Ants Big 2004 Summer Adventure
Friday, August 27, 2004
Durban Weather Woes!
So far we haven’t seen much of Durbans much vaunted warm winter weather, it’s been mostly cloud and wind! It had rained heavily overnight, and was still raining when we woke up, but it soon stopped, and the day began to brighten up…even the sun made a bit of an appearance!
We headed off to one of Durbs newest attractions…..uShaka! This place is like a combination of wet n wild, and sea world. Plenty of swimming pools and tube rides, alongside a great aquarium and other marine life pools! It has been built on an old plot of derelict land close to the harbour mouth, in a part of town that is ripe for development.
As we paid our entrance fee, the sun was shining and we headed off to the changing rooms to get ready for some serious watery fun! By the time we’d got our gear on and packed all our valuables into the lockers, things were not looking so good. The sun had gone behind the clouds, and the wind was beginning to pick up! We managed to brave about an hour and a half of it, before our extremities began to turn blue and our teeth started chattering, so we decided to cut our losses and get dressed and go and explore the aquarium side!
We spent a good couple of hours wandering past huge viewing windows with all sorts of marine life on display, turtles, jellyfish, sharks, rays and bizarre looking guitarfish (they look like a cross between a shark, a ray, and a pointy shovel!!). They also have seal, dolphin and penguin shows at various times of the day, but we somehow managed to miss all those!
After a spot of lunch....where I saw this excellent t-shirt! NB. Note the added irony of the nuns in the background!!
we met up with Louise who drove us to the Durban Arts and Crafts center, and after a couple of trips round the block, we eventually found somewhere to park, and popped inside for a quick session of gift buying!
Then it was back to the house to pack before we headed off to the airport for our short journey back to Jo’burg! Our flight was delayed by an hour or so, so we mooched around Durbs airport for a while, but eventually we were on our way, and it wasn’t long before we were back in Jo’burg, where we were met by Garth (who tried to trick us by turning up in a different car to the one we were expecting!!)
We arrived back home to find my Uncle Graham in the middle of a bout of food poisoning, which gave us all a bit of a fright! He seems a lot better this morning, so hopefully he’s over the worst!
Last few days in SA, as we fly out on Sunday night! It’s been a fantastic holiday, and I think Johanna has really enjoyed herself, even though she has had to spend a lot of time listening to boring adults!! :-)
Ant
Thursday, August 26, 2004
Dolphins and Crazy Golf!
Bearing in mind the events of the previous evening, it probably wasn’t advisable to be up at 5:30 the next morning, but that’s exactly what we did, as we were booked to head out to sea on a 22 foot motor boat owned by the Natal Shark Board, a local organization that is responsible for all things sharky in this area! They operate tours out to the shark nets (of which Natal has about 24km along it’s coastline), where you can watch the shark nets being checked for any fish that have become tangled in them.
No sharks or any other fish had been snagged during the night, so we missed out on that side of things, however, Natal also has an abundance of dolphins and whales living and/or moving past it’s shorelines, and we spent an amazing two and a half hours getting close up views of various groups of dolphins and whales, which were spotted by our eagle-eyed boat driver. He seemed to have an uncanny knack for being in the right place at the right time!
At one point we must have had about 20 dolphins swimming alongside, underneath, behind and in front of the boat as we skimmed along the ocean.
It was an amazing experience, and if you are ever in Durban, I would recommend it to anyone, early morning start or not!
Once back on dry land, it didn’t take me long to get us lost again on the way back home!! Part of the route on the outward journey took us through a one-way system, and I got completely stuffed up on the return leg. However, once again, the Stansbie directional sense clicked in, and we eventually found our way back onto the right road, and made in home in one piece for a spot of breakfast.
We’d arranged to meet up with Beth for some lunch, so after a couple of hours relaxing at the house, we headed out to meet up with her, and after that Louise took us out to the Pavilion shopping mall where they have a massive 3-course crazy golf centre. Johanna and I spent an hour or so hacking around that (she beat me by 3 shots overall!! The shame of it!!!) and then got in a spot of shopping before our hostess returned to pick us up!
After a bit of supper we were all feeling pretty buggered, and we were all tucked up in bed and pushing out the zeds by around 10:00pm!
Ant
Durban Day 1
Bit of a relaxation day today! Up reasonably early, and had a bit of breakfast before getting our gear together and heading down to the beach at the Sun Coast Casino complex. Louise had motherly duties to attend to, so Jo and I spent the afternoon swimming in the sea, and lying on the sun loungers.
Weather wasn’t too great, and after a couple of hours, the wind had got up a bit, and so we headed off for a bit of lunch.
Lou picked us up mid-afternoon, and we headed back to the house where Jo and I relaxed some more, whilst Lou went off to collect her daughters, Isabella 6 and Genevieve 4, from school! They are a couple of lovely girls, very confident, and great fun! A credit to their mum and dad!!
The evenings entertainment was a dinner party at home, to which Beth Cradock (nee Lawrie) and her husband Chris were invited. Beth is a good friend of mine who I had last seen about 9 years ago, so it was great to catch up with her after so long! She hasn’t changed a bit, and for those of you who know her, that won’t come as much of a surprise!! As well as being married now, she also has two kids! According to Lou, she is a terrible mother!.......but then Lou does have exceptionally high standards in that department!! :-)
Dinner was superb, and there was plenty of alcohol consumed and much reminiscing. It was a very entertaining evening.
Ant
Tuesday, August 24, 2004
Table Mountain - Finally!!
Today was our last chance to make it up Table Mountain, so we were up reasonably early, and were rewarded with the sight of a clear mountain, so off we headed to the bottom cable-car station.
As it’s mid-winter here, the queue was non-existent, so we were able to get on the first available gondola for the 5 minute trip to the top of the mountain, with spectacular views on the journey up!
With views like this one,
it’s not hard to see why this is probably the number one attraction in Cape Town. It really does give you spectacular panoramas across the whole city!
Johanna and I wandered around the top of the mountain, and then I spotted it!!!! The Abseil Africa sign!! The highest commercial abseil in the world!! R250 (approx. GBP25) to abseil 112 metres down the face of the mountain. As usual, my eye for a bargain got the better of me, and I had soon signed the indemnity waiver, and was being helped into a very snug harness! After a crash course in the finer points of abseiling, I was soon clipped in, and ready for my descent. Just before I set off down, the guide made a cryptic comment about there being a lovely cocktail bar half way down. Not really understanding the joke, I set off, and was soon disappearing out of sight over the edge of the mountain!
About a third of the way down, I found the cocktail bar!! Suddenly the face of the mountain had disappeared, as the rock face I had just come down was an overhang! The rest of the descent you just dangle in mid-air!! It was an absolutely amazing feeling hanging there and spinning slowly round with fantastic views of the city hundreds of meters below you! The only downside to the whole thing is that what goes down must also go back up, and it’s a good 20 minute scramble up mountain paths back to the top! I was blowing hard by the time I got there. By this time Johanna had retired to the restaurant for some tea, so I joined her there for a spot of lunch.
