South Africa Tues 17 Nov '09

South Africa Tues 17 Nov '09
This is the last day of the group tour with 'Explore' and it is a free day, ie nothing organised. Most of the group fly back to the UK later today.

You may have noticed a major omission in out itinerary so far- it was scheduled 3 times and postponed each time due to windy or cloudy weather. So the free day is our last chance to go to the top of Table Mountain. Four of us are there at 8am and YES the cable car is open. So up we go. It is a very steep climb. A long way up. Normally the car rotates as it rises. This one is broken so it didn't rotate. I hope it isn't broken in any other way. It travels at 10 metres per second, it takes nearly 15 minutes to get to the top. 1200 metres we travel up the cable (3/4 mile?) at an angle that looks about 75 degrees to me. Almost vertical. We get to the top safely.
The views are glorious. The top of Table Mountain is very high indeed, we can see the docks, waterfront, high-rise buildings and roads far below us. All tiny. And the new stadium for World Cup 2010. Tiny in the distance, almost directly below us.
We walk on the path around the top. More panoramic views of the Cape coastline that we have travelled over the last 10 days. This was definitely worth the effort on our 4th attempt. A great place, magical.

Then the cable car down. Equally steep and long of course. This time the car IS rotating. More spectacular views, 360 degrees of them. Fantastic.

Then taxi to hotel, collect bag, taxi to airport, fly to Durban, taxi to Umhlanga just north of Durban, Seaside Cottages, bed.
All the Best, John