No shore excursion today. It is a do it yourself hop on, hop off bus and Table mountain day for us instead. We were up at 8am and had a small breakfast in the kings court buffet before catching the shuttle bus 15mins down the road to the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront shopping mall car park.
We had a short look round the mall - it is Easter Saturday but everything is open and looks like it will be a busy day. It is no use buying anything now as we would have to carry things around with us all day. The hop on bus ticket office was a 10min walk away so we went there first and purchased all day tickets plus Mark got a ticket for table mountain cableway. We took the main red route tour, which is around 90mins in total and stops at the lower table mountain cable car station.
The bus has 10 stops on this routes, with good commentary, so like most of these it is a good way to get to know the city. Unfortunately it is a one way only route so you need to ensure you get off if you want to see something as it is a long way round again. With this in mind we got off at stop 5 which is the main city stop. We felt a little uncomfortable as we have been fully briefed about high crime in South Africa though here the most common crime we had to avoid,at this time of the day and place, was pickpocketing. We felt particularly uncomfortable because today we had to carry our passports with us ashore and those we mustn’t lose.
We walked around for around 1hr through squares and the edges of markets. We saw some wonderful buildings including City Hall and some live choir music being sung.
Back on our bus to the next stop - Table Mountain. It may have been the next stop but it was miles and miles away. When we arrived at table mountain Mark joined the long queue for the cable car up the mountain. Pam wasn’t doing that, and there is no other way up unless you want to hike up there and she definitely wasn’t doing that. Instead she went around taking photos and got a souvenir - we have lost count how many key rings she has picked up now over these last 4 months. Whilst waiting in the queue, there was a host compère with a microphone chatting to people and playing music and asking them to sing along and dance to the likes of ABBA and YMCA plus giving out information so that helped the 45min wait feel shorter than it was.
Whilst waiting for Mark, Pam got herself a cappuccino and a chocolate croissant and chatted to fellow qm2 passengers who were having a drink too. It seems about 20% of the passengers and crew are here today - probably because yesterday was a washout.
The cable ride up was pretty spectacular.
The floor revolves so everyone gets a 360 degree view.
Unfortunately the spectacular views on the top of Table mountain were denied Mark due to it being covered by low cloud and that in turn lead to it being not just cold but freezing. The jeans, shirt and fleece did absolutely nothing and artic clothing was needed. Mark lost count of how many people came out of the ride , spent a few minutes outside then rushed for hot drinks in the warm restaurant. These few pics was the best he could do.
The trip down was harder. The car revolves and has a windows except for one part which is totally exposed to the elements and these elements, on this ride, was freezing gusting wind. Mark rejoined a sunbathing Pam, where there was no wind at all. We rejoined the bus to complete the hop on hop off circuit and to allow Mark to warm up. At least he can say he has been on top of cable mountain. He also sent Pam a video of his trip so that she felt part of the experience.
The bus route back took us the by the beaches we saw yesterday but a lot closer up so we can see many of the seafront restaurants and shops etc… It also went around the football stadium - another built for the World Cup - before we were back at the waterfront.
As it was Easter Saturday there were lots of events on for families as well as the usual attractions. It felt a bit like a carnival and we spent a bit of money on clothes and other trinkets before heading back to the mall and spending more money on board games (we purchased Sequence and rummikub that Janet had introduced us too plus a different version of Ticket to Ride, which we love. They should keep us and our new friends busy for all those sea days coming up.
Laden with bags we caught the shuttle bus back and joined a long queue for immigration, which took about 30 mins. In South Africa you have to be immigrated in, which we did in Durban, and immigrated out, which is what we’re doing now. More stamps in our passport but a very long winded process.
We were back on board around 4:30pm and rested in our cabin. We know we are annoying some people as Cunard call them Staterooms and we say cabin or room but you will just have to live with it in the same way we say QM2 is a ship and it is a liner but at least we don’t say boat.
We had a nice early dinner in the main restaurant (tomato soup followed by by roast beef and Yorkshire pudding and trimmings for Mark and Salmon and veg for Pam. Mark had ice creams and Pam had a frozen soufflé for dessert. The clothes are definitely beginning to feel snug. We were sat next to a Canadian couple who also got on at Perth. They were delighted to see us as new fixed dining companions but we disappointed them and explained, politely, that they were the interlopers and we are freedom diners and unlikely to meet them again for dinner. Mark needs to know how they became interlopers (Pam says it was being nosey). You see, we have met a few interlopers on deck 3 now when deck 2 is for fixed dining. What happens is that Cunard do not like to upset people so they start on deck 2 but if something goes wrong then they need to move and there is no space left on deck 2 so they move them to deck 3 where there is space (there isn’t actually space and we, the flexible diners, have to work round them). Usual issues are people insisting for a table for two or apparently needing a table by a window or, Mark’s favourite, “I cannot sit with these people anymore so move me”. Our couple had got on with some others in Perth but their friends had got off in Cape Town whilst they were going to Southampton. As they were going to different places, Cunard had sat them at different tables but they wanted to be together so they interloped up here and they joined two tables together to accommodate them. Tonight, we sat next to them as the tables were once again apart. They were friendly though the poor gentleman had been pickpocketed in the city and was now one mobile phone lighter than when he started the day.
After dinner we went to see the ventriloquist, Max Fulham, in the theatre. He would not be everyone’s cup of tea but we loved him as did the woman in front of us who kept laughing when others didn’t which set everybody off.
We ended the night with our quiz partners doing a couple of quizzes and playing partner whist. It was a nice relaxing evening to end a splendid port day. However, those winds from earlier picked up again and delayed us from leaving Cape Town for over 5 hours. We will soon see what impact that has on our Naimbia stop in a couple of days.
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