Escape from Banana backpackers

Firstly, if you didn't know you can enlarge photos by clicking on them. Secondly I was trying to delete the spam comments and made a mistake- sorry Pippa I deleted yours instead.
As all comments are anonymous it would be very nice if you would sign them or write to my normal email at chris@willett69.fsnet.co.uk so I know who's reading this- ta.

Morning broke to the sound of heavy traffic at Banana backpackers and after a shower in a cubicle with a half length door designed for midgets and hence rather 'open' I did my best to cobble together enough crockery for breakfast. Lucky for me the best thing to eat while backpacking is cereal (easily transported in a bag), coffee and orange juice (Cape oranges naturally). If I've been shopping recently a yogurt goes down well too. That's lucky because it's what I eat at home. Also in the kitchen was Sandra so as we ate breakfast together we took turns in listing the shortcomings of our accommodation.

Neither of us had much of a plan for the day so we headed off to explore the city together. The night before the travel desk within the hostel had tried to sell me a 3 day package to the Drakensburg mountains for £250. It was tempting because it included everything and by the time I had hired a car and got food etc it would have cost me nearly as much. Also it is dangerous to walk alone in the area for both mountain and local people reasons and permits are not issued to lone walkers- which means you have to go without a permit and take even greater risks. Not wishing to commit to the first offer I got myself penciled in but didn't pay a deposit.

One of our first stops that day was the tourist info office and after breaking into a lion enclosure for illegal photos (she is a scamp that Sandra, leading me astray) I made some enquires about things to do. Immediately I found the same tour to the mountains with the same company for £200 and booked it there and then- result. What we also did is find out which was the best backpacker's in the city. A quick phone call to then secured us two beds and a transfer minibus which would pick us up outside Banana 20 mins later. We raced back, threw our gear into or packs asap and after some prevaricating with the receptionist along the lines of "we know we booked for 3 nights but have just managed to get last minute places on a safari- bye", did a runner. The bloke from the tourist desk grabbed me and said "before you go have you got the money for that Drakensburg trip?" "Ahhh welllll, it's like this......."

After getting settled in the superior Hippo Hide Hostel which, despite being in the burbs cannot be faulted in any other way we went back in town. It was lunchtime and I quickly learnt that the delightful Sandra is a veritable little bundle of infectious joy- until she gets hungry so we 'did lunch'. While eating we noticed a kid on the sea front who had painted his body parts and was doing the human statue thing more often seen in Barcelona or Paris. While is act was slightly lacking in polish we were both impressed how he overcame huge pressure to crack as countless other kids paid a few pence to see him do a little dance or some amateur robotics before returning to a fixed pose and laughed at him throughout the routine. We pooled our shrapnel and topped up his collection tray every five minutes occasionally dancing with him so the kids laughed at us instead. After a long walk along the sea front we went to the aquarium- one of the top attractions.

The whole set up is impressive, apart from the Dolphin display pool and all that the actual building is an old container ship which has wrecked and you walk around the hold or cabin areas looking out in to the sea and the fish- brilliant.