Incredible Scenery at Every Turn

The last two days have been full of incredible scenery and incredible people around every turn! We started out yesterday morning with an incredible breakfast at the Four Rosmead, then walked into town for worship at the Central Methodist Mission. Worship was great! It reminded us very much of worship at Seattle First UMC - the congregation was incredibly friendly and welcoming, and the pastor said a special prayer for our travels when he served us communion. We even saw our friends Jane and Gilbert, who continued their incredible hospitality and introduced us to their gorgeous grandchildren.

After church, we walked back up to our hotel (the walk back being less fun than the walk down into town) and changed clothes for a day out. After eating the 'chocolate log' that Peter had provided the night before (for sustenance, of course), we headed out for some more left-side driving. We drove all the way to the bottom of the world to see Cape Point! It was incredible. We drove down the coast and into the national park, then parked and hiked up to the Cape Point light house, where the view was incredible. It literally felt like were were at the edge (or the bottom) of the world!

After our hike, we drove up the other coast of the peninsula, where apparently all of Cape Town had turned out to enjoy the gorgeous weather (very crowded). We went into the de Waterkant district, a hip shopping/dining area, and had a fabulous sushi dinner before heading back to the hotel and turning in early.

This morning, we had another great breakfast (we're getting so spoiled with these incredible breakfasts!), then took off driving again. We stopped in a town called Darling to get picnic fixings, then drove out to the West Coast National Park, where we could spend days just watching the waves break on the huge beautiful boulders. It is also 'flower season' on the west coast: part of the park is only open for two months per year, and now is the time! This little area is absolutely covered with flowers. A giant carpet of yellows and oranges and pinks and purples - it's incredible! All with mountains and ocean as backdrop. This was truly a treat.

There are also ostriches hanging out in the flowers, which is a sight to see for sure. Apparently, before the first world war, ostrich feathers were all the rage in women's hats and things like that in Europe, so South Africa jumped on the wagon and started breeding them and making loads of money. Then the war started and nobody wanted ostrich feathers anymore, so now they have tons of ostriches and nothing to do with them. They're funny-looking birds, that's for sure.

We took a less-than-direct route from the west coast back to Cape Town and went through a couple of picturesque little towns in the wine country, stopping twice to sample wine and cheese at some great little wineries, and then having a lovely dinner in Franschhoek. Now we're back at the hotel lamenting that we have to leave here tomorrow, but looking forward to heading to Hermanus to look for more whales!

It's crazy how time works when you're away: part of me can't believe we're in Africa at all - and part of me can't believe how long it's been since we've been at home! Time flies and it drags all at once; and in the same way, I am both dreading leaving and looking forward to being home. This has truly been the trip of a lifetime.

[I will upload pictures from the last two days as soon as possible... ]