It's been a pretty relaxed week regarding work. Now that we're not working in Mainstream anymore, it doesn't feel quite as exhausting. I still see all the Mainstream children during Aftercare - which really takes it out of you at the end of the day - and I've also been introduced to the new Grade 00s. They are tiny... and still getting used to having to abide by the rules of school. But it's very funny to watch them adjust, like when they come to you and ask if they "can go wee-wee" and you ask them to use the word "toilet" instead.

All the previous Grade 00s (now incredibly big and grown-up Grade 0s), were very excited when we came to Aftercare when school started again. They ran up to me shouting, "MISS ANNA, WE GOT HOMEWORK!" - I'm sure that excitement will wear off in a few weeks. Then they went on to boast about how mature they all are, but still couldn't resist getting a little cuddle. Lechlabile - the boy that would check out his muscles in the mirror of the previous Grade 00 class - was very funny when he saw me again. He attempted to do pull-ups on the monkey bars and got stuck so I had to help him down, and then he got very offended and stomped off. I realised that he hadn't really grown throughout the holidays, he still only reaches just below my hip.

Working in Lifeskills this week was very enjoyable, we had a visit from the new boy on Monday because it was his birthday, so we all celebrated by eating cake (my kind of party). He doesn't actually start school with us until February, but it was lovely for us and the children to meet him. Disability wise, he's definitely one of the more able ones in the class so it will be interesting finding out what his strengths and weaknesses are, and working to develop both. During the rest of the week we focused on the alphabet, months and numbers up to 20 - pushing my maths knowledge. It was really encouraging to see the children improve gradually over the course of the week and hopefully, when they get the hang of the basics, we can start working on spelling and easy maths equations.

In other news: I've recently found a new running companion - a dog who belongs to the hostel master. I asked a couple of weeks ago if I could take him on runs with me, partly to feel more safe and just for the company. Running during the day is just too hot so I choose to go out when it's dark, a little bit scary but better now that Playto comes with me. Though he is black so it's quite hard to keep track of him in the dark sometimes... Last night when I finished my run, he bounded up to me with a plastic bottle and we had a quick game of fetch. It then developed into a game were I would pretend to throw the bottle one way and then throw it in the opposite direction and chase after it, racing him to it. He beat me every time even when he ran the wrong way... It must have looked extremely odd to anyone that saw the game.
This weekend I finally managed to use the Christmas baking mould and sprinkles that my parents sent in December, the biscuits are now hidden in a drawer in my room. I also purchased a world map in an attempt to memorise all the countries in the world, I'll let you know how that goes...

Next week I'm working in Juniors - it's going to be a tiring week!

Very late Christmas biscuits

World map challenge

First Week Back

We started work again on Tuesday, and I was placed in the Senior class - a nice relaxing start to the new year. It was great to see all the children again after so long and for half the day I listened to extravagant tales of what they'd done during the holidays. One boy swam with mermaids and a girl claimed that she fought off a dragon. Much more exciting than my holiday - I'm quite jealous.

There was a sad point to the day when we had to carefully explain to the kids that one of the girls in the Junior class passed away during the holiday. It's difficult for some of the children to understand the concept of death, but one boy in the Seniors has experienced death in his family so he understands that when you say 'she's gone to heaven' that they're not coming back. Over tea and biscuits we brought out a picture of the girl that died and recalled different moments that we had all spent together. It was a lovely method of closure for both the teachers and the children. Later on this term we're going to plant a tree in her memory.

Last term we said goodbye to one of the boys in the Lifeskills class because he was offered a place at drama school - a huge achievement! His absence meant that a new space opened up in the Enrichment Centre and we are now welcoming a new boy into the Lifeskills class. He'll be starting his first day on Monday and we're all really excited to meet him. Working with disabled children is fantastic not only because it's so rewarding, but also because each child is so unique. They each have such interesting and funny personalities and it amazes/inspires me that the children are always smiling and laughing despite their physical and mental disabilities.

