Blogs from Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa, Africa - page 146

Even though it does say South Africa on this entry most of you will know that I'm actually in my dining room in Watford writing this.... Yes, after all the planning, shopping, fretting and excitement its all over! But I thought I'd stick my pics of South Africa up as it really was one of the highlights of the whole 5 months and I wish I'd had more time to explore but there's always next time.... Think my last entry was from Wanaka in the south island of NZ. It was a very picturesque place. I climbed Mount Iron and got some cool views of Lake Wanaka. Next was down to Queenstown. This is known for the adrenalin activities and the partying - of which I did neither! More hill climbing though and a day trip ... read more

I looked back at some records and found that it was exactly a year ago today that I embarked on a trip to Tenerife and Spain. At that time I was surrounded by ever increasing piles of stuff requiring compression into various suitcases but now all I'm really doing is compressing my music collection onto my IPOD. There's this cool gadget called ITRIP that lets you play the pod onto your car radio, which will make it easy to stay groovy in the car. But I digress. This trip to Joburg has come about due to the fact that the movie that I've been working on over the last few years is finally nearing completion, and it only needs me to track down some footage in Joburg. 30 betacam tapes to be exact. If you look ... read more

I'd been watching African wildlife specials on the telly, dear reader, and my desire to visit the dark continent was building to a crescendo. There's a famous song in Australia that goes ... football, meat pies, kangaroos and holden cars; but it seems that Africa can go one better. The prospect of spotting the big five and other spectacular wildlife amidst glorious African sunsets was very exciting, and the novels of the African writer Wilbur Smith helped fuel my passion. So I was full of anticipation as I boarded a westbound flight across the mighty Australian continent, over the Indian Ocean and onwards to South Africa. I wasn't excited to start my trip in Johannesburg, but I was aware of safety problems in the South African capital. So I thought it best to ease my way ... read more

November 2004 saw me bidding an emotional farewell to friends and family and heading off my my post-graduate travels. The initial trip that I had mooted with my uni friends Steve and Chris had fallen through - I would now be meeting the Norfolk boys in Singapore for a month long blitz through South East Asia. In their absence, I had decided to forge my own path, which eased me into the traveling way via the English speaking South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, before heading up through South East Asia with Steve and Chris, and then culminating the trip in India and Nepal. So first up was South Africa, and I landed in Cape Town without any problems - although I was brought down to earth rudely before I even arrived at the hostel. Townships ... read more

So it's 2.05AM Sunday 30th May 2004 and there's now less than a week to go. Surrounded by every increasing piles of discarded cardboard and plastic I stumble towards departure with an ever decreasing sense of reality. I remember once writing somewhere; "it never get's weird enough for me". I guess the words themselves don't mean much, it's what they're hotwired to, things words can't do by themselves, but it feels like I'm arriving at some kind of cut-off point, a point where it all comes down to throwing onself at the mercy of the elements, and trusting those that, one hopes, can safely navigate them. This is like my first solo expedition as a broadcast TV road warrior carrying all the battery chargers, spare clips plus all the junk you need to make you feel ... read more