Thursday, July 14, Cape Point and the Boulders BeachWhile the temperatures on Thursday weren’t as warm as Wednesday, it was still clear, sunny and pretty much windless. We decided to take advantage and drive down to Cape Point, the Cape of Good Hope and nearby Boulder beach to see the penguins.
We left the hotel at around 10am after a breakfast of croissants, cheese, scones, and yogurt from Checkers (all great and cheap). We brought some rolls, more cheese and some baby carrots for lunch on the go. The drive to Cape Point took the expected 1.5 hours and was traffic-free.
Our first stop was the lighthouse. We paid the entrance fee to get into the park and drove down to the southern tip to where the funicular is. While it’s not expensive to take it up or down (it’s R58 for round trip or R48 for one way) we opted to walk up along the nicely paved path. The views were gorgeous and after 15 minutes we were at the top.
Lower funicular stop, Cape PointPathway up to the lighthouseThe funicularSince the walk up to the lighthouse itself from the top landing where the funicular stops is all stairs, we were advised to leave our stroller in the gift shop office and just carry our daughter up. We took in the views from the base of the lighthouse, though we didn’t get to see the point where the two oceans (Atlantic and Indian) meet, as it’s not always visible from Cape Point.
Views from the top: As we were walking down from the lighthouse we heard an Israeli tour group. They said hello to us and we were chatting a bit in Hebrew before we went our ways. By this time it was around 1pm and we decided to stop on a bench overlooking the Cape of Good Hope and eat our picnic lunch.
After our walk down the hill, we got back in the car and drove to the Cape of Good Hope 10 minutes away. There is a hike that a lot of people seem to do, but it wasn’t doable with a stroller and we forgot to bring the baby carrier with us that day. We just took pictures by the sign and were off to Boulders Beach. However, as we were driving out of the park we saw some ostriches enjoying a nice stroll by the beach.
Cape of Good HopeOstrichesRandom ocean shot on the drive out of the parkBoulders Beach is a really cool place to see penguins. There’s a free parking lot on either end, though we parked in the further one to be able to walk along the path to see the many penguins hiding in the bushes. As we were getting ready to enter the beach and viewing zone (it costs R65/person) we bumped into the Israeli tour group again. This time we were warned of the Israeli saying that if you bump into someone three times, the person who realizes it first has to buy the other one ice cream. We’d never heard about it before, but it’s a cool thing.
PenguinsWe walked on the boardwalk to the penguin colony and got lots of pictures. It wasn’t super crowded besides for the Israeli tour group which was nice. We didn’t spend too long there as I was really trying to make it back in time for mincha at 5:30pm.
For our drive back to Sea Point we took the M6 the whole way, along Chapman Peak Drive, a toll road (R42 for a car). While I was initially upset with choosing the one option that had a toll, the drive itself was gorgeous. You’re driving up and down mountains while hugging the coast the whole way. It’s kind of like PCH but in the mountains instead of at their base. The drive took us through Hout Bay and Camp Bay before arriving back in Sea Point just before mincha.
After mincha we decided to go to Avrons Place for dinner despite the fact that it’s a meat place. We first picked up some more breakfast food at Checkers (it’s 2 blocks away) and then headed to dinner.
It’s not like we had many choices of places to eat, but we were both quite disappointed with Avrons. The fries were excellent and the rice was ok, but the burgers (meat for DW and veggie for me) were quite lackluster. The veggie burger was from Checkers (the waiter mentioned that) and tasted like and had the texture of a large tofu hot dog, not what most Americans would consider a veggie burger. Both burgers were served on a sesame bun which was good but untoasted with lettuce and tomato. While the portions were filling (at least for us), it wasn’t a really good meal.
Beef burgerVeggie burgerWe walked back to the hotel, relaxed some and went to bed early.