Cape Town tourist

The plane journey was a bit of a nightmare. We boarded at Heathrow on time, then had to sit on the runway for an hour whilst the engineers looked at a hydraulic leak.  Not very comforting, and I was fidgety before we even set off!  I must say it was the longest flight I have ever been on, and despite it being overnight I didn't get a wink of sleep.  I can highly recommend the film 'Life of Pi' though!

The taxi ride to the hotel was uneventful, but it was quite cool to see flamingoes hanging out in lakes at the side of the freeway when I have only ever seen them in zoos.  I made it to the hotel by around 10am and they manage to check me in and allocate a room straight away, which was great. After a quick shower and change, I took the sightseeing bus 'blue' route for a hop on hop off tour around the Cape Town area.

My first stop was World of Birds - not a huge site in terms of size, but that is good because it saves your feet!  There are a maze of aviaries that you can go into and mingle with the birds - which is fine when its just a small parrot, but a bit more disconcerting when its an eagle owl or vulture!  They also had meercats and penguins. It was lovely and shady, so a relaxing way to spend a few hours away from the midday sun.

On the recommendation of a lady I met on the plane, I decided to take advantage of the clear weather and good views and go up Table Mountain.  The views were absolutely spectacular. Part way around I met a brazilian air stewardess called Sandra who, like me, was dithering about scrambling across to another areas to get better views to the west. It was well worth it, and nice to have some company for a while.

We made it back to the cable car with ten minutes to spare before the last run down.  I got a taxi back to the hotel just as the sun was going down over the city.  I then had a delicious meal in the hotel, and tried ostrich for the first time.  Now, time for some sleep zzzzz.