CAPE TOWN GRAPE TOWN

Heaven...at least for Liz and her new best friend Alison, at the House of J.C. Le Roux. 

On the road, you sometimes meet people you enjoy talking to. Perhaps it's over a drink at a bar or on a long ride on a local bus. You talk of travel, of life, of things seen and places explored. 

Occasionally, if things go really well (or it's happy hour), you might exchange contact information. Maybe you even go so far as to invite your new "friends" to visit you back home, knowing full well the chances of such a visit are slim at best.  

Keith, Alison, Liz and Kip, mid-winery tour. Very happy.

When we met Alison and Keith for 15 minutes in the middle of a torrential rainstorm in rural Madagascar, we figured they were just throwing out a polite invitation when they invited us to stay at their place in South Africa. Little did they know, we always take full advantage of such invitations.

A month later, we arrived at their house in Cape Town at 1:00 AM on a Saturday morning...and they let us in the house. We were slightly shocked...and very relieved.

They gave us a room where we had some of the best sleep in months, they cooked us homemade meals, and they drove us on a well-guided tour of their stunning city. They were two of the nicest people we've met...ever. Come visit us in DC anytime, guys...we mean it!

Pretending to know his sparkling wines.

To top it all off, the day after we arrived, these two superhosts informed us about these incredible places just minutes from their beautiful home that were known as "wine farms." We soon figured out they meant "vineyards," and within an hour we were headed into South Africa's famous wine country.  

WINE TOUR
Our tour began with a breakfast stop (why not?) at The House of J.C. Le Roux, where we were overwhelmed with the choices of sparkling wine, an excellent choice for ten o'clock in the morning.  

That, and the fact that they do a pairing of nougat and marshmallow with their tasting. Kip was sure he'd heard wrong, but there are, in fact, five different kinds of nougat. We tried them all. 

Two cheetahs enjoy the views at the Graff Estate.

Following our bubbly and nougat, we headed to the Stellenbosch region, to the Delaire Graff Estate. This place was beautiful, as were their wines. We may have tried one or two...or three.  

Liz makes some new furry friends at the Fairview petting zoo.

The last vineyard, Fairview, was by far our favorite. Liz practically had to be dragged away when we left.  Folks in the U.S. may be familiar with their brand "Goats Do Roam."

Feeding THE goat of "Goats do Roam"

Not only does this vineyard have wine tastings, but they also have a goat petting zoo. For those who don't recall the many Everest trek delays, Liz loves animals...almost as much as she loves wine.  And to make this place even better, it has a cheese tasting bar, which we took full advantage of.   

All in all, we got a great education on the wines of South Africa.  We may even get crazy and try them again someday. If Liz ever gets off that motorcycle.

This is how Liz acts when she's all hopped up on cheese.

WINE AND ROCK AT KIRSTENBOSCH GARDENS

Even the views from the cheap seats are stunning at Kirstenbosch Gardens in Cape Town, South Africa.

If you're South Africa's most famous rock band and you need a place to play a farewell gig, there's nowhere better than the mountain-backed stage of Kirstenbosch Gardens near Cape Town. At least, that's what the lead singer of multi-platinum rockers The Parlotones' said on the eve of their re-location to the U.S.

"Kirstenbosch is the best venue in the world!" shouted front man Kahn Morbee, whose known for his high energy and signature eyeliner onstage. 

Parlotones' lead singer Kahn Morbee gets the crowd moving at Kirstenbosch.

While the music proved quality (a poppy mix somewhere between Coldplay and Arcade Fire), the venue and the wine selection were equally as stellar. 

Before and after the headliners played, we wandered the gardens, getting happily lost among the trails and hardwoods that cover the eastern slopes of Table Mountain. Like a lot of other visitors in the park, we brought in our own bottle of locally-grown vino and took in the stunning scenery as the another day faded into a memorable night.

Yet one more reason to love Cape Town...as if we needed another. 

Liz with two pre-show musicians. 

More than a concert venue, Kirstenbosch is an incredible place to spend a day wandering around with a local wine.

A drummer's eye view from backstage at The Parlotones' farewell show. Yes, we talked our way into backstage passes.

WORLD'S TALLEST BUNGY (BUNGEE) JUMP

Kip rethinks the decision he made two seconds before.

Bungy jumping...this "extreme sport" sounds a little cliche and a lot outdated, not to mention life-threateningly idiotic (similar category as diving with great white sharks, perhaps?). Naturally when Kip heard about a gorge in South Africa that's spanned by a bungee bridge more than 700 feet high, we had to go check it out. 

Surprising to no one who's read this site before, Kip signed up as soon as we arrived (remember the rock climbing jump video in Thailand?). An hour later, in a steady rain, with a juiced-up rubber band tied to his ankles, he jumped off the world's highest bungee. Like hundreds of others who do the jump every year, he survived unscathed...unlike an incredibly (un)lucky female Aussie traveler whose bungee chord snapped last year in Africa. 

Checking that one off the list, we head back to Cape Town for a visit with new best friends Keith and Allison, who agreed to show us around and even crash at their place while in town. 

