia, New Zealand and even Macau in China and I have never seen such a pretty casino!

We caught up with Jaco and went bowling. The boys didn’t believe me when I said I was terrible at bowling until after I had started playing…then they believed me. Saying I am terrible is an understatement. Then we mucked around in a game arcade where we busied ourselves scoring tickets to win stuff we didn’t need…but we had a great laugh doing it! After all the excitement we went in search of a drink…which was a little harder than I thought it should have been in a casino… the sports bar didn’t appear to be open and the other bar was closed for a photo-shoot with some girls dressed up in can-can gear. We resorted to buying a drink at one of the little standing bars around the edge of the gaming area and then taking it into the sports bar to sit down. We sat there for quite a while and eventually it did open!

When we started to get hungry we took Jaco up on his offer of dinner and followed him out to his parents place for a braai (bbq)…they were so hospitable and his Dad is an absolute crack up…insisted that we both add him on facebook…which we must remember to do. The food was amazing and the company superb –thanks Jaco!

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Arrival and Day One in Cape Town

Arrival

Even getting out of Korea takes some effort! We had our bags packed and made a last minute call to the Seoul Helpline to find out what time the airport buses left from our area, we had originally planned to take a taxi to Suwon and get the airport bus from there, at the last minute we decided it might just be easier to go from Byeongjeom. We dragged our bags down to the bus stop, calling in for a quick iced coffee to get out of the heat, and then jumped onto the bus headed for the airport. The bus takes between an hour and a half and three hours depending on traffic conditions (yes, it varies that much, traffic close to Seoul is crazy!) and for our trip it was closer to the three hour mark as it was peak hour traffic on a Friday. When we finally got to the airport we checked in right away and then headed off to find something to eat. We had been forewarned that most things at the airport closed at around 10pm and our flight was due to depart at 11:55. Fortunately for us one of the bonuses with my friend's Samsung credit card is that we get free access to the Korean Airways Business lounge…. Aaaahhhh…. What a way to start the trip! They had a selection of foods, from cheese platters, to soups, and all manner of salads as well as a fancy coffee machine, selection of wines, and fruit juices and soft drinks. We curled up in the big leather chairs with coffee’s and made a few phone calls before I picked up my book and. Before long it was time to head to our departure gate to get onto the first leg of our flight from Seoul to Dubai.

We were both glad to have made the decision to fly emirates, though the flight still felt horribly long, and the flight was fully booked so there wasn’t much room to spread out. We made it through the 9 and a half hour journey, with very little sleep, and arrived at around 5am in Dubai where we had about a four hour break before our next flight. We wandered around, stopping for coffee, McDonalds (which made me realize just how bad the McDonalds in Korea really is) and to have a look in the bookshop before we gave in to our tiredness and curled up on one of the airport chairs to wait. Now that I write this it seems like we weren’t really waiting a long time before we boarded the next flight… but then it’s funny how your memory does that… fooling you into believing that the next time you do the flight it won’t be that bad! The next leg of the flight was just as long… and possibly harder to sleep through because of the ill disciplined child a few seats back from us (making us question whether we really wanted to have children…or how some people were allowed to have children) and also because I knew that South Africa was at the other end. It’s kind of a surreal feeling to realize that you are about to land in a place you have wanted to go to for most of your life.

Off the plane we grabbed our bags and went to collect our hire car. Then we were off again heading for Worcester with my friend driving us in our little Kia Picanto. My mouth dropped open as we drove away from the airport and I had my first glimpse of the shacks, little lean to sheds of stacked up sheets of metal, plastic or wood (depending on what they can find) that people actually live in. I was told later that we accidentally took a wrong turn and went through a Gangsters paradise - rather one of the worst areas in Cape Town. I had no idea… I, like most people outside of South Africa, had been told numerous stories of people being robbed, hijacked, and killed, and so a part of me kind of thought that perhaps this is what most of South Africa looked like. Only a part because if I am completely honest I also expected to see sprawling mansions and wild animals roaming the streets… yes I know I am naïve.

We made it to our accommodation in Worcester where we both showered and then collapsed into bed grateful to be lying flat after what seemed like the longest flight ever… we were travelling for 36 hours in total if you include the bus to the airport and the drive to the accommodation… we just kept thinking about how glad we were that we booked a stop-over in Dubai for the trip home!

We were up bright and early the next morning thanks to a healthy dose of jet lag so we got up and organized and by 7am we were on the road being tourists in Worcester…which admittedly is not very big… but the buildings are gorgeous. We took turns driving around which was fun because I have really missed driving!

