En route

If you are into flowers then Kirstenbosch is 'the' place to visit. The cape peninsula plays host to one of the 6 floral kingdoms in the world. The others are the size of Europe or North America, this is the smallest with as many varieties of plants. While Pat and Hammie wondered the thousands of plants, trees, grasses and other flowery things. Judith and I relaxed, enjoyed the atmosphere and fell asleep on the lawns with a magnificent view. When we finally left through the swarms of picnic-ers and other tourist types there was only one thing left for the evening. Pizza and another sunset.

Signal Hill overlooks the west coast and joining the hundreds of other people we chilled out further. It was the perfect end to a relaxing day
So as the in-laws could experience a bit more of South Africa (and as they looked into our itinerary for the trip) we finished our time in Cape Town and headed northeast to the town of Montagu. Famous for its dried fruit, this sleepy little town is on Route 62, the longest wine route in the world. Our lodge produced it's own Muscadel (very sweet) but apart from the one glass, as yet I haven't tried too many wines. Two days in a fantastic little lodge with massive rooms and we moved on for a different experience....Safari time.

And it is now we are pretty much caught up on our travels. I've left out the birds, the boat race, the scenery and many other stories and facts but the past 24 hours have been as eventful. Bufflesdrift game lodge (a man made reservoir for 4 of the big 5) is a tented lodge on the edge of a dam. OK so the tents have Aircon (it's 39 degrees outside !) and a bath, double sinks, outside private shower, mini bar and a gigantic bed, you can't exactly say your slumming it but with hippo's paddling 200 meters from your tent (they can't swim !) it is exciting and very interesting. Cape Zebra, Springbok, waterbuck, Giraffes, Kudu, Rhino, Hippos and wildebeest have all been seen on the Safari drive with Elephant feeding tomorrow and an early morning game drive we are seeing and learning a lot.

Today was exceptionally good as we visited the Cango caves which makes Marble Arch look like a small hole in the ground. Judith also managed to ride as Ostrich. These big birds very much on the menu we visited a farm which let you ride the birds. Unfortunately I was too big for them on such a hot day but Jude led the way and managed not to break anything. I did get some scary looks from the birds but I'm not sure if they knew I ate part of their friend last night.
We may not get chance to post to the blog for a while. South Africa has seen our biggest access problems especially with uploading photos and videos (even with Lee and Mona's great connection). Knysna is tomorrow with a more relaxed time self catering. Boukrans bridge for a little 216 meter bunjee jump is on the cards and at least one wine tour. Back to Cape Town on the 13th for one last day shopping before Jude and I head off for 28 days of Field guide training near Kruger park. Pat and Hammie have 3 days to recover and top up the tans before heading back to the cold of Northern Ireland. Mid-february back to J'burg for a few weeks (Maybe Namibia, still to be sorted) and March will see us traveling from Zambia to Nairobi overland. Back at the end of March for a week to visit our soon to be born niece or nephew and then heading Dubai,India, China direction. We have lots still to organize but it's nice knowing we have 9 months still to travel !

We hope you've stuck with this longer upload, not the best way to start 2009 (Happy New Year to you all) - 8 days in and only one upload to the blog but thanks for all the comments xx