By now, the clouds were beginning to roll in and cover the mountain, so we headed back to the cable-car for the trip back down.
Once at the bottom, we decided to try and make it down to Boulders Bay to see the African Penguin colony there. As we had a flight to catch at 6:30, and it was now 2:30, I decided that we would set off down the coast, and see if we could make reasonable progress to be able to get there and back in time. As it turned out, we had to abandon the penguin visit as time got the better of us. We headed back to the house to pack, and wait for Marlene to arrive home as she had very kindly offered to drive us out to the airport!
We said our goodbyes to Marlene and Liam at the domestic departures terminal, and headed off to check in for the flight up to Durban.
The flight was fairly empty, so we ended up with a row to ourselves, and as the planes seats had very generous leg-room we had a very comfortable journey!
We were met at the airport by John Field, one quarter of our hosts in Durbs…the others being his lovely wife Louise, and his two daughters Isabella and Genevieve…..who whisked us off to the lovely family home in Glenwood.
We had a bit of a catch up session over a few beers, lemonades and cappuccinos, and then it was off to bed, bringing to a close another memorable day in Africa!!
Ant
Sunday, August 22, 2004
Adrenalin Ant returns!!
Well, today was a big day for me! During my investigations on what to do in Cape Town, one of the activities that caught my eye was the Two Oceans Aquarium, and in particular the fact that for a mere R400, you can scuba dive in their shark tank!
Well, I could hardly pass up the opportunity could I!? I’ve got to make use of the fact that I am now a PADI qualified diver haven’t I!?
So there I was at 11:00am, being briefed by the aquariums dive-master! The instructions were simple:
1. If you find yourself face to face with one of the sharks, do not try and push it away or try and swim away…the sharks react to sudden movements and will bite you! Stay very still!!
2. Do not wave your arms around, the sharks will be attracted to your movement and may decide to bite you!!
Armed with these re-assuring instructions, I was led up to the roof of the aquarium with my fellow victim…an American lady from Montana, to get suited and booted and before long we were sitting on the edge of a platform and lowering ourselves feet first into the tank. We made a gentle descent to the bottom of the tank (approx. 6m), and knelt on the bottom,
whilst 4 ragged-tooth sharks glided gracefully past our heads at regular intervals! The tank is also home to a number of stingrays, a large turtle, and an assortment of groupers and other largish fish.
The dive lasted 30 minutes, and we swam around a bit, but mainly knelt there just watching this fantastic array of marine life swim past within touching distance (if I’d been brave enough to reach out!!), and waving (discreetly!) to Johanna, Marlene, Angus and Liam who I could see through the glass. I didn’t feel like I was in any danger at all, and it was just a great feeling being so close to these huge fish. We even got to play with the turtle a little bit which was fun!
After the dive, we wandered around the rest of the Aquarium (they have a great penguin pool!), and then, as it was well into the back end of the lunchtime zone, we headed off to Camps Bay for some food, and ended up having a really great meal at Ocean Blue…..yep, you’ve guessed it, a fish restaurant!!
We were all feeling a bit knackered by this point, so we headed back to the house and retired to the sitting room for the rest of the afternoon and evening!
Bit disappointed for poor old Paula Radcliffe who we watched miss out on the Olympic Marathon title in the highlights program!!
Last day in Cape Town tomorrow, so we’ve got fingers crossed for the mountain to be clear of cloud, but the weather forecast isn’t great so might have to miss out on that this time. Will probably head down to Boulder Bay to go and paddle in the water with all the African penguins (they used to be called Jackass Penguins, but have been recently renamed….but that’s another story!).
Then it’s off to Durban tomorrow evening to stay with friends Louise and John and their 3 kids!
We’ve had a great time in CT, and it is still very high on my list of favourite places. I think that one of the main reasons for that is because of Angus and Marlene who have been superb hosts, and have made us feel very much at home. I owe you one guys!!
Ant
Saturday, August 21, 2004
Wine, Food, Beer and Rugby!
Well, it was always going to be hard to top the cultural experience of yesterday, so we didn’t even bother to try! We resorted to alcohol and sport instead!
The alcohol part was a morning of wine tasting around the Stellenbosch area, although true be told it was actually a spot of wine tasting at one wine estate….Muratie!
Muratie is a fairly small, and very old winery that is a particular favourite of mine as they produce some fantastic port….whoops! sorry, not allowed to call it port as the Portuguese get a little bit touchy about that…..port-style wines, as well as some a fine Merlot, and a couple of other pretty decent red wines! Anyway, it was R10 per person (approx. GBP1.00), and for that you got to taste around 7 or 8 wines!
Good news for my bruv, Rob, I placed an order for 8 bottles of port….sorry! port-style wine, and 4 of amber…it should arrive in 8-14 weeks!! We can negotiate on who gets what!!
Anyway, after the wine-tasting, we moved very merrily on for some lunch to the small town of Franschoek which was originally founded by the French Hugenots (the town still celebrates Bastille Day!!). It is an extremely picturesque town, lying in a wine producing valley, surrounded by stunning mountain ranges!
We settled ourselves in to Ralfs Pub for some grub, and then settled down to watch the Springboks take on the Wallabies in the Tri-Nations Rugby championship decider!
I think Johanna must have over-indulged on the wine, as she was soon cheering on the Springboks with the rest of the locals!!
The first half was a bit of a tense affair as the SA boys struggled to get their game going, and the Aussies were leading at half-time, but the Boks started to take control after the break, and were well on their way to a comfortable win, until a late Aussie surge threatened to spoil the party, but South Africa managed to hold them off to earn a well deserved win, and only their 2nd ever Tri-Nations championship! I’ll offer up a begrudging well done to all my South African friends………we’ll see you at Twickenham in November!!
We set off back to Cape Town, stopping en route at Stellenbosch to pick up Liam (come on keep up, he’s Angus and Marlenes very cute son…remember!!) who had been dropped off for the day with his grandparents, and then our very weary bunch headed home to crash in front of the telly with Olympic action from Athens!
Ant
Friday, August 20, 2004
Robben Island
Attempted to get up and get going early today, but failed miserably! We left the house before midday, but only just!
Angus had very kindly offered us the use of his prized Bakkie (SA for pickup truck!), so whilst he and Marlene were at work, we scooted off to the center of Kaap Stad (Afrikaans for Cape Town to you non-SA readers!). As Table mountain was shrouded in clouds and therefore not worth a visit, we spent a couple of hours mooching around the shops of the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront complex. The Waterfront is right at the touristy (but in a good way!) heart of the CT scene. It’s an ever expanding mall-style development which houses a wide variety of mainly tourist-oriented shops and restaurants, as well as other attractions like the Two Oceans aquarium and an Imax cinema. It’s also home to the Nelson Mandela Gateway Museum, which is the shore-based side of the Robben Island Museum! It’s thought-provoking displays and exhibits highlight some of the history of Robben Island , the infamous state prison, and in particular it’s most famous inmate…..Nelson Mandela.
