Horses, penguins, trees ... it's all still new, Cape Town

For anybody who thinks that life in Cape Town is slower than in Johannesburg, I beg to differ. Traffic is the same, if not worse, and the level of job stress is vast (in the jobs my wife and I have anyway). Despite that, there is definitely a better quality of life, I think ... you really cannot put a definitive value on the natural beauty and opportunities to get out into nature you find here (even when sitting in the traffic).

Take, for example, the omni-present Table Mountain. No matter where you are in Cape Town it's always in sight, and the closer you get to it the more stunning it becomes. This is the view I'm lucky enough to have right from my apartment's balcony (a great reason for us to have a lot more meals sitting outside than we used to in Johannesburg).

Even driving around in Cape Town is a different experience to Johannesburg, not least because there are no potholes (ok, so the roads aren't perfect, but it's a massive improvement over Gauteng). Spot the differences:

Then of course you're spoiled for choice in beaches, and all of them are 40km away or closer to *your home*. Some are literally just around the corner for most people. It's pretty impressive, and you see amazing things like this:

My wife took this photo of me enjoying the solitude of Noordhoek beach, which is one you'll seldom see written about as it is notoriously difficult to find. For sheer expanses of pure white sand, however, it's hard to beat.

Today being a Sunday, however, we decided to head out to a new beach, and when I discovered that Boulder's Bay beach has penguins, it was a no-brainer. The only catch is that while there is a Boulder's Bay beach you can access for free, the real penguin action is only to be found in an enclosed space controlled by the South African National Parks, and they charge you R55 for the honour of staring at this view (I kid you not, this is about all there is):

The funny thing is, while trying to locate that exact spot, my wife and I stumbled across a small little group of penguins out on a very serious mission, cutting their way with a nervous determination through groups of people visiting the adjacent beach (did I say how many beaches there are in Cape Town?). What follows is a great little picture story I took ... just another surprising element of life in Cape Town.

My personal favourite, however, was this one. Look for the signboard.

Oh, ok then. Thank goodness for signage.

Just because I'm still keeping track of Romania as well, I had to share this awesome video I stumbled across.

Rather interestingly, there's another video which must be from the same guys, which has some details in the video description and a number of different scenes. Maybe this was the original? 

Regardless, if you still think Romania is a place full of sad people and Dracula, these videos may change that impression.