I hope you still enjoy these blogposts, this one is way too late I know…
On day ten, the 27th of March, we didn’t had to drive to our next destination because we had two nights in Plettenbergbaai. We went to the Storms River Mouth Section of the Tsitsikamma National
Park, this is the mouth of there Storms River with suspension bridges over it. I have also been here in October last year. It was again really nice and we also went a bit further with hiking up the
cliff on the other side of the bridge.
After this we went back to Plett, we went to the beach and had lunch there. After lunch, we went back to our B&B and later we went for dinner.
The next day, we left Plett to go to Mosselbaai. We first stopped at the Knysna Heads where I’ve also been last year. It was again really nice. After this, we made our way to Wilderness, we stopped
here to have lunch. After Wilderness we arrived in Mosselbaai. We had a really nice hotel here. At night we walked to the beach for supper. We had supper at the same restaurant as I had lunch last
year in October.
Unfortunately we only had one night in Mosselbaai so we had to leave the next day already. We made our way to Stanford that day. We stopped on our way there in Swellendam for lunch. Swellendam is a
really nice small town. The drive to Stanford was really nice, the last part was a bit in the middle of nowhere between the farms. We slept on a really nice farm, called the White Water Farm.
This was the second last blogpost about the two weeks with my parents, last was is coming soon!
On day eight, the 24th of March we drove from Oudtshoorn to Kirkwood. This was again a really nice drive. Kirkwood is a really small town just before Addo. We first couldn’t find the place we
wanted to go to for dinner but later we found out it was all the way up the hill, we still went there though.
On the 25th of March we drove through the Addo Elephant National Park with our own car on our way to the Amakhala Reserve. We saw a lot of animals, Elephants, Zebra, Kudu, Red Hartebeest, Buffalo
and different kinds of birds. We drove around for about three and a half hours, after this we drove to the Amakhala Reserve which is just a bit further than Addo. Amakhala is a private game reserve
with different accommodations in the park, only people who stay at one of the accommodations can do game drives, so it’s not as busy as Addo is where everybody can go in with their own car. When we
arrived there we got something to eat and at four o’clock it was time for the first game drive. We went with this big game drive safari 4x4 jeep thing, you know what I mean. First we saw a lot of
giraffes and zebra, the giraffes were pretty close. On the way to the other side of the park we saw some kudu and red hartebeest. We stopped at a point where you can look over the whole reserve
with the river on the side, it looks amazing from there. Then we went to look for the lions, they knew where the were, because all the rangers can communicate with each other. Then we found them,
the only have four lions in the reserve, three females and one male. On the way back to the accommodation we saw a few elephants, but our ranger said we would look for them again the next morning.
After the game drive we had dinner, we had dinner in a room with a big table in the middle with all the guests, it was a bit weird but a nice experience I can say.
The next morning was way too early but it was worth it. We had a game drive at six in the morning till nine. We first went to look for the cheetahs because one of the rangers saw them that morning,
but we couldn’t find them. After that we went to the place where the rhinos were, we saw seven rhinos but they can’t say if they have more or not because of security reasons because a lot of rhinos
get killed for the horns. Then we went to look for the elephants, and we found the whole herd! They were walking in front and next to the jeep, that was amazing! After this we had breakfast. After
breakfast we made our way to Plettenbergbaai with a stop in Jeffrey’s Bay for lunch. When we arrived in Plett, we had some time and a bit later we went for dinner.
Day six was a lot of driving, we drove from Montagu to Oudtshoorn. The drive itself was really nice, really quiet, there was almost nobody on the road. On the way, we stopped a couple of times and
had lunch somewhere in a small town. When we arrived in Oudtshoorn we got to our place where we stayed for two nights, it was a lodge with the rooms in boats, it is called Mount Noah Lodge.
The next day we had a full day in Oudtshoorn. We went to the Cango Caves. At the caves you have a choice to do the normal tour or the adventure tour. My sister, her boyfriend and I did the
adventure tour. On this tour, you first go through the big chambers and after this through more narrow tunnels to other chambers. It was really nice and warm and really humid for a cave. After this
we went on our way back to the lodge to a Ostrich Farm, the same farm where I was in October. We had lunch first, of course we ate Ostrich. After this we got a tour over the farm.
On day three we woke up early in the morning to go to Cape Point. We drove from Lagoon Beach via the Chapman’s Peak Drive to Cape point. The drive was beautiful and because we were pretty early it
wasn’t that busy yet. We first went to Cape Point and from there we walked to Cape of good Hope. After this we went to Boulders Beach, a place were Penguins live. Here I also saw, for the people
who know him, Casey Neistat. After this we went on the way home to Muizenberg to have a break at the beach.
