A thought...a decision...a journey: November 2011

Lion's Head Friday Evening Hike

Because this amazing rock feature is literally in our backyard (about a 10 minute drive) a group of us took the opportunity to do an evening hike one Friday after work. It ended up being a full moon which meant that more people had the same idea. We started up the path at a quarter to seven pm to watch the sunset. To avoid the crowd we found some rocks off to the left near the top to enjoy the sunset and hang out. A great Friday evening!

Looking down at Camps Bay

Looking at Sea point

A quick sunset

A look up to the top of lion's head

Portsville- cottage trip for the weekend

So randomly one Friday a couple of the roomates and some other GRS folks decided that we should plan a weekend trip at 4:30 pm in the afternoon. Nothing like late planning when you need a place to stay for 6+ and 2 rental cars and if anyone knows South Africa service...nothing is easy to figure out if it requires outside help. Luckliy Jamison found a random cottage in the middle of no where (lovingly called Portsville) about 2 and a half hours inland from Cape Town and decided to book it on a whim.

We lost some companions due to last minute planning, but 11 am on Saturday 6 of us (Laura, Charlie, me, Jamo, Hooter and Justine) left Cape Town for our adventure. After passing through Portsville to pick up some groceries (note that on a Saturday the 2 block town was packed with people who were 90% already drunk at 1 pm in the afternoon), an hour on a dirt road that required you to drive 10 mph...we arrived at our cottage...in the middle of no where...

Terrain of the drive

View of the valley from the mountain we had to pass over to get to the cottage

Upon arriving at the amazing cottage the boy ran out of the car to jump in the random lake that was right by the cottage. Me, having watched too many animal planets before I left the states I opted to observe from the shore. The water was frigid as well. After settling in by about 3 pm we all decided that a good hike of the rocky terrain was in order. We packed backpacks full of drankwankels (what they call alcohol beverages here) and started off on a 2 hour + hike...

The green roof is the cabin and this is the view they look out onto...amazing

View from the cottage

Another view from the cottage

At the top of the rock we called "Pride Rock"...this scenery looked like it was was stratight out of lion king...minus the lions.

We headed back and barbecued and just took in the night. Early the next morning we all went for a swim and then decided we should do another hike. This hike proved a little more challenging and there were a couple of moments where we all joked that our mother's would kill us (in the middle of no where, have no clue what lives out here and if anyone gets hurt we are screwed...sorry Mom). We successfully made it back to the cottage with little more than a few scrapes and a good sunburn. It was so nice to be out in the middle of no where and just have time to think and bask in the sun. We all headed back to Cape Town late sunday in time for our soccer pick up game. A great weekend had by all and only cost around $65.

Cool shot while driving...the mountain range was continuous since we left Cape Town

Llanddudno

The weather has been up and done since arriving in Cape Town. One moment it is sunny and then the next second it is pouring rain and then sunny again all in a 10 minute time frame. But...fear not beach season is almost here!! In order to get into the summer (weird for me seeing as on this particular Sunday it was snowing in Denver) spirit a group of us (current house mates and visitors from Jburg) decided to take a Sunday drive to one of the more exclusive beaches within 20 minutes outside Cape Town called Llandudno. We left in the middle of a rain storm to drive there and it ended up being super nice...no thanks to the jeans and sweatshirts we all had on.