In other news: last weekend we were invited to one of the teacher's 21st birthday party (it was toga themed). Kathryn, Zoe and I went on an expedition to the mall and purchased three white bed sheets
and then looked up online, 'how to make a toga out of a bed sheet'. Surprisingly, it wasn't a complete disaster and we managed to conjure up a toga-like outfit. The party was held at the pavilion, where we eat lunch, and everyone had set it up beautifully! Ivy was wound round all the wooden pillars, there were golden masks in the middle of each table, white table clothes and to top it off - a disco ball. Yesterday was the Hostel Fun Day, so we all took part in various games and team building activities as a fun way of introducing the new kids to the hostel. There was an egg throwing competition, an assault course and a capture the teddy bear game - we all got very competitive. For lunch we arranged to make our own pizzas (delicious) and for dinner we organised a Braai. I think I'm going to bring home some South African chicken seasoning because it's so tasty...

Next week I'm working in Lifeskills. I can't wait to be introduced to our new member!

Toga Party

Hostel Fun Day - egg throwing competition

Egg throwing competition (about to get splatted)

Assault course judges

Capture the teddy

Mmmm Pizza

Christmas Travels

I've decided to write this post slightly differently. While I was travelling I wrote in a journal almost every day, and I've copied what I wrote onto this post. Maybe that way you'll get a more detailed account of what we did - it's going to be very long but I hope you enjoy. I apologise if the diary entries aren't very well written, I was trying to get all the information in at the end of each day so I was usually quite tired!


Tuesday 9th

Today was our first day of travel! Peter (our desk officer) picked us up from Mitchell House this morning and drove with us to Joburg which was lovely - it was great to talk about the project in more detail. I found it very weird to think that we are now the volunteers that he's visiting, I remember him mentioning on selection last year that he was going out to see everyone.
We arrived at Diamond Diggers hostel at about 4pm and settled in nicely. I've decorated my travelling rucksack with tinsel to really embrace the festive season. Plus I'm wandering about in a Santa hat which is a very good look, I think I'm starting a trend... 
Tonight we made friends with two lovely girls from Germany who are studying in Durban for one semester. I think we're planning to meet up in Port Elizabeth for a nice meal or something - lovely! 
Until tomorrow when we'll be in Durban by the beach... CAN'T WAIT.

Wednesday 10th

This morning we were picked up by the Bazbus from Diamond Diggers hostel and drove all the way to Durban. The journey took eleven hours but we finally arrived at Tekweni backpackers in the evening. It's different to what I imagined - not on the beach and quite loud. 

Drakensburg Storm

The drive was very beautiful today, especially the pass through the Drakensburg mountains. We were driving through as a lighting/thunder storm hit which looked amazing against the landscape. We also drove over flat grasslands but all over the vast expanse random trees sprouted up. From far away they looked like really tall buildings. Later on I saw a lot of small black birds with very long tail feathers and they always sat on the fence at the edge of the road. I sometimes mistook them for black plastic bags blowing in the wind. Obviously Dalkeith's scenery still hasn't left me.
Our driver on the Bazbus was called Pedro and was really friendly. He attempted to teach us Xhosa and I can now say 'molo' - hello and 'unjani' - thank you. I'll try to broaden my vocabulary by the end of the year.
I've also noticed that there is a huge German population in South Africa - almost everyone that got on the Bazbus was German.  I really appreciated my German side at that point, it felt really special being able to converse with someone in a completely different language. I've missed having the language around because Dad usually speaks it at home but obviously I don't have that here. When I heard them speaking German it made me feel like I had an instant connection - just like when you're in a country where absolutely nobody speaks English and you find a fellow Briton.

Thursday 11th

We decided that today was going to be spent at Ushaka, a really nice water park and aquarium right next to Durban's main beach. The aquarium was absolutely amazing. It was built in and underneath an old cargo ship and was designed so that each tank took the space of a cargo hold. In some of the tanks, cylindrical pods had been built for you to stand in so it seemed like you were just underwater with the fish. In another tank there was a tunnel which led to a little head space that popped up among the reefs. It looked very funny from outside because all you could see was a random head surrounded by fish. 

