With the Explorer in Africa.

[drron]

The time is getting close for our next adventure,something that has been on my bucket list for some time.Though mrsdrron is filled with trepidation.However this is the final continent so making it all 7.
It starts on Tuesday when we take VA482 MCY-SYD.A few days catching up with family.

Then on friday it is QF63-SYD-JNB.JASAs for both of us.A stop at the airport in JNB that night before picking up our rental car-this is what worries mrsdrron.We drive to the Drakensbergs staying at the Cathedral Peak hotel.Picked because there is a helicopter based there and we are taking a trip to view Tugela Falls,unfortunately from a distance.It is the second highest falls in the world but also our granddaughter is Tugela.

From there we drive to the battlefields staying at Islandwana Lodge.We had to reverse our desired stops as this was the only availability despite booking 8 months out.As well we could not get anything online but our TA once again earned her commission by getting us into accommodation that was for us booked out but also at a price cheaper than online.

Then a drive to DUR to get BA6312 DUR-CPT for 3 days in Capetown.Of course being a points junkie it is the Westin for us.
Then board the Silver Explorer for a 19 day voyage up the West Coast of Africa to Accra.

Next is SA53-ACC-JNB with a night spent at the Sheraton Pretoria before a 10 day safari in Botswana and Zambia.
SA8300 to Maun then BA6292 LVI-JNB.
Then flying home on QF64.I had been able to get 2 cheap FASAs on this but alas that has now been downgraded to JASAs.

So stay tuned.

 

[zig]

Sounds like another wonderful drron trip report coming up. Looking forward to reading about your cruise and safari experience. I did South Africa, Botswana and Vic Falls last year and had a great time. Travel safely

 

[LadyC]

Sounds wonderful - looking forward to hearing more

 

[mole]

Have fun, we loved Africa (Sabi Sabi private reseve and Capetown) last year. We are heading to Kenya for a safari in the Masai Mara in May, cant wait to get back!

 

[Mwenenzi]

Subscribed to thread
Parts of the Drakensbergs are spectacular (as a former JNB resident)

Mwenenzi (Swahili traveler)

 

[jetlagger]

Sounds great. Look forward to hearing about this adventure.

 

[casanovawa]

Does sound good... Maybe keep the doors locked and the windows up...

Did Cape Town and Livingstone in 2011 with a couple day safari into Chobe National Park in Botswana, want to go to Kenya/Tanzania next year..

The ultralight flight over Vic Falls was good if your up for some fun...

 

[drron]

The trip has now started.On Tuesday we commenced with our VA flight to Sydney.At least it was not an OMG departure.I was even able to wash our 2 cars before leaving.:shock:
MCY-SYD. VA482.ETD-1230.Boarding-1205. Take off-1233.
ETA-1505. Landed-1458. At gate-1503.
We did fall victim to the system changeover.Booked when you could still select seats at 14 days out but of course that disappeared.So checked in online right on 48 hours-SEQ 1 and 2.Best offered for 2 aisle seats was row 7.At bag drop we were offered row 4 or exit row but declined.Also fell victim to the changed baggage policy.Mrsdrron's bag was 25.5kg.Fine under the old system but we now had to offload 2kg to my carryon which was virtually empty.

Through security and like a gentleman let a woman go in front of me.So she was selected for secondary screening and I waltzed past.At 1157 a fellow on the JQ service to SYD turns up at the gate to find boarding closed.Demands to be let on as the plane is still there-ETD was 1150,stairs had already been removed.Probably will end up another bad JQ story.
Uneventful flight.However VA is making great strides to catch up to QF.Priority luggage had always been good but today all the priority tagged luggage came out last and one of our bags was damaged.

By 1728 though we were in our rental.I am liking the Preferred service by Avis.Upgraded from a Corolla to a Commodore.Unfortunately with Victorian plates making it a bit of a target in Sydney.

Checked in at the Four Points and pleasantly surprised to get an upgrade to a maritime suite as most room categories had been showing as sold out.As usual we had booked lowest City side rate as a Z3R.Took full brekkie for 2 in lieu of 250 starpoints.4 drink coupons and a bottle of a Hardy's red as extra bonii.