From here, you can jump aboard a ferry for the 7km trip out to the island. The organized tour of the island and its maximum-security prison takes about 2.5 hours, and is split into two parts. For the first half we were loaded onto a bus for a tour of the small and very exposed island, where we learnt about the history of the island, from it’s original discovery by Portuguese explorers, it’s subsequent use by Dutch settlers as a penal colony, it’s leper colony, and it’s eventual use by the SA government as a maximum security prison for political prisoners! We also took in the lime quarry where prisoners carried out hard labour.
The second half of the tour is altogether more moving and emotional. We were taken on a tour of the maximum-security prison where political prisoners, accused of crimes against the state during the apartheid years, were housed.
The tour is made even more poignant by the fact that our tour guide was a former political prisoner who had spent 13 years on the island! He painted a very vivid picture of the extremely harsh conditions that the inmates were subjected to, and the ways in which they managed to overcome very draconian restrictions in order to further their quest to bring about the downfall of the apartheid regime. I could spend hours going into detail, but to be honest, the tour is very much an individual emotional experience, and all I will say is that if you are ever in this part of the world, make sure that this tour is high on your list of things to do. It is an extremely humbling, but ultimately very uplifting experience!
Ant
Cape Town Bum Cream!!
Today is a travel day! We’re off down to Cape Town to stay with good friends Angus and Marlene and their very cute 1 year old son, Liam!
We spend the morning getting packed, writing postcards, and watching more Olympic action, and then Garth very kindly drives us to the airport to catch our Kulula.com (South Africas version of Easyjet!) flight to CPT. The 2 hour flight is pretty uneventful, apart from the usual hairy landing at Cape Town airport, and Marlene is there to pick us up, and whisk us off to their house in the Pinelands suburb.
After a catch up session over beer, wine and some lovely grub, we all head off to bed around 11:00pm.
But not before I spot this!!
Talk about calling a spade a spade!! Why can’t all products be labeled this way? Forget Toilet Tissue, how about Andrex Arse Wiping Paper!!
Ant
Thursday, August 19, 2004
Sun City & Non scenic route to Jo'burg!
I know you're going to find this hard to believe, but we were up, washed, packed, checked out and sitting having breakfast by 9:30am this morning!! The plan was to get going early, take one final drive through the park, and exit at the Kwa Maritane gate, which is the closest one to Sun City, and then spend a few hours enjoying ourselves in the valley of the waves!
For those of you who don’t know about Sun City, it is a resort casino themed around a lost African city. Apart from the casino, the main attraction is the valley of the waves, which is a huge man-made beach, with a massive wave machine that churns out some pretty impressive rollers! There are also plenty of tube rides, a long vertical water slide and a host of other features to keep everyone amused.
The whole place was built from scratch, and when you see the pure scale of the place, and it’s extremely remote location, you can’t help but be impressed by the ingenuity and vision that must have been required to get it built!
Anyway, Johanna and I spent an enjoyable 4 hours splashing around in the VERY cold water. As it’s winter here, the place was not too crowded, which was great for us as we didn’t have to queue for anything, and were able to pick our spot on the “beach”.
With the 2.5 hour drive back to Jo’burg in mind, we set off back to the car around 4:30, and hit the road.
Now, on the journey up I checked a few times to see what the road signs were saying going the other way, so that I knew what to look for on the journey back. I knew that the place name began with R and ended in Burg (Randburg as it turned out!). However, on the return journey, the first sign I came to pointed to Pretoria one way, and Rustenburg the other way! I knew we didn’t want Pretoria, and the other direction began with an R and ended in Burg, so obviously I went that way. Having driven for about 20km without recognizing any features, I was beginning to suspect I’d made the wrong choice, however, I figured that on the way up we had gone directly to the campsite, and on our way back we were coming from Sun City, so maybe this was just the bit of road that we missed out by going direct to the camp!
A further 20km on, and I’m now sure we are not on the road we came up on! However, as the light is beginning to fade, and having consulted the little map in the back of the travel guide and figured that we are still heading roughly in the right direction, I decide to carry on!
Eventually we pass a sign which points towards Jo’burg, so I know we’re on the right path. An hour or so later, and we hit the outskirts of the city. By now it is dark, and I have no idea which suburb we are in. I hand Jo the Jo’burg road atlas, and start calling out street names as we pass them for the poor girl to try and figure out where exactly we are, and eventually we manage to ascertain that we are heading in the right general direction. One stop at a well-lit and busy petrol station later, and I have directions for how to get to Parktown North where we are staying, and 20 minutes later we are back on familiar roads, and heading for home…..phew!!
Now fairly ravenous, we stop off at the local Nandos to pick up a couple of celebratory chicken burgers to go, and head back to the house. We chow down with Uncle Graham, and then retire to the study to watch some of the action from Athens 2004 (mens gymnastics), and then it’s off to bed after a long and very eventful day!!
Ant
Wednesday, August 18, 2004
Wild animals!? They were furious!!!!
Had a bit of a lie in this morning, and when we did finally pull back the flaps of the tent, we were greeted by the sight of an ostrich strolling by the front! We headed off to the Ablution block to get washed. We were a bit late for breakfast, but they managed to rustle something up for us!
After breakfast we headed off for a quick round of put-put (crazy golf to you brits!), and then took off for a marathon 4 hour plus drive through the park! By now we were beginning to know our way around, and had also found out that there are a number of hides (small huts where you can sit out of sight, and watch the wildlife going about their business!) dotted around the park. We plotted a route, which would take us past some of these. When you get to these hides, you actually have to get out of your car, and walk a short distance to a gate, which leads to the covered walkway that takes you to the hide itself. Now I know why they get you to sign an indemnity before you enter the park!!
In one of these hides, we met one of those jolly old buffer types! An 82 year old Englishman who had lived in Africa for over 50 years, mainly in Zimbabwe. Although he refused to call it anything other than Rhodesia, and kept referring to the towns by their “colonial” names, Bulawayo, Salisbury etc.
New animals that we sighted on this drive were Red Hartebeest, Vervet monkeys (very cute!), hippos and impala (aka lion food!).
Right in the centre of the park is a restaurant called surprise, surprise, Pilansberg Centre! It is completely unfenced, so in theory, as well as us humans coming there for something to eat, I guess the wild animals could also do likewise!! It has a great tables terrace area with a wonderful view out over a large plain. We didn’t see any animals though, just plenty of exotic birds that were hoping to pick up a few tit-bits!
After a quick meal, we jumped back in the car and headed off to find the next hide, which was a short distance up the road! The hide gave a great view out over a small watering hole! It was quite crowded, and we soon found out why! A lioness and her 3 cubs were lying in the long grass on the far side of the water. You had to look quite carefully to see them as they blended in nicely with the vegetation!!
