The flight to South Africa started with a challenge at the book-in counter which you can read in the last update Singapore. I had been given an aisle seat on what looked like a fairly full flight. But I was blessed as I had the whole row to myself which came in handy as it was a long night flight. I scanned through the movies available and decided on a short fun one after which I spread out on my three seats and slept the best I could till approaching Doha International Airport. Here I dashed through the corridors to the gate for the Cape Town connection. Unfortunately this flight I was also aisle seat but this flight was fully booked with those connecting from all over Europe and Asia heading to CT. Still I was able to get a bit of shut eye before landing at 6:30pm Singapore time, 10:30am South African time. Total travel time just over 19 hours. I was quite surprised I wasn’t totally exhausted.
I collected my bag after immigration and headed for customs. I went through something to declare line as I 
had Chinese BBQ pork to declare and was told by the customs in the SA Embassy in Singapore it would depend on the customs officer if he let me take it though or not. Well that was not true which I suspected, SA is just as stringent with what comes into their country. So I ate the 8 slices of Bak Kwa and the two bananas I’d forgotten to eat on the flight before I was permitted to pass. The woman in front of me had a load of vegetable seeds and cheeses. She had to leave the lot behind. I really felt sorry for her, she had obviously brought it all the way from Europe for her family.
Finally out the doors where I asked about the bus into town. Rob, my host with Couchsurfers had been very helpful and given me instructions on how to buy a prepaid card from the MyCiti Bus. I had to take out my computer to look at the instructions as I had forgotten to write it all down beforehand. The African lady at the information desk was very helpful. So with instructions now written down I headed for the exit to find the MyCiti Bus stand. There were people mulling around in a dishevelled queue of some sorts which I joined and which seemed never to move but finally I bought my card after just missing the first bus. It was half an hour to wait for the next one.
I was very impressed with the bus system as the buses pulled up to a platform where you queued behind safety doors. Once the bus arrived both the bus and safety doors opened and a sliding platform came out from the bus so there was no step up or gap between the two. It was so easy to drag on my case. The time of the day also meant I had a seat on all the buses I took. First into the Civic Centre then a change of tra
in out to Table View. Here I was able to take a break for a coffee and a bit of shopping for my bananas, yoghurt and milk all within the 45min time given for change over, making the charge for the bus on the same fare. I then took the bus to Melkbosstrand where I alighted with luggage to ask directions. Rob’s instructions stated his place was 200 mts back from the bus stop. Hmmmm this didn’t look right! I asked around for the street name but no one seemed to have heard of it. I pulled my luggage along behind me a little further down the road and found a lady, Cathy, sitting in her car of whom I also inquired. She said hop in I’ll see if I can find it. We asked several people and finally headed out of town. I later realised I hadn’t opened a link Rob had sent me which mentioned I needed to take another bus and get off at the Pelican stop. From here his place was 200 mts back along the same road.
Cathy suggested I let myself in with the keys Rob had left me in a secret spot and then join her for a coffee which I did. My buy for all she had done to help me. She dropped me back at Rob’s place after suggesting she pick me up the following day to show me a bit around the town as she was heading that way to drop her son in to work. Little did I know she also wanted me to pay for the petrol. Mind you she did show me around a few places and helped me buy some ingredients for the Thai Beef Salad I was making that night. She also invited me to go with her on Friday, up the east coast as she needed to go there on family matters and stay a few nights before returning to Cape Town. I eventually declined as I was concerned I might have to pay for the petrol plus extra accommodation as she had expressed the financial difficulty she was in at the moment with people owing her money.
Rob, my Couchsurfer host, has a large home in Me
lkbosstrand (I can’t say the Africans names, it’s not my thing LOL Give me Thai any day! No one can understand when I ask directions so I show them the spelling of places instead!) Rob, has been most helpful even before I arrived with instructions, suggestions, SIM card for a SA number, and all sorts of stuff one needs to know before arriving. He also offered me a car a choice of a BMW or MG. I thought better not take the MG what if I had an accident! So the first few times I took the BMW which is an automatic. I used it the third day while Rob was at work to buy some lunch and take a little look around Melkbosstrand just to get use to driving it.