Ushaka Aquarium

There was also a village built into the park where you could visit traditional African craft shops. I visited one particular shop with very old, original tribal items. The shopkeeper showed me a water container that was used by the chief elder of a Zulu tribe. It was made from a hollowed out fruit that turns very hard when dried. He also told me that because it was strung together with antelope hide and not grass, you could tell it belonged to a chief. Very interesting. 
Tomorrow we're visiting all the markets.

Friday 12th

Today turned out to be more adventurous than originally planned... It started off nicely when we got a lift to the Indian market in the heart of Durban and walked around all the beautiful stalls there. The whole place smelt of exotic spices and everything was brightly coloured, even the people walked around in multicoloured clothing. I actually purchased some very nice, classic 'Aladdin' trousers - now I really fit in with the traveller look. I think they'll be perfect to wear on the bus to Coffee Bay tomorrow.

Indian Market

After we finished at the market we decided to make our own way to the Durban Botanical Gardens and this is when things went a bit downhill... With nothing but a small map to guide us we set out in what we thought was the right direction but ended up getting very lost. Finally, after about thirty minutes of wandering about, a very kind Indian man came to our aid and directed us towards a taxi - costing only 25p! About fifteen minutes later it became clear that the taxi driver had no idea where the garden was either and dropped us off at the bottom of a long road. "Walk up," he said and then drove off. We decided to give it a go but by this point we were all thinking that the gardens better be worth it. 
The hill we were instructed to walk up was steep and it was 35 degrees Celsius. After about ten minutes we had to stop for a break in the shade. Then, suddenly, we spotted a sign at the end of the road for 'Durban's Botanical Gardens' (hurrah). When we reached the sign however we noticed that the gardens were closed. Fab. A quick call to the hostel taxi and then we were picked up.

After arriving back at our hostel we all crashed on our beds and went to sleep. Kathryn and I then made a quick trip to the local supermarket and bought a mango and some litchis - which actually taste like a grape, an orange and a coconut all mixed together. While we were buying some scones for tomorrow's breakfast there was a power cut and the whole store went pitch black. It was like something out of a zombie apocalypse movie.
Our bus leaves at 7am tomorrow and it's a 6 hour drive to Coffee Bay so I'm getting my tunes ready.

Saturday 13th

Coffee Bay

One of the reasons I chose to stay in South Africa was because of its diversity. Driving to Coffee Bay today really highlighted that characteristic - for part of the way we drove along the coastline and then moved inland into the hills. Our driver told us that the people that lived in these hills used to be among the most wealthy in South Africa because of the farming. Both arable and pastoral. Today it's just a very cut off community away from all the big cities, where people grow enough crops to satisfy their own needs. All the old farming land has been converted into fields to feed the animals. It was a very interesting landscape because it had the appearance of rice terraces - I think the farmers leveled off platforms on the hills so it was easier to harvest the crops.
The huts that were scattered everywhere were round with grass roofs and were all brightly coloured in either a turquoise, blue, green or orange paint. It was like driving through an African Balamory. When we were driving along the roads cattle, goats and sheep kept wandering out in what seemed like suicide attempts. Luckily our driver seemed to be experienced enough to know when to slow down and we didn't hit anything.

Local Cafe

We got dropped off at our hostel at about 5pm today and it's amazing. Coffee Bay isn't at all what I expected. I thought it was going to be a city on the coast it's actually an incredible rural, little town tucked away in a small bay. The town mostly consists of backpackers and a couple of shops so the place is full of travellers. This evening there was a drumming event on at one of the lodges so we all went along to see what was happening. The drumming was amazing and we even got to join in with shakers! After that we headed up the hill to a small cafe where a local woman cooks you dinner straight out of the pan. All the tables looked out over the village and surrounding cliffs - fantastic view with yummy food, we couldn't ask for more.
Tomorrow we've been invited fishing by a woman from Texas. Should be fun!

