Table Mountain

You've all seen it in pictures, now I have traipsed all over the top of it. After going out Wednesday night to the Zula bar with a Belgium girl and an Israeli girl and listening to Bob Marley blaring from the DJ, I got up and put on my hiking shoes. Caught a 'rikki' to the mountain. A 'rikki' is a minibus with an odd shaped roof and two bench seats running down the sides in the back. These thoroughly unsafe vehicles fly around the town and will take you anywhere for 16 rand. Bargain.

So, Table Mountain and a queue several hundred metres long waiting for cable car tickets. Not being too excited at the prospect of climbing up the incredibly steep slopes, I waited in line and got my ticket. It was well worth it. The cable cars are round with transparent sides and a rotating floor, so as you ascend the mountain you get a 360 degree view. Soooo cool. At the top there were heaps of tourists, a cafe, shop, public phones and a cocktail bar. None of which are actually visible from the city. After walking for a while I had stepped off the 15 minute tourist walk with wheelchair access and was walking on my own along narrow rocky pathways. Took a wrong turn and ended up on the 2 hour walk, rather than the 45 minute one I had planned on. Still, it was spectacular, and scarily close to the edge at times, clambering along rocks while the sheer drop and the amazing view below takes your breath away.

Back down the cable car, packed my bags and walked to the train station. I bought a first class ticket for the trip to stellenbosch. I normally prefer to travel with the masses, but thought that perhaps the masses wouldn't appreciate my backpack taking up heaps of room in the carriage. The ticket was only 12 rand anyway ($2.40). So my trip was boring, except when I saw half a dozen zebras in a paddock and nearly jumped up and yelled "Look! Zebras" at the thoroughly unimpressed locals.

Got off at Stellenbosch, and after a five minute walk was at my youth hostel. Stellenbosch is a very Afrikaans city, very pretty and obviously wealthy. Had pizza and put the finishing touches on my presentation for Friday (Until 11pm). Slept in a dorm room, waking every hour because I knew I had an early start at the conference.

Ran into quite a few familiar faces at the conference this morning, people from other conferences. That was nice. After lunch it was my turn up the front. The presentation went well, the powerpoint worked and lots of people wanted to ask me questions. The other presentations were very interesting and I've been having lots of interesting conversations. Waiting now at the internet cafe, because the conference dinner is tonight and I have time to kill.