The first night Rob took me out for fish and chips which i
s a staple here in Cape Town. It was my shout. The following night I cooked up some rice for our Thai Beef Salad which nearly didn’t get made as I couldn’t find the main ingredients, fish sauce! But thanks to Cathy we hunted down some as well as steak, rice, lemon grass, coriander and mint. Cathy and Helen, Rob’s girlfriend from Malawi joined us. I was given rave reviews with Rob threatening to take away my passport if I continued to cook so well.
Friday I spent most of the day trying to organise where I can get a Nigerian visa. I was told there were places in Cape Town that may be able to help, Cathy said she had a friend who maybe able to help too. I called around and sent emails out. Finally the answer was I could only apply in my own country or if I had a work permit here. Well that wasn’t what I wanted to hear. My friend Yvonne had also made a few phone calls to see if I could do 
it in White River. When she got back to me she said I’d definitely be able to apply in Pretoria at the Nigerian Embassy. Now that was the first good news I had received. She also explained that she needed to return to Australia earlier than previously planned. Like the end of November instead of Dec! Oh OK! My visit to Cape Town will need to be shortened slightly to fit in Pretoria and an earlier visit to White River and I had just spent a whole day trying to sort stuff out! Never mind all in the Lord’s timing.
At least now I had a plan, albeit a new one. Now I was waiting upon my dear friends Jenny and David in Singapore who were trying to contact a pastor friend of theirs in Johannesburg.
Saturday Rob invited me to join him on a 4×4 experience which was raising money for the search and rescue team. We had picked up his son Zach from his parents in Stellenbosch which is south east of his place. Zach, 8yrs old, is high end Asperger’s, very bright although not able to communicate. His spelling is better than mine which isn’t saying much as I’m terrible but he can spell words after only seeing them once which I’m very envious of. Zach stays with his father every second weekend. This weekend was Zach’s weekend.
We set off to the location where we parked Rob’s Land Rover Defender with the other four wheel drives in line D. There were about 15 vehicles in 6 groups lining up to tackle the course. I’m glad we weren’t in the last group as some of the obstacles had to be cancelled after they were chewed up so badly. This was mainly due to being only one track through the sand dunes of a nature reserve. This nature reserve was on the land owned by the power plant where Rob worked. It was actually a great day with some amazing obstacles to tackle. Rob being part of a 4×4 club was well experienced especially with a V8 engine under the bonnet. There was only one that we had two goes at before giving up due to a loose cord which meant we were only running on 4 of the 8 cylinders but easily fixed before the next obstacle. The deserted beach we stopped at was pristine. There were also so lovely wild flowers. But generally it was low scrub very similar to some parts of the Western Australian coastal planes. I expected to see kangaroos jump out. Unfortunately we didn’t see any of the wild life that inhabited this park but it was understandable due to the circumstances.
Helen arrived back not long after us with two of her friends from school days in Malawi. She cooked us a traditional Pap meal for corn flour taken with typical African sausage eaten w
ith your fingers. It was delicious.
Sunday morning, Jenny and David’s pastor friend contacted me to say I was welcome to stay with his family. They lived close to the Tambo Airport in Johannesburg and from their place easy access to the Nigerian Embassy. Lord you are so good to me. Thank you!
Helen and I took off for a Sunday adventure around the peninsular. First we attended the View Church at Table View. Their website had said 10:45am but I’m sure it hadn’t been updated since the winter services as we arrived at 10:30 the service had already started. It was a very mixed congregation but not as lively as I had expected with so many Africans attending. It was not like the church I had attended in Zambia many years ago. Still we both enjoyed the service, the preaching and our free barista coffee after the
meeting.
