Sometimes it rains in Africa

When I pictured Cape Town, I imagined white sandy beaches, bikinis and flips flops, water sports and sunshine. OK, so it's spring, but the guide books said mid-high 20's and slightly changeable weather. Instead we've had to drag the hats and gloves out of the bottom of our packs, dig out the rain coats and enjoy an interesting climate that combines the wetness of Wales and the changeable nature of say Cornwall (rain one minute, sun the next and wind that would freeze the proverbial extremities off a brass monkey).

Would this damp our enthusiasm? Not a chance.

Yesterday we took a township tour. Interesting to learn about the history of the townships and to see how vast they are, but the tour felt quite sanitised. One excellent aspect of the tour was that the guide Njongo was from a township and he had been sponsored through college to train as a guide. He sang for us in the car on the way down to the townships which was beautiful. The highlight for everyone was a visit to a day care centre. 25 or so angelic children sitting in a circle singing softly with a matronly teacher beaming at them. She said something to them in the amazing clicking language of the townships and the next thing we knew we were mobbed. It was like a scene from Gulliver's Travels. Mike's bag was trampled to the ground and he had three tiny people on his head and one wrapped around each thigh before you could say "click click". I felt teeny hands grabbing at my camera, my hair, my belt and before I knew it the kids were actually climbing me. It was hilarious. After our mauling session the kids sang for us - it was totally charming.

In the afternoon we planned to climb Table Mountain or Robbin Island - both were closed because of the weather. Today we awoke again hoping to do the same - again high winds. So we hooked up with two other travellers and decide to climb up and down the mountain. Zero visibility from the top and we were soaked to the skin, but lots of fun nevertheless and from half way up we got a great view of Cape Town.

Tomorrow brings a trip around the Cape Peninsula and horse riding..... the shark diving is TBC.

Oh Vee count - 0 (not a chance it would survive this rain!)