Arrived Johannesburg

Hello all from Johannesburg, South Africa!

Our flight left Melbourne at 10.30pm on Tuesday. We took the "scenic" route to JoBurg, a 14 hour flight to Doha, Qatar, and then another 9 hour flight after that. Bloody hell Africa is big though. I kept looking at the map thinking "we are nearly there!" - nup, four hours to go haha. 

We both slept quite a bit on the first flight and I'm not entirely sure how. There was a baby that was literally screaming every time either of us were awake (its poor parents!!), and for some reason everyone had to absolutely slam their chair for it to go down - maybe a design flaw on the new planes. We were a little disappointed as our hostess on that flight was pretty rude, making us feel like she didn't give a crap. 

Luckily we struck a much nicer crew on our second flight after our three hour stopover in Doha. I always find Doha a bit nostalgic because it's where I had a nine hour stopover on my first ever flight by myself to Germany when I was 18. How far I've come since then!

The time on the stopover passed quickly, particularly after a little boy took a liking to my drink bottle and we had a great time making cool noises with it (it's metal). 

I watched a few movies across the two flights - 'The Big Sick', 'Everything, Everything' and 'Home Again' and then 'Mamma Mia' and 'Les Mis'. 

Finally after 28 ish hours we arrived in Johannesburg. Apart from Antarctica, I've now visited every continent! We were both very glad to get off the plane and be able to walk around again. 

We got through immigration quickly and got our bags, and then met our transfer to our hostel. It was a short 15 minute drive and on the way, I was reminded of South America by all of the barbed wire on top of people's fences. 

Just as we got to the hostel, our tour meeting started. There are 22 of us travelling (with some hopping on and off at various points). Our guide for the first leg is Justin, and all of us are Australian except for two Romanians! Everyone seems really lovely. 

Had a quick dinner (a delicious toasted sandwich) and then went to bed. I've had an ok sleep of about five hours in my last night in a proper bed for a while. We head off towards Kruger National Park today and I'm unsure when I will next have wifi. Looks like at worst I will every few days though. I wish we could have had maybe one day in JoBurg to see the apartheid museum and the townships, but not much we could do. 

Watch this space and I'll post whenever possible. 

Love to all

Claire

Xoxox