Monday, February 15th - Lamberts' Bay to Cape Town, South Africa

Today is the final travel day on our tour and we were up at 6:30 for breakfast at 7:00 and departure at 8:00.  We drove through a bit ore of the town, which was very quiet but nice, to get to our first stop of the day.- the one we were supposed to do yesterday afternoon but didn't have time for.

Bird Island is just off one of the main piers in the town.  It used to be a large fishing harbour with a big fish canning factory.  These days though, the fishing is pretty much gone and the factory now makes French fries from all the potatoes grown in the area.   When you walk out along the pier you come to Bird Island which is aptly named as there are a lot of birds on it.  There used to be penguins but they do not come here any more.  However, there were lots of gulls and commerands and terns and probably others that I missed.  The main draw is the blue-eyed gannets who come by the tens of thousands to the island.  They all crowd together on one part of the island and it is a very noisy place.  There are observation decks where you can go to view the birds without them being disturbed by you and they were quite impressive to see.  There were a few exhibits on the island as well but nothing great.  It actually seemed quite run down and I wasn't sure if that was the normal situation or just at this time of year.

We drove back to the main highway and the scenery was still very dry looking except for the irrigated areas.  We had to go through some passes.  They weren't very high but the old bus still found them quite a climb.  There was construction all along the route and during the passes we had some incredible views and could actually take pictures since the pace was slow enough.  We were then in an area of orange groves, vineyards, tea, wheat, potatoes, etc.  It was a nice variety and very easy to look at after all the dry dessert landscapes we'd seen.  However, I took way too many pictures over the three hour drive.

We stopped at an organic winery, Org de Rac Winery, for a wine tasting.  The setting was beautiful as the winery and shop were on the side of the rolling hillside and the views of the vineyards and then the grain fields beyond were fantastic.  We sat outside and sampled a white, a rose, and two reds, all of which were very dry.  I wasn't thrilled with any of them but the last red was probably the best.  South Africa cannot add sugar to its wines - something about the fact that the sun is too hot and sugars aren't needed.  The sun and heat also means that the inside of the grapes are often ready before the skins are so it is an interesting balance they have to find.  Their wines were only about $7 to $10 per bottle so quite a deal compared to our prices.

We were treated to more beautiful views as we drove on for another 1.5 hours enroute to Cape Town.  There were some dry desolate areas but some were cut wheat fields that just looked dry.  We even saw some wild ostriches in some of the fields, probably picking up any last kernels of grain.  There was also a lot of irrigation throughout some areas with green vineyards, especially on the hill sides.

 

Eventually we entered the suburbs of Cape Town with Table Mountain towering above and covered with a white tablecloth of cloud.  It was a familiar scene and almost felt like coming home again as we neared the end of our tour.

Once back at our hotel, we checked in and got our other bag.  It was interesting to empty and sort through it and then start repacking our bags.  This of course would be Fran and I.  Randy didn't pick up extras along the way and thus didn't ever have to leave anything behind.  

The Internet, as before, was virtually useless.  I went down for a snack about 3:00 and more visiting and saying goodbyes.  Then we went next door to the Ocean Basket for dinner about 8:00 and even more goodbyes.  It seemed to be a never-ending afternoon/day of goodbyes as people were leaving at all different times and you didn't know when you would see them again.  We have a group Facebook page though and we have everyone's e-mail address so we should be able to keep in touch even after we get home.  It really was a good group, especially since we were together for 30 days and spent a lot of it in close quarters like on a bus.  It was a great trip overall.