Elva’s Travel Adventures…. Rio to Cape Town, then onto Perth

In our last article, Elva had just arrived in Rio De Janeiro. She now updates us on the second leg of her travels to Cape Town and Perth.

“I spent several days in Rio De Janeiro, taking it easy and sightseeing. I did a wonderful tour of Rio including the Ipanema and Copacabana beach areas, which were covered with thousands of people and brightly coloured umbrellas.

The streets were full of traffic and people riding bicycles, e-bikes, scooters and motorcycles. Sidewalks were lined with bright stalls, all overlooked by the many high-rise apartments and hotels.

Then onto the Christ the Redeemer statue via a drive up through the Parque National de Tijuca, a huge forest, and to the summit of Mount Corcovado. The dark pedestal on which the statue stands is a beautiful chapel. Representing a Christian Cross, the amazing statue stands 30m tall and the arms are 28m across.

The views from this marvel of engineering were magnificent. As they were from our next stop, Sugarloaf Mountain to which you travel by a series of two cable cars. A wonderful viewing platform overlooked the harbour, beaches and all of Rio. Truly picturesque as the setting sun illuminated the landscape. A wonderful day out!

The next day I boarded the Oceania Insignia to begin my crossing of the Southern Atlantic Ocean to Cape Town, South Africa. We head south down the east coast of South America to our first port, Buenos Aires. Once again, I spent the day enjoying this beautiful city.

Crossing the 140 mile wide De La Plata River our next few stops were in Uruguay, Montenegro and Punta Del Este. Punta Del Este is a lovely city, often referred to as “the Monaco of the South”. One of its famous landmarks is the La Mano sculpture. The sculpture depicts a ‘drowning’ hand, created as a warning to people of how dangerous the beaches can be for swimmers.

Once back on board the Insignia, we turned east to cross the Atlantic Ocean, before arriving at Walvis Bay, Namibia, on the west coast of Africa. With its large bay and many sand dunes, it is an important centre for tourism activity. The next day we stopped at Luderitz, Namibia, a small coastal town renowned for its wildlife including seals, penguins, ostriches and flamingos.

I really enjoyed being on this smaller ship, with only 670 passengers, 1/3 of whom were on a 190-day world cruise. Because of the size, it seemed much more personal. The food was wonderful too! When we arrived in Cape Town I was sorry this part of my journey was over!

I transited directly to the airport for my flight back to Perth. It was wonderful to put my feet down on Australian land!

Perth is such a beautiful city! I was really impressed as I strolled around this well planned, clean city with its wide streets and leafy shopping malls.

Three days later I boarded the Island Princess cruise ship, to meet up with my son, who had boarded this ship in Sydney. We now begin the crossing of the Indian Ocean. This is the last link in my adventure and once completed I will have circumnavigated the globe!

We will have more on the final leg of Elva’s wonderful travelling adventure in our next edition – stay tuned!