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Soaking it up in Durbs

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Durban, South Africa
29° 51' S 31° 0' E
Aug 02, 2007 20:23
Distance 499km

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Soaking it up in Durbs

Text written in: English

A trip we have been threatening to take for three years now. We caught the Kulula flight special and arrived in Durbs bright and early on a Friday morning. We did what most Gautengers/Jozifers do and headed straight to a beach - any beach! - to see the sea. There we watched the dedicated early morning surfers and fishermen while slowly our bodies, frozen by the harsh highveld winter, defrosted gently in the soft warmth of Durban's more forgiving cold season. The latter, however, did not last long as we had not chosen the best weekend for that famous Durban weather: by late afternoon, the skies had clouded over and that night we could feel that a cold front was well and truly on its way.

But we took full advantage of sunny Friday by going to Ushaka Marine World where we saw.... sharks!!! and other amazing and mind-boggling sea creatures. We had such a blast in the aquarium and continued the fun with a couple of hours in the water park, screaming down the waterslides on tubes in the obligatory kiddy-like fashion.

Apart from the tourist attractions - especially as this was Glen's first time to Durban - we went to see friends of ours, Christine and Rudi. Glen and Christine went to school together and grew up a block away from each other. They have an awesome place in Westville with a backyard that descends into a lush jungly valley. From the lounge you can watch monkeys play in the treetops!

Durban is also a fantastic launchpad, as you will see with the next few entries.

On our last day in Durban we made a trip to central to visit a special place from my childhood. For many years, my entire family would spend a weekend at The Royal. My father, with my mother, would attend the then Durban July for work purposes while us kids had a whale of a time living it up in the most luxurious place we knew.