After waking up, we organised with Georgie to head to the waterfront for brekkie. She met us in the foyer of our hotel and we wandered down to Vovo Telo, which is right near the Cape Town wheel, which offered modern breakfasts like you would find in most cafes. I went a bit traditional – the 44 Stanley – eggs, bacon, tomatoes, mushrooms, a corncake and sourdough rye toast. Dan had the pulled pork eggs benny which for some reason was served on a scone.

We hatched a plan to drive to Cape Point and then come back via the penguins. It seemed a suitably relaxing way to spend the day (except for Dan of course, who had to drive. First, we wound our way through Cape Town’s more upwardly mobile suburbs at the foot of Table Mountain and past the Kirstenbosch Botanic Gardens – we vowed to come back for a wander in the gardens but in the end, we didn’t have time. Our journey landed us just south of Hout Bay and we continued south along the coast. The cliff road that wound its way south along the side of the mountain with a sharp drop to the ocean was spectacular like the coast road through the Royal National Park, only much, much more spectacular. Eventually our journey took us to Boulders (where the penguins are) but we continued to the southern part of Table Mountain National Park that includes Cape Point and the more infamous (from an Australian point of view) Cape of Good Hope.

There was quite an expensive entry fee for the park but it was well worth it. Just driving from the entry down to the cape, we passed beautiful fields of wildflowers and low lying vegetation scattered across the landscape. We passed the entry to the Cape of Good Hope, choosing instead to make our way on to Cape Point, which would give us a good view of the Cape of Good Hope. Anyone who grew up in Australia and learned the story of the (European) discovery of Australia’s east coast by Captain Cook will likely remember the Cape of Good hope (which Cook and every other explorer you learn about, rounded the Cape of Good Hope on his way to Australia. Similarly, the Dutch East India Company who had been sailing this way for at least a century to the East Indies (or what is now Indonesia. Also, fans of Blackadder… (Friday’s Dust – Doves – The best chill out music – well my version of chill out anyway).

When we arrived at Cape Point, we had to park quite a way from the actual point as this was clearly a hotspot for tourists. The first one we had visited outside of the city. We wandered toward the point and had two choices on how to get there – hike up – which would have been warm and taken about an hour there and back or spend about $2 on the funicular railway and get there in five minutes. Once we got off the funicular, there was a spectacular view overlooking the Ca0pe of Good Hope (as well as the sheer cliff face down to the ocean). There was still a little walk (up flights of stairs with no handrails) to the lighthouse at the top of Cape Point. South Africa’s solution to expensive lawsuits or safety equipment is for the Government (and business owners) to indemnify themselves from everything. You see signs everywhere letting you know that everything you do is at your own risk. We climbed the stairs, enjoyed the view out to the Southern Ocean and returned safely down the steps and funicular. After spending a while searching for our (white) hire car, we bade farewell to the Cape, although not the most southern part of Africa, the most southern part we would visit.

We continued our way back up the coast to boulders to visit the penguin colony – one of my main reasons for suggesting a trip to the Cape. We parked the car and left it in the control of the parking supervisor. They have this interesting system in South Africa, partly to ensure people have a way to earn money and partly to combat the crime. When you park your car in an open car park, these guys essentially look after it while you are away and you pay them about five rand (50 cents Australian) before you leave.

We wandered along the pathway to the beach, which is essentially a suburban laneway dotted with people’s houses and of course surrounded by stalls selling everything penguin themed you could possibly imagine as well as the standard other market stall fare – woven baskets, carved wooden animals – giraffes in particular – and scarves with elephants on them. After paying yet another national park entry fee, we walked to the boardwalk which led to the beach. We could see a penguin standing on the sand, amongst the dunes and started clicking away. Then there were two more, hiding under the boardwalk, making it hard to take pictures. We kept trying until Georgie suggested we go closer to the beach where there were at least 50 or more penguins huddled on the beach. It was great just standing there watching them. There were almost as many tourists snapping away as there were of them but they weren’t perturbed. They just stood there doing their thing, almost posing for photographs. My penguin experience to this point had included the fairy penguins at Canberra zoo and the penguins at Taronga – all of which were much harder to catch on film than these African penguin colonies.

Dan and Georgie decided to have an ice cream on the way back to the car. We had planned on stopping for lunch but when we realised how late it was getting, decided to make our way back to town. It was a fortuitous decision given the GPS had decided to call it quits and we were navigating by Georgie’s phone GPS. Eventually we made it back and agreed to meet for dinner a bit later. Dan and I went up to the hotel’s roof bar for a drink and a snack and to enjoy the view of Table Mountain. Needless to say, we didn’t take a dip in the plunge pool. (The Mercy Seat – Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – from Nick Cave’s (and my) gothic years. This is a haunting track that still resonates with me as much now as it did the first time I heard it.)

We met Georgie at her apartment and headed to one of Cape Town’s premier steak restaurants, Carne, for dinner. Carne is in an old building only a few streets from the Company Gardens. It is quite the experience for carnivores. First your waiter has taken your drinks order – at Georgie’s recommendation, we chose a really good locally produced pinotage – a South African wine variety that has successfully crossed the pinot noir and cinsaut grapes. And you are presented with a bread basket and, as Carne is actually an Italian restaurant, balsamic and oil. It has the lighter flavour of a pinot but with some fruity notes. Then the waiter comes back with the visual menu – a platter of meats so he can explain each cut – which was quite amusing to me as a former meatpacker. If you chose the beef prime rib on the bone, as Georgie did, they bring back a selection of prime ribs for you to select from. I went for the sirloin on the bone, which was probably amongst the top five steaks I have ever had. In the spirit of trying something new, Dan went for safari platter – ostrich, kudu, black wildebeest, impala and blesbok. This was enjoyed with sides of fried potatoes and sautéed spinach. But before that we had a couple of entrees to share – an exquisite beef capriccio, sliced paper thin with wild rocket, and following Dan’s choice at Harbour House, melon and prosciutto which was also divine and an appropriately light though still meaty choice prior to a big slab of beef (or Kudu). Having exhausted the first bottle of pinotage (and the restaurant’s store of the particular vintage), we chose another pinotage and kept going.

With completely full bellies and absolutely no room for dessert (even for Dan) we headed to a bar recommended by Georgie’s Air b’n’b hosts – House of Machines. It had a bit of a motorcycle theme and when we entered it was wall-to-wall hipsters. In fact, Dan was the only guy without a bushman beard in the motorcycle themed bar (hipster pastiche not bikie clubhouse). We decided on a drink. Georgie had a bourbon sour, Dan the house lager which he didn’t rate at all, and I had an original daquiri (sans ice or fruit apart from lime juice.  Feeling tired and not hipster enough, we decided to end the night with a coffee. As I would have expected they made a good flat white, although the bartender thought a cappuccino was the same thing. Dan was pretty happy – they had a hot chocolate. We decided to uber it back, although I was a little embarrassed to take a $2 uber ride. (Crystal – New Order – for most people New Order is all about Blue Monday but there is much more besides. And this is a good start.)