Protea Umhlanga Umhlanga Rocks

... a few basic words here and there. I constantly get 'pole’ when out running which means I’m sorry… if you sneeze you get pole or if your sweeping etc…

So weekends involve heading into Arusha and staying at a cheap guesthouse…. Here we can shower with hot water, have clean sheets and be close to restaurants and internet and bars etc. There is a big ex-pat community in Arusha (lots of Americans) so there are some quite nice bars, beer ...

... want for my birthday, which is in 7 days - only one week!!! I can't wait! We also saw the stadium they are building for the World Cup - it has to be finished soon. On the way home, we discovered a brand new playground, right by the ocean in Sea Point! It is awesome! We played while the sun set then we watched the moon come up. I am glad I was born here - it is a great town!!!

... and in control then, I can tell you! I was with another traveller yesterday and they wanted to get some cash out of an ATM and two guys came to help but were clearly trying to get their card so we walked off to another ATM and low and behold the little scally wags followed us there so we went to another one where there was an armed guard who also had one of the 'shock thingys' and warned the guys if they came near us he would use is - he demonstrated ...

... little place (though not the cleanest, but hey) with a French waitress who sounded South American and a South African waitress wearing a Scotland t-shirt - welcome to the rainbow nation!. We wore sombreros and took in some African beer. The food was cheap and nice, pretty standard mexican fare. I did find *the* spiciest hot sauce ever, bushman's revenge. It's rated 15/10 on their hotness scale!! I put a little too much on my starter (mexican chips) and I ...

... good displays and lots of information about the marine life from South Africa's Atlantic and Indian Ocean coasts. Although we were warned that the ticketing for Robben Island was a shambles and the chances of getting a booking during our week in Cape Town were slim, we decided to take a punt and went to the Nelson Mandela Gateway at the V&A Waterfront to see if we could get a last minute ticket for the 11am ferry. The ticket office was as disorganised ...

No visit to Durban would be complete for us without a visit to The Beverly Hills in Umhlanga. It is the most wonderful place to go for tea / lunch / a swim / drinks / whatever reason you want. It is set overlooking the Umhlanga Rocks beach and Indian Ocean with a great swimming pool, amazing exotic ...

... on couches, Kirst is off to the shop to try and find baking powder for crumpets and it's most likely going to rain! It is drizzling but a person used to living in England can't exactly call that rain...even the boats are still visable on the horizan so it's not too bad... wind is unbareable though but what can a person do right...? Well... while there's not much going on apart from Andrew giggling every now and then, I will say goodbye and write again tomorrow... If I remember!!! :-D

The motorcycle trip in South Africa began with some wishful thinking and a little boyish excitement. My roommate Adam helped get me riled up when I needed it most. I've had the opportunity to visit some places this year that I never imagined possible, but it wouldn't have been anywhere near as much fun without my friends. Adam and Shella hosted me ...

... been seriously hurt or killed. It should be interesting to see how this rides out, other unions are on their way to join. Newspapers and news of any media for that matter only speak on flooding and the strike. At least the Springboks are up to play here in Cape Town this Saturday against Australia. Rugby is my new sport of choice! It should be a lekker weekend! Well I think I have blabbed on long enough. My parents have been the fortunate ones to hear from me on a daily basis ...

... the market area. This area was quite different in layout than the residential areas. The buildings were similar to the cardboard box-like fruit stand, and more speed out. They were shacks, sometimes constructed from street signs or billboards or the ever present sheet metal and rotten wood, and they were more spread out, not lined up in tight neat rows like the homes. Men sold fruit, (Mom, seriously, skip this part) women grilled cow heads, the full heads of ...