Just over a week ago we flew down to Cape Town, a two hour flight which was much better than the two day drive, even though the Garden routre between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth is still on our to do list as the scenery is meant to be spectacular but maybe that'll be for another visit to the country.
Anyhow the Cape Town flight was fine (the Kulula Air announcements on board the aircraft are an experience in themselves!) and the hotel was good, functional and well located at the foot of Table mountain with stunning views as the weather improved just in time for our visit - lovely...
The focal point for our Cape Town eating was the V&A Waterfront which was simply super, the night before the game there were a few England fans there but this was nothing compared to the match day itself as the whole area was packed to the rafters and in such good humour too.
The match itself is now over and the repercussions from it you'll have seen more than we did, needless to say that the ground was superb, the number of England supporters inside must have made up at least 50% if not much more, and how gutted were we all as we left given the performance we'd seen. Talk was that we'd be planning for plans B, C, etc once the group stages were over but visits to Table Mountain, Robben Island and around the Bay area were wonderful.
A flight to Port Elizabeth then followed and we quickly found out why it's known as the windy city - the breeze of the bay was bone chilling at times but Alan, our host at the B&B who hailed from Liverpool (a lapsed Tranmere fan) was so friendly and helpful - ensuring that we knew where the Boardwalk was (where the main gathering of England fans were prior to the game) and the restaurants there.
We also visited the Sea View Lion Park which was wonderful as not only was it quiet we thought (Alan said it was busy!) we saw gazelle, giraffe, zebra and monkeys before we got to the lion area. Liking big cats as I do this was brilliant but the best was yet to come as we both took advantage of being able to go into pens firstly with 3 month old lion cubs, then 12 month old lion 'boys', then 6 month old Siberian tigers and finally in with a lynx - all up very close and personal which was truly a once in a lifetime experience.
This proved to be very personnal for my wife Collette as Clifford, the sole white 12 month old lion took a liking to her and wanted to play, indicating this but giving her a playful 'nip' - otherwise known as a full blown bite by Collette (which it wasn't and she's fine but there is a mark and super bruise to show for this). You'll be pleased to know that Clifford is fine and well after this!
The game in PE again you know more about than us for post match comments, etc but suffice to say that this time the crowd was a good 80% England and thankfully this time there were few of those annoying vuvuleza's - even the locals are hating them now!
What a performance though England needed to score more than they did - but to have progressed to the next round and to meet the 'old foe' promises to be good.
Back to Durban yesterday and to the heat and sunshine that seems to be ever present here - and today the lads went on a five hour fising trip out at sea - great time had by all, lots of fish caught some of which was eaten as our dinner too having been cooked on the Braai or BBQ as we know it, the ladies were most impressed that we actually did catch some fish!
Not only did we see a school of some 20 doplhins including some youngsters but we had the amazing sight of a very large humpback whale breaching the sea not more than 30 foot away from us. Our skipper got us away sharpish but not before we had 2 more such breachings - skipper said that in all his years of fishing there he'd never seen one that close which made it more special to us too.
The whole trip continues to be a brilliant time and the people we've met are so friendly too, of course there are issues out here but all we can say is that the press beforehand may paint pictures of some areas but thse are so not typical of the country itself, and it is one place we'd recommend to anyone to visit in the future.