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Other entries in Hermanus

The Baz Bus - stage 1 Cape Town to Oudtshoorn

A few days in Cape Town doing various touristy things including a trip to Robben Island where former president Mandela was imprisoned for the majority of his captivity under the apartheid system. Robben means place of seals, and before it was a prison it was a leper colony and a world war 2 base. The prison tour is fascinating and given by former polictical prisoners who were imprisoned there - they show you Mandela's cell and basically explain the workings of the prison in terms of the way it worked the tiers of prisoners and even their diet. The guides seem to share in the attitude of reconciliation that many optimistic Africans have and some are even freinds with their former jailers. While its a great experience you definitley get the sense that you aren't getting the whole story for some reason.
From the very upscale waterfont area where you get the ferry to the prison I went off to see Kirstenbosch botanical gardens which is nice for a few hours but at the end of the day if you're just not into botany the appeal is limited. Still beautiful scenery on one side there's the city and then on the other are the massive mountains that encircle CapeTown ( I will post some pics soon)
After a few afternoons lounging on the beach. I headed to one of the Cape Town's backpackers top catch the Baz Bus which basically runs a hop on hop off service along SA's southern coast (like the Oz experience). The bus is small and usually full and the convenience is offset by the fact that it takes ages and is rather unconfortable - but you gotta do what you gotta do to get where your going.
The first port of call was a town on the coast called Hermanus which is a former whaling port but is now a sort of sleepy seaside place. An hour after I got ther I was on a minibus heading towards the local mountains to try my hand at sandbording. Needless to say I was totally crap at it and felt a bit ripped off. The dunes were amazing though and seem to just generate out of the side of this small mountain. A thoroughly hot and sweaty afternoon was had by all.
After that I headed back into town and just went for a stroll around the town which has not much to do in it apart from drink aparently - after a bite to eat I geaded back to the hostel and met a guy named Rupert from New Zealand who was travelling by himself down Eastern Africa for 6 weeks. He was a cool guy and incicdnetally a dead ringer for Lance Armstrong. While we were playing pool in the bar the bartender came over and played with us. Later that night the same guy was having a full out argument with another guy completely in Afrikaans which was baffeling to say the least - first because we couldn;t understand what was being said and secondly because they very nearly had a brawl in fornt of their customers. It turned out that they were brothers, but still.
Today I've travelled to the town of Oudtshoorn (pronounced Oatschoorn) at the foot of some mountains in an area known as the little karoo.
Thats about it at the moment - mountain biking hiking caving adventures beckon tomorrow.