We couldn’t spend too long at the hide as time was getting on, and we were due back for our night safari at 5:00pm, so it was back on the road, and on down our plotted route! I hadn’t anticipated just how bumpy the roads were on this last section, and it was pretty slow going, so we were almost late back for our safari, but we just made it in time, having rushed back to the tent to put on lots of warm clothing!
The night safari was amazing! We saw a couple of rhino almost immediately, and yet again, loads of zebra, and before too long, we had found a herd of elephant which we managed to get quite close to. Next up was a giraffe, which we found wandering down a dirt track. It stopped right next to the truck to feed on a thorn bush…we could almost reach out and touch it it was so close!
By now, it was pitch black, so the guide switched on the handheld searchlights. Almost immediately, one of the guys sitting behind us spotted a pair of eyes shining out of the dark bush on our left. It turned out to be a couple of lionesses with a bunch of cubs, and we spent the next half-hour or so tracking their progress through the scrub! Eventually we could hear the call of male lion, which was obviously calling to the females, so we headed off up the road to try and find him. After driving quite a way, and feeling sure we must have missed him, we somehow managed to spot him lying under a tree. We spent another few minutes tracking him, and then it was time to head back to camp. It was beginning to get really cold by now, so the guide handed out a load of blankets to warm us up!
Ate in the restaurant again, wrote a few more postcards, and then it was back to the tent to sleep!
Ant
Tuesday, August 17, 2004
White hunters head north west!!
Well, we were up reasonably early today and were soon on the road and heading north-west out of Jo’burg for the 2.5 hour trip to the Pilansberg game reserve.
Pilansberg is a 55,000 hectare park (compare that with South Africas premier park, the Kruger, which is over 2 million hectares!) and was formed when an active volcano collapsed in on itself, forming concentric rings of mountains with a central basin area. It’s had a long and varied history, and has only been a game reserve since 1979. There are a number of camps and lodges (some inside, and some just outside the park) where you can book chalets or tents.
Johanna and I were booked into a 2-sleeper tent
for a 3 day-2 night stay at the Manyane camp, just outside the park. Having checked in, sorted out our tent and dropped our luggage, we made a bee-line for the safari booking office, and booked ourselves onto a guided tour for later that afternoon, and also a guided night safari the following day!
Next we headed off for in the car for our first (unguided!) drive around the park. Having paid our park entry fee (R20 each plus R15 for the park – a total of about GBP5.00 for 3 days!!) and obtained a road map (although I use the word road fairly loosely as most of them were dirt tracks!) we headed through the electrified gates into the park!
Five minutes later we had spotted our first animals, a group of 3 rhinos, which had just finished having a drink at a waterhole! Off to a flyer!! From then on, the sightings happened at fairly regular intervals, and by the time we drove out of the park 2 hours later, we had spotted bushbuck, baboons, antelope, elephants, wildebeest,
Ant & Jo encounter the very rare South African Roadeblockebeest!!
and plenty of zebra. No wild cats though, but that was not too surprising as they are notoriously hard to spot, and generally tend to be seen more at night!
Anyway, we made our way back to the camp, and got ourselves ready for our first guided safari. There were about 20 of us, and we all climbed up onto the open sided truck which was driven by our guide, Ian!
The good thing about the guided tours, is that the guides tend to know where to find the most animals, and you also get the benefit of their immense knowledge about the park and it’s inhabitants, eg. Did you know that when Rhinos copulate, they get down and dirty for around 1 hour on average!? Hence the reason why some cultures think that ground rhino horn is an aid to virility!! (Not sure why that one stuck in my mind!!)
Or that when you find a herd of Zebra, you’ll often find a bunch of wildebeest hanging around? This is because wildebeest have very poor eyesight and therefore rely on the Zebras excellent eyesight to provide some protection from predators!
By the end of the 2.5 hour tour, the sun had gone down, and man can it get cold out there!! Most of us had chattering teeth by the time we arrived back at camp! Jo and I headed off to the restaurant where I had earlier in the day booked a table for us….outside!! Doh!
Despite that, we did manage to warm up and after getting some grub down us, we headed back to our tent for a bit of postcard writing and eventually some much needed kip.
Ant
Sunday, August 15, 2004
South African Adventure begins!!
Well, it was great to be back home for a few days, although the weather was so hot and muggy, it was difficult to get any quality sleep. It was nice to be able to relax, without feeling that if I slept in for an hour or two, I was missing out on valuable sight-seeing time! Managed to get a much-needed haircut, and get all my washing up to date (with a lot of help from the lovely Julie!).
Anyway, before long, Thursday rolled around, and it was time to get back into traveler mode. Having removed as much clutter (i.e. travel mementoes!) as I could, my bag was now down to a much more manageable 25kgs, and after one last long lie in, I set off for the airport, rescuing Princess Julie from her prison….whoops I mean office…on the way past.
We met up with my Mum who had made the trip down from Cheshire to see me off, and also with my daughter Johanna, and the rest of her family. Johanna had been told that she was just coming down to see me off as well, so you can imagine the look on her face when I pulled out another ticket, and handed it to her. Well imagine no more...
the look on her face is priceless.....and my Mums is not bad either!!
The flight down to Johannesburg was nothing to write home about! It wasn’t much fun being back in economy, we were 2 hours late taking off, and neither of us was able to get much proper sleep. Ten and a half hours later we landed in Johannesburg, where we were picked up by my uncle Graham. After a bit of a wash and brush up back at the house, Jo and I headed out for our first foray, which was to a bird gardens at one of the local resort hotels. We weren’t sure what to expect, but we certainly weren’t disappointed! They put on a fantastic show, which involved quite a few birds of prey being put through their paces. They also had a brilliant aviary where you could wander around whilst loads of exotic birds roamed around your feet, or flew overhead. They also had loads of animals as well, such as red panda, marmosets, duiker (small deer), and a great selection of snakes, including black and green mambas, and a very irate king cobra, which I think I managed to severely piss off!
After a very entertaining afternoon, we headed home, and had supper with uncle Graham, and my cousin Vanessa and her husband Garth, and his mother who is also visiting! Johanna and I were beginning to fade quite fast, so we were in bed reasonably early.
Saturday was rugby day….unfortunately for Johanna! We both woke up quite late, and after a quick breakfast, I headed off with Garth to the local bottle shop to stock up with booze for the afternoons match (SA v All Blacks) and the following Braii (non-South Africans read BBQ!). We were watching the match at Vanessa and Garths place, along with assorted family and friends.
The match turned out to be a cracker, with the Boks triumphing over the All Blacks, to keep their hopes of a first Tri-Nations championship alive, and to scupper the AB’s chances in the process! Johanna buried her head in her diary for most of the match, but I’m sure she had one eye on the game!!
