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After Kruger, we drove back to JoBerg. We were there long enough to recover from the drive and do some laundry. Then it was off to Durban. Durban is on the east coast of South Africa. It's famous for it's Indian food, beaches, surfing and Great White sharks. Yeah, I had to hit the water. Lynne and Sheila did too. The rest of our group was smart enough to stay away from Whitey.

	We were a bunch of floors up, but this shot I took from the roof. They had a pool up there.		Another roof shot looking south along the coast towards the harbor.
	Here's a shot with Lynne standing at the window. The water is pretty clear.

	I stopped at a small beach-side coffee shop about a mile from the hotel. Lots of cool sticks hanging about inside too.		This is Durban's version of a Hawaiian plate lunch. Damn fine eating and a bargain. You'll notice that the Castle Milk Stout is already well attended to. It took me three Stouts to get through the plate of food.

On March 1, we caught a fairly early flight out of Durban for Cape Town. We arrived in Cape Town with plenty of time for some sightseeing. After checking into the hotel, we headed next door for some pizza. Then it was off to the V&A Waterfront for some wandering, shopping and more eating.

	And you thought Southwest Airlines aircraft were ugly... Yeah, well like Southwest, Kulula is a cheap damn airline. Especially if you get someone from South Africa to book your tickets. Something like $50 to fly 400 miles.		I had a hard time staying away from the window on the flight to Cape Town. The landscape between Durban and CT is very dry. It's tough land with very little water. I'm told most of the land is used for sheep ranches... HUGE sheep ranches.
	The view out of the hotel room in Cape Town was pretty good. That's the east edge of Table on the left, and Lion... The parents were higher up and had a better view.		A Pizza joint right next door to the hotel. We ate here in 2000 also. Great pies. And a pretty decent selection of pasta and beers too.
	So we're walking to the waterfront and I turn around... The clouds coming over the top of Table Mountain are commonly referred to as the Table Cloth. It's pretty cool. It also means it's blowing like stink up there. They shut the cable car down when it's windy. Not a good sign.		While the V&A waterfront is very much a tourist destination, it is also a working harbor. There are bunches of boats moving around and being worked on. You are warned of this fact at each entrance.
	And I'm not talking pleasure boats... These are real working vessels. There's one major dry dock that looks like it could accommodate a vessel 75m long.		But the port is also home to the South African entry into the America's Cup. This was definitely a cool looking boat.
	There are quite a few day charter vessels running out of the V&A Waterfront. This ketch was one of the more classic. I also saw a monster RIB powered by twin outboards that they used for "extreme" tours.		Believe it or not, this fairly large MV was another of the day charter vessels tied up along the wharf at V&A Waterfront.
	South Africa is famous for it's boat building, especially catamarans. I don't know if these cats were built in S.A., but they were a common sight in the harbor.

The next day, we got an early start and headed up Lion's Back for a quick vista check. From there we headed for the cable car to the top of Table Mountain. We spent just enough time on the top of Table to know we need to schedule a longer visit next time. But time was short was we piled into the car and headed for Cape Point. After the speed visit of Cape Point, we headed back to Halk Bay and Habour House. Damn fine food and beverage. We were totally whipped by the end of the day. I think it was my best nights sleep of the trip.




	That's me standing at the top of Table Mountain. The shots looking to the south.

	On the way to Cape Point
			It was so windy out on the point that Lynne had to hold her hair out of the way.
			The Old Light House. Very Crowded
	The New Light House


			The jellyfish... There were thousands washed up on shore at Cape Point.

			These ladies whistled, so I got their picture. They looked like they were having fun. Hope you gals enjoyed the rest of the afternoon.
	This is Harbour House. There's a very well respected restaurant upstairs and a nice pub downstairs.		Turning a few degrees to the right you can see the water crashing onto the shoreline. The wind's at my back and it was blowing like stink.
	And this was the view looking upwind. If it weren't for the temperature and the sharks, I think windsurfing here would be pretty cool. I may still have to try it some day.		This shot is zoomed in on the point in the previous picture. A bit more detail of the houses along the shoreline.
	After a long drive from Cape Town down to Cape Point and back up to Halk Bay, we definitely fall into the sun/wind burned category... Are we happy?		Yep. (That's the beer talking. And sorry for the glare from the metal work... My bite really is worse than my bark.)
	My father enjoying a brandy in the pub velow Harbour House		We were the first to get into the restaurant that day (they don't start serving till dinner). The view was as impressive as the bar downstairs.
	Obviously we were there a long time because it was long dark before we left. L-R: My inlaws (Paul & Nora), Phil (Lynne's cousin), Lynne, Dad, Jerri (Phil's wife). The food was excellent.

Our last full day in Cape Town was actually spent driving around wine country. We spent most of the time in Paal, but the visit would not have been complete without a quick visit to the Alto Winery in Stellenbosch. We also swung by a Lion Rescue center.

	Goats de Roam... Literally.		The actual goats and their tower.
	Fairview Estates. I hate places with big tourist buses. And the crowd was particularly selfish. Thankfully they cleared out fairly quickly. It's funny, many of the better wineries actively discourage tourist buses. But this place had good wine.		It's a business at Fairview. But R15 works out to about 3 bucks. We weren't impressed enough with the wines to buy anything. And they didn't sell any of the vintages.
			Of course the ladies had to do some more shopping. Lots of shopping. Lynne and Sheila were trying to find all the last minute gifts for people back in the states. Next time, I take an empty suitcase - my duffle was positively bulging at the seams.
	Only lions we saw were in a small refuge park. Most of these animals were rescued from private game reserves. Hunting is allowed at some of these game parks.... Yeah, canned hunts. Disgusting, I know...		What do you think she's dreaming about.
	The cubs		The Lions
	A regal looking male.		Our favorite winery... And the favorite of many of our relatives. Alto. We stopped here looking for a specific vintage. No tourist buses here.
	Annandale was our last stop, and is the winery that the ex-Alto winemaker started. We actually rang the bell.		Here we found probably the last bottle in existence of a 1976 Alto Cabernet. We also enjoyed a very nice Annandale Port (of which we bought two bottles). We dropped well over 900 Rand here... with zero regrets.

After we wrapped up in Cape Town, the only thing left to do was make the long trip back to the States. And "long" doesn't begin to describe the trip. Suffice it to say that from the time Lynne and I left the hotel in Cape Town to when we plopped down on the sofa at the house we'd been traveling the better part of 39 hours... With no hotel stops. Don't try this at home.

	T-shirt from Sea Rescue		Quick visit of historical parts.
	Seals in harbor		Eating at fish house
	As we're rolling towards the terminal, I see this thing off in the distance. It's parked now, but wasn't there early in the trip. So it's obviously an active duty aircraft. Eat your hearts out, Southwest.		We had a 747 from Cape Town to JoBerg. Of course you exit down a portable stairway, then grab a bus for the airport. We're still smiling because we didn't realize we'd be spending close to 5 hours in the airport because of "equipment malfunctions".

So that's it for the trip photos. Despite all the time at the JoBerg layover, I didn't take single photo in the terminal. And that's kind of a shame because the international terminal is actually quite nice. Most of the "duty free" shops were way too expensive. But all the other shops were quite reasonable. There was a huge souvenir shop and a nearby candy store were we spent the last of our Rand. BTW... During this trip, the exchange rate was about 5.5 Rand to the US $. This is about a 15% decrease from our previous trip.

Hope you enjoyed this brief pictorial of Dog House Wanderings around South Africa. To all those who've been patiently waiting - we're you really surprised that it took me this long?