Cape Town

The last time I wrote Harrison and I were about to go on a horse ride in Saldanha Bay, through the nature reserve and along the beach. Again, I have been really bad with writing and that was about a month ago. But I will start from there and let you know what we have been up to! We set out in the morning to the equestrian centre at the Saldanha Bay military base. The lady who was to take us out on our ride was named Zelda (much to Harrison’s amusement) and she was a lovely lady. We were shown our horses, mine was named Joy and I don’t remember what Harrison’s horses name was. As I am quite a short person, I needed a boost up onto my horse; which proved to be horrifically embarrassing for me and hilarious for everyone else, as I had real issues getting onto the back of this horse. But once I finally managed to get a top of the horse and Harrison had easily mounted his, we set off. First off we rode out to the nature reserve that is on the military base. It was very beautiful, riding through the wilderness. We saw loads of different birds, a snake, loads of caterpillars and even a small buck. It was beautiful to ride amongst the mountains and grasses, and feel the sunshine warm our faces. We rode about half an hour into the park before turning back. Once exiting the reserve we made our way onto an idyllic beach. The waters were crystal clear, and bright blue and the sand was a beautiful white. 

We were the only ones on the beach, and it was incredibly peaceful. We rode our horses through the water, waves splashing up their legs. My horse loved the water, but Harrison’s was a bit scared. We saw a seal playing in the shallows, and many more birds flying around and landing on the water. We rode along the beach, and then up along a pathway that followed the beach for some time. Eventually we made our way back to the stables. In total it was a two hour ride, and it was absolutely beautiful. I loved every second of it, and wished we could have gone for longer (although my butt was grateful to get off the horse). After the ride we had a light lunch at a small café, and then headed back to our holiday home for the rest of the afternoon. The next day we left Saldanha Bay and headed back to Geoff and Wendy’s house. We were there for two more days. On the 3^rd Wendy took Harrison and I to Kalk Bay, which is a little harbour close to their house. We were lucky enough to see three seals out of the water and playing on the docks!

One was the biggest seal I had ever seen, and he had gotten into the place where the fishermen gut their fish. He had found a disregarded fish and was going to town on the thing. I never knew that seals were so violent when they ate! He would get the fish in his mouth and whip his head viciously from side to side, until a chunk of fish flew off. It was very fascinating to watch. 

On the other side of the docks we saw more seals playing and swimming around in the water. It was really cool! After Kalk Bay we had a quick stop at Muizenburg Beach to look around and take some photos, and then we headed home.

On the 5^th it was time for us to leave Geoff and Wendy to stay with my uncle and aunty, Robin and Jenni. They live closer to the centre of Cape Town, in a suburb called Woodstock. On our first day with them, Harrison and I wandered around the city centre. We walked down a street called Long St, which is apparently the most popular street in Cape Town. It is filled with little cafes and bars, and quirky shops and vendors. We meandered in and out of shops, and stopped for lunch at a Cuban restaurant, which was really good. We also visited the Company’s Gardens, which is a beautiful large garden in the middle of Cape Town. There are lots of fountains and it is a lovely place to go and relax in the sun. 

We stopped in at the café in the gardens and had a milkshake and a slice of delicious cheesecake. That night Jenni took us for a walk along the promenade which is a walkway along the water. It was very beautiful, and so full of life.

For dinner that night we went to an Indian restaurant which was really yum! The next day, we booked tickets on the Red Bus. This is the same bus that we took through Johannesburg that shows you all the major sights. The first stop that we got off at was Table Mountain! We arrived at the foot of the mountain, and were greeted with such a long queue! Luckily we had already purchased tickets online, so our line moved a bit quicker. However we still waited in line for about an hour before we got into the cable car. I wouldn’t want to think about how long we would have had to wait if we hadn’t pre booked tickets! The cable car ride up Table Mountain is really cool. You get into this huge cable car, and the floor rotates so you get the opportunity to see every angle whilst going up. It was great for photos, but it made me feel a bit motion sick! Once you get to the top of the mountain, you wonder where all the people from the line have gone! Everyone is so spread out, that you really don’t feel like there are that many people up there. We were very lucky, and had a brilliant day for going up the mountain. There was hardly any wind, so it was actually pretty warm up the top, and the skies were a beautiful blue and clear enough for us to see for miles.

We had packed a small picnic breakfast, so we found a spot and ate our breakfast with the most incredible view. We spent quite a while up the mountain just wandering around and taking in the beauty of our surroundings. 

When we came down from the mountain the queue was even longer!

The next stop we got off at was Camps Bay. Camps Bay is a beautiful beach, with lots of trendy restaurants and shops. It was about lunch time so we picked a nice looking seafood restaurant and had lunch looking over the beach. I had prawns and calamari, and Harrison had fish and chips. It was really delicious! 

