Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
I left Melbourne with an enormous amount of excitement. I'd been counting down the days over the last few months until the World Cup and was as excited about watching the football as well as travelling around the rainbow nation. We've all heard about the scare stories, the high crime level, Johannesburg being the 'murder capital', the muggings and the general safety of tourists. I was about to find out first hand what South Africa was all about. The people I had spoken to, who had actually been there, had nothing but high praise for the place and I was happy to believe these people than the ones that were viewing from afar. Despite this, I was undoubtedly nervous. Despite having travelled for almost two years, Africa was a different proposition to Australia - the next month was to be an education!
I had booked my flight a couple of months before with Virgin Atlantic. It was a direct flight from Melbourne to Johannesburg, where I was to stay one night before jumping on a flight down to Cape Town. I was to meet my sister, Laura down in Cape Town a couple of days after my arrival and we had tickets for the England V Algeria match the following day. I had already planned to do some of the Touristy stuff as well including Table Mountain & Robben Island but more about that later. The flight itself was very good. It lasted about 16 hours and there was a good selection of movies and entertainment to choose from as well as some good aeroplane food. It was the first time I had flown with Virgin Atlantic and it was a good experience.
On arrival into Johannesburg I had no real delays getting my luggage and headed into the main airport terminal to find a phone booth to ring the hostel I had booked - Mufasa Backpackers - to arrange my free pick-up. It wasn't long until I heard the first sound of the dreaded Vuvuzela. I heard them on TV already, of-course, but this was my first 'first hand' experience of hearing this annoying horn that apparently improves
the atmosphere of football matches. Hmmmmmm.
I managed to get in contact with the hostel and waited at the pick-up point, meeting an Aussie guy that was going to the same place. We got picked up by two big Zimbabwean lads in a 4 X 4 and were taken to Mufasa
Backpackers- a 20 minute drive. I had booked this hostel as it was close to the airport. I had another flight the next day down to Cape Town and just wanted to get my head down that night without any fuss. Mufasa seemed like the ideal place - good location, reasonably priced and a free airport pick-up. My first impressions of Jo'burg were not great - even in the dark. People driving around like maniacs, lots of barbed wire and fires at the side of the road. First impressions can sometimes be wrong though....
We arrived at the hostel and it was freezing. The first thing I noticed was there didn't seem to be any heating - great! It was sub zero temperatures, probably an exceptionally cold night for Jo'burg but even so it was going to be a cold one tonight! We were put in a room in an annexe away from the main building. There were no quilts or sleeping bags. Luckily for me I had my sleeping bag and lifesaving hot water bottle. You may laugh - but that hot water bottle has got me through some cold, cold nights in crappy hostels over the last couple of years and here was another chance for it to be pulled out of the bottom of the backpack and do it's thing. Unfortunately for my Aussie friend - he didn't have anything and eventually ended up sleeping on the couch in the main building as it got so cold. I woke up the next day with numb feet - not a great start to the South African Adventure and I would not recommend this hostel in the Jo'burg winter that's for sure. Although, I would put in a good word for the owners who were very nice and helpful - I'm sure in the summer it would be fine but it wouldn't be top of my list of hostels when I return to Jo'burg later in the tournament.
The following day I headed out early to catch a flight down to Cape Town. I arrived into Cape Town and again no real problems with flights etc and was at the hostel I had booked - Atlantic Point - by early afternoon. Cape Town was much warmer than Jo'burg and I recognised instantly that the feel for the place was a lot more relaxed. I was a little worried about my accommodation though. You see, I had booked it on a whim. It was cheap. Very cheap. It had just opened just before the World Cup started and there were no photos or reviews of Atlantic Point on the internet. It appeared to be in a very good location though as it was in close proximity to the Green Point Stadium and the waterfront. It could have turned out to be a total hole. However, as it happened my 'shot in the dark' turned out to be a masterstroke. It was one of the best hostels I have ever stayed in and that is no mean feat. It was brand new, the bathrooms and dorms were immaculate, had a great TV room and bar area, free wifi internet, great location near bars and restaurants all for 150 rand - which was incredible. Moreover the owners were legends and helped us out with everything. I couldn't wax lyrical about this hostel enough. If you go to Cape Town - stay there! I had one night on my own before little sister arrived the following day.
I met a few Brummie and Geordie lads in the hostel and we went out to the Ivy pub on Long street to have a few beers and see the South Africa Vs Uruguay match. South Africa got thrashed, effectively ending their chances of qualification barring a miracle. That was a real shame as the atmosphere was great for the match and I always think that to make a great tournament you need the host nation to do well. They still had a small chance though so we shall see what happens....
The following day my sister arrived and she was as impressed as me about the hostel. We decided to go out and sample the pre-match atmosphere in town. The England V Algeria match was the next day so it promised to be a good laugh with tens of thousands of England fans descending on the city. We made our way down Long Street into various bars ending up in the Dubliner. It was the night of the France V Mexico game which France lost much to the delight of all the England fans. Chants of 'Au revoir, Au revoir' and 'France are going home' were ringing around the bars. A good night was had by all and after quite a few beers we decided to call it a night sometime in the early hours to get some sleep before the big day tomorrow.
