Day 20 10/31/10

After breakfast we checked out of the Fountain Hotel to start our travels down the Cape! Much to our surprise we not only awoke to a fine sunny day but Table Mountain was clear, not a cloud in the sky. We quickly re-planned and headed over to Table Top. We took the cable car to the top and there spread before us a 360 deg view of Cape town as far as the eye can see to include as far away as the Cape of Good Hope/Cape Point. It was breath taking! It took about 45 minutes to walk around the top, the mountain is ~1073 meters above sea level! We then headed to Camps Bay. Camps Bay is Cape Town’s equivalent to Malibu or Caramel Beach. Beautiful white sand beaches and surfers hitting the waves, but most importantly a spectacular view of the Twelve Apostles, a twelve mountains. Will had Camps Bay marked as the perfect spot to take pictures of the Twelve Apostles and he was correct. We then headed on down to the Cape Point Ostrich Farm. It is a breeding farm with 40 breeding pairs, we were a week early to see the new chicks but we had a great tour! They are fascinating birds. We had lunch, ostrich medallions served with sun dried tomatoes and a caper cream sauce, delicious, and our first time trying ostrich. We then took a tour. The tour included the hatchery where they incubate the eggs, they take them away from the nest to keep the baboons from stealing and eating them. The eggs are marked and coded with the parents information. When it is time for them to hatch the babies start kicking, in the wild the mother uses her breast bone to break the shell, in the hatchery they use a hammer. If the mother or someone with a hammer doesn’t help the baby cannot break through the shell, it is so strong a person can stand on one and it won’t break. After the tour we bought some beautifully carved ostrich eggs as souvenirs! FYI one ostrich egg can feed seven people! The next stop, Cape of Good Hope. The second southern most point on the African continent! We took a funicular to the light house, the whole day it was a bit windy but wow, at one point at the top hear the lighthouse I thought the wind was going to blow me off into the ocean. Oh, not to mention as a bonus we saw humpback whales. We also saw baboons and they were everywhere, they are very bold, while having coffee at the restaurant a few actually entered the restaurant to steel food. And if you think a cat walking across your car leaving prints is bad how about baboons sitting on your car! It is kind of freaky because there are signs all over that say how dangerous they are, not to feed them to not get out of the car or roll down the windows and then boom there they are on your car, and in the restaurant! We then headed off to our B&B Froggy Pond! The owners Derek and Ann are charming and welcoming and the room has a view of the ocean and the penguins. Yes the penguins, Will and I went on a long walk along the beach and yes they are everywhere! You can get so close but they do bite as Will found out as he tried to boop their beak! One was so fascinated with Will’s camera strap he walked right up and started biting at it! We then headed off to Boulder’s Beach and had a great dinner at Bertha’s a seafood restaurant on the bay, False Bay! We had African style spring rolls served with a mint yogurt, I had dorado fish and Will had blue fish, we both had malva pudding with caramel sauce and ice cream, YUM. Right now the wind is howling loudly outside our windows but we are safe and sound and both exhausted inside so let the wind blow! It is getting late so I will sign off, tomorrow we head back to Cape Town! I hope I have internet access so I can update you all! Until then!