Last Places Visited in Cape Town

Cape Point Reserve

On the way to Cape Point, we had our first encounter with a troop of Baboons. It made my day to see these monkeys crossing the street in front of our car. Our local friends Nick and Gav stopped the car for us to have a closer look. Dine took some great shots of them. There are signs everywhere in this National Park asking tourists not to feed the baboons as they could become aggressive, although they look so peaceful roaming around the streets.

Baboons on the roadside

Our first stop in this National Park was at the oldest and most famous Light House in Cape Town, which was built in 1860.

Light House at Cape Point

After a short walk to reach the most southernmost point in Cape Point, we stopped to have some wine with chips while taking in the wonderful views. This was a very special moment to me and one of the highlights of my time in Cape Town.

Dine, Clau, Gav & Nick at Cape Point

Cape of Good Hope

Our second stop was at the Cape of Good Hope, which is the most south-westerly point in the African Continent. There, we had a short climb to reach the top of a mountain, where again we had some spectacular views.

The most south-westerly point in Africa

Mountain Range View from Cape of Good Hope

Wine Farms in Stellenbosch, Franshoek & Paarl
Before coming to Cape Town, I was not aware that there were some many vineyards here. It was a nice surprise! Dine and I visited four of them, which the locals call ‘wine farms’, about an hours drive from Cape Town city. They were beautiful and very modern looking. Our wine tour also included a delicious lunch as well as cheese tasting. The difference I found between the wine tasting in Cape Town wine farms and Australia, is that here they were very generous with the amount of wine they gave us. By the end of the day, we were feeling pretty tipsy from all the wine we had. J

An interesting fact about the wine in Cape Town is that they have a unique kind of grape called ‘Pinotage’, which was created at the Stellenbosch University. This grape is a blend of ‘Pinot Noir’ and ‘Hermitage’ grapes. It’s needless to say that this was the red wine that Dine and I drank regularly while we were here. J

Tokara wine farm has a very modern look. Although it looked nice and there was a huge fire place in the tasting room, it felt a bit cold there. I prefer the warmth of the rustic looking wine farms.

Tokara Wine Farm

Dine and I at Tokara Wine Farm

Fairview wine farm was my favourite one because there we had wine as well as cheese tasting. I was so greedy that I went around the circular cheese table four times to taste the all the delicious cheese they had. J

Fairview Wine Farm

Cheese tasting at Fairview

Fyndraai wine farm had a rustic look and the building had European influence from the Dutch, like many other buildings in Cape Town. There we tasted some experimental wines. One was made of pears and the other made of honey. I do not recommend any of them. They both tasted terrible!

Fyndraai Wine Farm

Simon’s Town

Simon’s Town is a charming little town with nice shops and cafes. It reminded me of Montville in Australia, with the difference that this town is not up on the mountains but surrounded by a harbour and the ocean.

Main Road in Simon's Town

Boulders Beach

Boulders Beach is about 5mins driving from Simon’s Town. Many tourists go there to see penguins. Visitors can pay a fee to walk on this beach, which is also a natural reserve, or go on a board walk bordering the beach for free. We chose the second option, as we had seen many penguins before in Patagonia. We were delighted to see some penguins walking on the board walk with us. We even spotted a curious little one in the car parking wandering around. J

Penguins at Boulders Beach

Wandering around in the car parking

Navy Ship Party

In Simon’s Town there is a port Navy ships from all over the world. When Dine and I were having lunch in a restaurant there, we met George, who was working in a British navy ship. Talking to George about our trip and where we lived, we found out that a few years ago he went to Australia with his family for a holiday in the Sunshine Coast, to a place near to where I live. Before he left, he invited us to join him and his crew of navy friends to a party in their huge navy ship.

British Navy Ship

George entertained all the men and the women in the party with some live music. Despite feeling very sick with a bad flu, I was happy that Dine and I made it to the party. We met two lovely young navy guys, who showed us around the ship and explained to us all about its history and everything they had there (gym, swimming pool, sauna, bar and how they made their own water – desalinating seawater). It was a very interesting night!

Dine, George and I

Sunset in Muizenberg

Today is our last day in Cape Town. Tomorrow, my sister and I are leaving to go to Kenya. This was one of my favourite photos from Muizenberg, which Dine took one evening when we were walking back home. It's the Muizenberg Mountain reflecting on the Zandvlei lake. 

Sunset in Muizenberg

I will miss this place!