Would you trust your life to a bunch of tiny rubberbands
strapped together with a bigger rubberband?
Thousands of people, including Kip at right,
do each year. 

SUNNY MONDAY: BOATS ON THE BAY IN KNYSNA

Described on its Wikipedia page as "a favorite haunt of artists, restauranteurs and hippies," Knysna sounded like a quirky place worthy of at least an afternoon stopover, though we weren't really sure how we'd fit in with the local population. 

Turns out, the bay-side town of 70,000+ on the Garden Route is a hangout for anyone who likes seafood, cocktails and sunsets over the water. After eating grilled fish, listening to live music and enjoying the views (like the one above), we stayed the night and wished we could have stayed longer.

SWIMMING WITH GREAT WHITE SHARKS

Come on in...the water's fine! Or not. A shark lunges out of the water during our snorkel trip.

A visit to South Africa simply isn't complete without a relaxing swim in the swirling waters of the Indian and Atlantic Oceans. Or so we were told.  

Not ones to miss an opportunity for some quality beach time, we headed two hours southeast of Cape Town to Van Dyks Bay, home to long stretches of deserted shoreline...and a cove famous around the world for offering visitors the chance to get up close and personal with massive, hungry great white sharks.

Yes, that's great white sharks, the ones made famous by Jaws, "Shark Week," and overblown newscasts from around the planet that make these apex predators out to be much more dangerous to humans than they really are. Of course, when you're underwater in a cage and a 15-foot long, 2,000-lb. killing machine passes less than an arm's length in front of you, you'd be forgiven for accidentally warming your wetsuit from the inside. Not that either of us did that. No, really, we didn't. Photos below. 

  

"Fishing" for sharks only a few feet from a metal cage filled with snorkelers. Though the sharks are not actually fed, trips like these remain controversial for their impact on shark behavior. Click here for a news story on the practice of shark diving. 

Kip experiences a close encounter with a great white shark swimming just beyond the bars of the cage. 

It was a good day not to be a neoprene seal.

When one of the sharks latched onto the fake seal used to attract them, a tooth lodged in the seal's back. The captain presented the jagged incisor to Liz, who was extremely excited about her new souvenir. 

PHOTO FRIDAY: WRECK AT SOUTHERNMOST POINT

Most of us mistakenly believe the Cape of Good Hope to be the southernmost tip of Africa. Yet as any well-traveled sea captain would've been able to tell you back in the days of square sails and scurvy , that honor goes to Cape Agulhas, known as one of the most dangerous spots on the oceans. 

The area is famous for fierce winter gales and towering rogue waves, either of which may have forced the ship above onto the rocks where we got a good look at her at sunset. Menacing clouds blocked out most of the light, but the sound of the waves crashing against the rocks made for an impressive soundtrack to end our day. 

PHOTO FRIDAY: BEACH HUTS OF MUIZENBERG

On a long stretch of sand not far from Cape Town, this colorful line of beach cottages makes for a scenic view in the surf town of Muizenberg. We stopped for breakfast at a local diner, watching wet-suit clad surfers come in from the frigid waters for a cup of coffee before heading back out for a late-morning session. 

WALKING DOGS IN SOUTH AFRICA

Kip walks a rescued yellow lab at the SPCA in George, South Africa. 

The following story appeared in the George Herald, the local paper of the town where we stopped to volunteer on a drive along South Africa's famous Garden Route:

YANKS VISIT GEORGE SPCA

The Garden Route SPCA received some surprise visitors last week from the United States.

Liz Zipse and Kip Patrick, a married couple from Washington, DC, are volunteering their way around the world and stopped by the SPCA during one of its twice-weekly "animal socialization" sessions.

While at the facility, the couple joined a group of animal-loving George volunteers who walk dogs, cuddle cats and play with puppies, all of which are up for adoption.

"Our time at the SPCA in George was some of the most fun we've had in 10 months of volunteering all over Africa and Asia," said Liz Zipse, who, with her husband, is volunteering at least one day every week of their trip.

"The animals love the attention they get from our volunteers, and the volunteers really enjoy their time with our dogs and cats, which stay with us until we can find them a permanent, loving home," said Senior Inspector Salomé Botha. 

"We were happy Liz and Kip picked the Garden Route SPCA as part of their weekly volunteer activities... and were delighted that they took out memberships as well... our first American members!"



The SPCA welcomes volunteers to walk dogs and socialise puppies and cats. (Volunteers must be 16 or over.) The sessions take place 2.00pm to 4.00pm every Wednesday and 9.00am to 11.00am on Saturdays. 

For information on how you can become a volunteer, call Heather at 072 877 2911. For more information on the travels and volunteer activities Liz and Kip, visit their website at www.1of7.org.

FUNNY MONDAY: DANGEROUS ANIMALS?

South Africa, home to some of the world's most dangerous and sometimes deadly beasts like lions, leopards, crocodiles, cape buffalo...and penguins and baboons?! 

Yes, according to these road signs along the famous Garden Route, visitors best beware of penguins, baboons, and even golfers? Kip should probably be a bit more careful with ostriches while we're at it. 

Kip does his best ostrich imitation. Luckily for him, it didn't work.