When everything finally started to open we called into a restaurant called Wimpy, which is part of a chain, and had a massive breakfast of bacon and eggs with all the trimmings! Then that afternoon I was treated to my first real braai in South Africa…yum!

Day One in Cape Town.

We drove into Cape Town early on the Monday morning. It was raining when we left but by the time we were a little way out of Worcester it had stopped and the most beautiful rainbow had come out as if to welcome us… at least in my mind it was there to welcome me! I spent most of the trip in peering into the mountains in search of baboons… I had been promised that they liked to sit on the roads along the way...

We found our accommodation in Sea Point (near the waterfront) as quickly as we could, dropped off our bags, and then went down to the waterfront for something to eat. We sat in the window of a restaurant where we could see the whole waterfront and Table Mountain and had the biggest plate / dish of calamari and prawns I had seen in a long time. (I am including a picture here purely to make the mouths of my friends here in Korea water… this food is nearly impossible to get here!) Somehow I found the will-power to finish almost every morsel and then we wandered around the waterfront feeling like we were going to pop! We tried to book tickets to go and see Robben Island but discovered that all the tickets that day had sold out and the next available trip was 2pm the next day… we decided not to book for the next day because we weren’t sure where we were going to be.

We wandered around for a while doing a bit of window shopping and then wandered into the Aquarium to take a look. It was fantastic! Everything was cleverly lit and well displayed so that you could see it well and it was visually stunning. The jellyfish display stands out as being one of the most clever… I took a picture without flash and it almost looks like they are floating in mid-air. On the other side of the “world of frogs” exhibit there is a special room set up for the penguins, there are two groups, one that stays in that area all the time. The security guard, who was incredibly friendly, told us that we were just in time and if he wandered back downstairs to the outdoor penguin exhibit they were going to walk them up to their night-time spot in about 10 minutes. It was hilarious. This maintenance man kept going in and out of their outdoor enclosure and every time he opened the gate they would line up in front of the door to be let out. They knew what the time was and were eager to get to their indoor houses! Finally the lady they were waiting for opened the door and they all trotted inside obediently, making their way through the aquarium, with all the people in their standing on each side of the path as they waddled along!

After the aquarium we jumped in the car and drove to Canal Walk shopping centre for a little shopping… we had realized after a day or two that the clothing we had taken with us was sadly inadequate for this particularly cold South African winter. My thought when packing was “it’s Africa…how cold can it be?” My friend was clearly mistaken as well so I don’t have to feel like a complete moron of a tourist! We got a nice warm “K-way” jacket for me… some new Springboks jersey’s for each of us, and I found some gorgeous black boots (guys you may tune out for the rest of this paragraph because I am talking about shoes…lol) that were so inexpensive! I like shoe shopping in South Africa…so far it’s the only place in the world that makes me feel like I have small feet! In SA I am a size 6…wow. Sounds small! Also in the boots I bought the size 6 was the smallest they had…leading me to believe that the boots were either meant for me or that South African women have freakishly large feet!

After our “short” shopping expedition had turned into hours of pacing the mall we decided we were completely exhausted and it was time to return to the accommodation and see what our room for the next few days looked like. We certainly weren’t disappointed – the suite was lovely – full kitchen, separate bedroom…and the bathroom had a bath! (I am excited about the bath because you don’t see one very often in Korea.) On our way in we had also been invited to a wine and cheese evening that was being hosted downstairs and so in the spirit of not wanting to miss out on a single moment of our holiday we went down to check it out.

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Next: Day Two and Three in Cape Town

Cape Town Holiday Itinerary & Links

Date	Location	Link
Friday 22nd July	Leave South Korea	Arrival and Day 1 in Cape Town
Saturday 23rd July	Arrive South Africa. Cape Town - Worcester
Sunday 24th July	Worcester
Monday 25th July	Worcester - Cape Town
Tuesday 26th July	Cape Town	Day Two and Three in Cape Town
Wednesday 27th July	Cape Town
Thursday 28th July	Cape Town - Franskraal	Cape Town via Hermanus to Franskraal
Friday 29th July	Franskraal
Saturday 30th July	Franskraal
Sunday 31st July	Franskraal
Monday 1st August	Franskraal – Plettenberg Bay (via Cape Agulhas)	Plettenberg Bay & Oudtshoorn (Part 1) & Plettenberg Bay & Oudtshoorn (Part 2)
Tuesday 2nd August	Plettenberg Bay
Wednesday 3rd August	Plettenberg Bay (Oudtshoorn)
Thursday 4th August	Plettenberg Bay
Friday 5th August	Plettenberg Bay – Sanbona	Sanbona Safari
Saturday 6th August	Sanbona
Sunday 7th August	Sanbona - Worcester	Worcester & our last day in Cape Town
Monday 8th August	Worcester
Tuesday 9th August	Worcester
Wednesday 10th August	Worcester – Cape Town
Thursday 11th August	Depart Cape Town – Arrive Dubai	Dubai & Business Class on the A380
Friday 12th August	Dubai
Saturday 13th August	Dubai
Sunday 14th August	Depart Dubai – Arrive South Korea

We're off to South Africa! Cape Town here we come!

