World Cup Trip 2010 update 12/06 mid afternoon

Arrival in Joburg – got through customs and went looking for taxi rank, the 1^st person I asked for directions told me he was a charter car operator and he would be happy to take me to my accommodation. Entering the freeway, I knew I was in Africa as the pick-up truck in front of me had 3 passengers sitting in the back. After a uneventful trip where I tried to explain to the poor bloke the plot to District 9 (a sci-fi movie set in Joburg that came out last year) we arrived at the spot where the total football village was supposed to be, it however was actually across the road. The “village” was still in its infancy, with only 20 people there that night, and another 25 arriving the next day.

Daylight brought a scene that was almost at direct odds of what they were advertising the village to be. Small cramps bathrooms, dorms with 2 bunk beds squeezed in, an empty pool and a reception with also doubled as a dining room, waiting area and a football viewing room. Good news was at hand after breakfast, as 3 boys from Heathcote checked in and were informed that they were doing the same tour I was. This at least gave me someone to go up the street with, to the local shopping centre in Randburg. There the scene was organised chaos, with people blowing vavoolas, 80% of the locals wearing south African team colours, car horns going of, dancing and singing starting at the drop a hat. Our group wearing the mighty green and gold of Australia, were embraced immediately, with people coming up to shake hands, have photos taken and the most frequent; “hello Australia, welcome to South Africa!” shouted out from shop fronts, this was usually followed by a somebody blowing a vavoola as a sort of punctuation mark.

The next day, after an impromptu soccer match and another trip to the shopping centre, the overland tour commenced. The trip from the village to the eastern outskirts of Joburg saw us pass through some really nice areas such as Newtown, which is the business centre of Joburg, and some other areas of suburb after suburb of high-rise apartment blocks. The thing that struck me was the amount of upmarket cars there was on the streets of Joburg, obviously the rich of Joburg like to show off in style. The other notable thing about the drive was that 75% of the cars had South African flags around their side-mirrors, more often then not with a South African flag attached as well.

Arrival at the lodge at nightfall, we met up with the rest of our tour group, who had mostly arrived in the country that day as well as the tour leaders; Melvin and Zanzou. After a hearty dinner, we bunked down to our first night of camping at Mufusa Backpackers in the eastern outskirts of Joburg.

The next day we made an early start towards Durban. After a couple of hours drive through country-side that was not to dissimilar to the northern tablelands of NSW, with maize fields as far as the eye could see, we stopped at a town called Harrismith with the eastern-most point of the Drakensburg Mountains on the outskirts of town. We stopped to pick up blankets as we were told it would be very cold in the mountains that night. After lunch at the man-made Sternfontein Dam with the mountains getting higher in the distance, we arrived at our camp-ground just in side the entrance to Royal Natal National Park. When we arrived we were met with a problem with an answer that everybody already knew; did we want to set up our tents now or after the opening match (South Africa vs Mexico)? We took the popular decision to go back to the Mont-Aux-Sources Resort and watch the soccer match with the locals nearby villages.

It was a nervous mood in the 1^st half, with the crowd becoming more agitated as the match went on. The goal to Bafana Bafana in the second half was greeted with euphoria from the locals and it wasn’t hard to get caught up in the spirit. However, the equaliser was met with deafening silence from the locals, which matched the soccer city crowds’ reaction.

It was quite a site to be watching a world cup soccer match in the bar of a hotel with the mountains looming towards the south and east. As the game came to an end and it got dark outside, over the mountains towards where we were camping a tremendous electrical storm was in progress. As we drove back the storm passed us, with lightning, thunder and small hail hitting the truck as we drove. Luckily, the storm had passed by the time we arrived at the campsite, where we set up our tents and had some dinner before going back to the resort to watch the second game of the night between France and Uruguay. This was a dour affair with neither team getting an advantage until 10 minutes from time a Uruguayan player was given a red card, which lead to a frenetic attack by the French until the end which was not rewarded with a goal.

After a good nights sleep, half of our group went for a 3 hour hike up into the Drakensberg Mountains. This was a beautiful walk that was only marginally spoiled by some inclement weather. The highest of mountains rose to over 3200m, with the valley carved through a kilometre below leading to some breathtaking scenery. with the little creek that created the gorge ending a huge river by the time it reaches the coast 400kms away.

If any of you can provide some info into the make up of the Drakensburg Mountains, it would be much appreciated. To my eye, they appeared be made up of various sedimentary sequences, with an igneous cap upon the highest ridges.

Currently, we are making our way towards Durban and have heard that the South Koreans have beaten the Greeks 2-0. We hope to find a pub tonight to watch the Poms play the Yanks, and to find out if anybody still cares about the Springboks who play France tonight in town.

more updates to come...