Match over, and it was time to fire up the BBQ, and before too long, the first of the meat was sizzling away, expertly handled by Garth, with a little helpful advice from friends Grant and Rob Duff (who had arrived earlier in the day on a business trip, which somehow also included tickets to the rugby match!!). I decided to keep my mouth shut as the SA boys don’t like being told how to handle their Braii by us Pommies!
Anyway, the food, and drink were great, and a very enjoyable evening was had by all.
Sunday……Jo and I were up mid-morning, and after breakfast, we headed out to a local art & crafts market to get a bit of gift buying under our belt. There was plenty of stuff to look at, and with the very favourable exchange rate, we were soon snapping up some bargains! We grabbed a quick bite to eat for lunch and then headed back home where we had arranged to meet up with Vanessa, Garth and family for an afternoon trip out to the Jo’burg Lion Park!
The Lion Park is a bit of a misleading name, as it is actually home to a wide variety of big cats, and other African wildlife. It is a fairly compact drive through safari park, and we ended up getting a very close up view of Lions, Cheetas, Hyenas, Giraffe, Ostrich, Leopard, Tiger, and some absolutely gorgeous lion cubs which we were allowed to pet!
Tomorrow, we head off to the Pilansberg game reserve for 3 days of safari, but I’m not sure we’ll get as close to, or see as much wildlife as we have today, but it will be great fun nonetheless!
Ant
Sunday, August 08, 2004
Heading home.....for a few days!!
Last day in NY before our return to Blighty!! All quite exciting really, as i’ve been away for almost 8 weeks!
Up reasonably late, as we had negotiated a late check-out time! First priority….yep Breakfast!! Couple of last minute souvenir purchases and then back to the hotel to pack!
Hopped in a cab and headed off to JFK. Had to sit in traffic for quite a while, but still managed to get there in plenty of time to check in for our flight. We were on standby again, this time listed on the 6:20pm BA flight to Heathrow. As this is not A Qantas flight, we are listed in economy!
The lady behind the check-in desk informed us that there were delays expected on the later flights, so we might struggle to get the flight we wanted as they were trying to fill the 6:20 flight with as many people as they could to try and ease any problems later! Anyway, she tagged our bags, and told us to come back to the desk 30 minutes before departure!
We turn up at 6:00pm, to find ourselves amongst a group of about 15 standby passengers, so things weren’t looking good for us getting on the 6:20 flight. At 6:15, there’s still no news about whether any of us are getting on the flight. All of a sudden, one of the checkin people is asking us if we are waiting to get on the 6:20 flight, and before you know it, we are being checked in and rushed through security, and being told to sprint to the gate!
We get there in 2 minutes flat with boarding passes in hand, and we are soon sitting in seats 14F & 14G respectively…..BUSINESS CLASS!!! Full reclining 6 foot bed seats…the top and tail versions!! Champagne cocktails….good food….luxury!!
What a perfect end to the holiday!!
The flight was reasonably short….around 6 hours, and we touched down at Heathrow around 6:15 Sunday morning…..back on home soil, which was quite a nice feeling!
Only got a few days back here though before i’m off again. Next stop Johannesburg South Africa for a couple of weeks!!
Ant
Put down your cocktail...this is the FBI !!!!
Needed a bit of a lie in today after last nights efforts in the bar!! I eventually crawled out of bed mid-morning, and leaving Julie to her own personal misery (read hangover!), I grabbed some breakfast and did a bit of web-surfing for a couple of hours!
Headed back to the hotel to collect the by now much chirpier Julie Webb, and we headed off to the nearest subway station to buy a ticket (sold to us by a lady with a mighty fine moustache!!) to take us downtown to the Brooklyn Bridge which we had decided needed to be walked over!!
We took our time, and managed the 1.5 mile trip in a pretty sedate 30 minutes, with a few stops along the way to take more shots of the city (as if I haven’t got enough already!!), and eventually made it to the Brooklyn side of the bridge. The first building you come to had a huge “Watchtower” sign on top,
and the words “Spreading the word of Jehovah” across the middle, and as I was busting for the loo, I was half tempted to go over, knock on the door, and when someone answered, quickly stick my foot in the jamb, and say “As I’ve had to put up with you lot turning up unannounced on my doorstep so many times, I’m sure you won’t mind if I come in and use your toilet facilities!?”
Needless to say I decided to go with Plan B, and nipped instead into the incredibly seedy St George Hotel where the elderly sour-faced receptionist very begrudgingly allowed me to use the restroom (as they very quaintly call the bog in these parts!!).
We had a short stroll through some of the streets of Brooklyn, which were surprisingly very nice, and seemed a million miles away from the hustle and bustle of Manhattan! Eventually we found our way to another subway station, and hopped on a train which we thought would take us to Greenwich Village where we hoped to find somewhere for a late lunch.
Unfortunately we mis-read the subway map, and ended up in Times Square (which is not a great place for a quiet relaxing lunch!!).
Speaking of Times Square, I forgot to mention in my previous post about one of its more bizarre features….the bloke who stands on one corner playing a guitar dressed only in cowboy boots, a cowboy hat and a pair of white underpants!
I promise you...he is wearing underpants!!
Apparently he is there 365 days of the year in exactly the same outfit, although bearing in mind how cold this city can get, I find it hard to believe…..but then this is America!!
Anyway, having failed miserably to make it to Greenwich Village, we settled instead for a quick trip to Macy’s for some retail therapy, and then picked up some snacky stuff and headed back towards the hotel. Our route took us via Grand Central Terminal (which is the railway station which I thought was called Grand Central Station!?), and so we had to stop and have a look at the amazing interior,
Them Noo Yowk commuters sure do move fast!!!
which puts Paddington, Kings Cross et al to shame!!
Eventually we were back at the hotel, and after a short nap, it was off to find some grub! This time we decided to try and track down a Thai restaurant, as we’d both been talking about it since San Francisco, and we eventually tracked one down on 2nd Avenue called “Pooket” which turned out to be a real find….great food, great service, and great value!!
Back to the hotel with full bellies, and a satisfied feeling, so we just had to cap it off with a nightcap in the bar!
Got chatting to one of the barman, who was a Georgian guy who’d lived in the US for some time! He told us that he only did bar work about once a week, more as a hobby. His real job, he told us when pressed, was law enforcement! When we pressed further he said he actually worked for the FBI. Not sure if he was telling the truth, but he certainly looked the part, and seemed genuine enough……..and anyway, it makes a good story!!
Ant
Saturday, August 07, 2004
UN, Central Park & Empire State!!
Up and out by 10:30 this morning, and off for brekkie at our now favourite diner (Morning Star Café). Then we made the short walk East to the banks of the East River, and a look at the United Nations building (which is completely overshadowed by the monstrosity that is the Trump World Tower!). None of the flags were flying outside the UN building which was a shame as it doesn’t really have the full impact without them.
