Tag: day out

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Southern Most Tip of Africa

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The Southern Most Tip of Africa is a short drive from the Struisbaai, about 10 mins. There is parking at the bottom of the hill and it is free. There are bathrooms at the parking lot, these are the only ones in the area so if you are walking around a bit make sure to use them.

The Lighthouse is 33R to do the Museum and climb the tower.
The Museum goes through the history of the lighthouse as well as the history of South African lighthouses. The museum is small room with boards all over the walls. Then you head to the central area to climb the 71 ladder steps to the top. The view is lovely from the top but it is imperative you know that they are steep ladder steps. One up and one down.

It is a 1km walk down to the Southern most Tip of the continent and then another 4km to the Meisho Maru shipwreck beyond.
If you would prefer; you can drive to both of them, it is down a gravel path. It is an easy walk under foot in good shoes, gravel and stony just like the drive. It is not shady however, so ensure enough water and you are covered up.

The southern most tip is marked by a stone, and where the two oceans meet. In front of it, you can see a map of Africa with the mountain ranges highlighted. It is huge and the photos can not do it justice.

After this I suggest you head on a 30 mins walk, 4km you reach the Meisho Maru Shipwreck it is so close to shore, you can almost walk to it, but the rocks are a little sharp and slippery. – Good at sunset apparently. I didn’t venture down that far at suset.

It is a lovely morning out and about; Agulhas has a few nice restaurants again mainly fish is available, but it is all fresh fish which makes it so worth it.

Restaurant Reviews, Uncategorized

Fusion-review

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Normally I try not to go into restaurants where people are trying to persuade you in.

Hermanus is a small enough place that almost every restaurant had plenty of people in it. So it is hard to know where to eat. Many of them are offering the same types of food as well, so you are going to get good food regardless where you go. There is lots of seafood available, so be open to those options.

I was sat outside in the shade being able to watch the world go by. There is wifi available here for free – if that is important to you.

For a drink alongside I had a mocktail called Steelworks this was ginger ale and lemonade. This was very smooth and easy to drink, this along side a water was needed in order to quench my thirst.

I went for something light called Tramenzzini for food with chips. I was a lots heavier that first advertised. Four quarters of pita filled with cheese (cheddar and mozerella), bacon, chicken and spinach. There as little less chicken than I would have liked. It was so filling, not quite the light meal I wanted but it was so delicious it made up for it.

Until next time!

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Kirstenbosch botanical Gardens

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Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. A beautiful set of gardens a well worth a walk around if you are every in Cape Town. It costs around 70R to get in, you can get their on the blue route City sightseeing bus, Uber or drive. There is parking on site, it is mostly shaded parking a few sun spots.

There are many hiking routes through the gardens, and there is a map you can buy for R10 at the same place as the ticket which gives you everything you might want to see in the gardens, as well as giving you an idea of the space.

There are a few statues and plaques throughout describing what was going on, the plants, the people involved. It is such a lovely space, you can just wander, relax. It is on the side of the mountain so it is quite steep at times, so please make sure you are in good shoes. There are plenty of places to sit in the shade, and a few places to walk in the shade. A few water fountains throughout, so just make sure you have a bottle to fill up. On a hot day it can be quite tiring walking around, so just an awareness point there.

There are walking tours that go through the gardens with someone who knows the flora they go at certain times.

Kirstenbosch holds summer concerts, on a sunday around R250, you can bring your own picnic and a few beers or wine and sit and enjoy the music. It is quite popular so make sure you book tickets in advance if there is a band going you like. There is a range of bands through the season.

The major reason people go to Kirstenbosch, is for the tree canopy. The gardens are gorgeous and if you are a botantist or into your gardening then this may be untrue, I apologise. But The following photo is the picture people want. The tree canopy is not as long as you think it is, the views are breathtaking though. I took so many photos, I wish I could share them all.

Kirstenbosch Gardens is a lovely place for a day out. It does everything it says on the tin. It has two places to eat, plenty of places to walk or to picnic. A large shop if you want to buy yourself a little something.

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Hermanus

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There is a lovely beautiful drive down to Hermanus, please do it, and do it slowly. You can look over the city up on the mountains. The roads are easy to drive, and well kept.