After lunch we wandered down the beach for a bit, then hopped back onto the bus. 

The drive out of Camps Bay was absolutely stunning! We got a beautiful view of the Camps Bay beach and all the others beaches around it. 

We passed through the most expensive place in Cape Town, and the houses were amazing. We stopped next at the V&A Waterfront. Our bus ticket entitled us to a 30 minute harbour cruise, which we decided to hop on while we were there. The cruise was quite nice, it just stayed in the harbour and we learnt some more about the history of Cape Town. We also saw more seals! Whilst on the cruise Harrison realised that he had left his jacket at the restaurant we had lunch in! He was so upset. It had been two hours since we had eaten lunch, so we doubted the jacket would still be there. However we decided to give it a go anyway, and rushed back to Camps Bay. We spoke to one of the waiters with little hope in our hearts, and to our amazement he said to wait there; and he went into the back of the restaurant and came out carrying Harrison’s jacket! He was ecstatic to have it back. That night for dinner we got some pizzas takeaway, and went and sat on Clifton Beach with Jenni. We ate pizza and watched the sunset over the water. It was such a beautiful night. 

Once finished with dinner we drove to the airport to pick up my uncle who had been in Joburg for work.

We had purchased a two day bus ticket, so the next day we were back on the bus. As we hadn’t really had the opportunity to see the waterfront the previous day, we stopped there first. I love the V&A waterfront. It has such a vibrant, buzzing vibe. There are so many people wandering around and so many different types of shops and restaurants. It was really awesome. 

We wandered around the waterfront for a while, and then had some lunch at the food court in the mall that is there. Once we had finished exploring, we got back on the bus and made for Long St. We hopped off and went to a place called Greenmarket Square. It is where people used to sell food in the old days, but is now used as a place where people can sell their art and other gimmicky tourist things. There were so many stalls set up! You had to squeeze through the tiny makeshift alleyways to get to each stall. It was pretty cool, and the stuff that they sell there is awesome. Once we had looked around, we got on a different bus route. This one took us around downtown Cape Town. We didn’t get off at any of the stops, but listened into the headsets about the history of the downtown area, which was very interesting. After the tour we made our way back to the Gardens and sat in the sun until Jenni was finished work. For dinner we went to a place called the Royale Eatery, which is well known for their burgers. We all ordered burgers, and they were pretty delicious! Harrison also ordered a peanut butter and Jack Daniels milkshake, which was surprisingly yum! 

We had to get to Jenni’s work the next day by ourselves from home, so we decided to take an Uber. We have had really good experiences with Uber, so we didn’t think it would be an issue. I entered the address that I had been given, and off we went. We started to get further and further out of town and away from the mountain, which wasn’t right. I checked the address on google maps, and it showed we were going in the wrong direction! It turns out there is the exact same address, in a place called Bellville which is about 40 minutes out of Cape Town! It was so lucky that I noticed before we got all the way there! The Uber driver turned us around, and we made it to Jenni’s work safely. We made our way to the waterfront. Jenni had given us tickets to go on the Cape Wheel, which is a Ferris wheel at the waterfront. It was really cool! 

We got to see some beautiful views of Cape Town. After the ride we went to the Two Oceans Aquarium. We had been told that it was very good, so we were excited! We spent a really long time wandering around the aquarium. It was pretty great! 

They had lots of different types of fish, and even a few sharks. 

They also had penguins which I liked. 

It was quite small, but there was a lot to see. As well as the harbour cruise, we also got a sunset bus ride included in our bus tickets. We had to use it within three days of purchasing it, and that was our last night to use it so we thought we may as well. The bus took us up Signal Hill, which as its name suggests is a large hill, located next to Table Mountain. The bus drove up to the top, just as the sun was starting to set. We found a spot on the hill and watched the incredible sunset over the Pacific Ocean. 

It was truly amazing, and stunningly beautiful. Once the sun had sunk away we rode the bus back to the Waterfront where we met Robin and Jenni for dinner. 

We went to a pub first and Harrison and Robin had a beer taste testing platter. We moved onto a Belgium restaurant where they had another beer tasting platter. After all the beer had been tasted, we set off to find a place to eat dinner. We picked Ocean Basket which is a seafood restaurant. I had some sushi and prawns. Both were so delicious! The next day was a Friday, and both Robin and Jenni took the day off to take us into the wine regions of Cape Town. We stopped first at a place called Spier Wine Estate. There was bird of prey section of the estate, which we went into. At the bird sanctuary you could hold an eagle! We looked at all the birds that they had first and patted a few adorable owls,

and then both Harrison and I decided we wanted to hold an eagle. Harrison went first, and he held a massive black Verreaux's eagle that weighed 5kg!

