Flying Cape Town to Durban

Friday, October 07, 2016
Durban, South Africa
Early rise after a mostly sleepless night had a quick breakfast and checked out of our hotel.
We meet in the hotel lobby at 6:30 am and boarded the bus to take us to the airport.Once again the fun started. Went to one counter, no go to another up the other end of the terminal. .Qued up there and get to the counter hand over my ticket ,after much checking no you should be at the other counter that we had just come from!!!.So back to the first counter.Just one problem, no Airplane available ????.Apparently it was only a PC problem Finally they opened the counter only to be told there was a bag weight restriction of 20 kg when we had been having 30 kg restrictions so there was a bit of swapping around of luggage .I asked for a window seat because it was a clear day and would be able to see the country side from the air. Got on the plane to find 3 nuns had taken over that row .One of the nuns suggested that I sit behind them in the seat they had vacated .The flight attendant tried to sort it out , but have you ever tried to argue with 3 nuns.So I missed my window seat. After arriving at Durban we were taken to our hotel The Garden Court uMhlanga Hotel which was the same hotel the All Blacks were staying in.
 

 Unpacked and got settled in, then went down to the shopping complex which was only a 10 Min's walk from the hotel Had a good lunch there in one of the many food outlets. and wandered around the complex for an hour or so looking for the usual tourist things but nowhere could I find a polo shirt with Durban or South Africa on it.
After coming back from my walk I had a well earned rest and a beer down in the bar.While there the four match officials for the next day's game came in and sat down to have a meeting with the NZ coach , the meeting went on for approx thirty minutes and Hansen left only to be mobbed by South African rugby supporters wanting autographs or selfie photos. People were standing outside the hotel all the time waiting to catch a glimpse of the All Blacks.After that the South African Coach came in and had a meeting for thirty plus Min's with the four officials but when he got up and left nobody showed any interest in him.

Later that evening we were taken to an hotel about 5 Min's walk away where we had a finger tea along with drinks all part of the tour.Here we were given a talk by the All Blacks rugby team manager Darrin Shand.He spoke about the culture in the team. The half back Smith incident had just surface in the press but we were not allowed to ask about that.It was a very interesting evening after more food and drinks I made my way back to the hotel for a rest.

Comments

2025-02-10

Comment code: Ask author if the code is blank