Checking out the Cape of Good Hope!

 We set off early morning to check out the Botanical Kirstenbosch Gardens en route to the Cape of Good Hope........

There was a cute owl looking after her young ones in the trees........

Another stop en route was in Simon's town... for lunch and to check out the penguin colony.......

Then on to the Cape......

Beautiful views from the top......

...and we got to see some ostriches.....

...on the way back ....... he was quite happy stopping traffic while keeping an eye on the family!

Next morning we checked out a few downtown areas of Cape Town.......

...and visited an area, District 6, which had been totally forced to move during apartheid......

We also checked out some of the government buildings .......

... and lunch on the front was great.....

Moving on to Cape Town.....

 We arrived at dusk but were just able to make out Table Mountain.....

and then the  following day we were able to see it in daylight...........

............the view from the top was amazing!

Unbelievably there was a young couple  going to scale down (with helpers!) in order to have a marriage proposal with a view!!

After our morning trek up Table Mountain we went to Stellenbosch for a wine pairing lunch!

Dutch influence.........

The winery we were visiting was in Franschhoek, next valley to Stellenbosch....

Our wine pairing lunch was at Rupert and Rothschild

and it was amazing.... food and definitely the wine!

A cruise on Walvis Bay, Namibia

 We had no idea what we were letting ourselves in for when we started out on this cruise on Walvis Bay......actually we expected it to be somewhat boring!

We noticed a seal onboard.... but he exited as we climbed on.....

But a little way out another seal jumped onboard!

He was quite happy to stay on board and have breakfast!

....and became almost too friendly! He was quite large!

Then it was the pelican's turn to visit!

Also there for breakfast!

He also visited everyone.... hoping for more goodies??

another seal...... word had spread that breakfast was here!

We now needed to look out for whales...... Walvis Bay is Bay of the whales

On shore we passed a colony of flamingoes.....

...And then a colony of seals........

By now we were ready for our champagne brunch......

There were a few other large boats nearby....  the blue one was  labeled rescue!!