Brian checks in from South Africa

22 June
Bus ride to Johannesburg from Maputo - 836 Meticais
Best burger I've ever had in my life at the only restaurant in the middle of some random town in South Africa - 35 Rand
Two night stay in Jeffrey's Bay - 170 Rand
Surfboard and wetsuit rental for a day, allowing for two morning sessions (watching the sunrise and being the only one on the break for an hour) and an afternoon session - 180 Rand
Shorts, shirt, t-shirt, and a billabong wallet - 200 Rand
Tank of gas to take me along the garden route, one of the most beautiful and diverse stretches of country anywhere - 350 rand (50 per person)
Dinner plate of South African game platter including Warthog, Antelope, Ostrich, and Crocodile - 99 Rand

Sandboarding down beautiful white dunes - 350 Rand
Cable car ride up and down from Table Mountain in Cape Town, one of the most scenic and most beautiful places I have ever been - 85 Rand (student discount)
Trip to Africa - seriously rad

I hope you can tell by that that I am doing well over here. I seriously can't really put into words all of the feelings I want to express to you but I hope that did a little justice. Everything has gone smoothly and I have been able to do the things I wanted to do in South Africa already. Jeffrey's Bay was a blast, I surfed Supertubes once with a ton of other guys (world tour will surf there in a couple of weeks), and then I surfed at Kitchen Window's twice (really mellow but still long, nice rides).
We drove down the southern coast, the garden route, and it is just spectacular. I will wait to show you guys the pictures to describe that. You go from the lush jungle/forest to the green grass hills of the wine countryside, to the coast. So awesome.
I hiked around Table Mountain today for a couple of hours on top. Get online and look at a picture of Cape Town with Table Mountain in the background and just imagine being on top of that thing, because that is what I did.
I'm going to go try and do some laundry but I still have a half hour on my internet so I will sign on tomorrow or sunday to give another report. I love you guys! I miss all of you!

23 June
Cape of Good Hope... check

Swim in the Atlantic ocean... check

Watch a boat come around Cape Point... check

Chill with the African Penguins... check

Another great day here. We dropped off Brady at the airport (his flight from johannesburg leaves right now) and then got ready to a big car ride to cape point and back. It is an amazing drive. I felt like I was in Kauai again checking out the Napoli coast (or whatever it is called). Beautiful, beautiful scenery. We are off to get some dinner down at the waterfront so I'll talk to you guys later! Brian

note from Bob: I did as Brian suggested and got online to find a few photos of some of the hot spots Brian has visited during this past week. note 2: welcome to JimL who just joined as our newest contributor. We're looking for frequent updates from the Mapleton gang. With all the activity going on in that household they should be frequent posters. Now all Jim has to do is help Mary figure out how to upload some of her thousands of photos.