This is a small town, a perfect day out of the city. There is a charm to it. A few boutique shops and stalls as well as other general shops. Plenty of food places, most of them overlooking the sea. Fish is done very well here. See my review of Fusion if you are looking for something to eat.

Mainly this place is a good stop during the Whale Watching season from June to December. There are plenty of places to stay in this little town as well, so don’t worry about accommodation.

Hermanus is well signposted coming out of Cape Town. Parking is easy, my advice would be to always park where there is an attendant, they can keep an eye on the car for you whilst you go around the shops. I parked for an hour or so and paid R6.

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Cape Point

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I feel like this should be multiple posts. It is such an incredible day and I would recommend it to everyone. For reference I travelled with DayTrippers. Our guide was Pedro St Clair, a Capetonian.

Day starts at 8 am with a pick up from the hostel, mini bus and clients collected we are good to set off. There was only 4 of us on this tour which made the tour even better as we could really get to know one another.

Our first stop was Hout Bay, R80 would have taken us on a glass bottomed boat out to Seal Island. The sea was too rough this morning to be able to do it. But we did not not see them, they were all over the Bay. Some even joined us on land. You can pay to have a photo with one of them, but doesn’t seem natural to do that for me but we saw other doing it. This is a short stop without the boat trip but not wasted – good place for a coffee top up and walk around.

Moving on. There is a little stop place with bathrooms along Chapmans Peak – a real feat of engineering. Beautiful views back to Hout Bay. It is a road cut into the rock, into the mountain. Built on top of granite but into sandstone – the colours are phenomenal. A stunning drive even by itself. Or cycle if your brave enough…

We soon made it to the Cape point nature reserve, here we donned the helmets and grab the bikes off the trailer and set off. It is a lovely, mostly self guided bike ride, with the guide meeting you at the major turns as well as letting you know the route a head of time. First left, then left again and then right – hard to to get it wrong right… It was all tarmaced, we did the extended route about 12kms, rolling up and own mini hills. Good bikes with decent sets of gears which made things easier. Other than one of the pedals coming off one of the bikes, we made it to the lunch stop. Well deserved.

Lunch was a spread not to be believed! It was fantastic, so much choice from salad to pasta to artisan bread, meats, cheeses and biscuits. Not to mention fruit that was then available all afternoon. A good filling lunch.

We headed to a small beach for a walk – the water is cold, and a rest after lunch, watching the Ostriches walk along the beach too, before we headed to the base of our hike. It is a good 40 min uphill hike to the lighthouse with awesome views of both sides of the continent. You can walk all the way to the end of Cape Point, it is all paved or gravelled, and relatively flat. Just depends on your time. There is a funicular for those that can not walk that far. At the base there is a shop and a restaurant for before or after.

After returning to the base we headed out for the second hike an hour walk along boarded walks, mixed with rocky outcrops. It is a flat walk, one thing about both of these is neither are well shaded, so make sure you have sunscreen, hat and plenty of water. On the walk to the Cape of Good Hope, there is a beach, Dias Beach, however the steps down to it looked too steep for us to risk it.

The end of the walk is a little scrambling – just a bit of a rocky climb to the view points, and the same back down to the parking lot The view from the top is amazing though. All blue for as far as the eye can see. You are at the end of the continent – where the two oceans meet!

After the climb down and all the necessary photos have been taken – don’t forget – selfie or it didn’t happen! We headed to Simon’s Town and the famous African Penguin.

If you walk onto the little beach by the parking lot and all along the board walk , you can see the Penguins. You can pay extra to go into the nature reserve to be able to get closer to the penguins. The penguins are everywhere you will see them without paying if you so wish. I should say Simon’s Town is accessible by train from Cape Town should you want to go down without a tour, it is a lovely little Victorian town with many shops and restaurants as well as the famous penguins.

Upon finishing with the penguins we headed back to Cape Town. This day trip is just fantastic! It is a busy and tiring day, but you only appreciate that upon returning and looking at the time! The day just flies, and disappears. You will take hundreds of photos have many laughs and lots of fun. Highly recommend!

Until next time traveller.