It's finally here! We have been counting down for at least the last 18 weeks and finally the day has arrived! I am finishing off my last day of Summer English Camp this morning and at mid-day I am officially on my way home to finish the packing process before we head off to the airport!

We are going half way across the world! Our first flight, approximately 11 hours, takes us from Seoul to Dubai where we have a four hour wait, followed by another 11 hour flight from Dubai to Cape Town. It's a loooooong way but I can say happily we are travelling with Emirates rather than South African Airlines so it should be a more pleasant experience!

The flight departs at 11:55pm so with buses etc we will be leaving our apartment much earlier than that....and we found out a while ago that my old co-teacher is on a flight that departs 5 minutes before ours so we will meet up with her for a coffee at the airport!

All that's left now is to finish today's classes....Today my students are working on their "Photo scavenger hunt" which is a brilliant ploy to get the students out of the classroom for a few hours! I have varied the list slightly from the one I ran over winter camp but the general idea is the same... I have included things like;

Take a photo of:

A team-mate in a display window as part of the display	10
You with the largest stuffed animal you can find	7
Video/ picture of the group singing in a store	10
Your group posing a scene from a Disney / Animated movie	9
Team playing air guitar	6
Something / someone that looks evil	6
Something out of place	8
A team member with someone giving them “bunny ears”	6

The teams get points for the photo's that they manage to successfully take - which tests their English comprehension skills - but also allows them to go a bit crazy, laugh a lot, and get some fresh air! The students have also promised to e-mail me the photo's they take so I can put them up...they should be hilarious so I am looking forward to that!

While the students have been out and about doing this I have been organising travel insurance, talking to mum, keeping up with facebook...and updating my blog!

I wanted to make sure my blog was really up to date before we left because I am going to be able to tick a few things off my bucket list when I come back and I am going to have a lot to write about!

Anyway! Best be off! Many things still to do!

Ciao for now!

Mini-break on South Korea's East Coast

We decided a few weeks back that after many weeks of hard saving and counting down to our trip to South Africa (which is now 2 weeks away!) that we really needed a little break to just get away from it all. We made a phone call to mum and begged and bribed her to babysit the dog

for the night (actually 2 so we could leave early the next morning) and a few hours later were on our way round to her place in Osan to drop them off. (Thanks mum!)

The next morning we were up bright and early and headed for Suwon where we could catch a long distance bus that would put us on the beach within about 3-4 hours. We decided on the East coast because the beaches are better, less muddy, and more like the beaches that we are used too. I am Australian

so I have been a little spoiled as far as beaches

go! The bus ride was fairly pleasant... having traveled by bus a lot in Korea we knew to get on prepared with snacks, drinks, music, and the newest update of angry birds!

We were off the bus around 11:30 and we grabbed a quick bite at this little home-made burger place at the bus terminal in Gangneung before heading in the direction of the information booth to find out how we would get to Gyeopo beach - our destination.

As luck would have it we wandered out to the bus stop just as the local bus we needed to catch was pulling up and we were on our way. From memory it only took us about 20 minutes from the bus terminal to reach the beach and I physically felt myself start to relax the second I smelled that salty sea air! I really love the beach! We wandered along the beach with our eyes peeled for a nice place to stay. The first place we went to have a look at their didn't seem to be a reception desk so we ended up wandering around the rooms... we said no after looking at a room that wasn't particularly clean or well presented. We were grateful we said no when we saw a much nicer looking place a few buildings further down! It cost us 80,000won for the night which is $70-75 Australian for a serviced apartment that had

everything we needed -

including a good internet feed and big computer screen so we could watch the rugby that night! Within 30 minutes we

were down on the beach with our little cooler bag, cold drinks, new sunscreen, a big mat thing to put under our towels...and a wide brimmed hat for me!

It was heaven. White sand, blue water, blue sky, lots of sun...and not that many people! We accidentally chose a weekend where the kids all had to go to school on a Saturday which meant their parents and teachers were all busy

too so there were less people around to enjoy our space and fresh air! We lazed around on the beach for a while and then attempted a dip in the icy cold water... it took me about 20 minutes to get waist deep. Then we alternated between basking in the sun and dipping in the water, eating ice-creams and drinking beer, wne and soft-drink...truly the perfect day!