Ticket to Ride

We decided to take the train from Johannesburg to Cape Town to avoid the long drive. It was a good thing that we booked our tickets before leaving home because the 3 times / week journey is fully booked for the next 3 months as we found out at departure. Interestingly enough, the rail company  is having financial issues......their linen supply company has not been paid and with the stoppage in service we were advised to provide our own sleeping gear. After travelling on the steel highway for the 27 hour trip, which turned into 30 hours,  I had plenty of time to think about why that might be he case. There were many opportunity areas including their check-in procedures (too slow, no discipline), staffing (too many for the work being done), scheduling (unnecessary and lengthy stops), and revenue capture (pricing too low, missed opportunities). But then I remembered that I'm retired and not looking for more work. So I sat back and relaxed in our 2 person berth, enjoyed the $1.50 large cans of cold beer and embraced the views along the way, especially when we got within several hundred km's of Cape Town where the mountains and vineyards dominated the landscape. Other than showing up late at our guest house near the coast it wasn't much of an inconvenience and we got plenty of rest.

Since we try to always focus on 'the bright side of life', our good karma continued when we went to pick up our rental car. We had pre-selected an economy car for our final 3 weeks of driving around South Africa but since we showed up late because of our delayed arrival, and after most of the other tourists had picked up their 'economy' cars, we were given a free upgrade........to a BMW 320i. The glass is definitely half-full in our lives :-)

Our first impressions of Cape Town have been very positive. It is a visually appealing city with the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the Indian Ocean on the other with some small mountains in between. Yesterday we drove out along the Cape Peninsula and into the National Park where we had short hikes to the Cape Of Good Hope and the Cape Point Lighthouse, with lovely ocean views, wild ostriches beside the road and many varieties of wildflowers in bloom. The Chapman's Peak drive was spectacular. We also visited a penguin colony at The Boulders on the east side of the Cape where we saw hundreds of African Penguins on the beach and more close to their nests. Today we drove east along the coast, another incredible drive with mountains on one side and the raging surf from the Indian Ocean on the other. Our target was Hermanus, known for whale watching, and it delivered on it's promise. We stopped at a grocery store to pick up a picnic lunch and some cold beers, and then sat on an ocean side bench just out of town and watched the show in front of us on another beautiful day.  After lunch we walked further down the coast to see a mother Southern Right Whale and her youngsters feeding on the krill less than 100 metres from the rocky shore. They were difficult to capture on camera as they quickly emerged and then disappeared back into the water. What a treat to watch though.

We are now back in Cape Town where we have rented a lovely cottage, attached to a house with friendly owners, for a week. It has a nice view of the Harbour from our deck and Table Mountain is behind us. There is a lot to explore in and around the city and we are looking forward to the next week.

The Cape of Good Hope - the most South-West point of Africa

Cape Point Lighthouse

Wildflowers - many more colourful ones but not as voluminous

Wild ostrich near the windy Cape

African Penguins on the beach at The Boulders 

Hermanus - our ocean side picnic spot where we saw our first whale

Where's Waldo the Whale? - she re-submerged just as our slow-reacting camera clicked. We got better views (but no good pictures) later as we walked further along the beach. Sorry, you had to be there.