Fly, Drive, Eat, Shoot, Eat, Drive, Fly, Repeat

We brought the end of our first tour to an end with a BIG finish (read on). We departed Cape Town to head to Port Elizabeth to cover Portugal v Ivory Coast. After the match we had a pleasant surprise when we arrived at the King Edward Hotel and we were greeted by the concierge with the news that the pipes had burst and our rooms were flooded. They made the arrangements and provided transportation to The Radisson Blu. The contrast of the hotels defies description, the fact of the matter is that Ronaldo and the Portugal squad were staying there, it was nice. We made ourselves comfortable in the bar area, along with the help of our waiter who provided TV trays, and had dinner ‘living room style’ in front of the projection TV to watch the Brazil game.

A 5:30AM wake up call kicked off the day that would take us to the PE airport as we head to Durban for the Spain v Switzerland match. Upon arrival in Durban it was the observation of our Jamie McDonald that with a 4:00PM match we would be finished early enough to catch a late flight back to Cape Town instead of staying in Durban and flying back the next day which would give us an entire day off in Cape Town. Brilliant thinking and excellent follow through by Laurence and Carl who got us on a 9:00PM flight. After a surprise victory by Switzerland, which produced my best photo of the tournament so far, we headed off to the airport. As if the details of our travel isn't astonishing enough, todays voyage is staggering.

OUR DAY
5:30 Wake Up Call.
6:00 Car
6:30 Airport Arrival
7:00 Mugg and Bean Coffee and a BIG MUFFIN
7:50 Flight to Durban
9:00 Durban Arrival
9:30 Car
10:15 Breakfast on the beach at Joe Cool's
12:00 Durban Stadium Arrival
13:00 VISA VIP Photo Tour
16:00 Spain v Switzerland Kick Off
18:30 Car Pick Up
19:00 Airport Arrival
19:30 Rhapsody Restaurant Dinner
21:00 Departure
23:10 Arrival in Cape Town
23:30 Report stolen clothes to baggage services
23:45 Gas up the truck
00:30 Arrival at the Dunvegan Lodge
00:35 Haul all the gear up the four flights of stairs up the terrace to the patio entrance.
1:30 Drop Dead...a mere 20 hour day!!!

Three for Three

Our crew has now begun collecting air miles in earnest as we have covered our first three matches via three flights and completed our first triad tour of our sister cities. We have traveled from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth to Durban to Cape Town. We have begun to make ourselves familiar with what will be frequently visited airports, our drivers in each city and our homes away from home (Cape Town) away from home.

Our driver met us in Port Elizabeth and our 10 passenger van is not large enough to handle the driver plus 7 of us and our excess baggage. I shouldn't say not big enough because we did make it work, but seats were sacrificed for luggage and luggage provided an extra seat. We got better at the in the next couple trips. SEATS FOR EVERYONE! We did not have time to swing by the hotel before the match. So off to the match we went.

The stadium in Port Elizabeth is as well an older fixture and has been retrofitted for the World Cup. It is a smaller venue and quite adequate. As with all the venues I have seen it is distinct in its architecture and ornamentation. From a distance our crew decided it looked like a sea shell resting on the beach.

The King Edward Hotel in Port Elizabeth has obviously just gone under renovation. The 'Port' city is dominated by ports, terminals, warehouses, roadways and rail heads. Laurence has commented that EVERYTHING is made of concrete. It is not very modern, and The King Edward Hotel is prime example. I will research the date, but I am sure it is a century old at least. It sits on a knoll overlooking the ports and a park across the street is adorned with obligatory nautical themed statuary. I say the renovations are new because of the distinct smell of paint and new carpet and the flat screen televisions in the rooms and the glass, stainless, and marble fixtures in the bathrooms don't fit the skeleton key and chandelier motif throughout the rest of the palatial building. The staff in training is also evidence of the burgeoning boutique destination they are striving to achieve.

After the early morning traveling and catching some rays at the rare 1:30PM start, it was down to business....finding a venue for the England v USA match. The KEH was not quite what we had in mind so one of the chiefs of the staff recommended we go to Barney's on the waterfront. Barney's was quite what we had in mind either....but it filled the bill. It was a garish clone of an American sports bar complete with typical chain restaurant eats, loud music, lots of televisions and World Cup fans with those damn vuvuzelas. And the drunker they got the more they blew them. URGH! A large room with picnic tables and a projection TV was perfect for the occasion. I could have done without the coverband in the next room, but the 180db of the TV did good battle with the rock and roll band (160db) and the vuvzelas (100-200db). The wager was 200 Rand each. Jamie, Laurence and Alex (all from England) for England and Carl, myself and Lars (Germany) for the USA. Lars liked the the fact the Brits were so confident in their team they gave us the draw. Our Aussie mate held the 1200 Rand and well....thanks to butter fingers Green I won enough money to cover my entry into our group pool. Updates to come on that competition.


With the 3-0 South Korea defeat of Greece in the books in Port Elizabeth it was off to Durban the next morning. The daily check of the weather forecast was looking bad for Cape Town in two days time, but there was a bright spot in Durban. An Eastern Cape beach destination, Durban's World Cup theme claims it to be the hottest spot of the World Cup. As we were headed in for landing the captain came across the PA per usual with the announcement of time and temperature.....28 degrees C (82F!) and this is supposed to be winter time?!

Durban Beach front with the stadium on the right in the background.

The early morning flight has landed us in enough time for a late breakfast which turned into an early lunch which faded into a late lunch before the 8:30PM kick off. Shorts and a tshirt were the call for the beach side restaurant. Service was on 'island time' which might be nice for the vacationers that dominate the scene there, but it was making us a bit twitchy that we weren't going to get our afternoon nap in before the game. All went well and we got back to our basement room at the City Lodge for some much needed rest.

