Cape Town proper

I am in the University of Cape Town's commerce labs, and I've only got a couple of minutes to comment on this great city. I've been lucky: I have a friend here who has been more than helpful. When she hasn't pointed me in the right direction, she's taken me there.
And there are so many nice places to go. Cape Town surrounds a mountain on a cape, which is also a peninsula. There are beaches on both sides, and beautiful hikes and views all around. The appartment I'm staying in is right against the mountain, just above the CBD. I wake up to a sweeping view of the mountain, Lion's Head, Signal Hill, the CBD, and in the distance Robben Island. It's hard to ask for more.
Temperatures here aren't bad for the time of the year. With a polar fleece I manage alright. I was warned about security, and although it's not as safe as Australia, it's not as bad as I was told. Gill, the friend I am staying, had her car broken into when we were caving up a mountain, but nothing taken. It was more an act of vandalism than anything else.
There is quite a disparity of wealth. For the rich, life is only marginally cheaper than Australia. But others make do with salaries of R100 a day. That's about AU$20.
Because of this, rich South Africans are spoiled. I was a little stunned when Gill told me not to clean up since the maid was coming the next day. In an appartment of students, a maid? When the maid came, I talked to her: she lives a little way past the airport, in the slums of town. It takes her three hours to get to work. Her Monday was eleven hours long: six in transport, five of actual work.
Now this may sound outrageous to some of you, but it's much better to have servants than not. They're paid a pittance by our standards, but not by theirs. They'd rather work than be punished by our misguided social conscience. And if you want to pay your maid more, why not? But you'd do better if you employed another, say a gardener. Better spread the wealth than localise it.

Cape Town was colonised in the 1600s. It's part of New World, but not in the way of Australia. There are many old and charming buildings, houses with characters, museums of real interest here. Today I was walking in the stunning botanical gardens, which spread from the foot of the mountain. They were gifted to the nation by Rhodes, a name I hear almost as much as Mandela's.

Soon I will leave for the Garden Route, and after that for the Transkei.