Protea - National flower of South Africa, taken at the Botanical Gardens in Cape Town.

Someone asked about the temperatures. Well, in Cape Town it was about 25C (77F); in Jo'burg it was about 30C (86F); Rustenburg 32C (90F); today we're in Pretoria they said it's in the mid 90's. Fortunately our B&B in Pretoria had a small pool and we took a dip to cool off.

Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens

The back side of Table Mountain from the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens near Cape Town.

We were here January 1, 2009.

Explanation of two photos below

Photo #1 is of Cape of Good Hope, the most southwesterly point of South Africa. (Notice the beautiful weather :-)

Photo #2 is of the harbor at Cape Town. Note Table Mountain in the background.

Cape Tour

New Years Day

Judy made a new friend. This Durban business woman along with her husband and son were on holiday in Cape Town. She and Judy had a long conversation re AIDS in South Africa. We were fortunate to see this family two days in a row.

Cape Town, South Africa

Our 4th piece of luggage arrived safely in Cape Town on day 3. We were very happy to see it.

Last evening, being New Years Eve, there was a BIG party at the waterfront of Cape Town. Not being big party people, we observed from a distance--at our B&B which is at the foot of Table Mountain. The celebration reminded us a bit of southern CA weather, the party atmosphere in NYC (only with many entertainment venues w/o the central televised spot, and also minus the big ball). At midnight the ships in the harbor (Cape Town is a working harbor) sounded their horns and there was fireworks (very loud).

Cape Town is heavily populated right now with MANY tourists from many countries. It seems that the South Africaners are just serving the tourists. Of course, that is exactly what they want to do.

Phil and I have hiked on Table Mountain, went on a harbor boat around Robben Island (where the prisoners were kept during apartheid) and then today went to the Cape Point.

We have great photos, which we've just tried to post--unsuccessfully! We'll try to post them again later.

We leave in the morning for Jo'burg (flying). Sunday we will be in the church in Tlhbane where Judy attending while in Rustenburg.