From here we headed through the CBD, past Waterfront where I had shared my lunch with Cathy and had a bit of a wander around on Wednesday. Down the coast road to Sea Point where I parked the car for us to take photos of the rocks and ocean pool. We were ready to leave when the BMW wouldn’t start! Oh oh! A quick call for help from Rob and a long wait. Neither of our phones were picking up much of a signal and Helen’s was out of battery! Eventually I started the BMW and nearly an hour and a half later we rendezvous back near the Waterfront with Rob to switch cars. Helen and I taking the MG for the rest of our travels. We headed south for lunch as it was well after 2pm now. We wanted to get to Hout Bay were Rob said there was a well know fish and chip shop that we must try. It was an amazing road around the base of Table Mountain to this small fishing town. We found a spare park some distance from Snoekies, it was no 
longer a fish and chip shop but an ice-cream parlour. Then we saw Fish on the Rocks a little further down with a very long queue for 4pm. It must be good so we waited. It took about 20 mins before our order was taken – 6 Peri Peri prawns, calamari, Hake and chips for about $12 Aust. Mind you there was one prawn short but there was nothing we could do about that now that we had eaten the rest! We then stopped off at Snoekies and had the most amazing ice cream called ‘Addiction’ and we now knew why!
From here we continued south along the twisting coast road which hugged the cliffs towards Noordhoek Bay then headed north as it was getting late and we wanted to see the sunset from Signal Hill. This took us up through the Silver Mine National Reserve mountain pass and on to the N3 highway back towards Cape Town. On route I wanted to stop at the Cecil Rhodes Memorial as he was distantly related to my mother’s side of the family. She thinks he might have been her grandfather’s cousin. There was a great view of the city from here too. I asked Helen to take a
photo to show the family resemblance but then realised he had been defaced and his nose was missing!
Helen guided me over, through and around the motorway system to Signal Hill which was already crammed with parked cars. Just near the top vehicles were doing a u-turn to go back down. We followed suit and fortunately found a suitable spot to park the MG. I took a dusk photo overlooking Cape Town before following others on a short cut to the top of the hill were we were just in time to take a photo of the setting sun. We rushed back to the car so as not to be trapped in. Then back down and home where Rob cooked us a braai pronounced bry (BBQ for those who don’t speak Africans.)
Map: South Peninsula drive:
Monday I decided I would go north to see the wildflowers but it was not to be so as there has not been enough rain and there were very few flowers out. I headed north towards the Buffelsfontein Nature Reserve turning off just shy of it heading east towards Darling. I cruised slowly so as to spot the flowers but was very disappointed. Just as I was about to speed up I saw an ostrich farm and pulled over for a few shots. No bullets only photos. They spotted me and came strutting over for a chat. One approached me with her wings spread hanging downwards, flapping them slowly as she lowered her head. I wasn’t quite sure if this was a friendly gesture or a warning but I made sure I was out of reach of her pecking. I later read this was the response of a dominant hen to drive others away. It certainly worked cos I had backed off! They were very cute!
I stopped at Darling to see if I could buy a map of the Cape District. The service stations didn’t have any, they directed me to a book shop which only had one of Sothern African not just of South Africa, there was also a book but that seemed a bit much for just a few days exploring. Instead I ordered a coffee from the adjacent coffee shop The Flying Pig and chatted to the lady I’d met at the book shop. It was great coffee! The lady and a gentleman who joined us were great help with tips and advice on where to go and what to see.
It was quite interesting not having a map. I had an off line map on my tablet which I had brought along just in case. I used it several times as I found the road signage greatly lacking and had to stop to ask directions and look at my tablet several times to make sure I was heading in the right direction.
It was another amazing day for driving through small towns, farm lands of mostly wheat, olives and vineyards, across flat plains, around and through mountain ranges. But still few wild flowers.
I had travelled through Darling to Malmesbury, Riebeek, Hermon, north to Gouda around the north end of the mountain then down to Wolseley then back through the Bains Kloof Pass. This was a very rocky narrow pass with boulders placed along the edge of the roadside forming a wall. I stopped where I could to take several photos of the terrain and on one occasion pulled up in front of a sign saying No Parking. I parked anyway and a guy came to investigate and told me it was ok. Unfortunately there were many other places I would have liked to have stopped to take shots of the incredible rock formations but with the very narrow winding road it was often impossible. Coming through this pass there was a wonderful view down into the valley and the vineyards below.
