We started off Thursday by going to Robben Island. Robben Island was mainly a prison and was the prison where political prisoners were sent, including Nelson Mandela.
We were on the boat at 9.30 and the trip took 30 minutes. When we got on the island, we went straight onto buses to start our tour. We drove around the island and stopped for our guide to tell us something about whatever was outside.
He also asked where we were all from so he could tell us our country’s impact on Robben Island. Australia’s impact was the eucalyptus trees, which were actually introduced by the British, and the rabbit’s introduced for food. These are both problems because there are too many rabbits, so they are now pest, and because there are so many of them and eucalyptus trees drink 30 litres of water a day, so there is now no fresh water on the island.
We were also shown these canons that we built for WW2 to protect Cape Town, but they were never used because they were completed 2 years after the war finished.
After we finished the bus tour, we were given a tour round the actual prison. There was one part where we went in a section where the stories of the inmates were on the inside of their cell and we went in and read them, it was really interesting.
We were back on the boat by 12.30 and the trip back was really rough. We had fish and chips for lunch and walked around the shops. I brought a bag for 220 rand (about $30) and a really cute gecko for 5 rand (70 cents) plus some other things.
We went back to Robin’s Nest for a swim and got some pizza before Ivor and Cora picked us up to go see Phantom of the Opera. It was great, but it was really loud at times and if I hadn’t read the synopsis of the story I probably would have got lost, so other than that it was great.
We got back to Robin’s Nest at around 11 which was the latest night we had had these holiday so we were pooped and Jayne even slept in her clothes.
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