Cindy’s Cape to Cape Adventure Race

The last month or so has been big for both my hometown of Augusta and myself!

The Cape to Cape Mountain Bike Race (C2CMTB) and final Augusta Adventure Race were a success again, a new opening in town, and the new interpretative centre at the Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse Cottage is taking shape to open soon. Heaps of hikers are making the most of an amazing wildflower year (I’ll be blogging that soon!).

The Café Boranup and Cafes of the Capes staff have been hosting many people from many places, giving them a local welcome, many of them on a mission to experience our Capes, Caves and Forests by mountain bike road bike, kayak or on foot.

Meanwhile…..

The boss has been checking doing her own Cape to Cape Adventure Race at the other Southwestern-most Cape of the Indian Ocean.  Ticking off a big travel bucket list item, the Cape of Good Hope.

I have been fitting in quite a few cooking and food experiences of the South African kind. Experiencing other’s delivery of food tours has given me a few ideas of what to do and what to do better for my travelling and local customers.

Cape Town is a melting pot of cultures and the flavours are many and varied. There are endless amounts of variations on local and international foods here.

So many similarities with home: Two Oceans, Wineries (wine farms), lighthouses, stunning coastlines, whales, sunshine and friendly people who love to share their story when prompted.  My favourite was an Uber driver form Ethiopia.  We discussed the differences between how my family milked cows in WA to how his people milk camels.  he couldn’t quite believe we had 200 cows – ‘Oooh you must be very rich!’  Compared to him, I am. South Africa is mostly extremely poor with unofficial refugees, and there is a massive gap between rich and poor here.

Another Uber driver divulged to myself and my travelling partner.  He used a friend’s passport to travel to South Africa from Zimbabwe because ‘It is very bad at home.  Very bad.’  Still, he borrows that passport to travel between countries to visit his mother and father.

The electric fences and alarms and locks depict an austere and unfriendly culture, but I have found the people who live here to be ridiculously warm and inviting and curious as to how good life is in the lucky country.  At a cooking class mainly designed for ladies to have a wine and learn a few tips (quite the enjoyable experience), the ladies were so open about their lives and the personal toll having to keep a high profile house and work and keep their household and social lives together.  Just gorgeous ladies full of honesty and great tips for good eating venues!

South Africa was hard to digest for the first few days, and then an understanding of how this culture works has exposed itself.  It is what it is, and for the most, it works.  the poverty is real.  the homelessness is real, but that is also prevalent more so now in our own first world country towns and cities and so why should a country torn by apartheid until only 25 years ago be any different?

The nature here is magnificent. The mountains imposing and bring emotion by the sheer size and proximity to high priced mini-mansions and the lowest income earners’ settlements of tin sheds.

The food in restaurants is scrumptious.  The fresh food in the supermarkets is very average, and the same price as home.

So here are a few shots of the trip so far, including an amazing few animals… Cape Leeuwin does mean Lioness in Dutch after all!

A mad dash to the finish line of writing recipes down from my experiences, a wine farm or two, and before I know it I’ll be home amongst the gums trees.

Breads at the Markets on a Sunday morning. Delicious

Bo-Kaap area, the home of the original Cape Malay community. Cape Malay people are not Malaysian, but from anywhere around the world, mostly Indonesia and China, Japan. Many were imported as slaves until slavery was abolished in the 1800’s.

Cute but so dangerous. We got especially lucky on our first Safari to see these guys right next to our truck.

National beverage! The Rooibos tea is drunk by many here.

Massive beastie. Privilege to meet them. I bought the hat – Saving Private Rhino 🙂

Vineyards. Mostly tended by itinerant workers living in tim shacks with no running water or toilets. But the area is otherwise beautiful. The vines meet mountains capped with snow even now in Spring.