She was huge! He had to wear a glove to protect his arm from being crushed and scratched to pieces. It was really amazing. I held a much smaller eagle called a Wahlberg’s eagle. Her name was Wally and she was very cute. She just wanted to nip at my hands and chin. The cheeky thing even bit my lip! 

She only weighed 1kg, and I didn’t have to wear a glove to protect my arms. It was an incredible experience, and I am so happy we got the opportunity to do it! We left the estate after that, and made our way into Stellenbosch and surroundings. We looked around and stopped at some viewpoints. It is such an incredibly beautiful part of the world!

We had lunch at a restaurant that used to be a train station. It was really cool, and the food was yum! Robin and Harrison also tried more beer!

We got up a bit earlier that morning and Robin and Jenni took us to a market in an old biscuit mill. It was awesome! There was a food section and a market section with shops and craft stores etc. We wandered around for a while, and got some food from the food market for breakfast. It was really great. Very busy though! But I think that just made the vibe even better. There was so much positive energy in there! I loved it! Robin and Jenni had never been to Robben Island, which is an island that has a prison on it, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for many years. So they decided they would accompany us to the island that day! We were due to leave at 3pm, so we made our way to the waterfront early so we could line up and all that. However when we went to cross the harbour to get to where the ferry leaves from, there was a boat show going on and they had raised the only bridge across! The time came ticking closer, and there was no sign of the bridge being put down again. Listening to other people around us, it seemed we were not the only ones facing this issue! There were so many people with us who needed to get across the bridge, and everyone was getting very frustrated. We called the museum entrance where the ferry leaves from and told them the issue. Luckily they understood and said they would wait until the bridge was back in use before leaving. As soon as that bridge came down, a whole mass of people surged forward, trying to get to the ferry station. The ferry people made good on their word, and the ferry was still there waiting for us. 

The ride across to Robben Island only took about 20 minutes, but the swells were quite high that day. Luckily neither Harrison nor I are scared of boats, because we really got tossed around! We arrived at Robben Island and were separated into groups, and given a tour guide. I thought the tour of the island was very interesting, but unfortunately it was very unorganised. It seemed they didn’t have enough guides for groups, and as we were the leftover group we didn’t get a proper guide, just a guy that worked on the island. This wasn’t too much of an issue, as he had actually been imprisoned on the island so it was really interesting to hear his point of view. Just, as he was not a tour guide, it seemed he didn’t really know how to connect or communicate with people and went off topic a lot. But nonetheless everything he told us was interesting. We got to see the cell where Nelson Mandela lived in,

and the common areas and other areas of the prison. Once the tour of the actual prison itself was done, we hopped on a bus that would take us around the rest of the island. We waited about 15 minutes on the bus before anyone showed up to take us! The guide we had on the bus was excellent though. He was very entertaining and knew a lot about the island. He actually lived on the island himself. We saw the old quarry and the village on the island.

I enjoyed learning more about the prison and what life was and is still like on the island. The boat ride back to the main land was fortunately not as bad as the trip coming to the island. A girl on the boat did end up puking though which was a bit yuck. We had dinner at a restaurant at the waterfront called Willoughby & Co. It’s a Japanese restaurant and was amazing! I had probably some of the best sushi of my life.

We went on a walking tour of the Cape Town city centre the next day. It was really fascinating! Our guide was absolutely brilliant, and I learnt a lot about Cape Town and South Africa. On the tour we passed some little girls wearing their traditional dress, and dancing. It was so cute! 

After the tour we went to the supermarket and got them some juice and snacks and took it back to them. They were really happy, and it was too adorable. We had lunch at a café with Robin and Jenni, and I think I had the best wrap ever! It was chicken, tomato and hummus. It was absolutely delicious! After lunch we all drove to Hout Bay. It was such a beautiful day, and the water was bright blue and crystal clear. 

We saw a man on the docks who had trained a wild seal to jump up and sit next to him, and let people pat her. It was pretty cool that he trained her, but I didn’t really agree with it. 

We wandered around for a bit and looked at some shops, then headed home. Robin had to fly back to Joburg that night, and we were leaving really early the next morning so we had a relaxed night at home. Robin and Jenni have the cutest, and fattest cat ever, named Frodo. He is so lovable and adorable! We didn’t want to leave him! We had to leave around 7:00 the next morning to get to the airport. We arrived back in Joburg during the early afternoon. Harrison went to see the physio as his back is troubling him again. We had all of a day to relax, before we were off again. This time to Zanzibar!

I will write a separate post for Zanzibar, and our current adventures as it would be too long if I added them to this post! x

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.