Sickness in Stellenbosch....

So, we left Cape Town on the commuter train for Stellenbosch - the second oldest city in South Africa and home to the many wine estates South Africa is famous for. We have been here over a week now and I've been pretty ill the whole time. I got ill in Ghana and it seems like the tablets they gave me there did more damage than good...Anyway I saw a doctor yesterday and am taking anti-biotics for a kidney infection and E-Coli - nice... Its annoying because I really want to drink the wine here but I'm not allowed....



So, we are staying in the Stumble Inn - a backpacker place where I've met loads of interesting people....as I've been ill I've been there most of the time so know everyone its great! After a few days (before I got really bad) we hired bikes and cycled in the boiling hot heat around the wine estates looking for jobs....it was really spectacular and we saw ostriches which was exciting and also met some nice people at the wine farms...




So, Nick is now working at the Irish pub in town whilst I get better....my job is to find us a flat and I think I found one today- its a young couple who have quite a large house and a little mini flat (i think it might have originally been a garage) ....its really small but has everything we need and a swimming pool!!?! So, hopefully moving in there tomorrow and we have a meeting with a guy at The Devon Valley Hotel for work in the restaurant - its on a wine estate and and views are amazing...So, fingers crossed it's all coming together for us if I can only get well soon so I can drink the gorgeous wine!

C'est La Vie...

So, we stayed in Cape Town for over a week. Loved it there, its beautiful. It's boiling hot, the sea is clear blue and the sand is white....the city is really cosmopolitan - bit like London in parts but boiling hot and much cheaper! We have been staying at the Cat and Moose backpackers lodge - really cool place very stylish - our room was gorgeous.

When we first arrived we spent a few days looking for jobs and ended up working in a restaurant/bar by the sea...it was really frustrating because they made us work as 'runners' for four consecutive shifts for literally no pay - we were clearly making the waitrons (as they like to call them here - very politically correct) loads of tips as the majority of them were useless and couldn't speak good English....so annoying...so by the 3rd shift I was really knackered and lost it with the manager - lets call him Basil Fawlty as he really was like Basil Fawlty completely neurotic and shouting at everyone constantly...SO, he starting having a go and I thought 'what am i doing? I'm not that desperate for money....yet...' so we both walked out totally leaving him in the lurch as there was a party of 50 coming in that night - HA!?

So, after that, we decided to have fun doing touristy things in Cape Town...Went to the slave museum and learned about the origins of the Afrikaans and the people that make up South Africa - very interesting as there are so many influences here - Malay, Indian, Dutch, English, African, etc stemming from the slave trade a couple of hundred years ago...

We also climbed Table Mountain - which was a hard climb but pretty spectacular when we got to the top...got really burnt though again - its so hot here! This is Nick looking out at the top where we stopped for our lunch...


The night before we left Cape Town, we looked up my Grandad's friend whom he fought in the Second World War with in Java. We walked for miles looking for his flat but it was really worthwhile as he was really pleased to see us. Last time he had seen my grandad was 1963! We were really well received, he cracked open the Chardonnay and I showed him photos of my Grandad and Grandma as they are today - it was lovely...His daughter, Tessa then came and very kindly took us out for dinner...Was a really great evening..

We left Cape Town on 1st Feb for Stellenbosch....