trip so long

7 steps and 38 hours to get to vegas:

(0) Wait for flight out [2 hours]
(1) Johannesburg -> Kuala Lumpur [7 hours]
(2) 3 hour wait in KL airport [ 3 hours]
(3) Kuala Lumpur -> Guangzhou [3 hours]
(4) 8 hour wait in Guangzhou airport [8 hours]
(5) Guangzhou -> LA [13 hours]
(6) 1 hour wait in LAX [1 hour]
(7) LA -> Vegas [1 hour]

When we boarded Guangzhou -> LA flight a man was in my seat, he wouldn't move. I had to go sit in another seat.

Shower and bed at Ballys was sooooo good after that long.

Vegas felt like home.

joburg

argentINA v mexico

ghana v usa

Drive to rustenburg from nelsprut

ghana v usa (22 mins late)

return to obramra

extended KPL

atv riding.

on safari @ kruger park

lions !

aus v serbia in nelspruit

Big day... aus needed many goals and either ghana to win by 1 or germany to win by many.



Neither happened, but it was a good win anyway. Holman wonder strike.



It was about an hour drive to park and ride from KPL.

blyde canyon

Driver had no idea how to drive manual... cooked the clutch attempting to backout the driveway.

Went to god's window, the pinnacle, lisbon falls, bourkes luck potholes

Accidental podolski in the photo.

Watched bafana bafana v france (2-1) couldn't get the required 5 goals (urguay def mexico 1-0) bafana bafana out on goal difference.

decompression day

shops, washing, bbq for dinner.

KPL and LOL Italy.

Drove from Rustenburg through Nelspruit to where we were staying near Hazyview at Kruger Park Lodge http://www.krugerparklodge.co.za.

Pretty easy drive considering what we've seen so far.

Dropped our bags and immediately drove back to Nelspruit for the Italy v NZ game.

Scalped some tickets outside the game. "wait we had a deal!"

Fckin Smeltz scored early, Italy were lucky to scrape through with a draw after they drew a contentious penalty.

another game another red card

Pre-game went to the hood, so rk could buy crazy sth african shoes.

Watched netherlands v nippon at the ground before the game.



Aus started well, then red card, then played well to get through with a draw.



During the AUS game monica returned from the food stall, to the wrong section and sat in the corresponding seats. The guy behind her tapped her on the shoulder:

aussie fan: "excuse me your sitting in Ron Barrassi's seat".
monica: who ?
aussie fan: Ron Barrassi, aussie rules legend!

LOL referee

Went zip lining during the day, you are attached to cable via harness and you repeatedly slide from one side of a small canyon to the other side. Not bad the first few gos, then it gets a bit boring.

Watched Germany LOL vs Serbia

Drove to Sun City to watch USA v Slovenia, disallowed last min goal cost USA victory, on replay the commentator said I can see 3 penalties there, but why the goal was disallowed we will never know).

Casino with dinner paid for by the infamous 23 on roulette.

Then watched England v Algeria.

tg arrives

Picked up tg at joburg airport at 730am.

Today was passport day drove to:

- US consulate in Sandton
- Aus consulate in Pretoria
- US consulate in Sandton
- Rustenburg (via Pretoria)

Ended up at camp 32 , and realised we'd been shafted with prices. Oh well, tents for 3 nights, how bad can it be.

Not so bad, just really cold ! and no hot showers.

boutique lodge

Day safari at boutique lodge... then elephant feeding.

Booked the F1 hotel at East Benoni in Johannesburg. It was a long 9 hour trip due to road conditions/potholes/road work.

Arrived at F1, they gave away our booking as we hadn't paid (there was no way to pay via phone) and they cancel bookings at 6pm, even though we told them we were arriving late.

So we had smoking rooms just like san diego .... "imagine a guy smoking in a room for 15 years".

moving day

Waved the cursed house goodbye.

Went past the police station in stanger to pickup "the report".

About 30 mins in to the drive realised that we left the table from the van in the garage.... doh. We realised this was the beach house trying to lure us back, we weren't going to fall for that.

We had a booking with a lodge called Rhino River but when we called up to get directions, they told us our booking was gone. They were nice and found us what sounded like a better place nearby for the same price. http://www.bayetezulu.co.za

As soon as we arrived we headed out for a night safari. Some quotes from the guide:

guide: "if these hippos decided to charge I wouldn't even be able to start the car in time"

guide: "it can be really dangerous to be in the middle of a herd of buffalo"
rk: "err like this
guide: "ja, but they seem calm now"

Dinner was a choice of lamb or steak, but you could choose a bit of both, which turned out to be a lot of food.

Watched brasil v north korea in front of open fire ... so tired.

the day after

Slept most of the day recovering from the day from hell. Nandos for dinner. Internet stooped working, this is the house from hell. Detective came around to talk to us, he was pretty nice about the whole thing.

We had an armed guard at the front of our house all night.

game day

Big game.... disappointing result, even worse when we go home.

Started off the day at the beach...there were a few german supporters on the beach also relaxing before the big game.






Oh oh the tv is gone.

Came home at 230am after the worst game ever... the longest wait at the park and ride, then a 45 min drive back to the house.

House broken into... the tv gone, a couple of bags missing, with ipad, laptop, cash and 2 passports.

picked up our tickets

picked up our tickets at gateway shopping centre.

durban fan fest.



gateway to india for dinner (recommended by the beer guy at the durban fan fest).

drive to durban

arrive in durban... watch bafana bafana v mexico.

go shopping late at night in stanger.

getting ready

rk and monica arrive.

noticed the van didn't have the correct wheel brace so went to autozone to pickup one that would fit.

attempted to find the apartheid museuem. failed.

stayed at F1 in east benoni.

our van

lol

touchdown sth africa

arrived around 9pm

dude supposed to pick us up from airport wasn't there... prob due to flight delays.

eventually we were picked up in our van 'marley'.

lap and flight delays

met lap at airport after catching KLIA express.

at 12am for 120am flight find out it's delayed until 4am.

at 3am find out flight is delayed until 5pm the next day.

airline packed us into buses and around 5am we arrived at the palace of golden horses.



check in was quick.

sleep until 9am, free buffet breakfast.

sleep until 1pm, free buffet lunch.

bus back to airport flight takes off on time.

packed & waiting

Packed. My bag weighs 9.4KG my laptop bag 5.8KG.



I tried to pack as light as possible, but I still have too much stuff. I'd like to fit everything in the rucksack.

Now...In hotel lobby waiting....

Day 4: more mall action

Low Fat Plaza... 6 stories if IT goodnes. Also petronas towers and some sort of shrine... no photos. :(

many malls

Day 3... went to a few of the malls. Lot 10, pavillion etc. pretty big



Night time went to the petaling st market. Lots of shoes, DVDs, watches for sale. They should sell the DVDs on cheap USB sticks ... I'd be in. who has a DVD player ?

another post ... another trip

Day 1 ... Adelaide->KL

Flight direct from Adelaide. Express train to KL sentral then two monorails trips + short walk to hotel.