Having a whale of a time! Linda is happy, she has seen lions from the plane when we were landing at Windhoek airport (she insists they were lions under a tree!), a n Ostrich from the air, plenty of penguins and some whales. We are in Cape Town, staying at the Cape Standard B&B, an art décor sort of joint. It has a nice bedroom, and then a small bathroom. The shower is sort of open and goes onto wood. Linda managed to break the toilet handle – I don’t know what it is with her and bathrooms but she always manages to break something.
We were flying Air Namibia and when we arrived at Gatwick, we were told the Business Lounge was being redecorated and given some vouchers instead. It meant a free Starbucks, but we didn’t want anything else, so Linda spent them on Starbucks chocolates, which she said were for the Kids (although she has eaten a few). She was embarrassing, as she would stand at the queue and if anyone spent over a fiver, she would offer them a voucher and take the money. I sat right away from her!
We were flying Air Namibia and when we arrived at Gatwick, we were told the Business Lounge was being redecorated and given some vouchers instead. It meant a free Starbucks, but we didn’t want anything else, so Linda spent them on Starbucks chocolates, which she said were for the Kids (although she has eaten a few). She was embarrassing, as she would stand at the queue and if anyone spent over a fiver, she would offer them a voucher and take the money. I sat right away from her!
The plane ride was good, some turbulence over Cameroon and Angola – nothing compared to the turbulence on the ground there. The seat went most of the way back so we could sleep. We arrived at Windhoek at 9.30, and had just sat down to coffee in the lounge, when we had to board the Cape Town flight. It was just under 2 hours to Cape Town and so got there about 12.30. We went through immigration, collected the car, a Toyota Yaris and then found our hotel.
In the afternoon we went to the Waterfront, and had a coffee and looked up at Table Mountain, Linda had an avocado and feta baguette and I had a seafood salad (with squid, fish, octopus, prawns, caviar and salad). We then wandered around the shops, we didn’t buy anything as we were too tired.
Today, we were up and out by 9.30 and took a leisurely drive down to Simons Town to see the penguins, as the place is famous for them at Boulders beach (although the coffee was very poor at the Café). So Linda saw hundreds of penguins, all look the same to me black and white! She also saw some whales with their calves in the bay. When penguins have a lot of babies they are called a crèche. So we sat and watched the whales, and sat and watch the whales, and sat and…. With not a Starbucks in sight.
We then took the scenic route back, which became even more scenic when the toll road across the mountains was closed! So we had to go the back route, it was a nice route- but much slower. We made it back to Cape Town by mid afternoon, and went down to the Waterfront. The Tablecloth was over the mountain, so God was obviously settling down for his dinner!
We stopped for a savoury pancake and a cold drink, before doing a bit of shopping, and going back to the B&B. We are back on the road again tomorrow – we have two days to make Knysna.
There are some pictures at http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/simon.werrett