Wednesday, 21 May 2025
It was an early start for Bernie this morning taking the hire car back to the Hertz depot before breakfast. Our car hire agreement entitled us to 200 kilometres which ordinarily would have been enough to travel to Cape Point and back but with all the road closures we encountered yesterday we clocked up 217 kilometres. The guy at the depot had a bit of a laugh then charged Bernie 109 Rand for the extra kilometres. Fortunately that was only about AU$10.00! So, with the car hire, the extra kilometres, the fuel and the Uber fares between the Hertz depot and the hotel we spent about AU$120.00 for the four of us. If we had booked onto a bus tour it would have cost us more than AU$120.00 EACH and we would not have had the freedom of exploring at our own pace. Money well spent!
It’s still cold and wet in Cape Town today! We may never pass this way again so … we carried on with our sightseeing agenda despite the weather. After breakfast, we crossed the road behind our hotel to buy tickets at the City Sightseeing Hop On – Hop Off Bus V&A Tour Office that is situated outside the Two Oceans Aquarium. Our plan for the day was to ride the Blue Bus mainly so we could visit the acclaimed Kirstenbosch Botanic Gardens. However, with the abysmal weather we decided to take the Harbour Cruise (included in our ticket) first in the hope that it might be dryer later???
The City Sightseeing boats have roofs BUT open sides so they’re only sort of weather proof. The staff had wiped the aisle seats dry and suggested that we sit on the seats adjacent to the central aisle and leave the more exposed seats next to the open sides vacant. Fortunately, there were few passengers and there was no need for anyone to sit in a wet seat!
With everyone aboard we set out at 10.00am for a 30-minute cruise around the Victoria and Alfred Basins. We had it explained to us that the V&A Waterfront is named for Victoria and Alfred and not Victoria and Albert as you might expect. Yes, it’s named for Queen Victoria BUT the ‘A’ is for Alfred, her second son, not for Albert her husband. This is because Prince Alfred, while serving in the Royal Navy, played a key role in initiating the construction of the harbour that is now the V&A Waterfront. In fact, it was originally the Prince Alfred Harbour, with Queen Victoria’s name being given to a later extension.
While we were on the cruise, we saw the relatively small pole and line fishing boats and larger vessels that go further out to sea processing, freezing and packing the catch on board ready for distribution when the boats return to the harbour. We were also given interesting facts about the seals that inhabit the harbour and buildings surrounding the waterfront. It actually stayed dry for the entire cruise but started to rain again when we disembarked so we had to make our way back to the bus depot in the rain.
When we arrived back at the V&A City Sightseeing Tour Office, we were just settling in to wait under the verandah for the next Blue Bus when it pulled up, so we were able to board straight away. With the weather looking no brighter we settled in for the 40-minute journey to Stop 21 – Kirstenbosch. On our way we drove along the Foreshore before proceeding along Long Street through the CBD to the City Sightseeing CBD Tour Office where we picked up more passengers.
Our journey continued past Mount Nelson a posh pink hotel set in extensive gardens on the lower slopes of Table Mountain … which remained steadfastly invisible for the third day in a row! We also leant about District Six an area that was declared ‘white’ resulting in the displacement of 60,000 African people to barren outlying areas of the city.
The route also took us past the Rhodes Memorial (a large monument in the style of an Ancient Greek temple on Devil’s Peak commemorating Cecil Rhodes), Mostert’s Mill (the oldest remaining windmill in South Africa), the University of Cape Town and Newlands Stadium.
We arrived at Kirstenbosch – the flagship of the South African National Biodiversity Institute according to its brochure – and disembarked. The garden is also internationally acclaimed as on the great botanical gardens of the world. It was established in 1913 on the south eastern slopes of Table Mountain to conserve and promote the indigenous flora of southern Africa. The estate covers 528 hectares and includes a cultivated garden and a nature reserve. It was the 36 hectares of developed garden that we explored today and, yes, the weather had improved a bit and we only experienced a couple of light showers as we made our way around the gardens.
We started in the Conservatory before making our way along Camphor Avenue to the Concert Lawn where Egyptian geese and (we think) ibis were grazing. We made our way past the remnants of Van Riebeeck’s Hedge which was planted in 1660 as a boundary for the newly established settlement at the Cape. We then enjoyed a stroll along the ‘Boomslang’ (snake-like) Centenary Tree Canopy Walkway through and over the trees of the Arboretum getting very excited about being able to see the Castle Rock feature of Table Mountain.
We continued making our way uphill past the Restios and Protea Gardens before heading back down the hill via the Cycad and Erica Gardens to the Otter Pond. Lunch was next at the Fynkos Kirstenbosch Tea Room located near Gate 2. We enjoyed more delicious sandwiches today. We have really been enjoying all of the food that we have eaten so far. As we were finishing up lunch we estimated that the next bus was due in about 15 minutes. We made quick visits to the loo then walked briskly to the main entrance at Gate 1.
As we walked back down the stairs below the conservatory we were just in time to see the back of the bus pulling out of the car park … at 2.07pm! Hmmn, I think after the first circuit of the day the timetable becomes more of a suggestion than a hard and fast schedule? Missing the bus necessitated a visit to the Gift Shop which was filled with lots of beautiful merchandise, however, I managed to resist buying anything.
Fortunately the next Blue Bus was not actually half an hour behind the one that we had missed so we soon on board a bus and settled in to complete the blue route. Our first stop was at Constantia Nek where passengers can swap to the Purple Wine Tour which stops at three wineries. We stayed aboard and continued past the World of Birds and then down into Hout Bay where we took the Seal Island cruise from yesterday. The bus started to head back towards the city along the same route that we drove yesterday via Camps Bay, Clifton, Bantry Bay, Sea Point and Three Anchor Bay. It was interesting, but frustrating to hear the commentary telling us about the ‘Twelve Apostles’ along the sea-facing side of Table Mountain. These are a series of (more than) twelve buttresses that jut out from the mountain and they were invisible to us today, shrouded in the fog that has been persistently hanging around the mountain since we arrived.
At Green Point Bernie and I decided to leave the bus to photograph the lighthouse, the oldest operational lighthouse in South Africa. From the lighthouse we walked back along the foreshore walking path past Mouille Point and the intriguing Cape Town Stadium built to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Arriving at the western entrance to the V&A Waterfront we popped into Pick n Pay to collect a few more supplies before finding ice-creams! Although it was perhaps a little too cold and a bit too close to dinner time we decided it was high time that we enjoyed a holiday ice-cream. Getting to Day 3 of a holiday without ice-cream is unusual for us!
Dinner tonight was at Quay 4 and once again we made it to the waterfront and back without getting wet.
Aaaaargh! I have just finished re-writing everything since we arrived at Kirstenbosch 24 hours after the fact because what I wrote last night (Wednesday night) FAILED TO SAVE. This is a problem that has been going on intermittently since our road trip in January last year where I spend time writing up our travel diary only to have my words lost somewhere in cyberspace rather than saving to the cloud. So very, VERY annoying!! There has been lots of swearing from me and from the IT Guy trying to work out the problem. I have been feeling like the best idea might be to pack in the blogging due to technical difficulties because it certainly sucks the joy out of it. I have persevered though but feel that what I have written tonight isn’t as well crafted as what I typed up last night.
Steps: 15,416 (10.27kms)
