Sunday/Monday

Well I've used up my time in the internet Cafe, so I'll have to add the bit about my extreme cycle ride, walk up table mountain, eve of drinking, etc later.
Added some other photo's at flikr- use the link saying Cuba photos on the right had link bar bit
Adios for now
Peter

The National Gallery

It was very interesting to see and get maybe a little insight into how apartheid affected their art scene- conflict and reconciliation.

Der Nuh, Der Nuh

(Jaw's music in case you hadn't guessed)On Sunday it was time to explore and visited the Two Oceans aquarium, which was fun as lots of really fascinating marine life, like the huge crabs, sea snakes, and not forgetting the sharks.Also seeing how long Jelly fish tentacles are.

Marathon Training

I got up quite early and took Pepper, originally misheard as Piper, the dog for a walk. I had hoped for it to be a bit more of a run, but after doing an initial sprint with the dog, it started to want to sniff the ground more and spray every so often, it was a lovely dog never barking and also being incredibly excited about going for a run in the first place, It often didn't get to go for proper walks as the other dog Tiger, was a bit older. In the day went to the Waterfront and sorted out a mobile sim card, It was great to know I'd also managed to unlock my phone successfully, the power of the internet!The first message was my brother telling me I'd borrowed the wrong belt from him, and damage it at my peril, great!.The weather is great it's 28 degrees, and saw it was 7 in London and -7 in EdinburghAfter lunch went up table mountain, sadly using the cable car, so I think I might go and do it again by foot, something like 2h each way and it will also give me another chance to see the Rock Hyrax (Dassie), and also I'll know the layout of Cape Town better, so more interesting to see it from above. It had an amazing view from the top and think I was quite lucky with the weather as many time since then I've seen it quite often covered with ‘a table cloth' a.k.a cloud.The hostel 'A sunflower Cafe' was very nice in some ways -sheets, nice fridge, lounge, swimming pool and quite close to the beach(once you figured out they way), however, I was on a triple bunk, I didn't even know they existed!, at the top, and it was quite dingy, In the evening went out to the m-bar in the Metropole hotel which was really funky, with luxurious red seating and a good DJ, funky glasses, I thought it was well priced at the time at 14R(1.20stg) for a bottle of beer. Later went to Po Na Nah's, hadn't realised it was the one in the UK chain, and had a martini for 10R.The nice thing, was slightly nervous as I'd been told the Cape was quite a scary place, and compared to Somerset West, it was, but think as long as I don't get drunk and keep an awareness of my surroundings I should be ok- or it just youthful belief in my own immortality!

How to eat oysters

For lunch we went to the Starfish restaurant in Gordon's Bay, which was very plush but reasonably price. I had Yellow tale fish, which was really good (R58), but to start it off I had an Oyster Slammer, and Oyster sitting in a shot of Ouzo, it went down incredibly well, and that inspired me to try the other Calamari (it was great, and normally I don't like it) and also baby squids heads deep fried, which were superb. Even though the weather was great, we sat inside because it was very windy. The portions are huge, and then apple crumble which could have fed three people easily :-)

Hot and sweaty

I set my alarm for 7 this morning, as I wanted to walk up the Helderberg(www.helderbergnaturereserve.co.za) which is one of the fantastic mountain near by, I luckily met one of the staff at the park, who told me which way up was vaguely safe, and told me to take down the number for mountain rescue, and off I went with my two litres of water, and an apple and a banana. It was lovely seeing two types of buck at the bottom(), and a huge tortoise, sitting in the middle of the road, I felt it was going to be a interesting walk. Later on I saw a rock rabbit, which I only just caught a glimpse of, interestingly more closely related to elephants than anything else. I also saw a red stripey thing which looked like a cricket, heard interesting bugs, which sounded like two marbles being hit together( very happy when I realised the sound was in the air, i.e. it wasn't a snake!). I was originally only planning to go to the start of the crag, but found the path and kept on going up, this was the point where the easy path disappeared, I had to scramble up rocks every so often( being careful not to put my hands on spiky stuff), walk on slanted paths( with slippy mud). The view was fantastic from the top, you could see for miles, and loads of mountains all around, and the sea in the not so far distance, and the big GB sign above Gordon's Bay. The journey down was good fun, as placed my hand on a rock seeing a reptiles head between a bit of the rock, and again relieved when I realised it was as scared of me as I it, plus more importantly it was a small lizard. I did when I got to flatter stuff, 'run' down which was fun, having to carefully step on the right place, when I almost tripped over once, I thought it was time to stop!I finished the walk by 12( and after 2litres of water) , but had been very hot and sweaty since 8.30 in the morning, and really enjoyed sitting in Jacuzzi, with the water jets on.

