the arrival
9 September 2004
The flight over seemed to take a long time with the three hour stay in Singapore. The first leg started off with a funny scene at Sydney. After having a few drinks with friends at the airport we were confronted by airport staff asking us to hurry up. From this peaceful calm relaxing state to one of something out of Benny Hill. Damien in the rush gets bumped by one of the staff and drops his camera dislodging its battery. As we were about to board the plane, we find out that the guy at the security check has Damiens passport. In the comedy someone comes running with his passport and we board the plane back to a peaceful atmosphere again. The second leg of the flight seemed to drag out as if the African continent was moving away from us. We were told to expect a spectacular view on landing in Cape town. Unfortunately it was cloudy and raining but good to be here. We were greeted by a guy holding up a laminated sign which read '' Tom From Lugarno" which was kind of strange as I've never had that done before. The drive from the airport to the city was in a new BMW and it was fast. Very fast. He said everybody drives like this here.
Our contact in Cape Town runs the biggest porn shop in South Africa. He booked and paid for our first two night's accommodation and put it in his business name which was great but then we needed to stay on longer and the people that run the motel asked us if we wanted the business to pay for it. We said that its ok and we'll pay. But it made us think that the people that run the hotel probably think we're two Australian porn stars on tour.
One of the first things we had to do in Cape town was buy a car. So during breakfast the next morning we looked through some car ads. There was an ice cream van for sale. Which we thought would be funny for some of the boarder officials who let you cross depending on the way they feel. If they liked ice cream then that would be good or they would be laughing that much that we would just drive on through. We picked out a couple of cars and jumped into a hire car and for a drive.
This day was clear and sunny and it showed the spectacular mountains that are so prominent to the city. We headed for Stellenbosch the wine region of the Western Cape province and Damien's navigation was cutting edge like usual. The countryside around the vineyards is beautiful. The lunch menu was interesting with meat meat and more meat. You order either man size or ladies size. Neither Damien or I would dare ask for the ladies size. So we left that place bloated. Went for a drive down to the Cape of Good Hope where the two oceans meet. Its a mountainous peninsular stretching about seventy kilometres south of the city with beautiful coastal towns, bays and beaches. A drive equivalent to our great ocean road with its own twelve apostles. These apostles are not in the water but are twelve mountain tops. Ours are better. Cape Town is such a beautiful place with its unique mountains that look over the city. Its waterfront has a darling harbour feel about it.
They call traffic lights here ''robots" which sounds pretty funny when you are getting directions. Just go down this street through the first robot until you get to the second robot and turn ....... All with a South African drool. We're now calling them robots.
Damien went on one of his early morning runs when he came across a couple of working girls who approached him and asked if he needed their services. Damien naturally refused but as he continued his running one of the girls said in her South African accent ''run Forrest run". I said to Forrest that he can run around Africa if he likes and I can follow him in the car.
The standard of living in Cape Town varies greatly with a minority of people living a very comfortable life with many servants that do things that we would generally do ourselves. Then there is a large area of Cape Town that lives in a shanty style of living. That is iron clad boxes or whatever materials they can find and its spread for miles. These people are very poor. There seems to be a very small if any middle class. Talking with both these type of people gives me a small feeling of lawlessness.
Which brings me to guns. Anyone in South Africa can have a gun be it a shotgun or even a small handgun except if your a tourist. Oh no! I may as well get the red paint out and start painting a big targets on the pair of us. I say this because some of the well off carry guns and have barricaded their homes with gates and security to a level we have not seen in Australia. The security business in this city is thriving. Some of the companies that are operating are Sniper security, Attackforce security, Armageddon security, Strikeforce security etc. Yeah as if that's going to make you feel safe! Even with saying this Damien and I don't feel too threatened because most of the people we have spoken to have said that things are on the improve and we both feel the same way. We're expecting the rural areas to be quite different. We climbed Table Mountain the other day which looks over the city of Cape Town. The mountain is such a significant part of the city as you see it from where ever you are. Oh there it is. Oh there it is again.
My daughters Deeahn and Kaitlyn suggested that I have Macdonalds the day before I left Sydney because I might not get a chance to eat it for a while. So for MY benefit WE went to Maccas. Sorry to say girls but I had a big mac the other day and it tasted very similar to the one I had with you. The whole place looked the same. I might give you an update on Maccas in other countries as they may give you a hippo or even a voodoo doll with the happy meals.
We bought an old VW camper with a fridge, stove, comfortable seats with a water cooled motor to give us a chance of not overheating the engine crossing the Kalahari desert. We have the documentation in order and are ready to get going. We'll be heading east along the coast road to Port Elizabeth and then heading north to Namibia.
Overall Cape Town has been a wonderful place to visit and only be better in the near future.
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