As there was a hop-on hop-off bus stop nearby, we hopped on, and took a short ride through Uptown until we reached the southern–eastern tip of Central Park where we hopped off!
Central Park dominates a very large portion of Manhattan, being 2 miles long by 1 mile across! It is entirely man made and is definitely one of the jewels in New Yorks crown. You don’t have to walk too far into the park to be transported from bustling city to relatively quiet, calming parkland! Without the towering skyscrapers that dominate the perimeter of the park, you wouldn’t now that you were in the middle of one of the biggest cities in the world!
Our aim was to walk halfway up the park heading north, and then hang a right, and visit the Guggenheim Museum which is located on the eastern edge of the park, but more of that later!
One of the first attractions we encountered was the boating lake!! The sun was shining, it was a gorgeous day, so we just had to hire one of the rowing boats (USD10 per hour…a bargain not to be missed), which we did, and we spent a fantastic 60 minutes lazily rowing around on the water…..my first bit of exercise since Queenstown!!
Back on dry land, we set off in the general direction of the museum, passing the sailing pond where you can hire remote control yachts, the huge reservoir in the middle of the park, and eventually found our way out of the park and to the doors of the Guggenheim……to find that it is closed on Thursdays!!! Arrrgghhh!!! Mind you, the Yanks never miss an opportunity to make a buck, so the gift shop was open, and so we spent half an hour wandering around that instead. I’ve still got no idea what the Guggenheim Museum is all about, but they do a nice line in optical illusion drinks coasters!!
Anyway, we found yet another hop-on hop-off bus stop right outside, so we hopped-on again, and hopped-off at 42nd Street (yes, the one from the musical!), and headed off to our next objective…the Empire State Building!!
The ESB is quite a piece of work! Amazingly, it took only 1 year and 48 days to build! We seemed to have timed it just right, and so the queues were not too horrendous, and we were soon standing in an elevator which whisked us up 80 odd stories in next to no time!
The views from the top were fantastic, and I got some great shots of the city
Our hotel is just behind and to the right of the Met-Life building!
once I managed to elbow my way past the rows of tightly packed fellow tourists also trying to get the same shots!
Then it was back down to ground level and back to the hotel to get ready to go out for the slap up meal we’d promised ourselves after a hard days sight-seeing!
We picked out what looked like a fairly swanky Chinese restaurant not far from the hotel. The menu looked good, and they did Peking Duck, so we had to order that of course, along with a couple of other dishes. Unfortunately, they didn’t do half ducks, so we had to make do with a whole one between us!!
As it turned out, the meal was a bit of a let down, mainly because they insisted on rolling the duck pancakes themselves, which, as everyone probably agrees, ruins all the fun of ordering Peking Duck in the first place! Making a mess of it, and laughing at other peoples feeble attempts to master the art of duck pancake rolling is what it’s all about!! J
Anyway, to make up for the disappointment, we headed back to the hotel, and proceeded to get hammered on cocktails!!
Ant
Wednesday, August 04, 2004
NY Day 1
Up reasonably early today and out for a quick breakfast at the Morning Star Cafe on 2nd Avenue. Next stop was Times Square to buy a ticket for one of the Hop-On Hop-Off Gray Line tour open top buses. Very good value as they last for 48 hours, and take you round all the must see sites, whilst your tour guide fleshes it all out with some very interesting history (eg. the building in Times Square that used to house the NY Times is now vacant, it is covered in neon advertising signs, and the owners make so much money from those alone that they don't have to bother about looking for new tenants for the place!....or my favourite, when a helicopters undercarriage collapsed as it was landing on top of the old Pan-Am building, a shard of one of the rotor blades decapitated the NY distributor of the controversial film "Snuff" who was standing at an intersection on the street below!).
Did I mention how tall everything is round here? It's a bit disorientating as you can't focus on the sun to get your bearings!
We stayed on the bus as it passed 42nd street, greenwich village and a few other famous spots, and then got off at the nearest stop to Ground Zero, and went to have a look at that. It's a bit weird walking through the streets that approach the site, and remembering seeing them on TV with clouds of dust billowing down them!
The actual site itself has been completely cleared now, and all that remains is huge hole in the ground with tall imposing fences all around the perimeter. There are still a few buildings that bear the scars of the events of that day, but the only things that really marks it apart from any other building site are the sheer size, the information boards that have been erected around the site which give details of the tragic events, but mainly the long list of names of the people who lost their lives. It does bring a lump to the throat!
Next it was off to Battery Park (one of 1,700 parks in the NY area), and a stroll along the banks of the Hudson River round to the ferry landing. We jumped on the last ferry heading out to Statue of Liberty Island and Ellis Island. We weren't really interested in going up the Statue, so we bought tickets which just allow you to travel on the ferry for the round trip.
Plenty of photo opportunities during the 85 minute trip, with great views of Manhattan, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Statue
and Ellis Island, and we managed not to get sunburnt this time!! :-)
Back on dry land again, and we continued on round the southern tip of Manhattan until we came to South Seaport, a slightly touristy (but in a good way!) area of shops and restuarants, so we did a bit of shopping (queued in The Gap behind a lady who seemed to be returning about half the contents of the store!), and got something to eat in one of the cheaper restuarants overlooking the East River.
Then Julie allowed me to indulge my craving to try out local transport, so we made our way to the nearest subway station and made our way down to the platform (Swedish Suanas could learn a thing or two from these guys!) and were soon riding the subway (thankfully air-conditioned!) back to MidTown (Times Square),
Mr and Mrs Wong admire Ants tight buttocks in Times Square!
and the short-ish walk back to the hotel!
Another fun-packed day over!
Ant
Tuesday, August 03, 2004
Leaving Las Vegas!!
Up way too early today (05:30) for our flight out of LV! Flying standby yet again, so we thought it would be best to get there early. Having navigated our way out of the hotel car park, and onto the right road for the airport, we started looking for the right lane for Car Rental Returns, which we found relatively easily! Having got there though, we found that although most of the major rental companies (Avis, Hertz, Thrifty etc.) have blagged a spot right next to the terminals, our company (National Car Rental) was not so lucky, and a not easy to spot sign directed us towards the "Off Airport" car rental returns. Following the signs, we soon found ourselves heading away from the airport on what looked suspiciously like a highway!! Mild panic was beginning to set in as I pictured us stuck on a one-way road to Henderson!! More by luck than judgement, we managed to spot yet another miniscule sign which directed us off the highway (5 seconds later, and we'd have been past the point of no return!!), and thankfully we were soon dropping off the car and sitting on a shuttle bus headed back to the terminal.
We checked in, and were told that our flight to Chicago was looking OK, and that our connecting flight to NY La Guardia still had 50 seats free, so they checked our luggage all the way through which was a relief!
