Cape Town: Day Seven

On the agenda for day seven in lovely Cape Town was Muizenberg and Boulders Beach, and everything in between.

First stop, Muizenberg and Surfers Corner. If there was ever a moment in life that I felt like quitting everything and becoming a surfer who lives on the beach all day every day, it was now. There are so many surfers at Muizenberg! A lot of learning going on, which is super cool. Apparently the hardcore surfers go further along the coast to avoid here because of all the people learning and improving their surfing skills, but still. It’s awesome. Only downside was that the water was a horrible brown for some reason on the day we visited.

Obviously we needed food first (duh) so we headed to Knead. We sat at the bench looking at the sea while we ate breakfast and drank tea – my French toast was good but a bit expensive for what I got.

Colourful huts up next. You have to see them, and you have to take a photo of them, and that is what is important. Also, the water is so much warmer here than it was at Camps Bay which was great. We spent some time taking a gazillion different (but the same) photos at the huts, and trying to avoid the large amounts of blue bottles that had washed up on the beach. Don’t want to step on those by accident, because they hurt!

Once we were satisfied with our photos, and had taken some time to look at the surfers, we hopped back in the car to head to see some penguins!

We got stuck in traffic. Almost the whole way is one lane and there were lots of people out and about, enjoying the sunshine and the last day of the long weekend.

Finally we arrive at Boulders, get some ice cream, and I was so excited to see the penguins! Then we found out that it costs R60 to get in, which no one wanted to pay (well, except me – I would have paid at that point). So we decided to go for a walk along the path outside the beach. We walked and we walked, and we saw some penguins behind the fence, and then we came to a beach which you could pay to get into and which had lots of screaming children. And then we walked some more and we came to a parking lot. And on the other side of this parking lot was a gate and another path. So we stood around a while trying to figure out if we could walk in there (there was a sign saying something about the area being rehabilitated) until eventually someone who worked there pointed out that we were welcome to walk through that gate.

If there was one secret place I had to pick from this trip, this path would be it. It allows you to walk for a couple of minutes, basically along the sea front, and there’s nothing between you and the penguins if they’re there. We didn’t see any other people on the path on the way in, and it was so quiet. We did see two penguins which came right close to the path, and then one even joined the path, walked a while, hopped up the steps and disappeared into the bushes on the other side. It was so cool! Then you get to these rocks where you can just sit a while and watch the sea and the penguins. There were people kayaking which is something I would totally want to do! And then, to top it all off, I saw a dassie on the walk back (side note: I really love dassies).

Basically I would recommend Boulders, but don’t bother paying in the beginning. Take a stroll along the path, get some sun, and enjoy being close to the penguins and the sea without loads of other people jostling over you to take a good photo of a penguin from a deck (which is effectively what you are paying for). That walk was so awesome, and you could certainly spend a good amount of time just hanging out at the rocks. Plus, penguins are so cool!

Cape Town: Day One & Two

Yay, we’re in Cape Town! My sister and I are lucky enough to be on holiday in beautiful Cape Town for about ten days. We’re visiting my cousin, who lives and studies here. I’ve been to Cape Town twice before – once for a waterpolo tour, and for one day in 2012 while I was on a train tour to Stellenbosch. My sister has never been before.

After an early-ish flight out of OR Tambo in Joburg, we arrived in Cape Town. I haven’t been on a plane since my return from my London and Contiki holiday in 2013, so that was nice. It was an interesting flight – just over two hours, but we were seated between a high school rugby team, and some of them had never flown before.

My cousin only returned from a varsity trip the day after we got here, so we had the first day to ourselves to “explore” a bit. It’s super nice being able to walk around here (she stays in Claremont) so we took a stroll to Cavendish which is a mall here to find a snack. We decided to go to Hudsons for burgers for dinner. Hudsons is great – they’ve got about three Cape Town branches I think, and one in Joburg too. The Claremont one has happy hour from 17:30–18:30 (apparently every day, but don’t hold me to that) where you can get cocktails for half price. I had a cheese burger which was great, and my sister had a veggie and chicken burger which she said was great. One of the cocktails I would recommend is the “Prohibition Lemonade”.

We were both pretty tired so we had an early night – ready to see our cousin!

Day two in Cape Town. The sunrise from my cousins room is really nice, so that’s a plus. Normally at home I only see the sunset. We fetched my cousin from UCT Campus, and thought of what we could do for the day.