Sunday 14th

Last night I managed to get the bed with a mosquito net above it so I had a very pleasant sleep. It seems that I react quite badly to the bites so I was glad to avoid the little bloodsuckers.
This morning was a very chilled wake up - kind of rolled out of bed, had my last scone with jam that I'd been saving (I bought four for 50p before leaving Durban).
We spent the afternoon fishing with out Texan friend (Jo) which turned out to be great - we headed out to the rocky cliffs with two rods, some bait and rain jackets for the incoming thunder storm. We really took extreme fishing to the next level. Jo told us that there are bull sharks around the area, much more dangerous than great whites because they just attack things for fun... 
Unfortunately we came back empty handed as we had to head back before the lightning hit. Two metal rods and a lightning storm are not a good mix. 

Jo showing us how it's done

One of the things I've noticed and loved about travelling so far are all the interesting people you meet. Jo, for example, has had such an exciting life starting when she used to ride horses bare back on her farm back in Texas. She explained that she then went to university and got two degrees, one in environmental science and the other in geology and after that spent three months in Alaska, where she collected soil samples in a tiny hut up in the mountains. When we were fishing she also told us that she caught her biggest fish there - a 5ft long salmon which she sent small packaged, frozen chucks of to her family back home. Apparently everyone loved it.
After getting back from the failed fishing trip we went to the decked hillside cafe for dinner. The view is amazing from up there and you can see across both bays. The food was a bonus, I bought myself a sprite, a plate of roast chicken with veg and two cookies to finish. All that for just a fiver... I'd move here for the food alone!

Monday 15th

Hole in the Wall

At 2pm today we set off for Hole In The Wall, a geographical arch quite a distance from the hostel. The hosts very kindly gave us a lift to the site and then we walked back along the coast, accompanied by a local village boy who would act as our guide.
When we arrived at the viewpoint you could clearly see the massive arch from the top of the cliff and I couldn't wait to go and get a closer look. Julius, our fifteen year old guide, seemed to be quite comfortable walking down barefoot but I was glad I had my trainers on... He told us that the cliffs joined onto the arch are referred to as 'the washing machine' because when the tide comes in the water swirls around between the rocks. The forest next to the beach is called The Sleeping Forest because the soil isn't strong enough to hold most of the trees upright. When the trees fall over however, they continue to grow so they're not dead, just sleeping. I love that fact - it sounds like something out of a fairytale.

The Sleeping Forest

It took us five hours to complete the walk and when we got back, all the Swaziland and Botswana volunteers had arrived. It was great to catch up with all of them and hear about their projects - especially the Botswana group because we hadn't seen them since training.
Tomorrow is our last half day in Coffee Bay and then we're moving on to Port Elizabeth or P.E as everyone calls it here.

Tuesday 16th


Something funny happened today while travelling to Port Elizabeth. There were two German guys on the Bazbus with us and for the beginning of the journey they'd talk in German thinking no one could understand them - haha! It reached a point when I couldn't hold myself back anymore. They were both standing next to the window when we stopped for a break and one commented that everyone looked like cattle shoved into a bus, to which the other replied:
"Ein gluck das niemand uns verstehen kann!" (It's lucky that nobody can understand us!)
It was just too good an opportunity to miss so I looked out the window and replied:
"Ja, dass kann ich." (Yes, I can.)
When they got back on the bus we actually became quite good friends. It was great to talk German after so long - I actually miss it a lot Dad! It felt kind of cool as well because no one else could understand us... One of them is actually studying in Wuppertal, the town where my family is from. It's such a small world.

Thursday 18th 

Nothing very exciting happened yesterday so I missed it out. Today, however, we rode elephants so I thought that might deserve a little mention.

Mujumba

We got a taxi from our hostel to the elephant sanctuary and paid thirty pounds for a ride and interaction. The elephant that I rode was called Mujumba, meaning 'elephant' in Swahili. She was 30 years old but our guide told us that some elephants can live up to 100 years of age when kept in captivity. African elephant's ears are also shaped slightly like the African continent, which is how you tell them apart from Asian elephants, whose ears are rounder.

Mmm Slimy

We rode the elephants around the sanctuary and were able to spot Zebra and other animals from the elephant's back. When we reached a gate, Mujumba very cleverly opened it with her truck and closed it behind herself - they're incredibly intelligent animals!
After the ride we interacted with the elephants by feeding them dry food directly into their mouths. I can now say that I've stroked an elephant's tongue and it was, as expected, very slimy...
Tomorrow the Bazbus leaves for Plettenburg, our second last stop before Cape Town.

