Obviously i'm writing this blog after the day's events have happened and on reflection I have to say this was my favourite day of my trip to cape town so far! Let me foretell the events of day 71….
So we asked Loren to call us on friday to see what the weekends steeds (plans) were saying! When she called us she explained that she had two girls from the UK with her over the weekend giving them both the Loren tour of Cape Town! She requested that Jeff and I should be ready at Berghof for 9:00 so she can pick us up and take us to Cheetah Outreach to see some Cheetahs!! Loren's friends were called Nadia and Farah. Nadia is a flight attendant for BA and has been all over the world and Farah was her cousin who she took with her to South Africa for her birthday which was tomorrow!
Saturday morning came along and it was time to go and see some Cheetah's! I was hoping that we could go and stroke the cheetah's etcetera because that's something i've always wanted to do but Jeff played down the idea saying that we'd probably be sitting in a car looking out for cheetahs! Boy was he wrong! Loren explained that you CAN go into the cage with a cheetah on a leash and stroke it! Amazing!
So we arrived at the cheetah outreach after about a 30-40 minute drive and i think it's fair to say I was buzzing! We missed the first tour but the tour was pretty basic and just involved a video and a walk around the park, which you could do yourself anyway! No biggy. It was time to stroke Johnathan! We were told that Johnathan is a really chilled out Cheetah and that cheetah's are non-confrontational animals anyway so nothing would go wrong. However there was obviously rules. When stroking the cat, you had to stroke with the direction of the hair and not against it, stroke with a flat palm and not tips of fingers (like you would when you tickle a normal cat).. this was because Cheetah's are very 'ticklish' and any slight tickle can cause them to roll over or whip their tail about, which really hurts if it hits you apparently because the tail is all muscle and directly connected to their spine! We also had to be on one knee just so that incase the cheetah jumped up or whatever, we could get up quick! We saw other animals such as giant dogs, meerkats, wild foxes and even cubs! We got a lot of photo's and videos and it was an IMMENSE start to the day.
Next, it was time to visit some Penguins at Boulders beach. Penguins were scattered everywhere, on land, buried in sand, on top of rocks and even in bushes! My highlight of seeing the penguins has to be the fact that I got a penguin laying an egg on camera! As Jeff says, everything happens for a reason and I think the traffic jam before hand was in aid of me capturing that moment! I still can't believe it! We all joked that the penguin wouldn't have got through the pregnancy without me because I was rather motivational, telling it to push when it was sucking the egg back up! Two moments in a matter of three hours that are once in a life time views. Stroking a cheetah and seeing a penguin lay an egg.
We were meeting Mel for lunch at Hout Bay for some sea food next! Despite being late, we arrived! Time to get some fresh fish down us! ahhh. Jeff went for the catch of the day which was Salmon and I had traditional Hake! The mains were delicious but the deserts were out of this world! We all had different things on the menu and picked at each others dishes like school children! The flavours on that table was magic honestly! I had a half chocolate mousse, half chocolate cake and ice cream dish which was literally the best thing i've ever tasted!
Our fourth stop was wine tasting! This was going to get messy. We arrived at the winery to try some of South Africa's best wines! Jeff and I treated everyone to the wine tasting experience, it was the least we could do after everything they had done for us. A great way to pre drink for Nadia's birthday celebrations! I've never really drunk wine, not because i'm not a fan but it's a very feminine thing to do as a teenager in my opinion. I would find it very weird going to a club and walking around with a glass of wine in my hand, I think it would look weird to be honest! But the wine tasting was such a funny experience and I have to say my favourite was the Sauvignon Blanc! White wine tastes so much better than red. Plus, I couldn't get the memory of church wine out of my mind whenever tasting red wine! We were the last people out of the place, not because we were raging drunkards but because we got there half an hour before the shutting time. I'm definitely glad I went and it's yet another thing that can adjust the sentence "Oh i've never done that". Three experiences in a matter of hours. Awesome.
After wine tasting, it was finally home time! Poor Loren had done soooo much driving today showing Jeff, Myself, Nadia and Farah around! She needed a well deserved rest!!! However, we all agreed to meet up at Loren's at 9:15 to hook up and go out for dinner and some birthday celebration drinks for Farah's birthday which would be a matter of hours away! Jeff watched the Man United game, where as I washed, freshened up and Skyped my parents to tell them about my amazing day!
We went for dinner at a grill restaurant where I had a "Fillet Au Poivre" cooked medium, which again was out of this world! It tasted ridiculously nice. We got there just before there last grill orders were being taken in and we had a lovely dinner and discussed all sorts of things from Taaj Mansour from Come Fly with me (a show in the UK), what we would do if we won the lottery, Jeff and Myself's fame and autograph signing experiences and even where our next stop would be! We were not slowing down now. There was only place left to visit to show Farah what a birthday night out with Luke and Jeff is like! LONG STREET! Jeff and I hadn't been there for weeks and hadn't drunk for 2 and a half weeks but it was a special occasion and healthy march went straight out of the window! We had such a good night down long street and I know we were strangers a matter of hours ago but I would say the four of us really clicked well and all had relevant interests! Conversations were never at a stand still. I'm glad Jeff and I got to share Farah's birthday celebrations and I hope she really enjoyed her birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY FARAH!! It was so nice to meet Farah and Nadia and hopefully we cross path's one day in the future.
What a day. I have to write this last paragraph purely just to dedicate it to Loren. Herself and all of the Festers family have made Jeff and Myself's trip to Cape Town unbelievably good and today was just another example of how lucky we were to meet such amazing people on our Journey! Loren has treated us to numerous amounts of food, days out, experiences and most importantly memories! All of the stuff that I did today, I will honestly remember for the rest of my life! It's hard to put into words but Jeff and I are sooooooooooooooooo grateful and you have made our trip to Cape Town 1000x as good! Thank you again.
All the best
Luke.
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