Day 1
Well we all managed to make our way to London, learning a few things along the way – like it is important if you are going to leave the Terminal to get an immigration card. The groups from western Canada picked up a great tail wind and were actually a half hour early. The group that arrived early in the morning managed to do some touring on their own before the rest arrived. They also provided a warm greeting for the Vancouver delegation. Upon our arrival we met with Gavin who arranged to have the bus come a wee bit early, and then led us on a great tour of London. He is a very knowledgeable man who pointed out all the sites of London and the origin of many of our familiar sayings like ‘the loo’. We stopped at about 2:15 at the Ye Old Cock Restaurant for a wonderful Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding lunch, along with apple pie and cream. After that wonderful meal we made our way to the Millennium Eye for a bird’s eye view of the city. The timing was perfect as we were able to watch the sunset over London. At the end of the voyage we made our way back to Heathrow to continue our voyage to Cape Town. Security is very interesting – we had various experiences from a thorough search and shoe removal to a very superficial inspection. There are lots of stores in the departure area at Heathrow.
Our journey to South Africa was 11 hours including a one hour waiting in line to fly out. We were reminded that Heathrow is the busiest airport in the world. Anyway – we all arrived somewhat tired having had varying amounts of sleep.
The flight was basically uneventful except for the 1 hour wait on the Heathrow Tarmac. Then an overnight—11 hour flight. We all arrived feeling fresh and ready to take on the new land of South Africa!
Our South African Guide Stuart McMillan was there to greet us, once we cleared customs etc We left the airport and took a bit of a tour from the airport down into the bay area, stopping at the Company Gardens. In the Gardens we discovered a monument to Cecil Rhodes and an array or flowers, some of which were new to us. One distinctive sighting was a very large rubber tree and several examples of a Cycad Tree (which we learned you must have a permit to cut down.)
While enjoying the view of Devil’s Peak , Lion’s Head and of course Table Mountain—we passed on the cable car ride as Table mountain was misty and cool which would have limited our view.
We then drove around the Boor crop Area—which has many uniquely colored homes.
Lunch and shopping at the Harbour Market, then into our hotel. Many took a much needed rest before a wonderful supper in the hotel at 7:30.