It was interesting to see the new levels of security in place since the events of 3 years ago, and I have to say they were very thorough in checking all bags, right down to X-raying each bag checked in, and wiping all handles and locks with a swab which was then analysed by a machine (that went beep!). All very high tech!
Then we went through two security checks, and before long we were on the first flight headed for Chicago!
Just under three hours later we touched down, and headed off to get a bite to eat, and to find the gate for our onward flight! This flight was half empty, so we were able to stretch out a bit more.
One thing that struck me about the two flights was that looking out of the plane from LV to Chicago, there wasn't much evidence of the land being heavily populated, whilst on the plane from Chicago to NY, we never seemed to be flying over any unpopulated areas, it just seemed to be one big urban sprawl!
Anyway, just over an hour later we landed at La Guardia airport (one of 3 major airports in the NY area), and headed off to reclaim our luggage at belt D as instructed. It was here that we encountered the low-tech security! Having stood around for 10 minutes with no sign of our luggage, and having watched most of our fellow passengers collecting theirs, a feeling of dread was beginning to gnaw at us! Luckily we decided to go and check some of the other belts, and sure enough, amongst a pile of luggage just heaped up on the floor were our bags! Huge sigh of relief. A couple of minutes later, we were past the gang of little ol' ladies assigned to make sure everyone had picked up the correct bags, and were soon sitting in one of NYs famous yellow cabs, and heading under the East River and into Manhattan!
We're staying at the Intercontinental Barclay Hotel on 48th and 3rd Avenue which is a few blocks south of Central Park, and a few blocks east of Times Square!
The room is quite a bit smaller than our LV room (you could fit about 3 NY rooms into the 1 LV room!), but that's NY for you...space is at a bit of a premium!!
As it was now late evening, we grabbed a quick cocktail in the hotel bar before we headed off to 2nd Avenue (as advised by the very nice porter who we bumped into in the lift!) and found a nice little Italian Restuarant where we were served by a gay waiter who Julie was convinced was eyeing me up! Food was good, which was the main thing!! :-)
Then back to the hotel for some shuteye. Zzzzzzzz!
Ant
Last day in Vegas
Well, it took us a while to get up and running after the previous nights alcoholic excess, but we managed to pack quite a lot into today despite that!! :-)
First on the agenda was lunch with Louise, a friend and ex-work colleague of Julies who had organised our room at the Alladin (at very reasonable rates!!). We ate at the buffet restuarant in the hotel, which allowed you to eat all you could stuff down your face for a paltry USD16, and the choice was enormous, ranging from American to Turkish to Italian to Salad, and best of all A huge Dessert counter!
Then it was off to the new outlet mall north of the Strip for a bit of retail therapy. There were plenty of bargains to be had once we managed to find the place, Julie stocked up on gym gear, whilst I mainly topped up on casual gear....as if I didn't have enough already!! :-) The temperatures were well over 100F.....as well as lamposts, they also have these water mist posts to combat the heat out here, so you tend to find yourself zig-zagging around to try and keep yourself within range of the nearest one! Anyway, the credit cards were beginning to overheat as well, so it was time to move on to the next port of call....The Stratosphere hotel!! 1,000 feet tall, and with stunning views over the whole of the city, and the desert and mountains beyond! Also home to "The Big Shot"!! On top of this 1,000 foot tower is a 200 foot needle. Arranged around the base of the needle are four rows of four seats facing outwards. Imagine being strapped into one of those seats, and then being shot 160 feet up the needle as the whole of Las Vegas drops away below your dangling feet! Well, imagine it was what Julie and I didn't have to do....we did it for real!! Julie was incredibly brave, especially as she was absolutely terrified! But she went through with it and even kept her eyes open!! :-)
Ant crosses his legs having just ridden the bowel-loosening Big Shot!!
Next stop was Freemont street which is situated at the slightly (and I use the word lightly!) less glamorous end of the strip! The draw card for Freemont Street is the fantastic light show that takes place on the immense continous screen whose arched panels cover the whole length of the street! Very impressive to see it in full flow!
By now, we were beginning to flag, so it was back down the full length of the strip to our hotel! As it was our last day, it was time to try my luck at the casino. I had budgetted USD140, and managed to blow the whole lot inside 20 minutes at the roulette table! A sobering experience!! :-)
Back to the room with my tail between my legs, and we started our packing for our departure early the next morning!
Still haven't found a PC with suitable USB connection, so still no piccies!! Will have to wait until NY to upload some!!
Ant
White Tigers, Dolphins and Squirty Water!
Up and out by 10:30 this morning, and as usual, the first priority was to find some food! The queue for Dennys Diner was large, so we ended up with a couple of deli style sandwiches and a couple of Krispy Kreme donuts, purchased from the food court in the stunning Venetian hotel...which comes complete with Venice like canals running throughout the hotel and it's grounds, and gondolas being "guided" (the gondolas seemed to be attached to some sort of hidden track) along by most very un-italian looking gondoliers, who seranaded their passengers who all seemed a tad embarassed by the whole experience!
Next it was off to the Mirage, and a visit to Siegfried and Roys Secret Garden! Roy was mauled by a white tiger some months ago in an incident that led to the entire cast and crew of S&Rs show losing their jobs (Mels sister Cassy and her fiance Brad amongst them!). Although the show has had to shut, you can still visit the white lions, white tigers and Gildah the Elephant in a special enclosure. Due to the heat, most of the animals were not really doing a hell of a lot, mainly lying around looking bored, but the same could not be said for the 7 dolphins that live in 4 pools which are part of the gardens! They were really cool, and although they are mainly there for research purposes, and therefore not there to put on a show or anything, they were still highly entertaining as they are naturally very playful anyway!
By now, the heat was beginning to take it's toll, so we headed back to our hotel, and spent a couple of hours cooling off by one of the two pools the hotel has to offer!
Met up with the aforementioned Cassy later in the evening, and we all headed off to the Bellagio hotel to sit on the balcony overlooking the enormous man-made lake that sits out front, sipping cocktails, and watching the absolutely amazing water fountain display which is set to music! It doesn't sound like much, but it is actually quite an awesome sight!
Next it was off to Gordon Biersch (a local restuarant) for some excellent food with Cassy very kindly doing the chaffeuring, and then it was back to the hotel for what was going to be a nightcap at one of the hotels many bars. As there was an excellent live band playing, we decided to stay for another couple before we eventually called time on another full on day!
Oh yes, I almost forgot the little coincidence!! Out of the 3000+ car park spaces available in the Alladins car park, Cassy had managed to park her car right next to ours...
it was a bit of a twilight zone moment!! Spooky!!
Ant
Monday, August 02, 2004
Driving, and driving and driving to Las Vegas!!
Woke up in Lompoc to a fine sunny day. Grabbed some of the complimentary breakfast, which was a cut above the usual free motel breakfast of manky danish pastry and stewed coffee, and hit the road once more for our journey down the remaninder of the PCH, and then across Los Angeles and on to Las Vegas! We set off around 10:00am, and were soon back on the PCH and heading down the coast towards Santa Barbara, and then on to Malibu.