We headed off for lunch at a place called Salushi. They have a budget-type menu in place on certain days where you can get some of your normal sushi for decent prices, as well as some more “trendy” sushi meals. I had prawn and peppadew fashion sandwiches, and some salmon thing with tempura prawns – both were really good!

After lunch, we went to Creamery, which is a homemade ice cream shop. It’s such good ice cream! They have a couple of standard flavours, and then rotate some of the others. I had sea salted caramel, and it was divine. That is always one of the first flavours I want to try because of Italy when Grace and I ran around trying to find salted caramel gelato the whole time. There was also chocolate, peanut butter, sweet cream, red fig and hot cross bun flavour. Feeling that our sweet tooth craving was satisfied, we went to our next destination – Charly’s Bakery.

For those of you who don’t know, Charly’s Bakery is a bakery (duh) but they have a TV show called “Charly’s Cake Angels”. Obviously we had to go there. We were all so sweet from ice cream that we just decided to share a cake – we had the chocolate fudge brownie I think. Wow, but that was good. I’m glad we shared it though, because I never would have been  able to finish it by myself. The building is really cute, and the prices vary so you probably could find something you wanted for a price you are willing to pay. It can get quite busy though, and then the service gets a bit slow behind the counter, so be patient. Everyone just wants cake like you do.

After Charly’s, we took a drive to Camp’s Bay. Our first CAPE Town beach experience. Now, let me tell you something about myself – the beach is my ultimate happy place. I love the sand and the sea and the sound of the waves. So I was VERY happy when we got to walk on the beach and put our toes in the water (it’s freezing by the way).

For dinner we went to Foresters Arms. It’s a local pub, which has been around for quite a while – some of our parents used to hang out there, so we certainly had to go see what it’s like. It’s got wood furnishings and it’s really nice, with lots of place to sit! The food was really good, and good value too. While there, we saw John Smit – he is one of our previous Springbok rugby team players and captains. That was pretty cool – you never know who you might see in Cape Town!

Tomorrow is Thursday, and so we’re off to an event called “First Thursdays” in town. Should be cool!

Contiki Day Four and Day Five. #hashtag

And its time for the French Riviera. We had breakfast at the hotel this morning, a big selection of cheese and meats and croissants  etc. So much better than the previous breakfasts we had. We all packed up and grabbed our day bags and walked to meet Mark with the coach.

On the way to the Contiki Village in Antibes which would be our home for the next two nights, we stopped in Avignon. It’s lovely, with lots of lavende everywhere. I got a photo with a freaky silver mime, and we got to see the Papal Palace where the popes used to live. Katie, Grace and I went to find somewhere to have something to eat, and found this patisserie with a restaurant part. Katie and I had the most amazing quiche – quiche Lorraine. Grace had a yummy looking Camembert and ham baguette. Once we were done we just wondered around looking at the stalls. I bought a green bangle – green for all the stunning fields we had passed on our drive this morning. While we were hanging out in the square there was a lady singing operation in the middle – such a big voice for such a small person! It was actually very cool.

Me with Katie and Grace 🙂

Back onto the coach and the next stop was Fragonaud’s Perfumery where we learnt how they make a whole lot of perfumes. We also got told the difference between like eu de parfum and eu de toliette for example. In case you’re wondering, the difference is the percentage composition of the essence in each, with eu de parfum being the highest essence composition at 25% I think. This is why it last at least 8 hours, but can actually still be smelt the next day sometimes. I really enjoyed this stop even though I didn’t buy anything – it was all very nice, I just didn’t smell anything that specifically caught my attention.

Finally we were in Antibes. The Contiki Village is pretty cool, it’s just small. Not the actual village – that’s enormous – but the rooms are pretty cramped. And hot. There’s no aircon, so it gets pretty warm in there. Its also only two people per room, but you share a bathroom with another two people. When we got there we met the onsite time. We tried frogs legs and they actually do kind of taste like chicken, if you can get over the shape of the bones, which is a bit of a challenge. For our time here I would be a “dishie” which means that at the end of meals we just need to clear the plates and take them to the kitchen. Its really not hard at all. I even accepted their invitation to help dry up because I could get a chance to speak to them all which was cool. The Contiki Village has a bar, and obviously we all headed there. I was so excited that they had cocktails because I am so tired of drinking fizzy drinks. It all started off pretty relaxed and then someone along the line decided that playing drinking Uno was a good plan. Haha. And then Kings. As we got further along the game, we got louder and louder and eventually were basically told we needed to shut up an  ge  inside the bar and were not allowed to sit outside anymore. I thought this was pretty lame, especially considering it was only 10:30 and I kinda thought that being a Contiki place it was bound to get rowdy. But anyway. Party moved inside.

