Sunday 29th November:

Another beautiful warm day, and our cheapo trip to Robben Island. The ship tour, which turned out 99% the same as ours was priced at $149, we paid via the hotel R300, or around $25. What they got that we didn't was a man with a flag and coach ride which took us a walk of 12 minutes. What they didn't have was the most amazing young man, Thabo, our coach tour guide on the island. I was shocked how emotional I was with the most powerful of stories, and narrated in such a clear & powerful way.

The story of Robben Island is too long even to precis here, but having bought The Long Walk to Freedom some considerable time ago, it is now time to read it when I get home. The other key figure apart from Nelson Mandela to look up is Robert Sudugwe, leader of the PAC, Pan African Congress, and the man who led the protest against the "Pass Laws". His book is called "How Can Man Die Better", or something very similar.

After the tour with Thabo, we were shown round the sections by an ex-prisoner; he had been imprisoned in 1972 for 5 years for leading a protest in Port Elizabeth. I guess he would now be in his sixties. The other memorable point in the tour was "The Quarry" where prisoners would be punished with hard labour over a period of 13 years. Inside the quarry was a cave which was the only place that various prisoners could meet without being overheard, a cave which is now known as the first chamber of democratic government.

An excellent tour, a lot better than I had imagined, although I'm not quite sure what I had imagined, and of course great value for money.

Starting to get used to the ship but not before some more standing in line. First face-to-face immigration in the Cruise Terminal, and then another line queueing for the VAT refund. The customs man looked very long and hard at the invoice for Lorna's diamond earrings, and then asked to see the goods, which of course we produced. It appears we should receive a banker's cheque some time in the future, just have to keep fingers crossed.

My digestion is beginning to concern me a little, acid reflux, but that's not new, but what is, is the heart flutter/palpitation that seems increasingly prevalent, sometimes when I wake up in the night, sometimes during the day. Various theories such as a side effect of the Mepradec, so stopped taking those after three days, bread, after Sunday lunch with quite a bit of bread, but I'm not sure it's related to a particular food. One theory is a hiatus hernia, seems to fit some of the symptoms, and it feels like the gullet or the top of the stomach is constricted when swallowing food, or even drink. It has come on a bit in the last few weeks, because I had absolutely no issues out in Mongolia.

Saturday 28th November:

An early taxi to be first up to the cable car up Table Mountain, some chance? It was heaving with many groups and it seemed to make little difference whether you had bought a ticket in advance, or you were intending to buy one there. We managed to upset the Titan rep who was trying hopelessly to ensure no one pushed in front of his group.

Weatherwise we certainly picked the right day, a warm, sunny and windless morning, the views from the top stunning. After queueing for an hour once on top the crowds melted away and we walked the route around the top, Dennis managed to take 24 pictures of Lorna & I on Lorna's iPad, one would have been fine Dennis.

Back to the hotel and onto the bus for a short tour of Cape Town before arriving at the Cruise Terminal. Even at the eleventh hour the ground team were not coordinated, with many people having found they had not identified their luggage, having not been told they needed to, as the buses were about to leave, thus more delay.

More queuing at the Cruise Terminal, not far short of another hour, and so much misinformation regarding the VAT refund process, very frustrating. Also only Lorna had been credited with the Prestige Drinks package; that was sorted pretty quickly, but after a trip back onto the Waterfront to find the Customs Office, were told by Tourist Information that it had not been there for some time. The Customs Office opposite the terminal was clear, the Customs people would be onboard at 4pm Sunday, only for that to be refuted by Reception.

Anyway confirmation Sunday morning that they would be onboard, so we will see and report back.

Suite is fine, and very comfortable, not that we have spent much time in it yet. Dinner in the restaurant with Jude/Marion (a man), Carol-Jean & Mary-Ellen (sisters), Carla & Tom from Ohio. A funnish evening finished with a nightcap with M'Lady & dennis.

Friday 27th November:

Slept well except for the now nightly palpitation; also had to give Lorna a little prick in the middle of the night; at 1.1 blood sugar very low.

Arriving in Stellenbosch Lorna says to me, "Which way shall we go?" I say, "Well you've been here as long as I have, let's turn right". A turn to the left would have cost a few quid for coffee, but the turn to the right cost me £5K.

Having turned right and walked less than one hundred metres down the road, yes, a Diamond Manufacturer, not just any Diamond Manufacturer, but one of only five "sight-holders" in South Africa; they buy directly from De Beers, them that produce 75% of the world's diamond output. That meant two things, we were dealing with professionals, and the prices would be unbeatable. So I am delighted to be able to report that Lorna is now the proud owner of a pair of diamond ear-rings, and I have solved the usual Christmas present conundrum in style this year.

Very good people, and given that we needed more time than would have been available had we taken the coach back to Cape Town, Peter Daneel, son of the owner, drove us back in the old man's Mercedes. We need to claim the 14% VAT back at the port on departure, so the damage will be limited a little, just need to make sure there is no trace when we get back to London.