I'd decided that it would be a shame to pass through LA without seeing any of the sights, so rather than hit the highway all the way through it, we pushed on a bit further down the coast, and so with the roof down,
we turned onto Sunset Boulevard just before Santa Monica, and drove all the way along it, passing Bel Air, The Beverley Hills Hotel and Rodeo Drive along the way. Eventually we hooked up with the freeway, and with the roof back up and the air-con at full blast, we headed east towards the I15 freeway which heads north to Las Vegas. We'd encountered quite a lot of traffic along the way, so it was mid-afternoon by now, and there were still about 300 miles to go! At least the car had cruise control, which does make long distance driving less of a chore!!
The I15 winds its way through the Mojave Desert, which is very scenic, despite the fact that the colours don't change much!!
We stopped off at a small town called Barstow, which is a couple of hours out of LA, for a leg stretch and a snack. The heat was beginning to get quite stiffling, and we knew it was going to be even hotter in LV. We made another quick detour just the other side of Barstow, to go and have a look at the ghost town of Calico, which was marked on the map. It was a bit like something out of a Scooby Doo cartoon. An old mining town up in the hills, which had been abandoned long ago, and is now more of a tourist attraction.
On we went, mile after mile of desert highway, and eventually made another quick stop at yet another small desert town called Baker....famous for being the gateway to Death Valley, and also, home to the worlds tallest thermometer!! :-)
We rolled into town at about 7:30pm, and the thermometer was reading 104F.
We stepped out of the car and into a desert wind, and the effect was like standing in front of a giant hair-dryer on full blast! Thankfully it was a dry rather than a humid heat, which made it just a bit more bearable!
After another leg stretch, it was back into the car and ready for the final haul into Vegas. About half and hour past Baker, you hit the Nevada state line, and the bright lights and glitter are in your face immediately!! Primm is a tiny town that has been swamped with neon! It is the first town you hit as you cross into Nevada.....a bit of a Fools Las Vegas ( a la Fools Gold!), as if you haven't driven to LV before, it's easy to mistakenly think that you've arrived there, but you haven't!! In the blink of an eye, Primm is disappearing in your rearview mirror, and there's still another hour to go before the bright lights of LV are casting a glow on the horizon, and it's quite an amazing sight as you come over the crest of the last mountain, to see the city sprawling below you!
Another 20 minutes later, and we were on the Strip, and stuck in a traffic jam! We'd picked possibly one of the worst days and times to arrive, as every man, woman and child seemed to be in their car cruising Las Vegas Boulevard (aka The Strip). The sheer number and size of the hotels is absolutely jaw-dropping, especially when they've got all their glittery bits blazing!
More by luck than anything else, we managed to find the hotel car-park, and at 10:00pm and looking and feeling like a couple of Zombies, we were checked in, and heading up to our room!
The room is absolutely enormous, and you could probably live in it full-time without any problems, but by then we were too tired to really take it all in, and we were asleep about 5 seconds after our heads hit the pillow!
Ant
Sunday, August 01, 2004
Pacific Coast Highway - Day 1 & 2
Well, it was up early again to begin our journey down the coast to LA and then on to Las Vegas! The weather in SF has not been kind to us so far, and yet again, we woke to fog, and a little drizzle! First things first, and it was off for a bit of breakfast!
We checked out of the hotel, and collected the car! There was one more sight to see before we headed off down the coast, and that was the 2nd windiest road in the world...aka Lombard Street. Then we made our way over to the freeway, and headed off to our connection with the Pacific Coast Highway, and the first leg of our journey down to Monterey.
The journey didn't take as long as expected, and we arrived mid-afternoon, and within an hour had tracked down a suitable motel....the exotically named El Dorado Motel (US$78 + tax). The room was a bit old and grubby, but the bed was clean and comfortable! Then it was down the road to have a look around this very quaint and picturesque seaside fishing town! It's mainly a tourist town these days, but still quite sweet. We had an hour to blitz around the world famous Aquarium before it closed, and then we browsed through a few shops before deciding that we needed food!
We found what looked like a nice fish restuarant, and both ordered Fish & Chips as we had a bit of a craving for it for some reason. Why is it that Fish & Chips always seems like a good idea until you actually eat it...and then the next time you forget that you didn't actually like it last time!? Anyway, it was a big disappointment! We spent the next half an hour walking it off, and then went and spoilt it by buying an, admittedly delicious, ice-cream on the pier!
Next morning we set off to nearby Carmel (famous for once having Clint Eastwood as mayor!). Carmel is a lovely looking town, with plenty of shops and cafes, but we both found it a bit pretentious, and old-fashioned, so we didn't stay too long! By now it was getting close to lunchtime, so we set off down the coast again in search of one of my favourite restuarants, Nepenthe, which is situated just south Big Sur! This restuarant has a fantastic view from it's sun-deck of some of the most spectacular scenery on offer on the PCH, and we spent a relaxing hour gazing out over the ocean and forest whilst stuffing our faces!
Having filled our bellies, we set off again, winding our way down the coast. The road rises high above the ocean in places, and there are many lookout points where you can see for miles down the rugged coastline.
Then you gradually drop down from the mountains, and by the time you get to San Simeon (where William Randolph Hearst built his castle early last century) you are almost down at sea-level. There is a colony of Elephant Seals at San Simeon, so we stopped off to have a look. They are absolutely massive. Each one must have been about 3-4 metres long. Anyway, they weren't doing much more than lying on the beach looking like huge furry sand slugs, so we didn't hang around for too long!
We eventually rolled into a small sea-side town called Pismo Beach, which sounded quite quaint in our PCH guide book, but turned out to be a bit scabby, and full of far too many trailer parks and 4WD trucks. Next up was Guadalupe which was described in the guide book as a friendly, unpretensious, working class town. What it didn't say was that it was in the middle of nowhere, was a dustbowl, deadend, farming town that had no accomodation, so we decided to push on a bit further down, and as it was beginning to get late, we eventually rolled into a small town called Lompoc (pronounced anyway you want apparently!) which is famous for nothing more than the fact that it is home to Vandenberg Air Force Base, where NASA launch the occasional rocket. We located the first accomodation we found off the highway, which happened to be a Days Inn motel, functional and very good value, but not very pretty! They had a miserable excuse for a parrot called Pierre in the reception area, and a restuarant attached which served Mexican grub. We settled in, and grabbed a bite to eat (Nachos for the lady, and Quesadillas for the gentleman!).
The motel also had a bar attached, and so we headed in that direction to grab a drink. It was a real locals bar, and we sat up at the counter and listened to Billy Joe Bob and all mostly crucify some of the finest american soft rock! Priceless!! Julie even had a cocktail made up for her by the Elvis-soundalike barman!
Then it was off to bed, after another very entertaining day!
Ant
