In Africa: Catching up - Tuesday, June 24th and Wednesday June 25th

Four posts in one day. I don't think you will see this happen again.

I'm having to remember back now...you wouldn't think one week would be difficult - but so much has happened since then.

Tuesday morning we decided we were going to head back the direction we were hoping to cover on our route to Muizenberg. Our first stop was Boulders Beach in Simons Town where we spent the morning with the African Penguins.

these two are mating (you probably could have figured that out yourself though)...

After lunch we headed down the Cape Peninsula - the most south-western tip of Africa and into Table Mountain National Park. The views were breathtaking.

There were signs everywhere that read "DO NOT FEED THE BABOONS. THEY ARE DANGEROUS" - but we couldn't figure out where these baboons were. Then we saw one.

Then around the corner up on the hill we spotted an ostrich. I think we did fairly well on the wildlife side to see penguins, a baboon and an ostrich all in the same day.

We then went to the Cape of Good Hope in the park and took lots of photos.

With the sun starting to set we knew we had to hurry on to get to a place to sleep. Our original plan was to make it to Hermanus. We started flipping through our Coast to Coast book looking for a place and ended up in Betty's Bay - which was closer than driving to Hermanus. It got dark quick. One road in particular was the most amazing drive. It was pitch black, freshly paved, and an extremely winding road. I felt like a race car driver - only I was going 35 mph and not 135. I didn't blink once. We were sure it was probably a gorgeous drive but we couldn't see a thing. Then we arrived to the small town of Betty's Bay and found the backpackers we were staying at. Again, we were the only guests. The stars were incredible - I have never seen so many in my life! Once we got our bags in we set out to have dinner at the only restaurant in town - Camelot. What we would have assumed was going to be a simple dinner and probably not that good, caught us pleasantly surprised. Angela and I both agree that may have been our best dinner on the trip.

Up early the next morning and on the road again. We arrived in Hermanus and went straight to the visitors center to get the scope on the area and the best spots to see whales. We were advised to take the cliff walk and because July is the mating season we were sure to see some whales. But no such luck - we may have seen the back of a whale but we can't be sure. However, it was a beautiful walk. We then drove to the beach, relaxed in the sun and put our toes in the water.

With the sun about to set soon we knew we wanted to get back on the road quickly. We were going to take the same winding road back towards Stellenbosch and this time we wanted to be able to see it. Let me say that words can't describe it. I think at first we were stopping at every possible moment to take photos. The mountains on one side of the road and the ocean on the other. I think I was more nervous driving on the road now that I could see it. It is by far the most beautiful drive I have ever taken.