The next morning was the first day of the trip we are doing now. But before we left Cape Town we went to Table Mountain to go up by using the Cable Car. The weather was still not that good but it
was a lot better now. The wind was pretty cold at the top and it rained for a bit. After this, our trip began. Our first stop was Stellenbosch. The drive from Cape Town to Stellenbosch is not that
long. Stellenbosch is a really nice small town with a lot of shops and restaurants. We walked around for a bit, had lunch and supper later.
The next morning we left Stellenbosch to go to Montagu. This was again not a really long drive, but a really nice drive. Montagu is again small but so nice. When we arrived, our rooms were not
ready yet so we went to the Montagu Hot Springs. We thought it was like a natural water spring thing but it was actually just swimming pools with warm water. It was still really nice though.
So welcome to my first blogpost of my two week trip with my parents. This is going to be a combination of two days. So last Thursday my parents arrived. I went to the airport with Gail but they
were not sure if I was coming to the airport. So after some time they finally came, and it actually felt already normal after a few minutes. My sisters boyfriend also came, which I didn’t know, so
that was a really cool surprise.
After we fetched our car, we went to the hotel at Lagoon Beach. After we dropped their bags there we went to town for lunch. We walked over Green Market Square to Longstreet. We had lunch at
Longstreet and walked through the Company Gardens back to the car. Later this day we had supper at the restaurant at Lagoon Beach.
The next morning, on Friday, I had to go to school in the morning for final assembly. After this we went to the Waterfront and had lunch there. We went on the sightseeing bus to go to Table
Mountain but it was too cloudy, so we didn’t do Table Mountain but we got out at Camps Bay because the weather was better there. After this we went on the bus again to go back to the Waterfront. We
walked around for a bit and waited till Gail and Isaiah were also there to have supper together.
So this is what we did the first two days. I will write a new post as soon as possible about day three and four.
I’m just going to mention the things I did in the last three weeks, nothing really special at school so these are just the things I did during the weekends.
On the 6th of February I went to the Old Biscuit Mill in Woodstock, It is a really cool place with a lot of small shops and a food market on Saturdays. The only thing is that it is really busy and
really touristy… a lot of Dutch people! After this I took some photos of the artwork in Woodstock.
A week later I went to the South African Museum and the Art Gallery in the Gardens in Town. I don’t really know what to say about this but it was really nice and interesting, I have been to five
museums now so I feel really educated now ;) but I’m also a bit done with museums…
Then on the 21st of February I didn’t really know what to do that weekend so I went to the Two Oceans Aquarium at the Waterfront to look at some fish! It was actually pretty cool (literally) and
interesting.
And then on the 27th of February I finally did what I wanted to do for so long. All the time I found it a bit expensive but I woke up that morning and I was like I am just going to do it because I
would probably regret it if I did not do it. So I went to the Waterfront by bus and went to the place where you can book it, I asked if they had availability that day and that guy said do you want
to right now? I was like yeah why not? So in 15 minutes later I had to be back at the same place, they fetched me there and we went to the actual place. I had to sign and there it was, a
helicopter! So I went on a helicopter ride which was amazing. I went with two other guys and because I was alone I could sit in front! We flew from the Waterfront over the Stadium, Sea point,
Clifton, Camps Bay to Houtday and back. It was not really long but it was amazing, thanks to the beautiful weather that day! After this they dropped me at the Waterfront again. I still had some
time so I went to the Titanic Exhibition which was in Cape Town for a couple of months. This was really interesting but it was so cold inside there because they had real ice??? Later this day I
went to Kaylee with Curtley and Hilja to have supper. This was a great day!
My parents and my sister will arrive this Thursday, we are going to see and do a lot during two weeks, first in Cape Town and then we go to other places. I’m planning on writing every day but I
don’t think I’m able to upload every day, so maybe it will come up a few days after.
There I am with another cool story to tell, after almost 8 weeks, Sorry for that!
In the week of 14 December I’ve been to town everyday, yes every day. I’ve been to markets, restaurants for lunch (almost every day) Waterfront, Sea Point.
On the 20th of December I went to Hout Bay by bus, which takes an hour. I’ve been there to the market and had some really good fish and chips. Then there was a big fire on the mountain happening in
like 5 minutes time, everything started to smell like smoke. There are more fires now because it’s hot and it didn’t rain for long.
