Day 7: Where Two Oceans Meet

This morning, we are booked on a tour to Robben Island, a 30 minute ferry ride off Cape Town, to see where Mandela was imprisoned. But the seas are so rough that it has been cancelled.

Instead, we take a tour to the Cape of Good Hope, which is supposedly the spot where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Indian Ocean, but the tour host tells us that is actually 300km along the coast. But it's a picturesque spot, with warm currents from the Indian Ocean mixing with the cold water coming from the south. Either side of the tip of the cape, they say the water temperature can vary by 5-10 degrees.

The peninsula is rich in wildlife, with ostriches and penguins near the road. The ostriches are farmed for their meat, eggs, leather and feathers, but for some reason, I've never seen penguin on a menu. There is a major problem, however, with baboons, which steal food from humans, and the big males are especially aggressive. Our host describes how he saw a carload of Japanese leave their car to take photos of a baby baboon, and within moments, a large male jumped into the car and proceeded to tear into everything inside, looking for food. Anyone who lives in the area must keep doors and windows locked, or they will be 'robbed'.

Along the coast, we are shown homes closer to Cape Town which sell for over R20 million. Many of these were acquired during apartheid, which ended only 20 years ago, when the wealthy areas were reserved for whites only. The tour host tells us that now there is only one criteria for living there: money. He is a 'Cape Malay', descended from slaves brought to SA from southern Asia, including Indonesia and Malaysia. During apartheid, everyone was divided into four groups: whites, coloureds (brown), Indian and black. There were priorities in education, housing and jobs among the four groups, whites first, blacks last. And so the blacks remained poor because they were not well educated.

With apartheid put aside, the SA Government is trying to build homes for blacks, and provide better schools, but there is a lot of catching up to do. Even this Cape Malay man admired how much progress has been made in 20 years, and would never have believed his country could host the World Cup. He thought it was an amazing opportunity for greater unity, and to prove to the nation could deliver such an event.

Tonight we are seeing Powderfinger for their final overseas concert, and supposedly mixing with them in the bar before the event.