Later a whole lot of us wanted to go see the beach and so a group of us made a mission there. So weird that there are only pebbles and no sand. Even though it’s beautiful, its really uncomfortable to walk on. Got my feet wet in the Mediterranean Sea bitches! The water is so clear it’s incredible. Was a really fun night!

So day five, almost no one made breakfast, which was French toast. People were struggling! Haha. I was so glad I got up for it. This morning we are going to see the Tour de France. How cool is that? Off to find a spot for that.

So this morning we found a really good spot on the street and the Tour came right past us! They were so close they actually made a breeze/wind I could feel. Haha. We wanted to go to Nice after this, but the next train was only in an hour and its almost a two hour round trip so we would have had maybe an hour there. We couldn’t find the train station so we asked a couple policeman. I wish ours looked like this. Instead we went and explored Antibes and went to the shops here because some of the girls wanted dresses for tonight. I at least managed to find a pair of pretty sandals, so I bought clothes in France! Yay.

A section of the street with the crowd waiting for the Tour de France cyclists

We had veggies (thank goodness) and turkey and potatoes for dinner. And then we went to Monaco. Wow. The view is stunning, and we kept singing “lifestyles of the rich and the famous” as we walked along. We also went into Monte Carlo casino. Unfortunately I did not win any cash money, although I did play the slot machines. We also had a Grand Prix cocktail, which set us back 20€ each. Ouch. Everyone just kept being like “yolo yolo” whenever we thought about how much it was. A couple of the guys did win money though, I think our highest win was 300€.

Sam, Jess, Sinead, Laura, Me & Shenrae

Nthabi, Me & Tam with the AMAZING view in the background

Back to the Contiki Village afterwards, but i only stayed up a little bit later because I’m starting to feel a bit sick. So rather an early night and try to get better ASAP!

That’s all for now. Off to Italy in the morning – I cannot wait! Even though I was just starting to get the hang of this speaking French thing.

Au revoir France!

x

BUCKET LIST

THE BUCKET LIST. I love the movie. And I love thinking of things I’d like to do or experience or achieve one day. I recently turned 21 and realised that I am actually mid-way to my mid-life. Slightly depressing, but true nonetheless. Eek. Therefore, cue The Bucket List. Cheesy and possibly overdone? Yes. But also necessary I feel. It sort of makes my crazy travel ideas and ambitions feel more  like goals than dreams. Which makes them feel (slightly) more possible.

I’m trying to build it up to a “40 before 40” list eventually. I also pretty much end up adding to it every time I watch a programme on Discovery or the Travel Channel. Oh well. Can’t blame myself for wanting to get as many experiences out of my life as possible.

I’m crossing them off as I go, and will most likely write about the best ones and include pictures. After all, a picture speaks a thousand words.  So without further delay, I bring you Megan’s Bucket List, in no particular order:

1. Watch a live musical in London’s West End

2. Watch a live musical on Broadway

3. New Years Eve in New York City

4. See the Northern Lights

5. Get lost and find something incredible along the way

6. Do something kind for a stranger

7. Read the Diary of Anne Frank

8. Visit a concentration camp

9. Sing karaoke in front of a crowd

10. Run a 5km race

11. Run a 10km race

12. Learn to speak a new language

13. Go on a road trip around South Africa

14. Learn to surf

15. Go to Wilderness Park in Wisconsin

16. Eat Creme Brulee in France

17. Make a difference in someone’s life

18. Get my PhD in Psychology

19. Visit every continent in the world (Africa, Europe, Asia, North America, South America, Australia, Antarctica)

20. Eat Spaghetti Carbonara in Rome

21. Start a blog

22. Watch a sunrise on the beach

23. Swim with dolphins

24. Go to the La Tomatina Festival

25. Go to Walt Disney World

26. Write a book

27. Make a snow man

28. Go skydiving

29. Go bungee jumping

30. See Paris from the top of the Eiffel Tower

31. Stand in a rainbow

32. Go to OppiKoppi