Saturday 20th

The hostel here is lovely. It's deep in the forest just on the outskirts of Plettenburg with a fantastic view from the BBQ spot in the garden. The area however, is apparently quite dangerous, even with such a peaceful setting. It's got quite a high crime rate and we were warned not to go for walks in the woods because of the surrounding townships. If they saw a tourist wandering about they'd most likely take a chance.

View from the BBQ area

The big news of today is that I successfully (without fainting) managed to jump the highest bunjee jump in the world! It was definitely the scariest thing I've ever done, but it was such an amazing experience. Zoe and myself both signed up for the group jumping at 11am and at 10.30, we started the walk to the jumping point.
The walk was actually more terrifying that the jump because you had to make your way along this thin path made out of mesh that hung underneath the bridge, below the road. It was the fact that you could see the drop below the path and that it bent slightly as you walked along. By the time we reached the jumping point in the middle of the bridge my heart was already thumping...
Then you just had to wait for your turn. I went last so when it was finally my turn I was actually quite glad. Now, this jump was 220m high, a free fall of about four seconds which feels insanely long. So standing on the edge with my toes just going over the side was very daunting. The two guys that led me to the edge started to count down from five and on 'JUMP!', I superman dove forwards with my arms spread out. I just watched the valley floor rush towards me incredibly fast and hoped that my feet were strapped in properly. It was insane. It felt like you weren't attached to anything at all until the rope caught you and you started bouncing. 

Pre-jump.. Having second thoughts..

After you finished a guy abseiled down and brought you back up to the bridge. I was met by Zoe who had jumped before me and we both just started babbling because of the adrenaline. I think we must have been a very funny sight - flushed, tears from the speed and shaking.

Watch the video of my jump here!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-c-Ge1T32n4

When we arrived back at the cafe all the other volunteers had left to make it in time for their elephant ride. Before Zoe and j headed off for our jump, we watched some other PT pals do the leap - there was a massive T.V in the restaurant where you could watch everyone jumping. Whenever a volunteer was shown about to jump, our whole table erupted with 'YEAH COME ON! YOU CAN DO IT! YOU GO GIRLY!!' Everyone else in he restaurant got quite a shock each time we shouted out.

Tomorrow he Bazbus is taking us to Hermanus, where we're going to try cage diving. It's quite early but I'm going to bed, I think the adrenaline has worn me down...

Tuesday 23rd

Hermanus

Once again, nothing much happened during the last couple of days. We're currently in Hermanus, a beautiful seaside town with little markets and excellent shark cage diving opportunities that I took advantage of today. It was a very early start. We had to get up at 5.30am to be ready in time for the shark shuttle at 6am that would take us to the boat.

When we arrived, breakfast was waiting for us (a light one because of the rocky boat) and we were introduced to our captain for the day. He quickly gave us a run-down of safety on board and in he water, how to rent an underwater camera and advised us to take sea sickness pills. People from the hostel came back from the diving yesterday telling us everyone on the boat was sick.

When we actually got out there it wasn't bad at all. The crew anchored the ship and then it was a waiting game for he great whites to come to us. Tuna heads were being thrown overboard constantly along with a mixture of fish guts and blood - really not helping the seasick amongst the visitors. Eventually the bait attracted a huge male great white and the first five divers got into the cage. The tuna heads were attached to the end of a long rope that the tour guide pulled towards the cage. When the shark went for the bait he'd lure it towards he cage and shout 'DOWN!' at which point you'd pull yourself underwater to catch sight of the animal.

Our First Shark

A couple of times the shark actually breached, lunging out of the water with its mouth wide open - it reminded me a lot of Jaws. When it was my turn to get in the cage I was quite nervous. A girl that was in before me had been looking out for a shark for about five minutes until we noticed it was right next to her foot chewing the bars...

