My birthday, The Lion & Rhino Park and Cape Town

To the person who reported by blog as abusive; I have one question. Why? I’m sorry, but I don’t believe I have written anything abusive in any of my blog posts. And if I have, or you have taken something as abusive I am sorry. It was not intended to be that way. If you don’t like something that I write, please bring it up with me rather than reporting my blog. Luckily I was able to fix it, but for a while my blog was temporarily blocked. I have put a lot of effort into these blog posts, so I’m sure you can understand why I would be upset if I were unable to access or share them. Once again, I am sorry if I offended anybody with something that I wrote, that truly was not my intention.

Anyway, I have been quite busy, so I haven’t been able to write a post for a while. That means this post will probably be a long one! Sorry! I’ll start with my birthday. I think that’s about where I was last up to. I finally turned 19! Yay! It was also the first birthday I have shared with my South African family for 10 years! So it was really special. I was spoilt to a delicious breakfast at a quaint little café close to home.

Once we had eaten, we spent some time chilling out at home before my grandma came a got Harrison and I, to take us to a place called Liliesleaf Farm. This is where Nelson Mandela hid out, and was caught and sentenced to jail. There was a lovely café there, where I had the best muffin I think I have ever eaten! It was cappuccino flavoured and absolutely delicious! We also had really great milkshakes. We had gotten there only an hour and a half before they were due to close, so once we had eaten we had to rush a bit through the museum part of the farm. 

It was really interesting though! Both Harrison and I enjoyed learning about Nelson Mandela and what they were achieving at the farm. That night we had a family dinner at home, which was also really nice. I got very spoilt! As gifts I got a beautiful Africa necklace, tickets to see Sweeney Todd the musical with dinner after the show, and a new iPod to replace the one that got stolen in Paris!

I am beyond lucky, and incredibly grateful to have such a kind and generous family. The next night, still as a birthday celebration, we went to a place called Rocomama’s for dinner. It is this really awesome burger restaurant where you get an order sheet, and you can create your own burger from the ingredients that they have! It was such a fun night, and the burgers were so delicious! Again the next night I was treated to dinner out, with my uncle Robin who was visiting from Cape Town. We went to a Thai food restaurant that was really yum! I can’t believe how lucky I am to have such a wonderful, loving family.

On the 18^th my grandma and her friend Elaine took us to the Lion and Rhino Park. The Lion and Rhino park is a game park just outside of Joburg, and it has loads of animals (more than just lion and rhino ;))! We spent hours driving around and finding all sorts of animals. We were super lucky and saw so many! We saw 3 rhino, which is very rare, and quite a few lion and cheetah. We saw too many buck, zebra and ostriches to count, and even saw a hippo!

However my favourite part of the day was visiting the animal crèche. We were super lucky, as there was hardly anyone there! And! There were new-born lion cubs! That we were allowed to pat and play with! We were both beyond excited! We waited with anticipation at the enclosure while a park worker got ready. They opened the gates and in we went! Free to play with the baby lions! They were white lions and absolutely tiny. 

There were three cubs, and they were all up against the fence teething on the wires. We sat with them for a while patting them and having them chase our hands and try to bite our fingers.

They were too cute for words, and I really wanted to put one in my bag and take it home. Sadly our time with the lions came to an end, too quickly for my liking! The next exciting thing we got to do was go into a cheetah enclosure and play with a cheetah! Her name was Annabelle and she was beautiful! We sat done to pat her, and at first she just lay there, but after a while she got up and started jumping all over us pulling our hair with her teeth and jumping on our backs.

It was a truly amazing experience, and I am so incredibly happy that I was given the opportunity to do it! It was something that both of us will remember forever. Upon arriving home that evening we were dismayed to find that the power was out! Someone had stolen the power cables in our road so whilst they were replacing them the power was out. It was out for most of the night, but luckily my Aunt and Uncle have generators, so we had some electricity. That same day my poor cousin Lyndsay had to have her tonsils taken out! So when we got home we found a very miserable and sore Lynds. On Saturday night Harrison and I went and had dinner at an old family friend’s house. It was really nice to see them again after so many years.

On Monday the 21^st, Harrison and I flew to Cape Town! We were both excited, as I have only been to Cape Town once, and Harrison has of course never been there. We were picked up at the airport by my great Uncle (my Nana’s brother) and Aunt, Geoff and Wendy. We are staying with them in Fish Hoek, Cape Town for two weeks, and then moving to my Uncle and Aunt, Robin and Jenni for another week after that. On our first day in Cape Town, Geoff and Wendy took us to a place called Cape Point. At Cape Point, there is a national park and a beautiful walk up to a lighthouse on top of the point. 

