Hey ho... my flight to Australia has been delayed by 24 hours... Yes I have been put up in a hotel in Johannesburg for the night - some conference centre which has free internet access (well not usually free but they are experiencing problems with the billing so its free for the mo). John, Jennifer & Sean came to the hotel & had dinner & a few drinks with me.

Mom & I headed off to Durban beachfront to a new area called Ushaka. This has been built up in order to attract tourists, however its near the old docks which is hardly a salubrious part of town. It was a roasting hot day and in order to manage the parking, they have closed nearly all the side streets in the area with pretty much only one road in and out. Makes parking on days like this, holiday season, a nightmare. I was starting to get hot and frazzled as t...

Now, I don't consider myself a great driver, but at least I am curteous and calm. That cannot be said for the drivers in South Africa!! I did my drivers licence here many, many moons ago and I don't remember the drivers being quite so bad. I have not driven in many countries, but can say these are the worst drivers I have had the misfortune to encounter so far. Traffic lights are for the most part ignored. They will not stop behind the line and wait for the red t...

I went out to dinner & when I got home at 9.30 and Dad was in bed & Mom was playing on her pc. I wandered around the house getting a drink & then back into the kitchen for a piece of biltong (dry meat which is an African speciality to which I am addicted). On the way back through the lounge to my room, I noticed a dark cord on the cream carpet in the living room. I turned the light on and noticed it was a little snake! Brown in colour with a diamond p...

I drove to the Bluff (suburb of Durban) to John's house. We had lunch and then set off to play golf. There is a course near to the beach - on the one side of the road is a club house with a "proper" course and the other holds a bar and pitch & put style course of 16 holes... yes 16 holes. Not 9 or 18 which I believe is usual, but for some bizarre reason 16. We did it - me using John's old clubs - with poor Jennifer & Sean trailing behind us. Wea...