On the 24th of December I went with my host mom, who works for a company for volunteers, to the Wolwerivier Settlement. The volunteers organized a christmas party for the kids, the kids got
presents and every family got a packet with food for Christmas. That was really special to see but also very nice because everybody was so happy! When we were at home again we had Christmas dinner
together.
On Christmas day we didn’t do a lot because we already had Christmas the day before, but we went to Canal Walk to watch a movie and to eat there. And of course when we were home we ate again,
because Christmas...
Saturday the 26th of December, for the Dutch people 2nd Christmas day, but they don’t have that here I hiked Lions Head again with friends. We went at like 6 o’clock, we watched the sunset at the
top and we saw the full moon. We had to hike down in the dark, which is a bit weird but we survived!
On the 31st of December I went with friends to the Jeremy Loops concert in the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. This is a really nice place for a concert because it’s open air and just a field where
everybody sits and eats. It was a really nice way to celebrate new years, also a bit weird for me because I’m used to fireworks and oliebollen the whole day!
During the first week of January, I went to town again a couple of times. I went to the Slave Lodge, this was pretty impressive to see everything what the slaves had to deal with at the actual
place. I also went to the Castle of Good Hope, built by the Dutch East India Company between 1666 and 1679.
On the 29th of January I went to Mumford & Sons at the Grand Parade in town, this was really awesome.
School also started again three week ago, everything is going well but it feels more like school now because I’m used to everything.
I’m now looking forward to the 17th of March, the day my parents and my sister arrive and an awesome two week trip begins!
For everyone at home, i hope you had fun during ‘’Carnaval’'
I’m going to try to write soon again, if I have some interesting things to tell.
I hope you enjoyed it again, and leave a comment on the comment page if you want!
So I’m writing my blogposts in English from now on. So as you may have noticed this is English, so welcome to my first English blogpost (no shit sherlock). I hope my English is good enough to write
a lot of nonsense on this beautiful website. I’m probably going to write even more nonsense in English than I already did in Dutch. But maybe my cool stories are even better in English, so enjoy!
On the 29th of November I went with a friend from school to town, we had lunch at Truth Coffee, which is a really cool place. After this we went to Table Mountain, we went up the mountain by using
the Cable Car (I’m not going to hike with 32 degrees celsius). I was hoping that it wouldn’t be that hot on the top of the mountain but there was almost no wind so it was definitely hot. After this
we took the bus to Camps Bay to watch the sunset and after this we went home.
On the 1st of December I went with friends to Sea Point to have dinner, play minigolf and watch the sunset. Well, that was the plan... We arrived in town (civic centre) and we took another bus to
sea point, but this bus didn’t go to sea point promenade, where we wanted to go to. So after almost an hour on the bus we were back in civic centre. Now we took the bus to sea point promenade and
we could finally have dinner. Because we spent so much time on the bus we didn’t had enough time anymore to play minigolf, so we watched the sunset and we went back home (after struggles with
another bus).
Friday the 4th of December I wentwith Isaiah to Ratanga Junction.Ratanga Junction is the Theme Park here in Cape Town. It’s not really big but there are some cool rides, and because it was not
really busy we could do some of the rides a couple of times. So that was a fun day!
Oh and for the cool human beings who are already waiting for me at the airport in Amsterdam, I have a new flight. My flight was planned to be on the 13th of May 2016, but because they wrote down on
my visa here at the airport the 8th of May, I have te leave South Africa on or before the 8th of May. Nobody knows exactly why they wrote down the 8th of May 2016, but sometimes they are really
strict here at the airport, so I have to leave on that date. If you don’t leave on or before the date they wrote down on your visa you are not allowed to visit South Africa for 5 years! And I maybe
already want to go back in 5 years, so I’m not going to take that risk. This means I’m not in Cape Town for exactly 10 months… that sucks, but it means that it is exactly 300 days, maybe that
sounds even better. So I’m finally going to tell you now when I’ll be back in the Netherlands. I’ll leave Cape Town on Sunday the 8th of May at about 11 p.m. and I’ll arrive in Amsterdam after 11
and a half hours chilling on my own on Monday the 9th of May at about 10:30 a.m.
So I think this was what I wanted to tell.
I hope you enjoyed my first wonderful English blogpost.
Bye!
Simon
Did you know that dolphins are so smart that within a few weeks of captivity they can train people to stand on the very edge of the pool and throw them fish?
