Mark returns to Durban

Guesthouse co-owner Dave's son Mark arrives back in Durban after completing his schooling and a holiday adventure to Thailand. Welcoming him in the photo is daughter Kate-Lynn.

As he arrived back today the newspaper was out with this Matric exam results giving Mark 4 As - for Mathematics, Life Orientation, Geography and Accounting. Well done son!!

Durban's new 2010 World Cup Stadium

Enjoying the view from the top of Durban's new Moses Mabhida 2010 World Cup football Stadium are (from left to right) Guesthouse co-owner Dave, with guests Wally (from Bloemfontein), Michel (Amsterdam), Rienie (Amsterdam) and Wim (Bloemfontein).

Llewellyn and Dave of Durban View Guesthouse with the city of Durban in the background as seen from the top of the new Durban Stadium.

Durban's new Moses Mabhida Stadium opened a few weeks ago and the funicular cable car now takes 24 visitors up the northern arch to the top of the 25 -story high stadium with spectacular views over the Indian Ocean and the City. Rides are R50 per person or R75 for international guests and in addition you can book a VIP tour of the Stadium or to see the pitch from R20 to R75 for the full tour.




As the arch changes pitch going up, the funicular car is on a hydraulic system to keep the car level.

Dave says howzit, with guest Wim n the foreground left at the funicular cable car goes up to the top of Durban's new 2010 World Cup football Stadium.

Christmas Lunch

We normally have the kids all around on Christmas Day but this year they were away so we were able to welcome guests from around the world into our home for a casual but awesome Christmas weekend and lunch around the pool on the day.

In the top photo are myself and Llewellyn (right) with the dinner we all pitched in to provide, and in the photos that follow guests from Amsterdam now living in Botswana and the girls from Manchester.

Here friend Ian carves the gammon.


The Christmas spirit...

Emma and Johanna (below) from Manchester joined us in Durban for Christmas.

Michel and Rienie (below) from Amsterdam have made Southern Africa their home and paid their first visit to Durban for Christmas, staying with us in the Guesthouse. They are re-locating to set up a farm camp in Maun, Botswana.

Belgian returns

It's always great to welcome back past guests and Patrick (right) from Belgium returns to enjoy our Durban hospitality. With him is Momoh (left) who spent most of his life in Congo Brazzaville before moving to Cape Town and who was born in Leningrad, Russia. Congo Brazzaville is divided from the DemocraticRepublic of Congo (DRC) by the Congo River and was formerly a French colony whilst the DRC was a Belgian colony.

Llewellyn (guesthouse co-owner) is in the centre having a drink with the guests in our Guesthouse Pub.

A bit of Italy in Durban

Meet Emmanuel, an engineer from Milan on contract with an Italian company working on projects in South Africa and around the world.

Emmanuel is presently staying in Johannesburg but came to visit the Guesthouse this weekend and here he takes some time out to relax in the lounge with us.

Festive Season is here

In the run-up to Christmas Llewellyn tried his hand at a lamb-on-the-spit for his staff end-of-year function.

Here he is carving up the lamb which turned out tender and tasty after 3 hours on the rotating spit-braai.

FIFA World Cup semi-final for Durban

Durban was abuzz this morning after last night's Final draw for the 2010 Fifa World Cup Football games and venues. We got a star-studded draw hosting 5 of the world's top 6 football teams, including Spain (ranked 1st), Brazil (2nd), Netherlands (3rd), Portugal (5th) and Germany (6th). Our Guesthouse is situated within view of the Stadium and we are excited to be able to host visitors and fans from these top teams.

In addition, we will have teams from almost every continent with Switzerland, Nigeria, Japan, Australia, and Korea adding to the star-studded line-up.

Portugal, Nigeria and Netherlands are in the line-up of teams coming to Durban for crucial World Cup football matches.

The Korean Republic, Japan and Brazil will wow fans in Durban and bring a huge fan base of their own to Durban, South Africa's warmest city for the June/July football extravaganza.

Durban * has long been a favourite of Germans for our warm climate and hospitable locals and we will be able to reciprocate in 2010 with fans from ustralia, Switzerland and Germany coming to watch their favourite tems in action at our new Moses Mabhida Football Stadium.

* Copyright of logos to eThekwini Municipality - Durban host City 2010 FFA World Cup

This is how the Sunday Tribune broke the news this morning of "Durban's dream draw" as we got 5 of the world's top 6 football teams in play-offs at our new Durban Stadium for the 2010 World Cup Football in June/July next year.

We will host a semi-final on the 7th July and the other matches in June and July include:

Sun 13 June - Germany v Australia
Wed 16 June - Spain vs Switzerland
Sat 19 June - Netherlands vs Japan
Tues 22 Jun - Nigeria vs Korea
Fri 25 June - Portugal vs Brazil
Mon 28 Jun - Round 16 winners of group 1E and 2F
Wed 7 July - Semi-Final Group B vs Group D

There is still limited accommodation at Durban Stadium View Guesthouse for the World Cup - book here - and we can also offer executive accommodation at a luxury 3-bedroom garden Apartment overlooking the Moses Mabhida World Cup Stadium with sweeping views of the city and Indian Ocean.

