So, we have arrived. After a very long day at Heathrow Airport, broken up by thrashings of chess and frequent visits to the sushi bar, we boarded our flight for an equally very long and boring flight to Johannasberg. I must say, as much as everyone raves about Virgin, and the service is great, they have to have the most uncomfortable seats in the world. Alright for Kieran who promptly lays across the 3 of us and goes to sleep for the duration, but try crammimg my 6 ft 6 frame into a space where even sardines would struggle. No amount of movie selection will compensate. Especially when you can't see the screen anyway as my head towers at least 3 ft above the damn thing! I do like flying really! oh, we were fine with luggage too, though for future reference, skateboards are not permitted as hand luggage as they can be used as a weapon. Guitars on the other hand are. I am sure Osama Bin Laden will be sitting in his cave right now preparing to burn his skate board surplus and googling ebay for cheap acoustic guitars to purchase!
Arrival into Johannasberg and switching flights to Cape Town was a very stress free, and Jo berg has, without a shadow of doubt the shiniest airport floor I have ever set my sweaty flip flops upon. Positively gleaming! A couple more hours flight time to Cape Town then excitement really set in as we flew past Table Mountain and our introduction proper to South Africa was this magnificent land mark.
When driving from the airport into Cape Town itself the main focal point is Table Mountain and the 3 of us sat in the taxi quite awestruck. Our Hotel is OK. the Ritz, but the Ritz it aint! But is has 3 clean beds, a half decent bathroom and magnificent views over the bay and to the other side, Signal Hll. We are on the 10th floor, the swimming pool is on the 1st and we must have looked a right trio of muppets as we dived into it's icy cold water in full view of everyone wrapped up in woollens from the restaraunt. It is winter here, still warmer than Jersey though!
We took a stroll along the front on our first evening and walked down to the waterfront for a bite to eat. The part of Cape Town we are staying in for the next 5 days is Sea Point. It is here that one of the stadiums is being built for next years world cup and the half finished building dominates the skyline, with Table Mountain in the background. In fact, wherever you look up the view is quite incredible and we all fell in love with Cape Town immediately.
Yesterday was the start of our first adventure and by 9:00am we have made our way to 'Abseil Africa's' office on Long Street where we met another 9 nervous travelers and we all crammed into the back of a beaten up old minibus for a bumpy ride to the foot of Table Mountain. I have to say we are truly blessed with the weather as there is not a cloud in the sky and the mountain just stands there with a perfect blue backdrop. I am trying to organize some cloud for the Thursday so we can see it shrouded in it's famous tablecloth, but for today, blue skies were fine.
OK, just been summoned to breakfast so will finish this story this evening.
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