From here I headed for Wellin
gton and prayed I was heading in the right direction. I pulled over at a service station to ask directions. Here I met another helpful person, a guy who just happened to be immigrating with his wife who had a job in Perth! What a coincidence. He gave me directions and I gave him some info on Perth.
It wasn’t long before I had found the N1 heading into Cape Town and from my tablet had noted the route to take home. Traveling at 120km per hour I sped towards the coast and peak hour traffic. Just before my turn off there was a sign warning of an accident with lengthy delays on the N7 which was the route I’d planned to take. Hmmmm ok now what? A quick prayer for guidance leaving all in the Lord’s capable hands I continued towards the CBD. I wasn’t sure where I was going but knew I wasn’t going to take the N7 turn off. I eventually turned off not far after the N7 and headed north. 
You can’t really get lost in Cape Town with the Table Mt and the sea as your guide. I knew if I headed north with the sea to my left and not too far out of sight I would eventually get to where I was heading. I headed towards the sign saying Table View then kept going north. I was in the right direction but turned into Melkbosstrand where I once again asked directions. Once set right I started to recognise some landmarks and kind of knew my way from there.
Rob had started dinner by the time I had reached the house so he threw on some more chicken breast and I cooked up some honeyed carrots and beans with garlic and onion. We then decided the chook needed some sauce so I raided the panty found a tin of cream of chicken soup and poured that over the cooked chook with some garlic and Rob’s suggestion mixed spices. Another great meal. I do love cooking and experimenting as I go. I am a bit concerned about Rob keeping my passport though! I’d love 
to stay but I have a few more adventures I’d also like to do. One of the conditions of my stay was to teach Rob a few simple recipes. I’m sure I have inspired him to start experimenting too, he is now off to a good start.
Tuesday morning early I booked my flight to Jo’burg on line. I wanted to do another trip after visiting Table Mt via the cable car. I had planned to pick up Helen after her class and head south east to Gordon’s Bay and back through the south end of the mountains to Franschhoek but it was overcast and rain was predicted. So instead I stayed indoors writing all the events up to this date. I had previously wondered where I’d get time to catch up with my story so I took hold of the opportunity at hand. It was a great feeling to get back on top of things.
Pictures: 1. African Continent 2. Table Mt, Cape Town 3. Rob and Zach 4. Me on deserted beach 5. Over the dunes 6. Sea Point 7. Helen and I waiting for Rob 8. Looking back at Hout Bay 9. Posing with MG 10. Rhodes Memorial 11. Cape Town from Signal Hill 12. Helen and me. 13. Ostrich strutting her stuff 14. Two cuties 13. Wheat farming 14. Vineyards 15. Bains Kloof Pass 16. Road through Bains Kloof Pass 17. Valley on other side
Read more about Rob’s time in the military. Revved at Eenhana
Prayer & Praise Points:
Praise the Lord for His hand in all my travels and those He puts across my path who have helped and blessed me along the way.
I am so thankful the Lord led me to Rob who has opened his doors to me and helped me out with so many things from the very little basic tips to accommodation, cars and warm hospitality.
Praise Him for all the connections, assistance, leading, guidance, and love He has showered upon me through various people and places during my travels. For Pastor Josua’s kind invitation to stay with his family while I’m in Johannesburg.
Praise Him for His protection, safety and good health during these travels.
Please continue to pray for my safety while in South Africa, for no problems in getting my Nigerian visa and ticket. Please pray the visa will not take long to get and that I will have all the paper work they require and that there will be no delays.
Praise the Lord for Mum’s ongoing good health. I kept in close contact with her through Skype calls she is enjoying being back to her usual routines and the cooler weather in Perth. Please continue to pray she will remain in good health.