Zoe and Ellie May

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Zoe and Ellie May

Going traveling on the 27th December 2009 with my friend Ellie. We're hitting Thailand first for the Full Moon party at New year, then Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. After 6 weeks in Asia, we'll fly to Melbourne & travel up the East Coast of Australia. Finally we'll spend 2 weeks in New Zealand, and I'll fly back home spending 2 nights in Singapore, and El will go on to South Africa

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I'm back off on my travels on the 19th October 2010!! El's still out in SA so I'm flying to Joberg and travelling Cape Town and Durban with my Zeli sis before heading off for my new life in Melbourne. Plan to do at least one year in Oz, working this time with a 1 year working VISA. I land in Melbourne just in time for the Melbourne Cup with my friend Steph, and we've already got some epic festivals lined up so make sure you keep posted on what were up to. Peace and Out

Living life on the edge with Liquid Nitrogen ice cream haha

Africa » South Africa » KwaZulu-Natal » Durban October 29th 2010

Me and Hana

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I passed the budgie while I was pottering around making my breakfast this morning and it whistled at me. I stopped and looked at it and whistled a little tune to him, and it whistled back the right sound at the right pitch. I tried another simple tune and it imitated it again perfectly. Clever little bird. Ellie and I pottered around the house all morning then went out at 12.30 to pick the girls up from school. We took them for the most incredible ice cream where they pour it in to a glass bowl surrounded by liquid nitrogen and it bubbles and freezes right before your eyes. Absolutely wicked! For anyone visiting Durban - it was at a bar called Fusion if you want to try it out. After ice cream, we went to ... read more

From the sunshine at the Stadium to a storm during our Shark Dive

Africa » South Africa » KwaZulu-Natal » Durban October 28th 2010

Me and Ellie

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I made Ellie and I a big fruit salad with yogurt for our breakfast then we had a lazy morning reading our books and getting ready. While the girls were at school, little Lily was clomping round the house in her wellies, dragging her rabbit under her arm and getting under the maids feet. We left the house at 10.30 and bought tickets for the Durban football stadium tour (where lots of the World Cup 2010 games were held). The guide told us lots of facts about the stadium including how many seats it has (up to 80,000), how much it cost to build (1.8Billion Rand) and how many jobs building it created (13,000). He also explained that the reason the seats were a random mix of colours is so that they won’t look empty to ... read more

Big Five game drive and traditional Zulu dancing

Africa » South Africa » KwaZulu-Natal » Durban October 27th 2010

Rhino

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We were up at 6am and on our way to Tala Game reserve by half past. We’d hired a car for the journey since Ellie’s exhaust is hanging off and she’s been driving on her spare tyre since August. We’d been advised that it would be best to get there early to see the most animals (as they’re more likely to be out in the morning), so at 7am we were looking for Hippos and watching monkeys run around and play in trees. It wasn’t at all like the Safari Parks back home where you get a map pointing out where you’ll spot everything and all the land is unusually well kept. This was the real deal where you have to look out for everything and the suspense and excitement was immense. I’d taken a few ... read more

360° views of Durban!

Africa » South Africa » KwaZulu-Natal » Durban October 26th 2010

Zakumi the FIFA 2010 mascot

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First up today was the Sky car to the top of the Durban Football stadium. I’ve found all the tourist attractions in SA have been really reasonably priced so I wasn’t surprised that it was only a fiver to go up in this (50rand). The Sky car itself is cool but then they drop you off on to a platform at the top which gives you 360degree views over all the city, casino, beach etc. - absolutely wonderful. We had a skinny latte in Moyo bar at the beach then went in the USharka aquarium/water park complex to ask about shark diving. We were disappointed it wasn’t open on Mondays or Tuesdays but decided we’d definitely have to fit it in at some point before I go. We went shopping to Mr Price then El took ... read more

