Simon's Town - On my way to the Cape of Good Hope

So at the suggestion of Sandy and David Stubchaer, I rented a car in Cape Town and am driving to Port Elizabeth.  It's almost 800 km or about 500 miles.  I rented a Nissan Micra which makes my Geo Prizm look big! It is a 5 speed manual transmission rather than an automatic.  So far, every taxi or limo service I've used have all had stick shifts.  When I went to rent this car, the cheapest 4 or 5 models were all stick shift, you had to get up to an expensive sedan before automatic was offered.

In South Africa, they drive on the opposite side of the road.  Now that takes some getting used to.  I think I'm finally getting the hang of driving on the other side of the road. I've only had 3 drivers flash their headlights at me in fear as I was driving on the "wrong" side of the road - I was coming straight at 'em!   No worries.  I actually prefer driving with traffic because that way all I have to do is follow the driver in front of me and I'm guaranteed to be on the correct side of the road.

My plan was to drive the Garden Route in about 4 days.  Wrong!  I have continually underestimated how cool South Africa is and how many interesting things to do and places to see.  There are so many things to see it took me 4 days just to get to the start of the Garden Route in Mossel Bay. 

I picked up the car and headed to Simon's town.  It's a cute little fishing port.  They have this statue of a Great Dane (named Abel Seaman Just Nuisance). He was a dog who would escort the sailors to and from town.   Just Nuisance was the adopted mascot of the Royal British Navy and he was actually enlisted as a sailor so he could ride the local train for free.  When he died he was given a full military burial.



Just Nuisance statue at Jubilee square, Simon's Town


Here's something that made me pull off to the side of the road and take a picture!

I was actually warned by a taxi driver in Cape Town to beware of the baboons.  I thought he was joking but no.  I ran into all sorts of Danger!  Baboons!  Keep windows shut and door locked signs!  Apparently, baboons will hang out around rest stops looking for food.  They will even wait until you leave your car then they will try to open the doors looking for food.  Sometimes they will menace/terrorize people if they see you are eating something. 

These baboons weren't very big but I saw some really big and scary ones!

Anyway, enough about baboons!  

Check out the Giant Penguins of South Africa.  They are huge, bigger than Godzilla....

Bigger than a ten story building....

This one looks kind of sinister.  Doesn't he look like he wants to squash that building!?!

Not really.   I'll put up the cute penguin pictures tomorrow.   
Shari