Africa – 8th Oct 2008 – Day 37

The sound of heavy rain greeted us this morning. We pulled back the curtains, the valley was shrouded in black cloud, the wind was light but the rain was falling in torrents.

We had breakfast and decided that it was too miserable to go for a hike. Fiona thought it would still be a good idea to go for a walk into town. John tried to delay things by doing emails first.

Sky News was playing in the lounge area and the news was particularly depressing. The UK government had just announced a £200 Billion bail out for the banks, but the markets were still falling. More banks had said they were in trouble and a big Icelandic bank has gone to the wall with 350,000 UK deposits at risk. What a bloody mess. One minute the banks are paying their top brass tens of millions in bonus payouts, golden hellos and platinum goodbyes, the next minute they expect us to bail them out. What a nerve!!

After emails and two cups of tea, the rain was still heavy. We walked into town with an umbrella each. We booked a restaurant, visited the Tourist Information office and then walked back. The day was cold and wet, not what was expected.

Driving seemed the only option, so we went to Stellenbosch, another wine producing area near by. The weather over there was better but the town was a real disappointment. It is more of an industrial wine production centre than a pretty wine producing area.

We wanted to find a particular producer called JC L’Roux. Whilst trying to find the place we drove into a large shanty area just outside of the centre.

It’s the one thing that has disappointed us about South Africa. They may have dumped the worse aspects of apartheid, but the black population are still woefully poor compared to the Whites, which still seem to own everything. The shanty’s are a disgrace to this country. Black people regularly beg on the street, especially children. All menial work is undertaken by the blacks. South Africa has a great deal of changing to do, but nobody seems in any rush.
We found the vineyard and enjoyed the £2 tasting event. We ended up buying two mini bottles of a sparking red, which John loves. We also bought a bottle of bubbles for Johns Dad.

We came back to our Hotel and snoozed for a few hours, due to the effects of the wine tasting!

In the evening we went back to The Salmon Bar for s light evening meal.

We watched a weird film called 300. We only managed about an hour before turning off the TV and zonking out.