England v's Germany

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Friday (25/6/10)
After a well needed sleep in, we packed up our gear, said goodbye to our hosts and fellow backpackers on route to Bloemfontain. By the time we packed everything away we knew we’d never make it in day light hours so booked a room a Kloomsted happy to have a night out of the tent. Nearly six hours later we arrived to Arcadia Guesthouse on the outskirts of Kloosmted a gorgeous Greek themed B &B set in beautiful gardens. After a stroll around the garden we made the most of our luxurious surrounds sampling a bottle of the Nederburg Pinotage and a hot bath …. Bliss. We took some time out from the soccer tuning into Lleyton’s third round win at Wimbledon. Game over we had dinner at the Arcadia restaurant dining on some delicious steaks and the last of our Pinotage. Heading back to our heated room to make the most of a real bed and own TV.

Saturday
Warm bed, hot shower and huge breaky we hit the road for Bloemfontain. A couple tolls and two and a half hours later we cruised into the tourist information. The tourist info lady abruptly told us there was only one room option at the guesthouse but the university might still have rooms. We phoned the guesthouse and at 850 rand a night we figured we were stuck with the tent. On our way out three English lads handed us the same brochure of the guesthouse we had just called but they were confident we could get the room at 250 rand both unable to get through they offered to take us there so we packed them into the back of our car. One of them negotiated terms with the owner (pretty sure theybut got a night on the house but we were more then happy for such a cheap room) and we had ourselves a deal. Stoked we thanked the fella’s and checked in. We made our way on foot to the waterfront mall teeming with POMS and the odd German barely a five minute walk from our guesthouse and even less to the stadium. (Many how had flown over just for the final with visions of England going all the way... but if I'd spent that much money on flights and tickets I think that too!) We bought a picnic lunch and chilled out in the sun with a paper on the water edge. We caught up with Dan (who had helped recruit us to the guesthouse) and passed the rest of the afternoon chatting over a few beers. We returned back to the guesthouse to move us stuff into our room now with an opening and closing door, showered and relaxed. On return to the waterfront every restaurant was packed, cafes out of food regretfully grabbed some macca’s returned back to the room to watch Ghana beat the USA.

Sunday
Game Day.. with a difference. We set out in search of some internet, first stop despite advertising wifi everywhere it didn’t work the, only internet café in the mall with just three computers had a queue out the door. Mission failed. A couple quick calls home and we hit the lunch queues. Eventually we got a table at Ocean Basket in the middle of the German and English supporters. We sat back and watched the English show, chanting, singing and dancing. ‘There were five German bombers in the air…..’. After a fantastic fill of seafood we headed back for a few more layers with the predicted minus 3 looming. Back at the guesthouse a double booking meant we had to change rooms. So we moved all of our stuff, added a few layers and walked back to the stadium. We lined up for a few beers and forty minutes later, we got some after the national anthems. African ineffiecency at its best. We found our seats third and top tear, maybe ten rows from the back on the corner. Whilst we were supporting England it was difficult to have the same excitement. Germany came out firing scoring quickly. England bounced back but missed out on the leveling goal which somehow was missed by the ref! (Even in the nose bleed section where we were we could see it was clearly in!!) Germany powered through the second half scoring another two goals to send the POMS home.

Monday
Drive day we packed our stuff into the car and set off for Rustenberg. Stopping for a quick shop and net check. Under the guidance of the Sat Nav which took us along a few back roads some with meter wide and half a meter deep potholes (a sure way stuff up ya car) . Through tradional African villages and barren and dry landscapes. Jez successfully wound us round the potholes arriving at a much quieter Traveller’s Inn. Whipping up a couple salad sanga’s for tea we watched Lleyton Hewit this time crash out of Wimbledon followed by Brazil smash Chile over a red wine and biltong in front of the open fire in the bar.

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