thoughtful

well, today i checked out of cape town - didn't have too busy a weekend as there are just far too many british tourists in cape town... it's just like being in milton keynes.... went to robben island and not much else to be honest... still just enjoying doing nothing....

robben island was kind of wierd... there were alot of tourists there.. around 150 on my ferry and i don't think people knew what it was all about... very few south africans.. mainly british and americans most of whom looked and talked as ignorant as pigshit

the guide gave a good talk on robert subukwe.. who did as much as mandela if you ask me... he lived on the island for years and parliament even wrote a law specific to him to keep him interred.. stirring stuff.... the solitary cells were very small.. about the size of my office at home...... i can't even begin to imagine what that was like.....

also went down to camps bay to look at the trendies... all the usual... this place is wierd.. sometimes, you feel like you are in the uk, then sometimes it's like the us and then occaisionally it's africa... a mix of all 3... which is good i think...

anyhow... i'm now in stellenbosch.. wine growing area.. off on a trip tomorrow to look around and sample some of the local produce... heading to the coast at knysna and then plattenberg, then up to the karoo in beaufort west... then finally another wine stop at paarl before heading back into cape town for one night before flying to joburg on monday afternoon to connect to the flight home via dubai... it's going to be a hellish 24 hours as i'll be on the move for the whole time....


laters...

stunning

arrived in cape town about 2 hour ago... this place is stunning, my hotel room looks over the mountainandnthe harbour... so there are a few horns from the boats every now and again, but i should be ok with that given i live under the flight path into heathrow...

sun city was amazing... the complex was huge with lots and lots of people staying there.. the room was nice, and i had a good view down over the pool and towards the lake..... played the tables a bit more and walked away with some cash... which was nice... however as the adverts here say.. winners know when to stop... so i'm stopping....

off to explore the harbour and waterside area of cape town now.....

here for 5 days, then going down the wine route towards stellenbosh, then mossel bay and maybe even port elizabeth....

sunshine

well, arrived in sun city last night... this complex is huge, 4 different hotels, maybe 2000 rooms throughout.... good food and wine again....

this morning, went on a safari.. saw zebra, hippo, giraffe, rhino, bison and a few other things... no elephants or tigers tho.... the park is abt 50000 hectares, buit only a third of it has roads, so the guide was saying it's likely they were hiding elsewhere... also it was very hot... so i imagine the animals were trying to find a cool spot too.....

i failed to get to rorkes drift..... the road to it from the highway is a dirt road.... bumpy as hell... worse than that old road up over the clarwen or the road up to the cefn... it was raining aswell and as i have a road car, not a 4WD, i thought it was better not to get stuck (especially as i think it's about 20 miles from anything)

never mind... leaves something to come back for.....

flying to cape town on wednesday for the last 2 weeks.... can't wait....

luverly

well, drove fro pretoria to duban yesterday... didn't quite appreciate how far it is.... took the best part of 7 hours.... looking at the map, i thought it looked just as quick to go over a back road rather than the freeways, but most of it was single carriageway and very slow... but havingt said that, got to look at lots of scenery, even though it was a bit hazy... hotel in duban is nice, right on the beach... i do have a beach view, but to be frank it all reminds me of blackpool... a bit tacky and run down... we had a storm last night too, with lots of lightening and some rain, but not enough to stop the humidity here... much worse than on the highveld.... anyhow... today is just driving and walking around to get to know the place, going to a seaworld place tomorrow and driving all the way to joburg on sunday to stay at sun city for a few days...... will stop off at rorkes drift on the way... the one thing that i MUST do while i am here... flying to cape town from joburg on tuesday, then have the best part of 2 weeks in the cape to relax and tatse some wine.....

it's all lovely and relaxing, really enjoying it... this place remins me of britain in the early 80s for some reason, yet it's nice...

anyhow.. off to catch a movie.....

super

well, getting the hang of this place now... you have to go everywhere by car... there is no such thing as going out for a walk as the street lighting doesn't exist and you're liable to be mugged or worse.....

it's funny tho... this place def feels a bit like britain, but there are some differences too... poeple here are much more relaxed and you can tell you are not in europe... everyone congregates in huge malls like bluewater and lakeside... the city centres are kind of nogo areas.... i was happy walking around there, but i did stick out like a thumb....

anyhow, i've done a bit of sightseeing, not too much tho... i went to the voortrekker momument, which is basically a huge churchlike building up on a hill saying how great the first settlers were (there on gods' own orders etc)... felt very odd walking around, but good views over the city etc...

also went to the sab world of beer in joburg... that was kind of fun, but i've done many brewery tours by now, so know the process... there was no brewery there, just a museum... so not as good as the huge one in brisbane or the small one in seattle....

there aren't many signposts here, so i's quite easy to get lost (as i have done quite a few times).... but that simply means i get to see more of the country... the drive up the local road from joburg to pretoria was simply breathtaking... huge mountains and green valleys all in one.... really very pretty

i've booked my flights down to cape town on 26 jan... i'm in durban (one day to rourkes drift) for 3 nights from 20 jan and in sun city for 3 nights from 23 jan....

the weather is simply lovely, not too hot and just right with a bit of a breeze.....

people are quite freindly, got talking to a few travellers and locals in the bars, but enjoying being on my own a fair bit....

anyhow... i'm off to the food store to get some fruit etc (to avoid room service charges)

nice

flying down to joburg today to have a look around....
dubai has been great fun... very relaxing, the service here has been excellent... nice hotel, nice beach, just too many russians, but living in london, i'm used to that!!!!

dubai is very flat and looks like one massive building site... i've never seen so many different building projects on the go at one time.... it's amazing

anyhow... just off to catch my flight.... thinking of going to the culligan mine tomorrow (it's near pretoria)... then head up to kruger... then down the whole coast to cape town.... 3 whole weeks.... can't wait.... ciao

hihi

things going well... waether is fine, around 20 degrees most days, sunny with very little cloud, but there is a breeze, so def doesn't feel too hot..... went desert surfing yesterday.. was great fun going up and down sand dunes in a 4wd... was made even better as one of the women in my car didn't like it at all.. she was moaning the whole time... made the driver take tighter and harder angles... good fun.. would recommend it to everyone... we had a bbq afterwards, with the usual arabic coffee and hubbly bubbly... been years since i had some of that!!!!....

off to watch some rugby this afternoon... there is a tsunami benefit match this afternoon at the dubai dragons... will be good fun i'm sure... i fly to south africa in the morning (1000 flight) that's going to be a long flight as it's a day flight... i usually do better on night flights....

oh yes... i forgot to say i'm going to the gold souk tonight to look for a knock off omega watch.....

arrived

well, not that bad a flight really, an hour late taking off, but that's not unusual........ good service on the flight.... and it didn't seem to take the 6 1/2 hours... arrived at my hotel... which is huge..... today is quite windy, so didn't go on the beach, but warm none the less....... plenty going on in this city... you can tell it's done well from oil..... the worlds largest shopping centre is here... so i'll have a look at that this week..... anyhow.. off to get some local tea... whcih is the done thing apparantly..... ciao

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hiho

howdy doody,
off on holiday tomorrow.... dubai for 4 days, south africa for 3 weeks... can't wait... willpost snaps