This morning we were up early, and after a quick breakfast and quick checkout of the airport hotel, we joined the traffic heading into Cape Town city during rush hour. Even after allowing for traffic time, and leaving 15 minutes early (which with two kids is no easy feat), we were still late arriving at Table Mountain.
While we were struck in traffic on the motorway, we were able to see some of the “informal settlement’s” / slums along the side of the highway.
We arrived at Table mountain and met up with some of Dan’s family who are already over here on holiday. Table mountain overlooks Cape Town, and is very large with a flat top (although once you get on top of it, it’s not completely flat!). You get to the top either by gondola, or if you are game, you can walk up the mountain. No thank you. See below our view going up the mountain…
Yep that is THE stadium that has been all over the news after the Airlink flyover
When you reached the top of the mountain, there are lots of little trails to follow to see every view. We waived ‘hello’ to NZ, 11,000 km away, we stood right the edge (no safety rails here) and Karl spent a good 10 minutes telling Aunty Whitney to stand in the little holes with him. There was one rest stop with a seat, and the words: ‘Time is one of life’s most precious gifts’ with the offer to sit and enjoy. So we did. Well, Dan did. Chris was still hunting lizards
The lizards were everywhere at the top of Table Mountain, just out and enjoying the sunshine. Sometimes they were hard to spot, but if you did, you would find heaps. As Karl rightly pointed out to us ‘they have black eyes’
As per the request from daycare, our family photo
The cloud moving during the few hours we were up the mountain was also an amazing thing to watch. During the course of the morning, the fog lifted and the clouds moved back. But it was still something to be above the clouds, and to watch the city emerge. We also watched the container ships cutting through the clouds out to sea.
At 12pm every day a cannon is fired to indicate midday. This dates back to early days when workers were on the docks etc, and it gave them the signal for lunchtime. We stood and waited for the midday signal. The first we saw was the smoke from the cannon, and then (because of the wind) we heard the boom about 10 seconds later. The cannon also signalled that it was lunchtime for us and so we ate at the large food establishment up the mountain, with small blue birds for company.
After lunch we headed back down the mountain, and as we had an hour or so to kill, decided to follow the coast for a brief road trip. We drove through one of the nicest parts of Cape Town and through to an area where were weren’t even keen to go up the side roads to make a U Turn. From the distance we were trying to decide if the properties were ‘fancy’ or ‘shanty’. Turns out it was the former.
We checked into our new hotel, which is near the coast and has lots of amenities, including a kids area and a number of swimming pools. We had pizza by the pool and all went for a swim, which wasn’t the warmest. Karl, however had a nice long play in the pool.
It’s been a busy and full on day, being out in the sun all morning and getting up early, and so both boys went to sleep without much trouble. Hopefully there will be no wake-up in the night.
Good night,
Chris, Dan, Karl and Issac