A few more games, a lot fewer sights...

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Early start off to Bloemfontein for England Germany game. It is easy to see why Tolkien based Mordor on this city, it's dire. We meet the Aussie boys who have booked us into a hotel as all camp sites are full. As Australia didn't make it through their group, they now have been allocated Germany tickets so will be as the same matches as us, handy! It's walking distance to the waterfront so off we go for prematch warm up. Unfortunately Bloemfontein didn't seem to know we were coming as all pubs on the waterfront ran out of beer 90mins before the game. We make our way to the stadium which luckily hasn't run out, yet... Disatrous game with a disallowed goal for England, morale drops and we lose 😞
Even worse I lost my phone at half time, so have no way to contact all of my Aussie mates, disaster. I manage to bump into a few at the waterfront and try calling my phone, I ask the person answering if they can meet me, they respond, of course it's Michelle! One of my mates from home! Security have been great they called the last called number which is one of my Aussie mates, she's still in the stadium so she picks it up, brilliant!! I can now continue to the drinking part of town as the waterfront hasn't restocked. This street isn't much better though as after an hour they run out of beer, cider, vodka and sambuca. We have to go to a cover charge bar to ensure there will be booze for the whole evening, ridiculous!

Next game is in Cape Town, we're not in it and we've been before so we take a detour to Durban, ready for some sun.
First stop Florida Street for dinner with the Aussies based here, they are here for one more night in the fanatics camp before they fly over to PE for the garden route.
Next day it's time to relax, beach, sea, sushi.
The fanfest in Durban is the best one, on the beach! The stadium is also walking distance but we don't have tickets to any matches here.
We start the long drive to Cape Town, thinking 2 long drives maybe stop and see some wildlife on the way, this all backfires as the main road to PE is single track and full of trucks. After 5 hours we have reached Mthatha, Madiba's birthplace, we realise we are not going to make it to cape town in time and even if we do we then have the awful drive back to get to Kruger. So new plan, drive back to Durban, Hawkins will stay there, I fly to Cape Town the next morning, after a trip to the wrong airport as it's recently changed and the sat nav doesn't know!

Cape Town second time in one trip. This time is just for the football, no sightseeing, not even an England game. I have sold my spare ticket and Hawkins ticket to Rick's uncle. Works out well as not only do we get a good price, he is so grateful that he buys me tons of beers for the match. Unfortunately Germany win, the first time I've been forced to support Argentina, tough call for the English.

Back in Durban for one night in a picturesque camp site on a stream, birds and white rabbits everywhere. The extreme opposite to my last few days in Cape Town, peace and quiet at last.
Hawkins and I have different stories to swap once we meet up again, he has spent his time sleeping, visiting battle fields and generally doing very little in silence, as he met no new people. I have been not sleeping, drinking too much and generally being loud. Time for a rest!

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