Don Oceanic Durban

... between two posts on the beach so it is kind of dumb. I only went in for like 10 minutes probably and only up to my waist. The water wasn't really cold but it wasn't really warm either. At the time Britni and I didn't feel too much like swimming so we went back to our towels where we proceeded to fall asleep (not on purpose) and didn't wake up until it was time to go an hour and a half later. Now our first thought and fear before we laid down was that if we fell ...

... have 8 MONTHS to go - 8 CAMPING months! MM: well, ok, ok, I agree....(tough SA chick)....nothing like a 'Wassertaufe' to start us off ...and with that we headed for the Bontebok park in the pouring rain and started the fire thanks to the trusty sunumbrella shielding it from sure extinguishing. No complaints were heard as we sliced succulent fillet and washed it down with some 2004 Shiraz. No harm done in still enjoying the good life whilst we can.

... use to wash. This morning while she was taking a "bath" she heated up water in the kitchen, which I used to make tea. Then she came and poured it in a bucket and told me that it was for my bath... so opps! Haha, anyway I can take a shower sometimes in the house/school where we have class everyday, but will be a little dirtier than usual while I am here- all part of the adventure!

... going across to Robben Island so had to settle for a look around the museum at Mandella Gateway. The waterfront was a very cool place however a crossy between Liverpool waterfront and Convent Garden. Lots of excellent buskers. Free concert exellent shops and restaurants, really good fod at very reasonable prices. Pat had Crayfish and I had oyseters and fresh local fish at a waterfront cafe that had wireless ...

... wore on a headband during the concert. Their goal it seems is to convert all Muslims to Christianity. I'm not sure about Jews, but I assume the same applies. I'm renting a car again this weekend to do some sightseeing outside Durban as the next few weekends will be quite hectic with writing papers for my last course at UT that I'm taking on-line. I'm not sure where we're going, but I will be certain to update my blog with photos afterwards.

... for a cheap price. People and their extended families cram into these with groceries and pass their payment up to the front. Ours had sixteen people! Dinner was great. We were at a very nice African restaurant on the water. Since it was a Wednesday night, it was virtually empty, so we occupied the nice waitress with numerous questions. She was great and extremely helpful. Ethan and I shared half a sheep head as an appetizer. It was ...

... and hiring sat nav. At about 5pm we had finally extended our flight return tickets and sorted out car hire collecting from Durban Airport. We then did a very brief taxi tour of the city centre, and also of the beach front and took a few pictures. The next day we got a taxi to Durban Airport collected the Nissan Automatic with Sat Nav and headed towards Pietermaritzburg. Dom

... covered a good stretch of East and South Africa, but that is still less than 20% of the continent! Safety - We were on an overland truck so our perception of safety in Africa has some sugar coating. That said, it wasn't much different from any other developing group of developing countries. There were definitely areas in some towns were people in our group were being followed by dodgy characters, but the same ...

... Unfortunately, the morning ocean was still a bit "rough" and hang-overs were still fresh so we decided not to dive Hout Bay and instead drove to another site in Camps Bay that was absolutely gorgeous. This was a shore dive, so we didn't need a boat and we just stepped off some rocks into the ocean. There were lots of cool rocks to swim around and through and we did some navigation skills using a compass and taking turns swimming a square. In between our turns ...

It's always exciting to go to a new place, a new destination, a new continent perhaps? I had heard so much about the beauty of Cape Town from family and friends that had been there that I had come to expect great things for my first steps onto African soil, like a guy stepping into a James Bond movie expecting great action, great new gadgets, and a chance to ogle at the most gorgeous women on the face of this planet. After all, this was the land from which ...