Day 23 - Hermanus to Cape Town

I awoke at 5:30 to the sound of rain pounding on the tent roof, happy last day camping to me! The usual trudge to the bathroom wearing every single layer possible, trudge back, get dressed, pack up, put the bags on the truck, empty the tent and take the tent down happened but with slightly more glee as this was the last time and we had a very small spring in our step. I may or may not have kicked the tent bag at the end! 

We piled on the bus and drove the 2 hours to Cape Town along the beautiful Hermanus coastal route watching whales slowly swim and play in the surf. We stopped off at Betty’s Bay where a large colony of penguins lived and we spent half an hour watching them go about their day, flopping and bouncing their way from their underground nests to the water for a swim. 

We arrived in Cape Town about 10:30, a full 8,000km's behind us, said goodbye to Tsepo and Mr Goodman, thanked them for everything and then me, Deb and Kate put our bags in the hostel lock up and headed to the waterfront for a wander and a coffee. What a place! I can now completely understand why so many people rave about the waterfront, it’s beautiful, full of lovely restaurants and shops with a really wonderful feel to the place. We wandered about for an hour or so, keeping an eye on Table Mountain and the fog that was continuing to linger at the top and decided that we would go and visit Kirstenbosch Gardens in the afternoon. 

Our Uber driver turned into a bit of a tour guide and explained a lot about Cape Town and it’s history on the drive to the Gardens which took about 20 minutes. We had lunch at the Tea Room, I had a wonderful chicken salad all home grown within the grounds themselves and then we spent the next 2 hours aimlessly wandering the grounds enjoying the plants and the wonderful views of the mountains and downtown Cape Town. 

A shower and rest was called for so we went back to the hostel, checked in and spent the next few hours chilling in our private rooms before we ventured back to the waterfront for dinner and a few drinks. We found a wonderful restaurant on the harbour front surrounded by fire heaters and fairy lights, had the most amazing dinner of Moules Frites and Waffles for dessert and 3 or 4 cocktails and settled the bill at £20 per person!!! ​