More South Africa

OK the rest of the world is going to be pretty awesome to compete with South Africa. This place is soooo beautiful!! Since the last update, here's what's happened. We left Cape Town and drove through Simon's Town to the Boulders where a penguin colony lives. South African penguins, who knew?

From there we went to the Cape of Good Hope, the southwestern most point in Africa. It was another beautiful clear day, perfect for being down there. The views were spectacular, and leaving the Cape we ran into some Ostriches (is that the correct plural form??). They were just hanging out on the side of the road and we got great photos (see below).

Then we drove through wine country on the way to Hermanus. We stayed at a great hostel, Hermanus Backpackers. Everyone was really nice and so far every hostel has been affordable enough to get a private room. Hermanus is also a coastal town known to have the world's best land based whale watching. We saw a couple whales, but they were pretty far away. Apparently the day before there were dozens right up close to shore, oh well. From Hermanus we took a day trip to Cape Agulhas, which is the actual southern most point in Africa, where the Atlantic and the Indian Oceans meet. The waves were really high, making the experience of being at the tip of the continent even more exciting. Then we stayed another night in Hermanus to be able to do shark diving today.

SO today we drove to a town called Gansbaai, got on a boat with about 25 other people and went out to open great white shark infested waters. It was awesome. 5 people go down into the cage together and when they yell "down" we go under to see the sharks. We had a few, but 2 that actually brushed up against our cage and gave us the evil eye. Another girl had the shark come up out of the water right next to her head, it was pretty crazy. We saw 7 great whites in all. The best spot to see them was actually from the upper deck of the boat. I never though I would actually do this, but it was a really cool experience.

We met a girl named Lydia at the Hermanus Backpackers and she's been traveling with us the past couple days. Leaving Gansbaai after the sharks, we've landed in a small mountain town called Wilderness. We're staying at the Fairy Knowe Backpackers hostel and it really is in the wilderness. Can't wait to see it tomorrow during daylight. Our room overlooks the nature reserve. We'll spend the day and night here tomorrow and then head into the Addo Elephant reserve on Friday.

We're still not able to upload more than one picture to this blog, and none to picasa. So I've resorted to putting up pics on Facebook. They come up as mobile uploads. I try to "instagram" most of them because it condenses the file and they upload faster (not the fastest Internet here so far). So I hope you all can see them.
Also, I will try to be on skype more, so add me: kellystone83

Cape Town, South Africa

Cape Town is GORGEOUS! Yesterday we took the hopon/hop off bus all over the city. I'll never make fun of anyone for doing this ever again, it was a great way to see Cape Town. Our first stop was Table Mountain. We took the cable car to the top and got to walk around quite a bit. It was so beautiful, seriously breathtaking. The photos just don't do it justice. We spent a couple hours at this stop. Then we took the bus to Camps Bay which is also amazing. The beach was all white sand and crystal clear water. Its where the "who's who" of Cape Town go, according to the bus tour guide. We sat facing the water having wine and oysters, living it up but still staying in the budget :). The rest of the tour had more beautiful beaches and took us through the historic city.

Today we hoofed it and walked all around the city. We walked through the gardens, visited a castle, and headed down to the waterfront. Once again, so pretty. We'll be sad to leave Cape Town but ready to explore more of South Africa. Tomorrow we'll get our rental and head up the coast. We plan to stop in wine country, then do some whale watching in Hermanus, and go to Cape of Good Hope and Simonstown (to see the penguins).

The photo is us on top of Table Mountain

DUBAI

Dubai was very interesting, but not the kind of place you can see in just one day. I think if we there's a next time we will need to stay at one of the hotels with a fancy pool or beach and also have unlimited funds. It was very cool to spend a day in the Emirates, and now we wait to board our 9 1/2 hour flight to Cape Town.
Cheers!,

GERMANY

We've spent the last week in Germany and it's been a lot of fun (as always). We landed in Frankfurt Tuesday morning and took the train to Essen to visit Katja (Oli's sister) and her family. I've never been to that part of Germany before and it was great to be able to spend time with everyone. They took us to a cool brewery for dinner and steam beer.

Then Wednesday-Sunday we spent in Obereisesheim. We went to a wine festival in Heilbronn called Weindorf a couple nights and got to meet up with a few friends. We also had a family reunion in the town where Oli's grandpa lived. Once again, awesome food and we got to see everyone which was really nice.

We took the train to Munich on Sunday. Monday and Tuesday we hit Oktoberfest. It was madness. It definitely lived up to all my expectations, maybe even surpassed them. I had no idea these tents could hold so many people. I can see why Munich residents flee the country, drunk tourists take over their city.

Tonight we're on the red eye to Dubai and then Friday we fly to Cape Town. The iPad is having a problem uploading photos so I can only include 1. We're with Marco and Fabienne in the Hofbräu tent.

Next stop, Germany

We arrived in Michigan a week ago after 3 days on the road, thankfully wihout a hitch. It's been great visiting with family and friends.

Today we had a brunch with the fam and said "goodbye" to Lola, which was extremely hard.  She's in excellent hands and will be loved to pieces, but it was still hard to say goodbye.  Thanks so much to MB and Kevin for "fostering" her.

(lola on the road)

We also dropped the Jetta off (thanks Weis family!) and shut our phones down...it's all happening.

Tomorrow we'll head to Chicago and fly to Germany on Monday. We'll update with all our Germany fun in a few days.

Cheers!

I-80 East

Today we started our road trip and are calling it a night in Wyoming.  

We got in almost 14 hours of driving time, and the Jetta is holding up great.
Lola slept the whole way.

First time putting on the packs at 5:20AM
Thanks to Erin and Ryan for giving us a place to crash this past week!

sunset in Utah, just before the border to Wyoming. 

The plan is to try for another long day tomorrow and we might even make it into Michigan by late Saturday night.