South Africa Day 3 Pt 2

Right so we are back at our hotel and in spite of the weather not being great, we pressed ahead with a visit to Table Mountain. Access is by foot or by cableway. While it was warm where we were, I knew it was a good bit colder up there, so out came the jackets. But how to get to the lower station to catch the cableway? I had seem some taxis but they did not seem too popular and I imagine you could very easily be cheated by them. We had been warned. What everyone was talking about in Cape Town was Uber. I had a bad first and only experience with Uber in Melbourne, so I was a little reluctant. I had uninstalled the app and I knew my credit card number had expired. I installed the app and discovered that in Cape Town, you can use cash to pay. Suited us. I summonsed one and immediately had a photo of the driver, the car and the car registration number.  It arrived in three minutes and up we went to the lower station for the cost of $5 for a fifteen minute trip.

I don't know where I snapped these photos. The meat is fresh and there are a lot of packages of  the meat, so it must be popular and get turned over. Get your ostrich here today.

Our quite pleasant hotel foyer. Not over the top.

Table Mountain first thing in the morning from our hotel window. Not boding well.

Lions Head.

We pressed on in spite of the sign and bought our tickets.

It was fantastic. The mists roared up the mountain, swirling this way and that. At times I think the mist formed and travelled at over 100 km/h. 

These couple of photos are from earlier in the day at Signal Hill. Love locks are not so popular in South Africa? Not a bad thing.

Robben Island where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned.

Views would appear for seconds, and then be covered by mist.

Mad bastards who were walking up to Table Mountain. I have just discovered one of the Filipino men in our group walked up to the top of the mountain, with his large tripod and very long lens camera and took some really good photos.

Rocks, rocks and lots of rocks, just like in western Canada.

While I am not a religious or spiritual person, I can well imagine that local people in centuries past might have prayed to the mountain. It was mystical and omnipresent and I certainly had some illogical and non scientific thoughts about Table Mountain. I was so glad we did not see it the day before when views were clear, instead seeing it with swirling mist.

Dunno what this building is.

We had a late lunch at the cafe here within. There were excellent paved walking paths around the mountain top. No shortage of paving material.

While at times it is referred to as a rodent, it is not and genetically its closest relative is the African elephant. It is a Rock Hyrax, but better known as a Dassie. They are wide spread over the continent and quite cute, but can inflict a nasty bite to anyone who tries to hand feed them. Do not feed the dassie, said the signs, but three Indian lads ignored the signs and we were the photographic beneficiaries.

This is a red winged starling, plentiful. I later asked a bird expert who I was chatting to about the pretty black bird with reddish coppery underwings and he could not identify what the bird was by my description. I think bird people might overthink such descriptions and not go for the common and obvious.

Descending.

One of the original cars to get to the top of the mountain. We Ubered back to our hotel. 

Has Cape Town realised the futility of building freeways to relieve traffic congestion? Not once anywhere in South Africa did we come across traffic congestion. From what I saw public transport can be quite good in some places and non existant in others. 

This Ubering is really cool. We Ubered down to the V&A Waterfront for dinner for just $3.50. How did I manage to take a photo of a area buzzing even on a normal week night with barely any people in the photo? It is a skill I have. With 80 restaurants to choose from, we went for the easy option at Mitchell's Scottish Ale House. I had tapas and R had fish. It was my birthday and I told our waiter, hoping for a freebie, but she just wished me happy birthday. The weather was balmy and it was a lovely evening, on our own. No one knew it was my birthday and I thought I had gotten away with any public fuss, but Australian bureaucracy ensured that nearly a week later, I did not. R had promised me in advance that he would buy me dinner as a birthday present and he did, but out of joint money! Not fair. He owes me a dinner. 

While we had seen a bit of Cape Town, where do the rich and middle class live? We had seen a few reasonable houses, but not many really, and this is a mega city of five million people. I was to find out the next day.