ummm...You actually get to live here?

A lot can happen in six weeks.

A lot of flights. A lot of excellent (and cheap!) wine in South Africa. A lot of skiing. A lot of catching up with good friends, old and new, and with our (amazing!) families. A lot of cooking all the things available in food-oriented Vancouver. Did I mention the skiing?

thought provoking snow decisions

I'll rewind a bit. On our way home we blew all our British Airways points to get a good set of flights and a layover in Cape Town, a place we'd both always wanted to go. And it was, as expected, incredible (an early warning - this post seems rather on the sappy side. Life is good. I'm sorry).

We embarked on our first Couch Surfing experience (as surfers - we've both hosted before, separately in Vancouver and together in Malawi). Doug, thank you - you really made our stay. Our house is yours, anytime, wherever it may be.

Cape Town is really a most amazing place. The sheer spectacular beauty rivals Vancouver, and dare I say, may surpass it. It's like Vancouver on Viagra - that much more intense. The Southern Ocean crashes straight into the peaks of the Cape, with winds to match. The climbing looks incredible. The diving is (although bloody cold). The continual sweep of cloud over Table Mountain lends a certain ominous air to the scene.

Devon, Allison, and the tablecloth

Coming fresh from Malawi (and a brief stop in Joburg), we were also easily amazed and overwhelmed by the abundance of good food and wine. I've never been so aghast in an only half-decent grocery store before. There were two cheese sections! We continued a made-in-Malawi friendship by meeting up with our dear friend Allison, who had made it to SA a few weeks before us. She knew just what it was like. But that didn't stop her making fun of us as we proceeded to scarf the first croissant in the store and ask for another. The check out lady was less amused.

We managed to pack a lot into a long weekend. While I didn't quite make it through either dive due to my freezing cold extremities, we got out on a boat for a day and did two dives, one wreck and one in a seal colony. So. Cool. We literally danced with hundreds (thousands?) of seals in only about 15 feet of water and kelp forest. One of many moments that I have wished for an underwater camera.

so many layers of neoprene.

Hiking Table Mountain, visiting vineyards, and driving the coastal road to Hermanus topped off our blur of a trip before we caught a flight to London. I'd heard horror stories of being robbed while hiking, but this seemed beyond the realm of possibility as we joined the throngs of folk scrambling up the rather Grouse Grind-esque trail to the top. Not a bad morning workout.

at the top of Table Mtn. 

Yeah....we'll be back.