So when I slipped into the water I became very away of all the gaps in the cage, making sure that my feet and hands didn't drift through. The water was surprisingly cold, but apparently the sharks prefer cool temperatures. When the guide shouted 'DOWN' I pushed myself under the water and right in front of me was a massive great white. Each time it came close to the cage it went side on, looking at us as it swam along. A couple of times when the bait was dragged straight towards the cage it came directly towards us with its mouth open. At that point the thought occurs to you that maybe this isn't such a good idea... What if Jaws is real? They are the ultimate preditor after all.

'Ello, 'ello

Their colouration (white on the bottom and grey on top) acts as the perfect camouflage. Prey looking down from above the shark will only see its dark back, that blends in well with the dark colour of the ocean below. Prey looking up from underneath the shark will see its white tummy, blending in with the lighter tone coming from the surface. This way the shark is almost undetectable for fish with poor eyesight.

The whole experience was extremely interesting and is definitely one of my favourite things I've done so far. Plus, we got given beef lasagne for lunch which just topped it off for me.

Tomorrow we're driving to Cape Town! Finally! I can't believe it's going to be Christmas Eve, it doesn't feel like it at all.

Thursday 25th (Christmas!!)

Even though I've been carrying my chocolate calendar with me for a whole month, it still doesn't feel like Christmas... I think it's the lack of roast potatoes and family members. 

It's also very warm here which is, unsurprisingly, strange for a Scot to experience over Christmas. At the same time it's lovely spending Christmas with your friends, all the volunteers have experience home sickness over the last couple of days but we're in Cape Town - so life is good.

Feeding the pigeons on our
way to the Gallery

Friday 26th

Today we explored Cape Town a bit more which was lovely. We visited a few markets and then the SA National Gallery and Museum. The gallery was full of very gruesome pictures and paintings, a lot of inspiration coming from the artist's own personal experiences. I suppose it's understandable with South Africa's rough history.

Sunday 28th

Yesterday Kathryn and I set out on the Cape Peninsula tour which lasted the whole day (why I'm writing it today because I was really tired when we got back).

At 7am we got picked up on Long Street by the tour bus and were driven all the way down to the Cape of Good Hope with various stops along the way. The tour included two hikes and one cycle, with lunch and breakfast included. The activities took place in the Peninsula National Park - one of the six floral kingdoms in the world and the most diverse. It has over 8,500 plants species, 69% of which can only be found in South Africa. That's quite impressive when you consider that the entire British Isles only has about 1,500 different species of plant.

The hikes and cycle were beautiful but it was very windy, so we had to be careful when we walked along the cliff edge. We were also warned about baboons - I came across a few when I was cycling and got a bit nervous, but they just ignored me. A man actually got chased across the car park by a big male baboon when we were waiting for the bus driver. Our guide informed us that male baboons have the strength of eight male humans.

Enjoying the Watermelon

Today Shannon and myself bought a Red Bus Tour ticket and went round Cape Town in true tourist fashion. We stopped off at Clifton beach and spent the day there eating watermelon and reading our books - it's a hard life. As well as a very relaxing day, the tour provided us with some interesting facts:

-- Three million years ago Table Mountain was underneath the sea. Tectonic plate movement then forced the rock above ground.

-- There are peaks next to Table Mountain called the twelve apposals (although nobody knows why because there are seventeen..)

-- Cape Town stadium was built in 2010 for the FIFA World Cup and cost 4.7 billion Rand to build.

-- Cape Town city hospital was where the first heart transplant took place - it wasn't mentioned whether or not it was successful.

Fantastic views from the tour bus

-- The saying 'women and children first' originated in South Africa when a ship sank off the coast of Cape Town and the captain made his crew stay on board until all the woman and children were safe. 440 men lost their lives, but no women and children.

After returning from the beach we went out for dinner with a group of volunteers to a cultural bazaar. It was filled with Indian, Chinese and Greek stations where they cook food first hand. I purchased some Hakka chicken noodles and watched the chef cook them in his wok, throwing a variety of spices in all the time. 

