Tuesday March 10-11
With much angst due to the coronavirus (Covid-19 henceforth referred to as C-19) we departed as planned on SQ business class from Sydney to Singapore to Cape Town via Johannesburg. We arrived at Sydney airport around 4:40pm - it was a ghost town due to C-19 with many flights cancelled and many people just not travelling - our SQ fight was lightly loaded. The flight itself was pretty standard - no change in service etc.
After a short layover in SIN we left for JNB at 1:30am making it a gruelling trip - we both got some sleep on the 9.5 hour flight. We landed in JNB at about 6am local time - only passengers whose final destination was JNB disembarked - everyone else stayed on the plane while it was cleaned etc - just over 1 hour later it was onto Cape Town.
We landed in Cape Town at 9:15am and were through immigration and customs in less than 10 minutes - this included filling in a ‘health declaration card’. Our pre-booked driver was not waiting for us - yikes this seems to happen to us a lot. On calling him he said he was only supposed to be there at 10:30am - there was some confusion - we thought by advising our flight details he would check the flight arrival time but he only got the estimated 10:30 time - anyway he said he would be there in 20 minutes. While waiting I bought a SIM card data only ($10 for 2GB for 7 days).
We eventually met up with our driver after more confusion about where to meet him and headed off to the city about 30 minutes away. Our holiday apartment was a luxury penthouse in the Radisson Blu Hotel & Residences but was not part of the hotel per se. The agent we booked it with failed to send us check-in instructions as promised so after finally getting a hold of her - the apartment manager arrived and met us in the lobby. He brought us up to the apartment and gave us quick run through - so the good news was we did get in early (now about 11am) - we were both totally zapped.
After some unpacking we dragged ourselves out to the local grocery stores (a Pick & Pay and a Woolies) and bought some bare essentials - fruit and yoghurt and beer and wine. Back at the apartment we crashed out for a couple of hours - then showered and took the hotel shuttle to the V&A Waterfront for an early dinner - the concierge had recommended Melancino - an upmarket Italian restaurant overlooking the port. The prices were very reasonable but then that was to be expected - at least 30% cheaper than a similar meal in Sydney - particularly with half-price cocktails from 4-7pm.
Thursday March 12
First full day in Cape Town - we got up early 6:30am as we had crashed out well before 9pm. It was cool (17C) and foggy - we relaxed over breakfast and coffee. Just as we were heading out to pick up our hire car Dieter realised we could not open the safe - fortunately the apartment manager was available and he came over and sorted it out for us - from here on in I was to be in charge of the safe.
We picked up the car and just parked it in the garage - we took the hotel shuttle back to the V&A to check out the whole area - lots of shops, restaurant, museums, boat tours etc etc there were also a Pick&Pay and a Woolies - both about 100 times better than ones near our apartment. We had lunch at one of the harbour front restaurant sitting outside in the sun - the fog and cloud had finally cleared. After more exploring we did some grocery shopping so we could have sandwiches for dinner then headed home early - both still pretty tired.
Friday March 13
We bought our online tickets for Table Mountain but the morning fog never cleared enough to make the visit worthwhile. Instead we drove to Stellenbosch - a really nice wine area about 45 minutes drive - more like an hour with Cape Town traffic. We walked around the old town which is very picturesque with many cafes and art galleries, then we visited 2 wineries.
Back at home - we showered and went to the V&A Waterfront for dinner at a seafood restaurant - much like a Darling Harbour experience - not the best value for money.
Saturday March 14
We drove to another winery, Groot Constantina, for a day of winery tours, tasting and lunch. On the way home we even managed to squeeze in a visit to Table Mountain which was not busy around 4pm and the fog had cleared - some cloud, but not too bad. It’s Dieter’s 4th time in Cape Town and the first time he had made it up the mountain. Back at our apartment we showered then went back to Melancino for dinner.
Sunday March 15 - D-day
I got up early for my pre-brekkie coffee to find a message that our cruise, due to depart March 17, was cancelled; in fact, all Ponant cruises world-wide were suspended due to C-19. Well the situation was deteriorating by the day - so we decided to pull the pin and return home ASAP. And as it came to pass - thank god we did.
Attempts to get through to SQ to try and change our award flights home were futile so we booked a paid ticket with South African for the following day - CPT-JNB-PER-SYD on SA and VA for $3100 pp in business class.
Arranging all of this took most of the morning. We decided to make the most of time left in Cape Town and drove to their famous botanical gardens. We ate the hotel for dinner - OK and cheap.
Monday March 16
We spent the morning packing up and getting ready to leave. the flights home were uneventful - all flights full as people were scrambling to get back to Australia. Since we left home, 4 days earlier, Australia had imposed a requirement for anyone entering the country from overseas to self-isolate for 14 days - so we had that to ‘look forward’ to. We walked in the door on Tuesday March 18 at 11pm.
Tuesday March 17 and the next 2 weeks
We spent our first day of home quarantine - unpacking and figuring out how to get groceries. Fortunately Mary (at our request) had left a few essentials for us the day we arrived home - so at least we had breakfast. Online shopping at Coles and Woolies was not working (web site melt-down) but several of our WB/Sydney friends stepped up to the mark - shopping for us. Part way through the second week we got registered with Woolies for “priority” / seniors online shopping so everything was fine from then on. We also set ourselves the objective of doing a balcony marathon over about 5 days - nice to have an objective. The 2 weeks sped by quickly - with lots of time preparing a travel insurance claim as well as cancelling all of our booking for the Seychelles and Mauritius and of course seeking refunds. Once our quarantine was completed - life did not change much as all of Australia was in stage 4 lockdown - you were only allowed out of your home to exercise outdoors, buy groceries and go the doctor (essential sevices workers excepted). So many month of endless “groundhog days” ensued.