Okay then, the 2004 South Africa Trip

August 7 - September 4 2004

We set off on the Saturday (7 August) morning for the airport looking forward to another great holiday in South Africa - having lived there for the three years between 1984 and 1987 we had a good idea of what to expect and we have had many return visits since we emigrated to Australia. However, the area we were going to visit was an area where we hadn't been to for nineteen years. The Garden Route in South Africa that basically extends from Port Elizabeth on the south east tip of South Africa which is where we started and then we travelled west towards Cape Town before heading a few hundred kilometres north up the west coast.

The flight from Sydney to Johannesburg (using QANTAS) is a long one taking just over 14 hours with no stopovers. If you can fly South African Airways they are much better.

	It wasn't too long before we found ourselves flying over the edge of Antartica and the views from the plane windows were truly spectacular. (This photo is from the little screen in the back of the seat in front you) Everything was white. As you can see from this picture we still had 11hrs 40 mins to go. I didn't realise we were only just over 2 hours flying from Antartica before.
Soon after we left the southern polar ice cap I decided it was time for some sleep and to be honest it is the only way to fly so in my usual flying style I fell asleep (much to Rona's annoyance because she can't sleep on planes). Needless, to say we didn't see any penguins from 35,000 feet. So many hours later we landed in Johannesburg and booked into our airport hotel where we later met up with some friends of many years for a few cold drinks.
The next day we flew to Port Elizabeth and just look at those great surfing beaches  - now the holiday is really starting - Garden Route here we come.

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