Not much more to say really, other than the towns of Franschhoek and Stellenbosch and the surrounding areas are beautiful, and well worth a longer visit in the future. The wine-tasting was really a non-event at the Alles Bleue Vineyard, although the service was delightful and the lunch enjoyable.

One thing Peter did point out to us as we returned to Cape Town was the enormous shanty town, Khayelitsha, home to over 1,000,000 people, or 2% of the population of SA. It just brings home again the disparity of wealth in South Africa where 15% of the population own in excess of 80% of the assets.

Khayelitsha: Cape Town, South Africa is a huge, sprawling city that has given rise to a number of new neighborhoods and townships over the past decade. Khayelitsha is now the biggest of these and the community had a population explosion after apartheid ended and blacks rushed into Cape Town for jobs.

As of the last census in 2005, there were a recorded 400,000 people in Khayelitsha, but that figure is likely much higher. The township's population is incredibly young, with 40 percent of its residents under 19 years old and only about seven percent over the age of 50.

Thursday 26th November:

Allan: A good night's sleep barring the short period of bloody palpitations, is this the new heartburn? Today we're off on our game drive, which portends to be a tame affair compared with our recent safaris, no buffalo kill today I'll be bound.

Well, it was billed as a safari, but sadly it was no more safari than a visit to the zoo. The Aquila Game Reserve, a large place, two and a half hours by coach outside Cape Town ferried us round in 20 seater vehicles inside a fenced area. We saw zebra, wildebeest, white rhino even, and sadly six lions in a very small fenced area. We also saw the only two elephants in the reserve. Unfortunately we also witnessed the death of a zebra mare whilst giving birth.

With the numbers on this tour, probably in excess of 200 people, it was never going to match our recent safari experiences, but the disorganisation of both the local agent, and Aquila was surprising. However most people seemed to enjoy the day, except Sue, who was clealy a little underwhelmed, she certainly does not have the love of animals that Lorna does.

Ethnic make up of The Western Cape province is 14% white, 40% coloured and 46% black. This was one of the first statistics our guide for the day, Chris, presented us with at the start of the day. He went on to answer everyone's question, so where do I fit in with an Indian mother and a German father, the answer, I'm coloured, not a term to be used back in the UK.

The weather was overcast and wet, but the landscape was beautiful with some really craggy mountains for a lot of the way. Past the mountains we entered the winelands, which we will be visiting tomorrow when we travel to Stellenbosch and Franshoek, I can't wait!

Evening meal in the hotel, and another opportunity for the hotel to demonstrate their incompetence, this time organising the buffet. A pretty poor meal; we wonder if Oceania are aware of the pre-cruise performance, because it is very different to the standard               

Wednesday 25th November:

Very comfortable flight, glad we paid the extra for Premium Economy, or World Traveller Plus as BA call it. Twelve hours went by quite comfortably with very good service. However, the problem with landing with several hundred people all heading for the same hotel and the same cruise at 7.30am in the morning is the amount of time you have to kill before you can get into your hotel room. A second breakfast, and then a tour round before a beer in the hotel lobby, and we've made it; time for nap I think.

Cruise Critics met, David & Gillian, Eli & Donna, Nina & Jim (he's Norwegian), Pauline (lives in Wales, emigrated from England to Canada a long time ago), and Judy & Jack from California, strange people, couldn't say the country Nanibia; wow what a bunch, quite scary!

Back to Waterfront for a meal at Karibu, delightful waiter (Danny Welbeck), and an excellent meal, lovely ambience around the harbour. The fantastically good news is the exchange rate, R21 to the GBP. Meal for four, with bottle of wine, starters etc plus tip £37.50. It really is cheap here, drinks and food especially.

Tuesday 24th November

Well we are off on another trip of a lifetime!

Allan: New suitcases all round, and the level of design and capacity has moved on. 26.5 Kgs, hope that will be OK, after all you are allowed two bags of 23Kg, and I'm under 12 stone, so will be a bit miffed if I have to cough up at check in.

Well it's Tuesday, and Lorna & I have another version of the acronym, TOSSER. It now stands for Tuesday, Or Stay Safe Enjoying Ryhall. Yes Sue & Dennis thought they were leaving Wednesday; Sue is, or was, having her nails done today, and Dennis was working. A delicious oversight that we shall explore further during our trip.

We've said all our goodbyes, and look forward to getting back just in time for Christmas. We fly to Cape Town today, and will embark Oceania ship Marina on Saturday 28th, visiting Namibia and St. Helena before reaching Rio de Janerio somewhere around December 11th. We then fly down to visit Iguazu Falls, and back for a few days in Rio before flying home on Friday 18th December, wowsers!

I told Ian we would need a lot of space for the luggage for the four of us, and did he listen, no, we couldn't get it all in the Volvo, and so an unplanned stop to swap the Volvo for the VW mini-bus, and a slightly less comfortable ride to LHR. After a very relaxed check in, the buggers at Bag Drop clobbered me for my 25.6 Kgs, £65 would you believe, fortunately Lorna's was close enough and we didn't need to start rearranging our cases. Will need to get this sorted for our internal flights down to Iguazu. That's the trouble with these new fancy suitcases, too much room inside.