England V Algeria wasn't the only thing on the itinerary today. There was also the small matter of Table Mountain - one of the best tourist attractions in South Africa. After a big night, we didn't get up as early as planned and had to pick up a car before heading to Table Mountain. We got there around midday and realised very quickly that everyone had the same idea. The whole world and his wife was up here, the ones from England at least and we had to queue for an hour and half to get onto the Cable Car. Alternatively we could have walked up there - but no thanks! It was well worth it though. The views at the top were breathtaking, taking in the whole of Cape Town and beyond. Awesome. I'm not the best with heights so I did have my eyes closed a bit on the cable car down and didn't get close to the edge at the top! Table Mountain, they say, is a 'must do' when going to Cape Town and they are not wrong. Just make sure you go up on a clear day, as we did, because you won't see much on a cloudy day.
With Table Mountain seen, it was now onto the serious business. After all there was a World Cup on.....
Our hostel was a ten minute walk from the stadium which looms large over Green Point and the surrounding area. It looked impressive, I couldn't wait to get in there and see it from the inside. A few pre-match beers were the order of the day. As it was the night before, the streets were rammed full of England fans complete with flags ranging from Premiership clubs to towns like Addlestone and Surbiton. There's nothing like being at an England game that's for sure. The atmosphere was superb and there was also a carnival down the main street alongside the bars. Not a bit of trouble in sight. After some beers and pre match banter with some Algerians we headed to the stadium. At night the stadium looks even better. Upon entering the turnstile and making our way up to level 6 I managed to bump into the Australian SBS commentary team - Les Murray & Craig Foster and blagged a picture with them. Most fans at the game probably wouldn't have a clue who they were - but I had been down under for a while and was used to watching their Champions League coverage. They are the equivalent to Gary Lineker and Alan Hansen I suppose. Or maybe not....!
We had Category One tickets for the match so I was expecting good seats. Disappointed was an understatement. We were up 'in the gods' on level 6.Oh well - at least we were there I suppose. That was the main thing! Shame the England team decided not to turn up though. It was a pathetic display and ended o-o.The atmosphere was good at the start but as the match went on fans became more frustrated and the chorus of boos ringing out at the end of the match was fully justified. If Wayne Rooney thinks that the fans can't vent their anger after paying a fortune and flying miles to watch players who earn more in one week than they do in a year then he seriously needs to take a look at himself. "Just enough education to perform" is apparently tattooed on his arm. Not enough education to realise that you aren't above criticism maybe a better slogan. Disappointing Wayne, very disappointing. After the debacle of the match we weren't in the mood for going out and decided an early night was in order before going to Robben Island in the morning.
I had already booked Robben Island a week before and lucky I did as it was fully booked up for a few days. Robben Island was expected to be another Tourist highlight - an island just off the Cape Town coast. And, no, it's not named after Arjen Robben the Dutch winger. Robben Island was home to many of the political prisoners that were incarcerated during Apartheid including the one and only Nelson Mandela. The tour consisted of a ferry ride to the island, guided bus tour of the island and a guided tour of the prison by an ex-inmate. It was a very good tour, although unfortunately it was run on a time restriction and we were not able to read a lot of the fascinating stories and anecdotes left by a lot of the former in-mates as there just wasn't time. Still it was a great insight into some of South Africa's recent history and extremely informative. Later that day we went for drive down towards Cape Point but quickly realised that it was a bit ambitious doing this in the afternoon and turned back towards Cape Town with my BBC World Service Interview scheduled for the evening.
Whilst in Australia listening to the BBC World Service I had heard they were looking for people to interview during the World Cup and I put my name forward. They contacted me and asked if I wanted to do an interview after the England match in Cape Town so here I was at one of the BBC World Service commentary team's hotel rooms waiting to do a live interview. It turned into a really interesting evening. The BBC guy - Richard Kennedy, it turned out had reported on Woking matches in the 90s and had worked for a local newspaper. He knew all the old Woking players. He also told me that the guy doing the interview was a Woking fan - Russell Fuller. Small world again! After my interview we were chatting for a good while about football matters - Woking, Fifa, anything and everything. The guy knew his stuff to be fair.It would be great to do the job he does. At the end of the conversation he told us that he had loads of missed calls from Graham Taylor as they were all going out for drinks that night. I bet Graham did not like that, I thought.
The next day we were going to head off on a road trip firstly to Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope and then the 'Garden Route' over the next few days along the coast making our way toward Port Elizabeth for the last England group game. I loved Cape Town and was gutted to leave. It is very touristy, pretty chilled out with some great bars, shops and restaurants. The people were really friendly the hostel we stayed in was awesome and we had certainly made the most of our stay. The England result was the only low point of the stay - but you can't legislate for that! On to the Garden Route then and from what I have heard we had a lot to look forward to.....
- comments