Having picked up Yannick in Ladysmith, our travelling party had now increased to three upon leaving Clarens. No, we didn’t pick up a hot female hitchhiker, but we instead picked up Lee from the UK, a fellow solo traveller who was also staying at the Clarens Inn & Backpackers. Public transport around the Drakensberg is almost non-existent save for the sometimes-ropey long distance taxis which don’t go on a schedule but rather when the minibus is full. The best way to get around – or in and out of the Drakensberg – is by car. Lee didn’t have one – I did. Lee also needed to get towards Cape Town – I was ultimately heading for Durban which is a good place to start a journey to the Mother City. So again, it was a win-win ... read more

Not for the first time, I am starting off another blog entry recalling the state I was in the morning after a heavy night’s drinking. And once again I am telling you that I didn’t actually feel that bad…because I was still drunk. With a five hour drive ahead of me, I did the sensible thing and had breakfast before waiting a couple of hours to sober up. What was supposed to be five hours ended up being six-and-a-half, with just one stop for petrol in Melmoth. I generally like making as few stops as possible when I am on the road – I just like to keep going as long as I can to get the journey over with. Also, you forget you’re hungover when you’re too busy concentrating on the road. Keeping yourself busy ... read more

Romance. It didn’t happen to me, but it did happen on my BazBus to Durban between two passengers. It reminded me of the transience of travelling – after a couple of days, they’ll probably never see each other again. It was almost exactly like that Ethan Hawke film Before Sunrise when two backpackers meet on a train in Europe and decide to get off in Vienna where they spend all night walking the streets of the city and falling in love – only for the girl to catch a train back to France in the morning, never to see each other again. Travelling solo can get lonely – especially during low season – so I’ll admit that there was a part of me wishing it was happening to me. Boastfulness. It’s not a good look. I’ve ... read more

I peered out the window as we drove past the impoverished townships on the Cape Flats. Smoke was billowing out of a cluster of corrugated iron shacks, adding to the brown haze sitting directly above the slums. The haze was almost symbolic – a ceiling of pollution trapping the inhabitants below in their poverty. What greeted me in Stellenbosch was almost the complete opposite. Here was a leafy suburbia of manicured, tree-lined avenues dripping with wealth. It was like what you’d imagine if the golf club at Augusta was extrapolated into a town. Stellenbosch is famous chiefly for two things; the vineyards that surround it, and the university that makes up half the town. I felt like I had been dropped into an American college campus town, the sort that you’d might see on American Pie. ... read more

I had big expectations of Melbourne. Described as a "European" city with lots going on, an easy place to get around and Australia's culture capital, I was very much looking forward to my eight days here. Part of that was to see my old buddy Davies again who has featured more times than anyone else on this blog but whose last appearance was all the way back in September 2013. Picking me up in Avalon Airport, Davies tells me that this is the first time he has come out here and that it is in the arse end of nowhere. Good thing he came to get me then. Davies has been living in Melbourne for a couple of years now and like Alan in Sydney, is living a good life. He has his own pimped out, ... read more