A very quiet day today. No accidents to report, no protest marches, and no adrenaline filled adventures. Today, it was just nice being a tourist. God it was dull!
The cloud lifted today and Table Mountain returned to us, but unfortunately was completely covered again by late afternoon so the helicopter ride was again cancelled and Sandra and Zak have inherited this as well.
The campervan was delivered today and now sits proudly in the hotel carpark being guarded by some homeless guy who I have promised breakfast to if he makes sure no harm comes to it during the night. He assures me that he will guard it with his life and Kieran has been put on stealing rolls and croissants duty from the breakfast buffet tomorrow morning.
We had the best milkshakes in Cape Town today from 'Mr Pickwicks', a cafe come pub. This is where the gorgeous Natalie works when she is not helping people step off the edge of Table Mountain. Kieran has really taken a shine to her, so we drove across Cape Town so he could give her a present and say goodbye.
Dan's dread locks are looking positively better than they did yesterday and thankfully most of the beeswax has either evaporated or been rinsed out, whatever has happened to it, he no longer looks like he took a head bath in the deep fat fryer.
This afternoon we caught the ferry to Robben Island, something I had been looking forward to since planning this trip. Yesterday at Slave lodge we learned a lot about Stephen Biko, today it was Nelson Mandela's turn. We met a great old guy on Robben Island, Thulani Mabasu. Thulani spent 18 years in prison on Robben Island for blowing up a government building in Johannesburg. He said no-one was killed but 57 people were injured. I guess really he was a terrorist, but one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter and we really liked this guy so we were not going to let the small matter of a bombing spoil a friendship.
Thulani told us about his time on Robben Island and also about his time spent with Nelson Mandela in prison. Conditions were really poor and even now to this day Thulani still has nightmares about his ordeal. Of course we saw the cell that Nelson Mandela spent his time in when incarcerated and also walked through the court yard where he was allowed, after negotiation with the wardens, to plant a small garden.
I guess one of the things that was difficult for me to comprehend was the relationship he has with some of the former wardens. When asked, he told us that the guy who drives one of the ferries to Robben Island was one of his warders and they are now friends and he invites him over to his home and cooks for him every so often. I guess another example of how people can forgive and move on and not dwell on the past. Thulani signed Kieran's scrapbook and underneath his name wrote, last political prisoner released 1991.
Not sure when I am going to update next as we hit the road tomorrow. So, until next time take care and we will too, and next time I check in, hopefully we will have dived with great whites and kayaked with whales.
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