The new and modern Moses Mabhinda Stadium in Durban, named after a working class hero, is built next to the home grounds for the Durban Sharks Rugby Team. It has canopies on the sides that stretch up toward a center spine that arches skyward above the venue. It is visible for some distance down the beach and seat 70,000 vuvuzela blowing football fans. It was here where Lars' German squad crushed Quinn's not so mighty Socceroos 4-0. Included in the loss was Australia's Tim Cahill who will miss the next two games as a result of a red card. And Quinn's wallet is a little lighter as I noticed some Rand swapping hands in the press room afterwards.

This is Alex under the arch in the Durban stadium.

After sweltering in the relative winter heat of Durban it seemed impossible that the forecast for Cape Town could hold true.....3C (37F) and sideways rain at the 8:30 PM game time. 'This is your captain speaking...' as we approached landing in Cape Town at 1:00PM it was announced, 10C (50F) and rain. The arrival time did not allow us to head back to the villa so it was straight to the stadium for some press food and 5 hours of relaxing in the press tent before the cold, wet, dark, kick off between Italy and Paraguay. So here I sit.......

Alex, Lars and Carl kill time in the Cape Town Media Center.

0-0

Uruguay 0, France 0. Or as my British counterparts say nil, nil. There is one person more disappointed in the outcome than me (we are wagering) and that was Nicolas Lodiero of Uruguay who was sent off in the second half after receiving his second yellow card of the match. France had the upper hand throughout the match and they still couldn't manage a goal with a man advantage after the red card in the 81st minute.

I have just come to the realization that I am going to get as much sleep tonight as I spent time waiting for today's match to begin. We arrived 4 hours prior to the match today to make sure everything was in order. We arrived home shortly after midnight and after I have hauled all my gear in and prepared bags for tomorrows travels, it is a mere 4 hours til my alarm goes off. 530AM departure for the airport for an 800AM flight to Port Elizabeth.

Day One

This is when it all begins. I thought the day would never arrive. I woke up to the sounds of vuvuzelas, here, in Fish Hoek! There was a huge kick off concern in Soweto last night. Everywhere we went it was on the television in the evening. We had a light breakfast this morning and started to plan the days schedule. We got together and synchronized the time stamp on our cameras. All of our photos will be sent back to the International Broadcast Center (IBC) in Johannesburg. Editors will be looking at the work of all of our 6-8 photographers at any one match simultaneously. We are now packing all of our gear for the next four days since, baring a couple hours sleep tonight, we won't be back until Monday night. After our 8:30PM kick off in Cape Town tonight, we have an 8:10AM flight departure to Port Elizabeth for a 1:30PM kick off tomorrow. That game will end early enough that we can reach our hotel and find a suitable venue to catch the England v USA match on TV. I have reminded all my English mates that God might be able to save the Queen but England doesn't have a prayer against the USA!

Here is my schedule for the qualification round. Don't worry, there will not be a quiz, as I hardly know where I am going to be from one day to the next. I have 18 flights in the next 31 days.

Fri June 11 Cape Town 8:30PM Uruguay v France

Sat June 12 Port Elizabeth 1:30PM Korea v Greece

Sun June 13 Durban 8:30PM Germany v Australia

Mon June 14 Cape Town 8:30PM Italy v Paraguay

Tue June 15 Port Elizabeth 4:00PM Ivory Coast v Portugal

Wed June 16 Durban 4:00PM Spain v Switzerland

Thu June 17 OFF

Fri June 18 Cape Town 8:30PM England v Algeria

Sat June 19 WEEKEND OFF (What's that?)

Sun June 20 WEEKEND OFF (What's that?)

Mon June 21 Cape Town 1:30PM Portugal v Korea

Tue June 22 Durban 8:30PM Nigeria v Korea

Wed June 23 Port Elizabeth 4:00PM Slovenia v England

Thu June 24 Cape Town 8:30PM Cameroon v The Netherlands

Fri June 25 Durban 4:00PM Portugal v Brazil

The Sun Sets On Chapter One

Today was our last day of preparation. Everything is in order at the stadium. We have our credentials, tickets, bibs, assignments, and tomorrow is Game One. We will actually be photographing game two. As is customary the host nation opens the tournament. South Africa will host Mexico at the Soccer City stadium in Johannesburg. Soccer City will also be the venue for the Final a month from now. With the opening match kicking off at 4PM we hope to slip into our home pitch the Green Point Stadium in Cape Town for the Uruguay v France match on empty streets as we suspect all eyes will be on the televisions to witness the match in J'burg. So what better to do to get rid of the opening night jitters on the eve of the largest sporting event in the world? Go to the driving range! Our hosts here at the Dunvegan B&B are members of the Clovelly Country Club less than a mile walk from the house. Peter has graciously offered up use of his clubs to Lars (19 handycap). So I used the opportunity to vent some of my pent up energy by whacking some ball down the range. We only hope the weather will be this lovely when it comes time to photograph the football.

Future Stars

My German brother Lars and I went to the Fisantekrall Township today to photograph retired English footballer Chris Kamara giving a coaching clinic with local youth. From my limited experience, this must be one of the best supported townships in South Africa. Brothers Sport, Nationwide, The Sun and other donors put on the clinic as well as cut the ribbon on a new creche (daycare) for the young ones in the community. Many of the local future stars poured out to welcome the visitors and show their skills.

Birthday Boy

We grow older and wiser and stronger....yeah right!
Jamie was victim to our celebration of his birthday as he can spare a few years.
Back to the Harbor House we went!
Prawns anyone?