2geonomads

Saturday 30th September 2017

Table Mountain/ Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden.

At last the day arrives to finally tick off a major item off our Bucket List , namely the famous Table Mountain Cable Car, and so we are out of bed early and down to breakfast by 7.00. However, you know what happens to the best-laid plans of mice and men and the day did not start well when we learn that the 110 religious ladies , apparently from the north-west of the country, have taken over the breakfast room and most of the tables, completely cleared all of the sweet pastries and in any case we will have to wait for a table to become available.

Eventually, the staff responds to our protests and we are given a table in an adjoining room. Notwithstanding these problems we still manage to get up to the cable car station by shortly after 8.00. Gail has already purchased tickets online so we park the car along the roadside and pay the obligatory tip to a guy who appears from nowhere and promises to look after our car while we are on the mountain. Full of excitement we walk up to the station where we are greeted with a board with the dreaded words ” Closed until further notice due to excessively strong winds. We briefly ( very ) toy with the idea of trekking to the top but the round trip will take over 5 hours out our day. Instead, we decide to undertake a fairly taxing trek up the lower slopes of the mountain escarpment.

Imagine our delight when on return to the cable car station we receive the news that the wind has abated and it’s all systems go again in a variety of ways! Those who are familiar with my vertigo problems will know what I mean.

No superlatives can do justice to the experience of taking the cable car to the top of this magnificent mountain which provides the backdrop to this stunning city.  No location could be more deserving of its listing among the 7 Natural Wonders of the World. Hopefully, some of the photos accompanying this blog will go some way to illustrating what all the fuss is about.

By the time we get back in the cable car to return to ” terra cotta” as David Lloyd, the English cricket commentator incorrectly described it , I am quite relaxed and am able to really enjoy the magical vistas from the car. On the way up I hadn’t really been able to enjoy the novelty of a cable car which revolves 360 degrees as all I could focus on was the metal bar to which I was clinging !

We return to the car feeling that we had had an unforgettable experience and we now head off to the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, the largest in South Africa.These certainly do not provide the adrenalin rush of the morning but these beautiful gardens, perched on a hillside above Newlands( home of the famous sports ground ) and the Capetown Flats are a true haven of tranquility and peace.

From the sublime to the ridiculous we drive back to the hotel just in time to see the Wallabies draw with the Springboks in Bloemfontein 27 all. Not the greatest of games but probably a fair result.

To finish off a memorable day we now look forward to an a la carte meal in the hotel restaurant. We are, therefore, well and truly peed off to find that, probably to ease the workload involved in feeding the spiritual hordes, only a buffet is available for the second evening. Quite apart from the fact that the buffet had been less than special the previous evening, we had no wish to gorge ourselves with too much food.

We eventually found an understanding and cooperative restaurant manager who organised for us a lovely fish meal with wine to match.

A great way to end a truly memorable day.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret