The Mountain Diaries

So I spent some time in Cape Town - a bit of both work and play. We (Myself, Breyten and Deidre) went up on DoE expense for a conference/workshop and Breyten and myself extended our stay for the weekend to spend some time with friends; me with Craig and Heather.

Work
Our two-day workshop was centered on disaster recovery and continuity planning in the work place. I.e. What the hell do you do when your varsity blows up? What I enjoyed most about this course as opposed to others is that it was very practical and you got to brainstorm some real-life scenarios. I still think that the biggest disaster at our university was the removal of the coffee budget.

Play
While the added bonus of being on the plane with the Warriors Cricket Team and then also having supper with them on Thursday night at the V&A was, well, AWESOME, spending time with C & H was really the highlight of the weekend. I am glad to report that they are now also hooked on 24, so I do believe my time in CT was well worth it. hehe.

Highlights
Some of the highlights included the round-robin tour of a few of Cape Town’s hotspots, including Paarl (which apparently was named after a big-ass bald rock), Franschoek (I think), and then on to Stellenbosch to the Berry Farm for lunch. While I live by the rule "Don't eat what you can't pronounce", I had to make an exception, since there was really not much on the menu that wasn't a tongue-twister... and I'm glad I did! I loved the Rossetta... Rossitti... Ross... oh stuff it... it was chicken strips on soggy rice, but trust me, it tastes a whole lot better than it sounds.

Airports
Cape Town International is a DISASTER... I'm sorry, but they need to (a) get some announcers with class and (b) do something about the queues, or lack there of. It was one big ass bunch of people standing around waiting to check in. We almost missed our plane because of that... and let’s not even talk about the security line! Good grief!

Trip
Well... the flight TO Cape Town was probably one of the best trips I've had. It was smooth and eventless (just like a plane trip should be). The flight BACK wasn't as good though. We flew straight in to a thunderstorm and for the next 40 minutes it was basically just turbulence. I was not a happy puppy to say the least and I've never been as happy as I was then to see ground again.