Welcoming in the New Year

Proposing a toast to the New Year are guesthouse visitors Andrew, Mias, Louis, Charl and Michael with myself (left) and Llewellyn (right).

Day at Albert Falls dam

A day at Albert Falls dam to relax after Christmas. We all tried the tube behind Brad's family's boat and Mark and Llew tried the wakeboard and slalem.

See all the pics here.

Family Christmas 2010

We enjoyed a wonderfull Christmas day with the kids at The Terrace. Kate-Lynn played Mother Christmas and dished out the prezzies followed by a scrumptious gammon and lamb roast with pudding by Lynn.

Dr Marc to the rescue

My dentist died on the morning of my appointment, but paramedic and guest Marc came to the rescue with a temporary filling. Working on a ship as the doctor on board in the Gulf of Mexico, Marc is used to stop-gap measures to tend to the sailors far from shore.

Durban's first Pink Parade

We took part in Durban's first Pink Parade down Florida Road on Saturday. Nothing spectacular but a bit of fun and the beer at BeanBag at the end of the parade was good. Next year I want to organise our own Guesthouse float and have a floatbuilding party the night before. Who is in?

Out at Zach's

A great pic of the kids out at Zach's for Brad's music gig.

Quad biking

Dave waits for his turn

Mark

Dave with his quad

Kate-Lynn and Brad

OIffice Christmas party

 



Lisa, Val, Tracey, Sharon and Mom - staff at the do



Kate-Lynn's 22nd birthday doubled as my Office Christmas party so it was a good reason to celebrate. Brad sang some tunes, Ian, Mark and Dain also helped out. 



More pics here

Kate-Lynn turns 22

Wow, my big girl is 22 and even the pooch thinks it's present time. Kate's 21st birthday year was a spin and it's already over. The next big event is the 3-month student exchange to Norway she is going on in January!

Engaged

Steve and Andy pose after the announcement

The engagement ring

Steve was on his cellphone broadcasting the news

It is great to see the guesthouse being used for special occassions and Kate-Lynn's friends Steve and Andy became engaged here last night. A nervous Steve brought Andy to the guesthouse on some pretext and then on the rooftop popped the question and handed over first a fake ring as a joke and then the beautiful ring pictured above. The happy couple then joined friends who were waiting for them for dinner and festivities.

At uShaka

Mark and Kate-Lynn at uShaka Marine World

I lifted this pic of my kids off Kate-Lynn's blog.

On holiday

Mark taking time-out from studies

Mark's friend Dain tries his strong-arm tactics on me

A new electric guitar for Christmas

It's summer vacation for students in South Africa and my son Mark is home for the holidays. He saved up some of his food money this year and I contributed the balance for Christmas so he could buy his new Fender guitar.

Full moon over Durban

Here's a pic of the full moon rising up over the sea, taken from the small garden off my Apartment in Durban. The Moses Mabhida World Cup Football Stadium is in the background.

It's Pizza for supper

The kids made pizza for the first time today. Llewellyn got some ready-mixed dough from the market and it was a matter of rolling it out and making a nice chicken and cheese filling. Here's Kate-Lynn and Calvin with their offerings. 

Back for the summer holidays

My daughter Kate-Lynn and I fetched my son Mark from the Airport today - back for the summer and Christmas holidays .. 9 weeks.. and hair is getting longer and longer. Welcome home savage!

Cocktails at the Guesthouse

Charl van den Berg (left) and myself

Guests Jaco from Namibia, Elad from Israel, Juanne from Jhb, Llewellyn and Joe from Namibia

Dustin and Ernest (left and right) with cruise organiser Leon (middle)

Juanne and Prince with zany hairstyle

It's always great to have a house-load of guests from all over the world. This weekend we had guests off on a cruise to Mocambique filling the house and including the Mr Gay South Africa 2010 finalists with Charl van den Berg, Mr Gay World. What a nice guy to meet.. down to earth and personable.

Exams for the kids

October/November is end-of-year exam times for the kids - here's Kate-Lynn studying for her 3rd year teeaching degree at Embury College in Durban, while Mark has one exam to go in his first year of Engineering in Stellenbosch, Cape Town - he's coming home for the Nov-end Jan 2011 holidays next week.

Eearly morning stroll

An early morning stroll on the beach before work with Llewellyn, Kate-Lynn and D-Tox (the dog)

Suncoast Beach Durban

The Durban  city hotels behind us as we walk north

Dave with the Durban World Cup Stadium in the background

A day in the life

My office in Toti has a stunning pub with blue lights - that's why I'm looking like a smurf here, and the second pic is my desk. I love my Toti office and work there 2 days of the week; 2 days are at the Bluff office and 1 day I work at the Guesthouse.

Politics revisited

Dave, Nigel and Glenys Wood

Glenys and Nigel Wood - former MP for Berea

We drove up to Howick in the mist and rain today, but it was a great day to visit my good friends Nigel and Glenys Wood. Nigel was my mentor in politics in the early days when I was still studying law at University. Nigel followed in his father's footsteps and was elected Member of Parliament for the Berea constituency in the 1977 General Election in South Africa.

I joined the New Republic Party that election and cast a vote for the first time. In 1981 in my final year of Law the next General Election was called and with the help and guidance of Nigel and Glenys and my good friend Dave Burden I stood for Parliament in the Port Natal Constituency - a government stronghold. It was one of the few seats available to contest as our Party governed the Province of Natal and we had 10 seats in Parliament.. mostly in the Durban area. I was Youth President of the Party at the time and at 21 the youngest to stand for Parliament. In the end out of 10 000 votes, I lost by 600 against the National Party Government Deputy Cabinet Minister. Not too bad for a first attempt.

More pics here.

A night in Hong Kong - day/night 5

We ended our Hong Kong, China, Vietnam cruise as we sailed back into Hong Kong harbour at sunrise and tied up at the Ocean Terminal.

The KFML group then took us on a tour of the city to Hong Kong island and up the Victoria Peak tram, then over the mountains to Stanley market and beach, lunch to Aberdeen on the Jumbo floating restaurant and lastly to the Ladies Market where we were left to wander around and find our way back to our hotel where we checked in that afternoon for a final night stay before jetting home. In the evening we watched the spectacular laser show on the buildings of Hong Kong and then caught a ferry to Hong Kong island for supper in the pub area of Lan Kwai Fong.

  

The Legend of the Seas docked in Hong Kong



We sailed into Hong Kong at sunrise

The tallest building in Hong Kong

The view from Victoria Peak up the funicular cableway

Dave and Llewellyn survey Hong Kong from on top

The Victoria Peak centre

Taking a Tampan ride in Aberdeen

Eating at the Jumbo floating restaurant in Aberdeen

Our room at the Panorama Hotel, Kowloon

The magnificent buildings on Hong Kong Island

Enjoying the view from the promendade

The lights of Hong Kong

Having a burger and beer in the trendy bar area of Hong Kong island

The Jumbo floating restaurant in Aberdeen

See more pics of Hong Kong here.