Weeks 3 to 5: An emotional and physical whirlwind

Wow. What an emotional and physical whirlwind the last few weeks have been...

My last blog entry was right at the start of the world cup, so there's a lot to cover off between then and now. In this time I've taken in the highs and the lows of 9 more world cup games (a total of 10), and driven well over 5000km (Cape Town -> Port Elizabeth -> Cape Town -> Port Elizabeth -> Bloemfontain -> Port Elizabeth -> Cape Town... you get the picture).

These are the games I've been to, along with a 'star' rating:

Game 1: 1st Round: France 0 - 0 Uruguay (Cape Town) - Star Rating: * (Sacre bleu!)

Game 2: 1st Round: Italy 1 - 1 Paraguay (Cape Town) - Star Rating: ** (Arrivederci Azurri)

Game 3: 1st Round: Ivory Coast 0 - 0 Paraguay (Port Elizabeth) - Star Rating: *** (No goals but a good game)

Game 4: 1st Round: England 0 - 0 Algeria vs (Cape Town) - Star Rating: * (THE WORST - By this point I'd been to every 0-0 in the tournament so far)

Game 5: 1st Round: England 1 - 0 Slovenia (Port Elizabeth) - Star Rating: *** (Getting better AND we got on BBC/SkySports News)

Game 6: Last 16: South Korea 1 - 2 Uruguay (Port Elizabeth) - Star Rating: **** (Great game, pretty sad for the Koreans)

Game 7: Last 16: England 1 - 4 Germany (Bloemfontain) - Star Rating: **** (Great game, largely thanks to the Germans and the ref)

Game 8: Last 16: Spain 1 - 0 Portugal (Cape Town) - Star Rating: **** (Iniesta, Xavi, Villa a pure pleasure to watch)

Game 9: Quarter Final: Ghana 1 - 1 Uruguay (J'Burg, Soccer City) - Star Rating: ***** (What a game! 'Hand of the Devil' etc. My heart bled for Ghana...)

Game 10: Quarter Final: Germany 4 - 0 Argentina (Cape Town) - Star Rating: ***** (Germans stupendously good)

This blog entry will attempt to cover off the rest of the World Cup since the 14th June, up until the semi finals. This is going to follow a Match of the Day type-theme, i.e. only the highlights. And in no particular order...

1. Shark Diving

En-route to Port Elizabeth for the second time; myself, James, Ramin and Tom decided it would be a good idea to go face to face with one of nature's greatest killers - the Great White. I drove the gang at 5am from Cape Town to Gansbaai - we got there just as the sun was rising. A quick few mouthfuls of breakfast and a gulp of coffee with the group, and before we knew it we were 15 minutes out to sea and donning ice cold / soaking wet wetsuits...

What followed was nothing short of incredible - 8 Great Whites following our tuna heads and chum formula - circling under our boat. We were the first to get into the cage on the side of the boat. Once in the cage, all we had to do was push our bodies under the water and there they were - Great White Sharks, not more that a couple of feet away - one of which was over 4m long!

At one point some fin was actually INSIDE the cage. It was probably the most exhilarating thing I've ever done, so much so that I managed to avoid being sick over the side of the boat until well after my time in the cage. To top things off, on the way back to shore we came across a school, or as I have been reliably informed by Dawg on Skype, a pod, of Dolphins...

Here are a couple of photos above deck:

Dolphins

Yak attack

2. Nights out / capers in general

Where to begin?! We've taken in everything that Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Joburg had to offer us in terms of restaurants, bars and clubs, and have just come out the other side intact. The World Cup really is a melting pot, and the combination of football matches, many different nationalities of people, south african locals and plenty of social lubricant meant for some memorable nights out. I'll let the pictures do the talking (spot the tallest man in the world)...

3. South African sights

In between going to football games and watching football on TV, we have managed to cram in a hell of a lot of sightseeing. We've climbed Table Mountain (me for the second time, James for the umpteenth time), seen the Twelve Apostles, done the Garden Route (between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth) four times, seen Cape Point, driven around some of the Eastern Cape and seen some amazing beaches and sunsets. Here are just some of the photos but I'm not sure these even do this country's natural beauty full justice...

Garden Route and the Eastern Cape...

Cape Town, Table Mountain & its beaches...

(Did you spot where I was doing press-ups on Table Mountain?!)

4. Ghana vs Uruguay at Soccer City (and ensuing night out...)

Myself and James made a whilstestop, 14 hour, "bring your A-game" trip to Jo'burg to witness a potentially historic World Cup moment - that of an African team making it to the Semi-Finals, and how poignant it would have been for that to happen in Africa. Alas you all know what happened, Uruguay prevailed through some excellent goalkeeping by their striker, but also credit them for maintaining their composure when Ghana DID have the golden chance to win the game but choked.

Anyway, Soccer City is an amazing football ground, and the atmosphere was incredible - with at least 80,000 fans willing on the Black Stars of Ghana in unison.

Throughout the night our one taxi driver in his BMW turned out to be three different taxi drivers in three different cars - but this is Africa and like the A-Team the plan did come together. So after the penalty shoot-out we headed to Sandton for a few bars, where we bumped into 2 boyhood footballing heroes - no less than Sir Les Ferdinand and Ruud Gullit!

We then went straight to the airport via the customary McDonalds drivethru and some wheelchair antics to fly back to Cape Town at 7am for the next game (Germany vs Argentina).

Good night James

5. South African hospitality

We owe an immense thanks to James' various family members in Cape Town and Port Elizabeth - where we were ridiculously well looked after. They have opened their homes, fridges, braais, bars (!) and washing machines to us and it's been so good to be able to stay in homes rather than hotels/hostels...

6. Port Elizabeth, Cape Town and Soccer City stadiums

3 great new grounds that gave me some pretty memorable (and some pretty forgettable!) games.

Port Elizabeth

Cape Town

Soccer City (Soweto, Jo'Burg)

So, that's pretty much it from South Africa - I've had an amazing time and I can safely say all the PALs that I've been with out here have too - what a beautiful country and with the added factor of the World Cup a truly unforgettable experience.

I will post the full repertoire of photos up on Picasa when I get a good enough internet connection.

Roll on South America!!!