Day 11
Our last day in Cape Town and we were welcomed with another beautiful sunny day. A free day in Cape Town and for most this involved heading down to Camps Bay and V & A Waterfront. It was good to be able to enjoy everything Cape Town has to offer before we all had our final dinner together in Cape Town at Tigers Milk.
Day 12
Today was an early start with a flight from Cape Town to Johannesburg before a 3 hour bus trip to Sun City. For those that don’t know Sun City is referred to as the Las Vegas of South Africa. With this in mind there was a big sense of excitement in the air. The drive to Sun City was an interesting one. The local towns install their own speed bumps to force traffic to slow down as well as sometimes standing at the speed bumps to get some money to look after the speed bump. Upon arriving we were taken to our 3 bedroom villas before everyone rushed in separate directions with the most popular option being the Valley of the Waves waterpark. Here we met Petrus Du Plessis – the organiser of the company who has allowed us to have such a fantastic tour. For dinner we had Spur where most players ate copious amounts of ribs, chicken wings & steak.
After dinner there was a rush to head down to the Casino where the games of choice were blackjack and roulette. It seems most of our players donated a decent amount to Sun City Casino before settling back to their rooms ready to explore Sun City once again in the morning.
Day 13
Today was a free day in Sun City with an early breakfast attended by significantly less than full numbers. However everyone made the most out of the day attending the water park, Sun City Palace, visiting the shops in the mall and some deciding to play 9 holes of golf. The big attraction for today is the game drive in the afternoon.
One of the few times that everyone arrived on time was for the game drive through Pilanesberg National Park. It was an activity that was one of the highlights for sure and I thoroughly encourage everyone to have it as a bucket list item. Throughout the drive the boys were treated to some refreshments and saw the beautiful wildlife South Africa has to offer. It was definitely special to see the “Big 5” being the lion, leopard, rhinoceros, elephant and buffalo. We were even treated to having an elephant cross the road in front of our car with its child.
Other animals we saw throughout the safari were giraffes, zebras, hyenas, warthogs, crocodiles, impala and gemsbok to name a few. It was amazing to see how the animals blended into the scenery and something I know these boys will remember for a lifetime.
Our last dinner in South Africa was a traditional braai put on by Petrus Du Plessis (our tour guide) and his lovely wife. It was a feed consisting of braai bread (toasted sandwiches filled with cheese, onion, tomato & chutney), sweet pot bread (bread soaked in warm caramel), lamb chops, boerewors (south African sausages) and some steaks. To accompany this we had the traditional brandy & coke to wash it down. Following dinner some boys (& a manager) snuck into the Palace to go swimming and explore around whilst others went to the casino.
Day 14
Our final day in South Africa where we had a traditional Spur breakfast before having an hour or so to relax in Sun City. For this time we got one of the workers to drive to the local flea market outside Pilanesberg National Park. We were treated to some stores filled with lots of ornaments and figures of the big 5 animals amongst other things. The highlight for me was getting my purchase taken to another store in an attempt to force me into the store and to buy something else.
After this we commenced our 3 hour bus trip to Johannesburg Airport where we awaited boarding on our Airbus A380.
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As I conclude the blog for this tour I would like to thank Noel Hosking (Tour Manager) who organised this entire trip with Petrus Du Plessis (Into Africa Sports). Without Noel this trip would not have happened. It was an experience I will never forget and I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with a great group of players as well as Noel.
Heading into this trip I had no idea what to expect from travelling to South Africa however I could not have felt safer throughout the entire journey and it is special to travel to a rugby mad nation like South Africa where you can see just how much rugby union can unite a nation. I certainly hope that this can happen to Australia in the near future.
David Telfer
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