CAPE TOWN

I was in Cape Town the other month... my first time in South Africa. I was quite excited because I'd seen pictures of Cape Town from the highest point of Table Mountain and the 'Lion's Head'.

The flight was a lot longer than I expected haha. After 10 hours and a little rest in the CRC (crew rest compartment), we finally arrived :) Everyone had told me it was South African winter at the time and even though I was aware, once again I'd stupidly forgotten to bring a jacket :( I don't know why this always happens to me! Anyway it wasn't as cold as I thought it would be. In fact it was a gloriously sunny day and after a quick change, about 5 of us met downstairs in the lobby to go to Table Mountain.

There were two options to go up the mountain; either climb all the way up, or get the cable car. Considering we were only there for 24 hours, we didn't want to spend 3 hours (or probably more in my case) climbing up the thing. So we thought it would be best to get the cable car and enjoy the views on the way up.

The cable car was really cool. Inside, the floor rotated so everyone got a chance to take pictures from the open window. The other windows were closed which is why some of my pictures had a reflection. Once we got to the top (which took no longer than 5 minutes) the sun was really shining and it was really crowded. We managed to get a few scenic posey pictures though :) obviously haha.

This one was mad! He literally would absail like a little mountain goat to get to the scariest points of the mountain! It made me so nervous... I didn't realise I was actually afraid of heights until this trip!

The clouds really started rolling in after about an hour of us being up there. The mountain was so big, I didn't realise! We walked around it for a good couple of hours and came across a few wild animals! It got kind of spooky at one point too. We were the only ones around, in the middle of all this fog and dark cloud, and it was freezing! We were thinking of our survival techniques, but I knew if it came to it I'd probably be the first to die since I hadn't even brought a coat hahaha!

This picture took a lot of strength for me. See the little gap just before the bit of rock I'm sat on? Well, I had to jump over it and it took 4 people and about 20 minutes for them to persuade me to step over hahaha! I didn't realise I would be so scared because the gap literally was just a step. But I'm the clumsiest person ever at the worst of times, so I was terrified I was going to fall to my death. Thankfully one of the boys stayed on the other side to hold my hand as I stepped over. I think I closed my eyes while doing it as well haha. But I was so proud of myself when I finally got both feet over! And the view was worth it :)

After our little excursion we were all pretty hungry so it was time for some dinner :) We went to the waterfront to a cute little restaurant by the harbour. Since we were in South Africa it was only right to have steak with red wine. It was delicious. We went to the local supermarket to buy some wine to take home, however we didn't realise that alcohol sales stop earlier in the evening! The supermarket was open but the alcohol aisle was closed. At least I know for next time. We decided to go back to the hotel and have a few drinks in the bar before crawling into bed.

I really enjoyed this layover and I can't wait to go back to Cape Town again. Next time hopefully to see the penguins by the beach! :)

- Parul xo

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