We also saw the Cape of Good Hope, which is the southernmost part of Africa. We walked to the top of Cape Point and saw the lighthouse, and some really incredible views. Cape Point is also the place where the Atlantic and Indian oceans meet. Sometimes there is a definitive line between the two oceans, however on the day that we went we were not lucky enough to see this. It was still a cool experience though! We spent the rest of the day looking around the reserve. We saw a few buck, and some incredible views. 

We were also incredibly lucky, and saw some whales! We were just looking at a beach, when all of a sudden a whale jumped not too far out! We watched them play and jump for a while, and got some nice photos. I have never seen whales in the wild before, so this was really an amazing experience. We drove up to a viewpoint, and saw some baboons roaming around and a long snake slithering along the path! 

The next day we went to the beautiful Boulders Beach, which is where a whole colony of penguins live! 

We didn’t pay to go onto the actual beach, but walking along the boardwalk next to the beach we saw just as many penguins! We saw a few babies that still had their fluff on them and lots of adults.

They were so cute, but my God did they stink! We walked all the way to the end of the boardwalk, and up the beach a bit and got the best view of Fish Hoek and Muizenburg. It was so beautiful!

We wandered back to the car, walking along another beautiful beach that you didn’t have to pay to walk on. Wendy decided she wanted to go for a swim at this beach, so we waited whilst she went for a dip. I think she is crazy for wanting to swim! Cape Town beach water is absolutely freezing! Not to mention it is super windy, which makes it even colder! But despite all of this she got in and swam for a good 10 minutes, and loved every second of it. 

I really take my hat off to her! I could never get in that water. We also went to a place called Simon’s Town and walked around the harbour there for a bit, and looked at some stalls that had been set up there. I love the stalls people set up in public places around South Africa. They usually sell African art, and kitschy stuff but I love looking at it all! It is usually very interesting, and very beautiful.

On our third day, Geoff and Wendy took us for a drive along Chapman’s Peak. This is a beautiful scenic drive from Fish Hoek to Hout Bay, along incredible cliffs. We stopped at many view points along the way, and saw some incredible views across the ocean.

It was amazing! So beautiful. We drove into Hout Bay and got out to look around. It was really windy, and very cold, but we still wandered around for a bit. Once we were done we hopped back in the car and drove to Constantia vineyard. We walked around the vineyard, which was really beautiful. We also went and looked at an historical house that had been preserved on the vineyard, which was interesting to see. The next day we drove to Miller’s Point, and were once again lucky enough to spot some whales! We wandered around the beach and found some really interesting and beautiful shells.

I really love the beaches in Cape Town! They are so beautiful. The water is crystal clear, and the most incredible blue. I had never realised how beautiful they were, or even that South Africa had beaches that were that incredible blue colour. 

After we had done exploring the beach we hopped back in the car and made our way to the Cape Point ostrich farm! We made our way up to the farm, and spotted some baby ostriches in a big pen. One of the ladies that worked there explained that they were 6 months old and that we could feed them if we wanted! So we purchased some feed, and fed the babies!

They were so cute. But even at 6 months old, their beaks were incredibly strong and powerful. We learnt some really interesting facts about ostriches, like that people can’t determine what gender a baby ostrich is until it is 14 months old, and its feathers begin to change colour; and that like penguins, ostriches mate for life. It was very interesting to learn more about the ostriches, and to get to feed the babies! On our way home we drove through two towns, Scarborough and Kommetjie. We stopped in Scarborough to look at the beach, which was really beautiful, with mountains in the background and fog on the water.

We have been incredibly spoilt and Geoff and Wendy have taken us away for a trip up the Western Cape! On the drive up we stopped at a cute little café to have breakfast. We had delicious eggs and bacon, and once we had finished we looked around their shop at all their homemade goodies. Geoff and Wendy bought some homemade bread, scones and koeksisters, all which were absolutely delicious. We also stopped in at a tiny town called Darling. It is home to a famous South African comedian, whom I don’t know, but Geoff and Wendy were excited to look around the museum and restaurant dedicated to her. There was some information on the apartheid and South African history which Harrison and I read, which was interesting as always. There was a man selling his beadwork outside the museum, so we had a look at that too. His work was amazing! I love the beadwork done here. The next stop was at a beach, that I am not certain the name of, that had the most beautiful display of flowers. Next to the beach there was a garden set up that was just filled with beautiful, bright flowers! It was amazing! We walked through the gardens and along the beach taking in the beauty of the area. 