Pinotage

It took ages to pack and I bought a fantastic new backpack from Karrimor, which has a zip on day sack, and also opens a little bit like a suitcase, so makes finding stuff in it a lot easier, and also remembered to register it for a lifetime guarantee- but would like to know if anyone registered a panther 65, as mines broke, and we seem to have forgotten to register it!!!Anyway packing was fun, and driving to the airport was quite a scary experience, as I thought I could potentially miss the flight as the traffic was dreadful, and luckily the motorway traffic on the M4 wasn't too bad, anyway got the wrong terminal, lost my mum, ran and grabbed the Heathrow express to T4, then after all that the flight was late and check in closes 50 mins before a BA international flight. Had a interesting chat with Sheila a Scottish lady who'd been a teacher, a diplomat and also an air stewardess, and had been to Afghanistan when it had a monarchy and had photos of the Buddas which were blown up.I wasn't met at the airport by my cousins, but by their friends(Peter and Carmen), so didn't recognise them, anyway went to their place(www.erinview.co.za) which is lovely( stunning view over mountains, spa, incredibly friendly, a room almost as big as mine, but with a on-suite bathroom.After a snooze went wine tasting in the Stellenbosch region going to three wineries;Slaley- it gave you 6 different glasses and so you could compare the different wines, had a very nice Pinotage, which, was a vintage one opened as they had had some important visitors earlier in the day( maybe from the Caterpillar Club), it was also nice have a stunning waitress( or waitrons as they call them here)Dimersfontein- very nice, and quite an attractive spittoon, however, with such nice wine, it tasted choclatey, it would have been a shame to waste it like that.`-on this one you could see the vats that they were making some of the wine in, and felt quite authentic as you had to drive down a dirt track to get there.The scenery whilst driving around was superb, seeing the sea, and huge craggy mountains.In the evening looked out at the stars using a telescope, and could see Orion very easily, and Mars and Venus, have still to spot the Southern Cross, and the moon definitely has a funny face over here.

Sailing Troon to Dublin

It was a fantastic trip, and had a few lovely days of weather, and no injuries this time around. The scariest moment was going out on the top yard, and undoing the gaskets on the sail, mainly because the rope you stand on was quite high, and so I felt I could quite easy fall.Another superb moment, was Brian who'd brought bagpipes on board, and played them as we sailed into Dublin:-)Dublin was great, I stayed at Ashfield House in a 14 bed dorm for 13 Euros, and met some great people straight away, and ended up cooking and eating with a mixture of Europeans(English, Spanish and French), and then explored Temple Bar. On Monday went to Trinity College, Merton Square, St Stephens Green, The National Gallery, and the Guinness Brewery. There is a more malty version of Guinness available in Dublin called 39, which is very pleasant.The National Gallery had a fantastic exhibition on 'Northern Nocturnes- Nightscapes in the Age of Rembrandt'

Where I've gone and going

I've started playing with Google maps, and plotted quite a lot of the places I've been and lived, and also done my flight plan for my holiday. Sadly the paths don't seem to work quite right on IE on my machine, but it does work well on Firefox, fantastic browser.
http://ps.elantha.com/PJH/GoogleRemote.shtml v1

Jab's

Yikes, I needed three injections before going travelling.
Hepatitis A valid for 10yrs
Typhoid Fever valid for 3 yrs
Diptheria/Tetanus/Polio valid for 10yrs.
I wonder how many people are up to date before going travelling.
I also still need to get Malaria Tablets:-)