Fake money sorted then "Surf n Turf" celebrations

Africa » South Africa » KwaZulu-Natal » Durban October 25th 2010

Preparations in the kitchen

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I’d bought my South African currency from the Post Office in Wilmslow and they’d given me half of it in old 200rand notes by mistake. When I arrived here, Ellie explained these notes expired in July this year so nowhere accepts them. I’d managed to get rid of a few over the last few days at the bigger tourist attractions, but it would be unfair to give them to smaller businesses as the owners would then need to sort out changing them. It’s not as simple as changing them at any old bank. You actually need to go to a Reserve Bank and there are only a few dotted around the country. Cape Town, for example, didn’t have one. It was therefore our mission this morning to find the Reserve bank in Durban and queue for ... read more

Sambuca and Seafood

Africa » South Africa » KwaZulu-Natal » Durban October 24th 2010

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Ellie and I had crawled in to bed only 45minutes earlier, but were dragged out again at 7am by her three little nieces for a morning swim in their pool. To be fair we were quite up for it as there was no doubt we were still under the influence. We had loads of fun splashing around with them and kept getting Lulu (the female dog) to jump in and swim with us. I think Lulu welcomed the break, as she is continually chased round and round the pool by Diego the male dog. He’s trots round after her, tongue hanging out to the side and his eyes glazed over in his lovesick state. She frequently bites or growls at him in frustration and no one can blame her. Christ, give her some space Diego! By ... read more

Meeting Ellie's friends and fam... and a dodgy ride home

Africa » South Africa » KwaZulu-Natal » Durban » Morningside October 23rd 2010

Looking over the edge in to cloud

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We got up early in the hope we could fit in a trip up Table Mountain in the cable car before we had to get to the airport for our 12pm flight to Durban. Turns out that although it was raining and the mountain was in cloud, they were able to run it today… yesterday had been bright sunshine and but they’d had to close it! We paid our entrance fee then queued for the pod to collect us. It was much faster than I expected and could fit in 65 people in. The floor rotated so each person in the pod could get a view of the mountains and city below us. When we reached the top, we were completely covered in cloud. The rocks and vegetation were like something out of Lord of the ... read more

Me with Ellie, Laura, Hana, Summer and Lily

Shopping, a winery tour and cocktails in One&Only

Africa » South Africa » Western Cape » Stellenbosch October 22nd 2010

View from Table Mountain

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We were up and out by 9am. The guy who works at our hostel is a total lemon, he’s full of himself, so we had a good old bitch about him on the way to the Cable Car at Table Mountain. As we drove up the steep windy road to the entrance, we rounded a corner and saw spectacular views of the entire city below with the bay in the distance, it was incredible. Unfortunately due to gale force winds the cable car wasn’t running. Apparently this happens a lot as Table Mountain is so tall and covered in cloud which they call the “Table Cloth”. They review the situation throughout the day and asked us to ring back later to see if it was back up and running. Disappointed but prepared for plan B, we ... read more

Penguins, Baboons and plenty of flirting

Africa » South Africa » Western Cape » Cape Town » Victoria and Alfred Waterfront October 21st 2010

Driving the coastal road

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After getting ready this morning, we set off in our hire car to drive down through the ‘Cape of Good Hope’ nature reserve to Cape Point, which is the southernmost point of Cape Town and promised marvellous views over the Atlantic and Indian Ocean. We stopped for Eggs Benedict and a fruit smoothie at Salt Deli near Camps Bay, then back on the road we stopped to pay a toll fee and Ellie tested my athletic skills by dropping our bank notes out of the window. Driving down the coastal road was beautiful. We drove through Simons Town which served as the British Royal Navy’s base in the South Atlantic for many years. Just outside of Simon’s town there’s a beach that has penguins on it! We couldn’t believe just how close you could get to ... read more

Arriving in Cape Town with more than a little turbulence

Africa » South Africa » Western Cape » Cape Town » Green Point October 20th 2010

Hitching a ride

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We woke at 6.30am and went down for breakfast hoping it would sober us up. We didn’t know how we’d got home, and found the key still in the door of our hotel room. There was a dress code for the breakfast room which said Smart-Casual. Not sure if our pyjamas can be classed as smart-casual but nobody told us off. The food extremely was salty but we quite enjoyed it. We napped for another hour or so then had to get up and pack our cases and trek off to the airport. Quite possibly the last thing on earth I wanted to do right then. We dragged our cases across a motorway (yes, a frikin motorway) and stopped to drink some water and take off our hoodies. A really kind man came over and asked ... read more

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