That was the last stop of the trip and after a little longer in the car we made it to our destination. We are staying in a place called Saldanha Bay. The guesthouse we are staying in is on top of a hill and has the most amazing view of the bay. It is a very beautiful place. After the trip here we just relaxed for the rest of the day. On our first full day in the Saldanha area we went to a place called Langebaan Nature Reserve. Like Cape Point, Langebaan Nature Reserve is a very large area of land protected by the government, which holds some beautiful wildlife. On the way there we stopped at this holiday resort called Club Mykonos. It is a huge resort and casino that has been set up to look like a Greek town! It was incredible! There were hundreds of white apartments with brightly coloured doors and window panes. 

Some of the holiday apartments were built down a hill, so they cascaded down and it looked very beautiful. Once we had taken in the glory of this resort we went on our way. We had one more stop before heading onto the reserve. We stopped at this restaurant and bar that was on a beach. Unfortunately is was closed, but we were still able to walk into it and walk around. This is because the restaurant and bar are outside! There are no walls or anything to stop you from going in. There is no kitchen, only large fire pits in which fish and food is cooked, and then served to people. It was incredible!

It was set up to look abandoned, which gave it a bit of an eerie feeling as we were there alone. There were old boats lying around, and fishing net had been used to make sort of wall like structures. I have never seen anything like it! It was really amazing! 

We finished up wandering around the restaurant and continued on our way to the reserve. The first thing we did was stop at a bird hide! We saw loads of flamingos chilling out in the waters of the beautiful lagoon in the middle of the reserve. 

We also saw lots of buck and tortoises, and even a few snakes. We drove up to a picnic spot and lookout which allowed us to see a lot of the beautiful park. 

I loved the lagoon! It was so beautiful and filled with so many incredible shades of blue. We stopped at the edge of the lagoon and walked out onto a dock to get a better view. The water was so clear! It was really amazing. 

On the way home we stopped at a place that offers beach horse rides, and booked ourselves in for a ride on Thursday! This day was also Harrison and my 1 year anniversary! Since we were away we didn't really do anything to celebrate, but we will probably do something nice once we get back to Joburg. What an amazing adventure the pas year has been! I couldn't have asked for anyone better to spend it with. I am so incredibly lucky to have Harrison in my life. Thank you for making this year so amazing. Here's to many more years, just as amazing as this one. 

Yesterday the weather wasn’t that great. It was very overcast, windy and freezing. It was decided that we would just look around Saldanha Bay for the day. We started out by going to look at the stables where we will be going on Thursday to start our horse ride. The equestrian centre is inside the Saldanha Bay navy and military base, so once we had checked out the horses and stables we drove around the base for a bit. We drove into the docks and saw some huge ships being cleaned, and some ships that had fallen into disrepair and had begun to sink!

It was pretty cool for me to see the navy base, as this was the base where my Dad did his navy training when he was younger. It was cool to see the parade field and imagine him in his uniform marching along. Once we had finished exploring the base, we made our way down to the beach to have a look around. The beach was very beautiful, but freezing cold!

And someone had dumped a whole bunch of flyers around the beach which was really sad and disgusting to see. We finished up looking at the beach and made our way to a restaurant that had been suggested to us, to have some lunch. The restaurant was right on the beach, and very beautiful. I had a prawn and avocado wrap which was delicious! Everyone else enjoyed their food too.

Last night there was a horrible storm, and the rain pounding on our roof kept Harrison and I up for a lot of the night. There was also a leak in our roof, which kept us up! So probably due to the restless night I woke up with a horrific headache. So unfortunately we had to stay home for the day and miss out on the day’s sightseeing. It was nice to have a rest though. I am super excited for our horse ride tomorrow! It is a two hour ride during which we ride along the beach and through a nature reserve. I think it’s going to be really fun! It has been a great experience seeing some more of South Africa, and I am glad we got the opportunity to do it. As I mentioned before, I am incredibly lucky to have such a generous family, and am so grateful to Geoff and Wendy for showing us some more of the wonders of this incredible country. I think I have the best family in the world.