Author Topic: Yehoshua's South Africa TR  (Read 49137 times)

Offline Dawie

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Re: Yehoshua's South Africa TR
« Reply #40 on: July 19, 2016, 11:17:37 AM »
Is it any different as far as crime then GRU or RIO.
expats love telling horror stories, it validates why they left

Offline MeirS

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Re: Yehoshua's South Africa TR
« Reply #41 on: July 19, 2016, 02:04:32 PM »
Awesome report!

Offline Proisrael

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Re: Yehoshua's South Africa TR
« Reply #42 on: July 19, 2016, 02:44:34 PM »
Top 5 TR on DDF!!!! Fantastic details that can help everyone make a trip!!

Thank you very much for taking the time!!

Offline lubaby

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Re: Yehoshua's South Africa TR
« Reply #43 on: July 19, 2016, 02:49:36 PM »
Very nice report, what camera did you  use?
Thanks! Thanks. A dumb point and shoot. Canon sx480hs.
Cameras don't take pictures, photographers do. Cameras are just another artist's tool.

kenrockwell.com/tech/notcamera.htm

Great pics  :)

Offline shmebeble

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Re: Yehoshua's South Africa TR
« Reply #44 on: July 19, 2016, 02:58:17 PM »

Offline Maximus

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Re: Yehoshua's South Africa TR
« Reply #45 on: July 19, 2016, 03:48:19 PM »
Great TR, I've done tons of research on this trip for a future date and this has been crazy helpful.
curious did you take malaria pills? What about your kid?
was it at all scary to drive/ walk around?

Offline Yitz

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Re: Yehoshua's South Africa TR
« Reply #46 on: July 19, 2016, 03:51:26 PM »
Great TR, I've done tons of research on this trip for a future date and this has been crazy helpful.
curious did you take malaria pills? What about your kid?
was it at all scary to drive/ walk around?
FYI make sure your ok to take the Malaria Pill. I had a cousin that took it and he had a very serious reaction.

Offline Yehuda57

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Re: Yehoshua's South Africa TR
« Reply #47 on: July 19, 2016, 04:16:46 PM »
Pilansberg is not in a malaria area. Kruger National Park, a much, much larger safari park, is in a malaria area.

Offline Dawie

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Re: Yehoshua's South Africa TR
« Reply #48 on: July 19, 2016, 04:43:34 PM »
FYI make sure your ok to take the Malaria Pill. I had a cousin that took it and he had a very serious reaction.
probably wasn;t Malarone which almost never has side effects
see https://www.cdc.gov/malaria/travelers/drugs.html for choices

Offline Yehoshua

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Re: Yehoshua's South Africa TR
« Reply #49 on: July 19, 2016, 04:47:50 PM »
Awesome report!
Thanks
Top 5 TR on DDF!!!! Fantastic details that can help everyone make a trip!!

Thank you very much for taking the time!!
You're welcome

Cameras don't take pictures, photographers do. Cameras are just another artist's tool.

kenrockwell.com/tech/notcamera.htm

Great pics  :)
True, but good tools help. Thanks though.
Kudu
Yeah, I think someone mentioned that above. Thanks though.
Great TR, I've done tons of research on this trip for a future date and this has been crazy helpful.
curious did you take malaria pills? What about your kid?
was it at all scary to drive/ walk around?
As Yehuda57 said, it's not in the maleria zone. That's why we chose these over Kruger.
Pilansberg is not in a malaria area. Kruger National Park, a much, much larger safari park, is in a malaria area.
Exactly.

Offline Yehoshua

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Re: Yehoshua's South Africa TR
« Reply #50 on: July 20, 2016, 10:01:02 AM »
Thursday, July 14, Cape Point and the Boulders Beach
While 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 Point


Pathway up to the lighthouse


The funicular

Since 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 Hope




Ostriches


Random ocean shot on the drive out of the park

Boulders 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.








Penguins

We 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 burger


Veggie burger

We walked back to the hotel, relaxed some and went to bed early.

Offline stbaum

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Re: Yehoshua's South Africa TR
« Reply #51 on: July 20, 2016, 12:27:30 PM »
OOC are you vegetarian? (loving the TR btw)
My greatest achievement? I am fluent in FRIENDS quotes

Offline @Yehuda

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Re: Yehoshua's South Africa TR
« Reply #52 on: July 20, 2016, 01:07:26 PM »
WOW, what a report! Great pictures, great storytelling, great details, great writing style, great trip-to-report speed. Looks like an awesome trip! Can't wait to keep reading. When I read it for the second time, I'll put together all my specific comments. :P

Offline Dawie

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Re: Yehoshua's South Africa TR
« Reply #53 on: July 20, 2016, 01:12:49 PM »
OOC are you vegetarian? (loving the TR btw)
http://forums.dansdeals.com/index.php?topic=3986.msg1470418#msg1470418
Thanks. Next is figuring out what KosherWorld or another store has in terms of travel (POM-like) meals.
Thanks for the tip.  ;)
I know you do, but as a vegetarian it doesn't really do me much good, now does it?
« Last Edit: July 20, 2016, 02:18:46 PM by Dawie »

Offline Yehoshua

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Offline Dawie

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Re: Yehoshua's South Africa TR
« Reply #55 on: July 20, 2016, 04:45:46 PM »
Thanks Dawie  :)
anytime, glad to see the Cape weather held up for you

Offline Yaalili

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Re: Yehoshua's South Africa TR
« Reply #56 on: July 20, 2016, 10:18:34 PM »
Avrons I remember being quite solid, though that was for a double beef burger and rib steak, didn't go for any veggie options.

Offline Proisrael

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Re: Yehoshua's South Africa TR
« Reply #57 on: July 21, 2016, 12:07:04 PM »
Seems like you got real close to the penguins. Are you allowed to touch them?

Offline Yehoshua

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Re: Yehoshua's South Africa TR
« Reply #58 on: July 21, 2016, 12:27:15 PM »
Seems like you got real close to the penguins. Are you allowed to touch them?
Not only are you not allowed to touch them, you're not allowed to interact with them (like talking to them directly). They don't want them to become too accustomed to humans despite the fact that people look at them all day long.

Offline yochiek93

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Re: Yehoshua's South Africa TR
« Reply #59 on: July 21, 2016, 12:29:24 PM »
Not only are you not allowed to touch them, you're not allowed to interact with them (like talking to them directly). They don't want them to become too accustomed to humans despite the fact that people look at them all day long.
Why?