Sydney was all about Grandkid duty and catching up with family.Only 1 restaurant meal.Again at the Rhodes Yum cha restaurant which was very good again but also offers QF points-now to see if they post!

Next-off to Africa.

 

[drron]

Friday and not too early a start.Decided to have brekkie in the Flounge rather than the 4 points.Decided to have our bags banded at SYD.One needed to it after VA's handling-

Not a good advertisement for a Samsonite Cosmolite either,
Having our cases banded we arrived at the F checkin just as our flight opened up.Quick checkin,quickly through Immigration and checkin and soon sitting at a table ordering our breakfast-Bircher muesli then Eggs Benedict with smoked salmon for me and a fruit platter then corn fritters for mrsdrron.Declined the champagne and had cappucinos.

Then caught up on some emails,settled a couple of financial matters and then all too briefly chatted with wafliron before heading off to the gate.Arrived just as preboarding announced.Lots of small children but evidently they all turned right.

QF63. SYD-JNB. ETD-1035, Pushback-1057. Takeoff-1105.
ETA-1530. Landed-1530. At gate-1543.
Seats-2F,J.
We were late departing as we waited for 1 ignorant pax who boarded 20 minutes after advertised departure time.Though this gave me time to have 2 glasses of champagne.Mrsdrron was served her champagne immediately on boarding.FA said he would be right back with mine.Finally the CSM noticed I was without and got my first glass for me.Basically the same after takeoff when we each had a Sav blanc.Said yes when asked if we wanted another glass but it never came.Occurred again with the first meal.Seemed this crew missed out on the recent training.Mrsdrron though did get a greeting from the CSM,a check to see if she was OK midflight and a thanks just before landing.

Lunch service was slow.We are both over Neil Perry's mixed leaves.I had a Nonya style curried ling-bland and overcooked fish.Mrsdrron had the pork schnitzel-dry.I started with the tuna with eggplant that I enjoyed-

And here is the menu for those interested-

More of the flight to follow.

 

[drron]

After lunch I felt tired but not enough to sleep therefore I watched movies-Lincoln,Flight,Hitchcock and Anna Karennina.Mid way I enjoyed theBeef Bourguignon pie-really a Shepherd's pie.

Still not sleepy so watched 4 episodes of Big Bang.Also partook of the light dinner and had the duck curry which was a little better than the lunch offering.Mrsdrron had the pie.Obviously the crew had had enough of my food pics so put on the mood lighting for the dinner service.I can assure you my duck did not look this colour-

Flew over the Drakensbergs and soon on approach to JNB.We had made up the lost time.A slight delay getting to the gate as an Air Angola plane was returning to it's gate.At the Gate we had a 10 minute wait as they tried to open the door.The second door was opened so those at the back of the plane got a head start on us.A fairly long hike to Immigration and a long queue had formed for other passports.However moved OK and through in under 30 minutes.Arrived at the baggage carousel just as our bags appeared-a lot of pax though had already left by this time,

Basically no customs.Well signedto get to the shuttle bus stop.A few porters offerred their services but really not fazed by it.Unfortunately we just missed a shuttle to the Protea so a wait for the next one.They run every 30 minutes from 0600-2200.Review of Protea here-
http://www.australianfrequentflyer....s-and-reviews/protea-o-tambo-hotel-48489.html

We were very tired by now.Got out fresh clothes for the morning-cases hadn't been tampered with-and went to bed at 1800,straight off to sleep and woke at 0400.Quiet hotel.

Next I take to South African roads.

 

[docjames]

looking forward to this TR. Have a great time.

Friends drove around Sth Africa a few years ago - no problems at all if you are sensible.

Surprised you didn't replace the bag (at VA's expense) in Sydney pre-departure.....

 

[Pablo]

Brilliant stuff - slightly jealous - miss being in SA.

If you get a chance while in Johannesburg, make sure you get to the Apartheid Museum - just mind blowing and a must if you are there. Takes between 2-3 hours to go through it but you will get the most incredible insight into the past of RSA.

