Tag Archives: Rustenburg

The Vuvuzela Blows No Longer For The Red, White, and Blue

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USA – Ghana Recap (1-2 AET)

Woke up at 6 AM because Alex forgot it was Saturday and had factored in an extra hour for Joburg traffic. Leaving at 7AM to Kroonstad the roads were perfectly clear and Alex could actually go the speed limit of 120 Km. In addition, we were able to see the beautiful sunrise over the city.

We arrived at the KFC in Kroonstad just after 9 AM, expecting to wait an hour for the English to arrive, but just as we started to take out muffins and yogurt for breakfast the two young English guys from Hodge Podge Lodge pull up. Alex and I were both surprised to see them thinking it was quite a coincidence that they should pull into the same KFC as us, but since we have had a few of those by chance meetings with people on this trip it wasn’t too weird. When we saw them get out of the car with tickets in hand that is when we realized that this was England Alex. The last few days Alex and I had it in our head that England Alex was the older gentleman that we met at Moonlight Backpackers! Continue reading →

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Good Bye Bloemfontein, Hello Rustenburg

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June 24

This day has gone by so quickly!

We slept in this morning after our late night of celebration and by the time we were completely ready to check out of the Guest House it was a little after 12 pm.

We had planned to go to the Voortrekker museum, but changing our plans from Bloemfontein to Rustenburg occupied most of our day. Luckily it looks like we will have several extra days that we had not planned for in Joburg/Pretoria area so we are going to visit museums and monuments when we get back from the USA-Ghana game.

Went to the Translux ticket counter at the Joburg bus station this evening to inquire about refunding or exchanging our tickets that we had purchased from Joburg to Bloemfonetin. We have not had a lot of success with refunds thus far in South Africa (Gemini & Computicket), so I was not holding my breath. However, a lady at the Translux ticket counter was wonderful and quickly with no hassle agreed to refund our tickets cash back. Thank you Translux!

Alex from England contacted Alex this morning about meeting up to exchange our tickets and it was agreed upon that we would meet them half way in Kroonstad on Saturday to make the swap. I never thought I would ever get back to Kroonstad, South Africa in my life and I am going for my second time in a week period. Once we make the switch Alex and I are driving from Kroonstad to Rustenburg for the 8:30 kick off.

We had a delicious dinner (avo/bacon burger and surf&turf) at Mikes Kitchen where once again our iPad attracted some South Africans attention. Our meal was completed with two delightful after dinner drinks- Alex had hot chocolate with Amarula and I had Strawberry Cape Velvet with Amarula. Mo if you are ready this YES it was amazing; we forgot the camera tonight but will send a picture soon. Tonight we are staying at Leliewijk B&B in Benoni, which is quite lovely.

Tomorrow morning we are off to the airport to return our car and hopefully rent a new one that is not a Chevrolet. I’m crossing my fingers for a Toyota Corolla 🙂

This City Should Get Lost

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Power has been our biggest issue up here in Hartsbeesport. With a MacBook Pro, iPad (GPS), 2 cameras, 2 cellphones and a video camera we need several outlets to keep our electronics powered up, so we are ready to capture and share our experiences. Unfortunately power is one thing Moonlight Backpackers is lacking. It is the cleanest, most well put together backpackers we have ever been in except that the only power outlets are in the kitchen and they do not charge worth anything. So today we are off to Mug&Bean to juice up and enjoy an hour of Wifi. Continue reading →

I Want My Tires Back!

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It’s a bitterly cold morning at the Hodge Podge Lodge. I slept completely inside my all-weather sleeping bag with the top covering my head, but as soon as I poked my head out it was meet with air that was below freezing. I tried to get the hot water to work, despite being told by our English friends the night before that the only water to come out was colder than the air. After signifiant fiddling inside and outside with the water heater, I gave up, and soon after that, no water whatsoever was produced by the facets.

We gave a lift to two of our new English friends to the mall, and we set off to find a tire repair shop as we only had made a patchwork solution from yesterday’s accident on the road to the stadium. I was getting very worried about the we we bought as there was significant vibrations while we were on tar, and even worse on the gravel/dirt. Continue reading →