Melbourne to Drakensberg

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It's Christmas Day and off we head early in the morning to the airport. After a light brekky in the airport we went through customs and were on the plane on our way to Jo'burg by 10:30am. The flight was nowhere near full, with most people moving once we were in the air to ensure they had either 3 seats to themselves or at the minimum a gap between them. We had a guy next to us who for some reason didn't want to move, so after a few hours and when we were eventually over water, we moved to an empty middle 3 seater. One of our lunch meals was turkey, so we had a bit of a traditional Chrissy lunch. The trip was pretty uneventful, V Australia provided good service, good food and good entertainment.

We got picked up at the airport and taken to our hostel. We had our 4th meal of the day, a special hostel Christmas dinner which was a South African Braai (bbq) and Pap (a maize type substance). I was pretty impressed that we managed to stay up until about 9:30pm, SA time, which would have been about 6:30am boxing day Aussie time.

Boxing day we did a tour of J'burg starting in the centre of town, going up the highest building in SA - the Carlton Tower. We got good views of the city. Was quiet, but that was probably because it was Sunday and Boxing Day. Our guide had told us that a lot of the buildings were empty, but the government was trying to rectify this.

Then we drove through the rich part of Soweto, the informal black township which was the scene of so many riots during the apartheid era. The houses looked a bit like those at home, but with no backyard. The difference between the rich and poor areas was crazy. I didn't even realise that Soweto had a rich area. We saw "Nelson Mandela's House", but couldn't go inside because it was closed. We wandered through the Apartheid Museum in the afternoon. So much information. Very interesting, if not a little disorganised in its presentation. It was such a horrible time in history. We spent the afternoon and evening relaxing in the hostel, playing cards, scrabble and chatting.

The next day we spent at the fancy "Sandton" shopping centre, home of "Nelson Mandela Square". Did some boring stuff like getting myself a mobile number, booked bus tickets and bought food for emergencies. We also saw a movie and had a fancy lunch out.

The next day we headed out to southern Drakensberg to a hostel called Sani Lodge, just outside of Underberg and the base of the Sani Pass that leads into Lesotho. The bus was a little late and we arrived after dark at the lodge. For the last few hours of the trip we were travelling in a massive thunderstorm. Lots of lightning, thunder and torrential rain. It was unbelievable weather and we couldn't see a thing as we travelled. The road was dirt for about the last 8km too. We almost got bogged as our bus dropped us off. After dinner and some cards we headed to bed early again. I think we were still adjusting to the time difference.... all those early nights.

Next day we went for a hike to see some "Bushman Paintings". When we booked it, I thought we would be driving for a while, then walking for maybe an hour or 2 at the most..... I was mistaken. It ended up taking us about 6hrs walking. We stopped a lot during the walk to enjoy the views, eat lunch and to let me recover from walking up the hills - oh and down as well. It was amazing though and I'm really glad that I did it. Felt bad for holding people up a bit, but they didn't seem to mind too much. We spent much of the day wondering when it was going to start pouring down with rain. We could hear the thunder in the distance and see the clouds getting darker and heavier. At one point we were walking in brilliant sunshine and looking back on the rain. It was an awesome sight. It rained most afternoons, we were lucky though, no rain until after we got back. The paintings themselves were great too. Lots of details.

The next day was a bit off a lazy one. Daniel went for a hike while I stayed back and did some reading, wrote in my journal and chatted to people. Later in the afternoon I went into town with the owner of the lodge to do some food shopping. Daniel got a bit lost, so he was back later than expected, but luckily I didn't worry because I was in town and didn't realise he wasn't back yet. Lucky really.

The Drakensberg area is absolutely beautiful with rolling mountains and changing weather conditions, particularly in summer. I thoroughly enjoy my time relaxing and being energetic while we stayed here.

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