Looking forward to following your journey.

 

[mole]

The only thing we found with the driving in South Africa was that everyone overtakes everywhere all the time! The drivers are pretty courteous though and everyone gives you a 'beep' to thank you for moving over. Always remember to lock your door as soon as you get in your car and park where there are attendants who look after your car for a small tip on your return. Enjoy!

 

[smit0847]

You watched Flight on the plane?! I thought any films about plane crashes were never loaded onto IFE?

 

[drron]

Unfortunately wasn't able to do a post last night-no internet for 18 hours.
Doc-only noticed the problem when we got to the $ points and the zipper went right around the base.
Smit0847-I had a lot of people including my son tell me I was crazy to drive myself around.So far absolutely no problems.Only once had to move to the shoulder when a minivan was getting to close for comfort-but that happens in Australia ton the minor roads you come up with some quite slow local traffic as they are way overloaded-they would move over for me.
As for parking I go on the principle-10Zar now and 10 more when I come back and the car is in one piece!

Pablo-will be in Joburg at the end of the trip so it will be on the agenda.

Of course I watched Flight-you have to live dangerously.:shock:

 

[drron]

Have had a few really hectic days but hopefully can now do some more reports.
Just as an aside there was a notice inside of the door at the hotel that you should not leave money or valuables anywhere in the hotel unattended.Also TA reviews of all hotels we considered in South Africa had some reports of theft from rooms.

After a good nights sleep at the Protea hotel I was ready for our trip to begin.Mrsdrron took a while longer to get over the jetlag.We got the 0845 shuttle back to the airport.To the Avis counter.There was a fellow in front of me at the Preferred desk who had booked through a consolidator-he had to go and line up in the International queue.I having booked through avis.co.uk even though prepaid got my keys after showing my driver's licence.Most cars for hire are manual-I did not want to take a risk with all the well intended advice I had been given with many thinking I was insane to drive in Africa.So I had booked an automatic Corolla.The next biggest automatic option was to a Merc which I considered might be the wrong kind of magnet here and besides was a lot more expensive.We got upgraded to a Honda.

So now we were off.Had no trouble finding our way out of the airport although Google maps distances were rather inaccurate.We were soon on the N3 heading south.A lot of the way this was a 4 lane divided road in good condition with a speed limit of 120 kmh.Only had 1 instance when I had to go onto the shoulder when 2 minibusses decided to overytake me at the same time.

We stopped at a fuel stop just before we turned off for the Drakensburgs for refueling and a light lunch at Wimpys.We turned off onto a secondary Highway for 38km to Bergville.This was a good 2 lane highway and no problems.From there it was 50 km to the Cathedral Peak hotel on secondary roads.These had lots of people walking on the roads,sometime sitting as well as animals and lots of potholes so much slower progress.The kids all waved to us and we didn't ever feel threatened.
You go through 2 checkpoints before you get to the hotel-fortunately our name was on the lists so we knew our reservation was in order.Checkin was easy.Our room was a couple of levels above the reception.A quite large local woman carried our 2 cases to the room.She really deserved a tip but seemed genuinely surprised to get it.
A review of the hotel is here-
http://www.australianfrequentflyer....hedral-peak-hotel-drakensbergs-kwa-48619.html


So now some pictures,it will be mainly pictorial from here-

There was another lodge run by KZN parks nearby-

.

Breakfast and dinner along with morning and afternoon tea are included in the rates.The meals were buffet style but at night there was always a roast or grilled trout.So pictures of the roast and dessert selections-

Now the morning sun on the mountains-

 

[jetlagger]

Thanks for the update.. Look forward to further reports & the lovely pictorials.
Pleasant travels & stay safe.

 

[tgh]

goods_tuf.. keep it comin'.....

 

[turtlemichael]

Thanks Ron. Enjoying it very much. I've heard you need 2 clear passort pages for arrival into ZAR. You didn't mention any issues. Big stamps?

 

[tgh]

Don't wish to usurp his ron_ness. but had mine in front of me
half a page in and they blew a whole page out..