Hot hot hot!!!

Work has me back in Cape Town, South Africa again, the second part of the 3 months worth of consultancy here. Nov-Dec in Cape Town is significantly different to September when I was last here. The weather is much warmer and definitely a lot windier too!!

This time round I haven't really been up to much site seeing... actually, I've done none apart from going 4x4 with a colleague down here at work. He very kindly invited me to go 4x4 with him and his friend up in a place called Jakkalskloof which is probably about 150km north of Cape Town.

When he said 4x4, I had pictured quad bikes in a forrest/park somewhere like what I'm used to... but this turned out to be the real thing! in cars!!! So at about 10am, us, 2 cars - a Toyota Prado and a Isuzu (don't know the model) - began our trail in the semi-desert terrain of Jakkalskloof. The terrain was mostly hilly with some pretty steep climbs. The surrounding is mostly semi-desert, mostly covered in sand, rocks and short shrubs kind of plants.

The adventurous side of us took us down 1 trail where we got absolutely 100% stuck for about 2.5hours. The temperature got as high as 52 degrees!!! The car was too hot to touch, the sand burns to walk on & at times it seemed like we weren't going to get the cars back out of the park!!!

I learned a few things on this trip though...

1. When going off-roading, always have at least 2 cars in case 1 gets stuck the other one can pull it out or go for help.
2. Always carry a rope for pulling the cars out of trouble
3. It's usual to flatten the tires to increase traction on the sand trails.
4. Bring excessive amounts of water! you will need it!!
5. If in doubt of what's ahead, get out of the car and walk it first!
6. Diff-Locks are great. I finally learnt how it works - its long to explain, if you are interested give me a email! :-)
7. Bring a spade! you can literally dig yourself out of trouble!
8. Have a fridge in your car. A cold drink is the only thing that kept me going!
9. BRING A HAT!

It was a cool weekend & it really gave me a true South African experience - well, in my mind anyway :-) Check out some of the photos!

What an airshow

Once again, it was a pearler of a Saturday in Cape Town which was perfect for the air show that was happening at the local military airbase in Ysterplaat.

I was very very pleasantly surprised at the planes and show that was put up today. Never before have I ...

1. Heard the sonic boom. Let alone hearing it 3 times!! It was so loud it was incredible!! Apparently they have to do it above 20,000 feet or it'd blow everyone's ear-drums. Even at that altitude, it was just incredible how loud it was! Apparently it's not all that common planes go super-sonic at airshows so boy did I feel special! :-)

2. Felt the sheer adrenalin of a fighter jet flyover you at low altitude & then pull up straight into the sky. The noise, the sheer POWER coming out of the engines is just unbelievable. I can literally feel the force coming out of the engines standing there.

3. Seen helicopters pull 360 degree loops in the sky. It almost looked like they were going to crash...

4. Seen Boeing's passenger jets (including 747, 767 & 737) in airshows let alone 2 x Boeing 737's in formation doing aerobatic manoeuvres. At one stage they did a manoeuvre such that one peeled away to one side and it looked like the wing was going to clip the other jet... you could hear the crowd holding their breath!

Oh it was just amazing the quality of the show, just absolutely breathtaking!! Check out some of the photos!!

26 degrees in September!!

Today's high was 26 degrees celcius!! It was hot hot hot!! The sun was out & the ocean looked absolutely inviting... oh! have we told you already? that I (Johnny) am in Cape Town, South Africa? yeah, and you thought Dublin might have 26 degrees of sun shine in September... ha!!

I'm in Cape Town for the best part of a month with work. One month is a long time to be away on your own so instead of booking into a normal plain-jane hotel, I've checked into a Boutique Hotel in Camps Bay which is a very very nice suburb in Cape Town :-) - gotta work hard and play hard!

So today is the first weekend that I've had since arriving. Taking the most advantage of the weather, I took a drive down to the Cape of Good Hope (the Southern-Western most point in Africa). Taking snaps of baboons, ostridges, whales, penguins and general sights along the way.

So far the scenery has been beautiful. Over the next 2-3 weekends, I hope to squeeze in ...

1. Table Mountain (big arse mountain in the middle of Cape Town)
2. Hermanus (beach great for whale viewing)
3. Stellenbosch (great wine region)
4. ... and any other suggestions?

see photos on a map