While in Cape Town and camping (often) at my sister’s house, we got some more time to do things together.
We had some more family braais, enjoyed a wine-lunch or two and took the dog for a walk to Majik Forest. Although written differently, it was indeed a magical place, right there in the suburbs. Duck families taking swimming lessons in the sparkling dam, romantic surrounds that are popular for family photos and a little forest on the other side of the dam that makes you imagine the fairies might just now pop out from behind the trees! It also offers mountain bike trails. A lovely late afternoon walk!
A few days later they invited us to a show of the most hilarious stand-up comedian Marc Lottering at The Baxter Theater, about all things Covid19! The show was hysterical: all the notions that play in our heads regarding Covid19, social distancing, masks etc, were discussed, ridiculed and questioned in the most witty way! Really funny and the audience was rolling with laughter!
Afterwards we took a saunter down the Seapoint promenade, with its thought provoking public artworks, colourful murals and satirical graffiti, to see the sun set on the ocean while the moon rose over town, before driving to Anatoli for an authentic Turkish meal: beautiful place, wonderful ambiance and really great food! (restaurant photos courtesy of eatout)
A few days later we took a drive to another “bucket list” item in Cape Town: a visit to Mocaa (Museum Of Contemporary African Art) in the recently renovated silo’s at the V&A waterfront. We’ve been inside the reception/central module/ souvenir shop once, but this time we wanted to visit the actual museum.
After some parking issues, (the V&A Waterfront parking area’s don’t really seem to cater for a campervan of our size, but luckily we eventually got permission from a construction manager to park Trokkie on the bus parking) we spent the rest of the morning admiring the really stunning architectural refurbishment of the old silo’s and took a walk through the various floors and halls housing solo and local community exhibitions. Underground in the tunnels we found more exhibits of weird and quirky kinetic-like sculptures.
Afterwards we walked to the Belgian restaurant Den Anker, where we enjoyed a leisurely mussel lunch overlooking the activity on the waterways. We made a quick stop at the shops to replace some of the clothing that was stolen in the Bo-Kaap before heading back to Trokkie.
From the waterfront we travelled over the mountain to Hout Bay: an iconic fishing harbour on the other side of Table Mountain. While walking around the little harbour, we saw quite a commotion in the water with seagulls seemingly attacking seals. Focusing on what was going on, we figured out soon enough that we were pretty wrong: a fishing boat was off loading its catch in big trucks and they must have thrown a few fish overboard. This was party time for the seals and they were ripping the tuna apart. A flock of seagulls were partaking in the feast, diving and picking at the fish which was trashed and thrown around by the seals.
We walked to the boat and were amazed at the quantities of frozen tuna that were loaded in the truck. A chat with the owner revealed that the crew goes to sea for a few days or weeks and that the result-if the boat comes back full- is more than worth their investment. This one was for the overseas market. We saw another (smaller) boat weighing and loading, but that one was for transport to Johannesburg.
We dawdled around for the rest of the afternoon and decided to stay put and overnight on the parking area in the harbour. A night guard came to enquire, but seemed ok with us sleeping there.
Next morning however, another guard came to request us to move because we seemed to be in an appropriate place. Later another official joined and explained that our vehicle was too big to park on a normal parking spot. Granted: we usually take up two parking spots instead of one. Although we could understand their reasoning if Hout Bay would have been overflowing with visitors resulting in a shortage of parking space, but there were just a handful of parking spots occupied so we couldn’t really understand why we had to move. The conversation turned a bit unfriendly and we eventually left because we definitely don’t want to stick around where we’re clearly not wanted.
We decided to go back to Cape Town via the northern route. We stopped at a lookout point just passed Llandudno with magnificent sweeping views over the ocean. After a well deserved coffee break, we continued past beautiful turquoise water, rocky shores and shipwrecks.
Getting closer to Cape Town, we hit the “beach – stretch”: tiny roads, fancy houses on the cliff sides and people thronging on beaches, promenades and cafes. Social distancing and masks: not really! Being a really sunny Sunday, it seemed the whole of Cape Town had descended to the beaches. It looked like one big party!
Negotiating our way via narrow roads with cars parked in impossible places and slowing down to walking pace for beach goers and hawkers criss-crossing the streets, we eventually got home and took up our position again in front of my sisters house!
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Cape Town