New haircut @ Roots

My long time friend Gail Roodt is now the owner of Roots Hair Salon. Roots at Crossways, Bluff, Southlands Sun "Best Hair Salon 2014" and Mc Naught and Co "Best Legal Services Provider 2014" teamed up to give me a hair make-over, Thanks Tanya and Gail for the great new trendy style. Be sure to book your next appointment with Gail on 082-825 4778. They're a great Bluff team!

Durban video

Here's an excellent YouTube video on National Geograpic about our city.. the first settlers and discoverers, to modern day cultural mix.

Durban Beachfront 

Watch and come swim with the sharks..

Giraffe is the game parks a 45 min drive from Durban

Rhino near Durban - under threat

Durban City Hall - an almost exact replica of the Belfast City Hall in Northern Ireland

Taste of Durban Festival

Enjoying a pint of our local Castle Milk Stout and a Margarita at the Taste of Durban Festival yesterday. Yum!

Dave, Lee and Llew tasting cocktails at the Taste of Durban Festival this weekend

Our own SA Breweries Castle Milk Stout, a beer my dad used to drink

And happening in South Korea

Finding new things to do in South Korea, my daughter Kate and her friends watch baseball.

At a baseball game watching the local Busan team

Kate-Lynn with her class

Another week.. great photos

Our weekend started off well with a fly-in to the Aloe Wildlife Estate near Pietermaritzburg this morning and yummy breakfast there for all.

The beautiful bridge seen from Ginwali Beach in South Korea where my daughter and her friends spend a lot of their time.

It's winter and dry everywhere but the vineyard makes a perfect backdrop for this stunning pic of my son Mark and his girlfriend Lisa.

Our nephew Josh, who is in his own right an amazing musician, needed some accommodation for his mates who were coming to Durban for a gig, so we were delighted to have musician and composer Glen Hartmann and Kelly Mole (sister of the successful local Matthew Mole) come stay with us.

Glen's beautiful music vid of his song "Home, I saw" has just been released on iTunes and can be viewed from this link here. Like Glen on Facebook here.

Glen, Dave and Kelly

Our favourite restauranteur Jason - enjoying a shooter with us

Eating out at TapHouse in Durban North - excellent eisbein

The week

Kate-Lynn's crew in Busan, South Korea, just won a silver medal in their Whale Boat Race. Awesome team, well done.

Kate is the one holding the oar up of course

Great race to win the Silver Medal 

and on the other side of the world...

It was also Mark's last few days in warm Durban before heading back to the freezing and wet Cape winter. Saturday we had a family lunch to say goodbye and today I took him to the airport for the flight home to Stellenbosch where he is doing his Masters in Engineering.

Granny (my mom), Mark and his mom

Mark and I at King Shaka posing for a selfie

Lauren 18

It's birthday time and Lauren turns 18!! My how she's grown since I met her at 8! Awesome rooftop party tonight at the Guesthouse as Mark, Calvin and I cooked the burger patties..

Mc, Dave and dad Llewellyn

The birthday girl with her huge card with everyone's messages inside

A birthday cake deluxe!! Well done Liesl

Birthdays wouldn't be the same without cousins

Hell and brimfire in these thar coals

Mc and Calvin sizzling

Ian 21

 We have a few pilots in our family and cousin Ian turned 21 today. He has his commercial Pilot's Licence and Instructor's rating, seen here at my Flight School scholars Open Day with Mark

Ian 21 (left) with Mark

Granny Bernice, myself and Ian's mom (my cousin) Leanne. In the background are Arthur (left) and Leanne's husband Mark, and in the far background Ian.

Mark visits

Mc chilling on Kate's bed whilst she is in Korea

New jersey for the cold of Cape Town

Mc posing in Hub with a model-pic of mate Kyle Jeacocks

Darn it's cold in Cape Town and I left this jacket in Durban last visit

Taking to the skies with dad in my plane

We ended our Sunday evening with a Skype chat with Kate-Lynn in Korea, although it was nearing midnight there - they are 7 hours ahead of us. Great to hear your voice. Love you lots precious.

Homecoming

My son Mark (Mc) back in town from Stellies and a time to celebrate. First stop is always a lunch burger at Billy's, our favourite, followed by good home cooking and my famous margaritas.. also a chance to catch up with another good savage, mate Dain. (he's a girl but we love him!).

Cheers at Billy's

Kate sent some gifts and Mark was trying them out for our trip to Korea to visit her

Dave, Dain and Mark

ReStarting Kates car after it's park in the garage for 4 months

Dain fooling around

Visiting Agulhas

Mark and Lisa were on the same spot last week that Llew and I stood on 2 years ago.

Kids having a jol

My kids far and near.. Kate in Korea, where she is teaching English for the year, and my son Mark who is in Stellenbosch (5th year now) and who comes home today for his winter break.. not really sure what is "home" any more as he has grown roots in Cape Town.

Kate-Lynn after her hike in the rain and mountains with her friend Chido

Great pic of Lisa and Mark

Kate planting vegetables in Busan

World Cup remembered - Fire Engine drives to Durban from Germany

This time in 2010 South Africa and Durban was in the grips of Word Cup fever. The opening game in Durban was Germany vs Australia and we had 7 Germans and 7 Australians in the guesthouse - including some guys who drove here from Bieleveld Germany in a landrover and a Fire Engine to get here in time for their team's first game which they won.

And yesterday Germany beat Portugal 4-0 in their Group G game in Brasil.

Here's a link to all of the fixtures and results.

In fact I started this blog to capture the spirit of the World Cup, then after the event decided to keep it on as my personal blog about life here in Durban. Here's a glimpse of what I posted about the previous World Cup Germany games, as well as the story of the fire engine through Africa.

2014 World Cup Brasil - Germany 4 Portugal 0

Doing what we do best

I couldn't wait for the cement to dry on our new patio area and try out the new braai - it's a gas braai on top of a charcoal braai so I can choose depending on the mood a quick braai or the traditional charcoal fire. Still have to sort the cover for the area though as the last braai "machine" we had out there rusted to pieces in our Durban sea air.