Cape Town

We got a taxi to our amazing accommodation and met our Air BnB people at their mansion by Lion’s Head, Bantry Bay.
We spent the rest of the day chilling out by our pool and going to the supermarket for the essentials. Alcohol. And food. The girls went to the supermarket while the boys got acquainted with the pool!
We had a nice dinner altogether after relaxing and reading and catching up. The views were phenomenal of Sea Point and Robben Island in the distance. With all of the issues we had with Cape Town Accommodation, this was such a great surprise (even though it cost us an arm and a leg!).
We also had a ‘nice’ visit from our neighbours above us – they had a drone that kept hovering over us and we started getting quite shitty with them, yelling profanities and telling them to go away!

30th December
We caught Ubers to Table Mountain and began the 2 hour wait in line to get up it. But boy, was it worth it! The views were as stunning as we could remember them and it was a real highlight to have the Hoggard’s and Moloney’s just blown away. Shane said that that was his favourite day which was awesome. We walked all around it and Trudi did so well considering that she had a knee operation and was still recovering! There were of course lots of idiots that were getting very close to the side of the mountain taking selfies and we made it clear to them that it was so stupid. We found out later that someone had died by doing that only the week or so before.
Another hour’s wait to get back down the mountain and then we headed to the VnA waterfront on the Red Bus. We did a little tour before that and it was so hot, my legs were burning so bad! Luckily we had some sunblock left!
We then went to the VnA and had a lovely meal with a view to die for. The mountain in all it’s glory and the weather was exceptional!-Danielle

31st December
This day was going to be a great day – the Moloney’s and the Grove’s had a wine tasting tour! We naturally took up the whole back seat of the mini van we were in, and right from the beginning, were the rowdy ones. The driver was great and tried to get everyone energised but it only seemed to be working on us. We went to four wineries around the Stellenbosch and Franschhoek where we drank all the wine…unlike everyone else on the tour (who took a sip and then tipped theirs out!).
We got to experience some lovely wineries and food, along with a stunning day. The scenery in that area was so nice. Kyle and Liam also tried their 'coffee in a cone' in Franschhoek.
Later that afternoon we headed back to our mansion where we had a bbq with the Hoggards, and a swim in our pool. We weren’t really in the mood to go out again so we ended up playing a hilarious game of Slap Cup in our dining area and seeing the New Year in at our accommodation. We also had another chance to get angry at the drone that kept coming over our heads from the property above us.

1st January
Moving day for us to our new accommodation down the road. It was a nice hotel with a pool and outdoor bar. We had to wait for a while for our rooms so spent some time in the lobby having an early drink. A slightly hungover Liam had a beer to fix it.
Today we tried to go to Robben Island. We were all ready to go and the weather was amazing and calm…only then to have our trip cancelled, due to the weather. We were quite gutted, especially as it was so calm – however, later on in the day the winds really got up, so we could see how it would have been dangerous coming back. The Hoggard’s and Moloney’s went to the aquarium (we had been there before) and we went shopping. Kyle was very successful, me, not so much!
Then Kyle and I met up with Bernhard and had lunch at a burger joint on the VnA waterfront.
That night we got an uber and visited Kirsty, one of Kyle’s oldest friends. It was so nice to finally meet her! She had a baby only a few weeks old, her sister Sarah, and her Mum Aunty Jenny were there too. Later we met her husband as he got back from his shift at the hospital. It was a late night but so wonderful to be around friends.

2nd January
Today we went to Cape of Good Hope where there happened to be the Coon Carnival (called this under Apartheid), now called the Kaapse Klopse (Cape Club) which is a celebration of the African Slaves being able to have one day off on the 2nd of January where they got to do what they wanted. There were thousands of people there in a parade with the most amazing costumes with brass bands. The costumes were so bright and colourful and the singing and music was amazing. We were so lucky to have stumbled across this event and being one of the few white people there was a little uncomfortable but humbling.
We then ventured to Castle of Good Hope which Kyle and I had been to before. We did the free tour and it was cool seeing the others so interested in it. It was quite hot and we were a bit tired but still walked around the whole thing. Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to go on top of the walls there due to the carnival and security; from the walls you get a great view.
Navigating our way into an uber with the 6 of us in incredible traffic was pretty spectacular. There were so many buses that had delivered the thousands of people involved in the carnival.
That night the whole group met up and near our accommodation we went to an Italian place with Bernhard which was really fun.

3rd January

Kyle and I met Bernhard and went to the other side of Cape Town where his girlfriend had a flat. It was the most amazing view to be able to see Table Mountain from another angle. We had lunch at a rock themed burger restaurant which was delicious. Eating gluten had never been so good! The bay is called Big Bay Beach and was stunning. There were so many people kite surfing there and when we were having lunch a group of men did an acrobatic display for us which was very impressive.
Later that night we had our final dinner at Belthazar with the Hoggard’s, Moloney’s, Bernhard, Constant and Marnie. It was a nice way to end our time in Cape Town. We tried different types of meat – I had ostrich, Kyle had a tasting platter which had Eland, Blesbok, Kudu and Wildebeest.