Monday 25th

The prison grounds

This morning we walked to Cape Town docks to catch the 1pm ferry to Robben Island. It was really hot so waiting in the queues was quite tedious, but eventually we made it on board. The journey took about 45 minutes and when we arrived on the island buses took us on a tour around the main sites. It stopped next to the lime quarry where Nelson Mandela and other prisoners were made to work for long hours during the day. They were never given any proper equipment so a lot of the prisoner ended up having skin problems and eyesight issues because of the sun reflection off the limestone. Nelson Mandela himself damaged his eyesight while working in the quarry, which was why the media were never allowed to use the flash when taking pictures of him.

In the middle of the quarry (now out of use), there was a pile of rocks, similar to the piles you find at the top of a mountain. That was created when Mandela revisited the island with other freedom fighters after his release. When standing in the quarry Mandela wandered off, picked up a stone and placed it on the ground. All the other men followed his example and did the same, creating a big pile of rocks. The different shapes, colours and sizes of the stones symbolise the diversity of South Africa, reinforcing the nickname 'The Rainbow Nation'.

Mandela's Cell

At the far corner of the quarry was a cave and this was where would rest during their breaks between work and find relief from the sun. A lot of the workers were well educated, once lawyers or bankers before being arrested so they taught the less educated prisoners during their time off. These lessons were done in complete secret, with notes being written in the sand so no one could find out. This is why the cave received the nickname, 'The University of Robben Island'.

After the bus ride we were taken on a tour of the actual prison where Mandela was kept. Our guide showed us the exact cell in which he was held, the blanket he slept with and the bowl he used. It was facinating.

Tuesday 30th

I was woken up by Amy at 7am to get ready to hike up Table Mountain. We all got a taxi to the bottom and then started the long climb, which was extremely steep. The views all the way up were very good, you could clearly see the whole of Cape Town and Robben Island situated a bit offshore. 

The gorge and the mist

About half way up you reached a gorge that had a path zig-zagging up the middle. This was the point where the mist came down  and met the hikers walking up, providing a nice, cool change from the heat. But by the time we reached the top it was really cold and wet, we couldn't see anything because of the mist! It still felt good that we hiked all the way up to the top, even if we didn't know exactly where on top we were...

After that successful trip we decided to visit a cafe that caught our attention when we arrived. It's  situated on Long Street and has a second story balcony with lots of plants and trees draping over the banister and exotic looking carpets hanging from the ceiling. We walked up the stairs and asked for a table, discovering that it was an Ethiopian restaurant.

After looking looking at the menu for a while and not really knowing what anything was, we decided to order the giant meat and veggie platters to share (complete with Ethiopian flat bread, kind of like pancakes). It was delicious but very filling and some of the sauces were very spicy. It was such a 'Gap Yah' moment.

After the climb down

The amazing view of Cape Town
(half way up)

Summit reached!

Thursday 1st

It's 2015!! And what a New Year's to remember. At 6pm last night a group of us went to see the new Hobbit, a great start to the evening (although I still think Lord of the Rings is better...).

Then weren't and bought dinner from Woolworths and headed for the balcony of the mall we were in. We were very lucky that we arrived early because the place was packed, but we managed to finds free space andsat down, dangling our legs over the edge. The view was fantastic, we could see the whole harbour and the stage where various artists were performing. We could also make out the huge crowd gathered around the harbour's edge - the commentator said about 200,000 people were present. Wowza.

It was a really warm evening sitting there, sipping our cloudy lemonade while waiting for the big countdown. When the ten second countdown arrived it seemed like everyone in Cape Town was there counting down as well - the noise was deafening. When it reached '0' the whole harbour erupted with a massive 'HAPPY NEW YEAR!!' and huge fireworks went off above our heads. Such a special experience and a night to remember!

Tomorrow I'm getting the bus back to Polokwane with Kathryn and Zoe. It's been a fantastic few weeks but I'm glad to be going back to my own room!

Adios.

As you can imagine it took me a while to copy all of that from my diary, so sorry for the wait but hopefully it's provided you with a detailed account of what the travelling experience was like. If you've made it to this last paragraph congratulations and thank you for reading this exceedingly long post... I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and I'll see you all later this year! My next post will be in a couple of weeks when we start school again.