Executive Apartment for World Cup

A stunning 3 bedroomed Apartment in Durban's Berea suburb with awesome views of the new Moses Mabhida Football Stadium, the City centre and Indian Ocean, has now become available for the World Cup period.

This executive Apartment sleeps 7 with a master double bedroom with dressing room and en suite superbly appointed bathroom, a double bedroom, both with sliding door access to the view garden and a third bedroom which sleeps 3 - ducted airconditioning throughout, living/dining area, kitchen, beautiful beechwood bar/pub also with Stadium views, double garage and a stone's throw from Durban's finest restaurants and pubs.

Enquiries can be emailed to durbanstadiumview for bookings.

Fireman Marc

Hey it's our fireman friend and guest Marc (right) from Johannesburg who is now working as the Medic on board an oil and gas research ship.

The ship is presently prospecting for oil and gas for a client off the coast of India and was recently off Thailand. Great to have you come stay at the Guesthouse again Marc.. hope you enjoyed your few days in Durban on your shore leave.

It's Mr Gay South Africa tonight

Guest at Durban View Guesthouse Hendrik from Windhoek, Namibia, was delighted to be on the Rainbow cruise this week that hosted the finalists of the Mr Gay South Africa Pagent which culminates in a Grand Finale tonight.

In the photo with Hendrik on board the MSC Sinfonia is finalist Chris McGreggor, who hails from Durban and is looking awesome here at the White Party on board the ship resplendant with wings and cock-tail... mmm

Guesthouse Lizard lays eggs

Some say it's lucky when a lizard decides to lay eggs at your home and this plucky mom chose the Guesthouse driveway to lay her eggs.

If anyone knows what kind of lizard this is, just leave a comment here.

From the top of the world to the deep south

In South Africa we have Cape Agulhas, the southern-most tip of Africa where the Indian Ocean meets the Atlantic. In Norway the northern-most tip of Europe is at North Cape, where our guests Asbjorn (left) and Kenneth (right) run hotels catering for the thousands of tourists who flock to this part of the world each month. This is also where you can see the famed northern lights.(see photo)

Asbjorn is General Manager of the Rica hotels group which operates three of the hotels in the area and they have taken time out from the hotels which close over the dark winter months to visit Mocambique and us at the guesthouse in Durban. We were honoured to have such busy executives come stay and delighted that they enjoyed their extended stay in Durban.

10th Birthday at The Lounge

It's The Lounge's 10th Birthday - Durban's only gay Club is 10 and going from strength to strength and it's a month of celebration.

Part of the celebrations is a free entry night on Friday 20th November. Andre and Thomie wish to thank all regular patrons for helping The Lounge grow.

In the photos are guesthouse visitor from Sydney Dan, seen with Durbanview Guesthouse co-owner Dave and The Lounge barman Sandhip.

Olympic Sportsman visits Durban

Welcoming South African Olympic Badminton player Anton Kriel from Pretoria to the Guesthouse are fellow guests Gregg from Portland, Oregon, Anton's partner Stuart, and Greg's partner Eric.

Anton took part in the Barcelona Olympic games in 1992, the first year that Badminton was accepted as an Olympic sport and he has countless other trophies to his credit including the All Africa mixed doubles and men's doubles championship trophies, as well as the Wanderers 1999 Sportsman of the Year trophy.

Sinderalla in Durban

Damon Beard of East Coast Radio seen with Llewellyn (Durban View Guesthouse) on the opening night of the Durban Adult Pantomime Sinderella which runs at the Jubilee Supper Theatre until the 5th January 2010.

The cast features Anthony Stonier (in his 14th year – he has performed in every adult panto), Thomie Holtzhausen and Junaid Cassidy who were both in the panto last year; the unstoppable Rowan Bartlett as Buttons; and newcomers Rikki Hastings (as Sinders) and Daisy Spencer (as the Fairy Godmother).

Bookings are through Computicket and you can get more info from their facebook event by clicking on the link here.

Dave and Llewellyn in Pride March

Dave and Llewellyn took part in their first gay Pride March this week in Buenos Aires Argentina. Pride is the first Saturday of November each year and this year we just happened to be in Buenos Aires in time for Pride and our first experience of marching in a Pride Parade.

There were about 20 000 people in the March and we were in the second row. It was an awesome experience and we bought our first Rainbow flag which we took with us on the march and is now in our Guesthouse pub, along with the few bits and pieces we bought in Buenos Aires. What a wonderful experience.

Phone access for guests

As a new service to Guests at Durban View Guesthouse we now give a complimentary MTN sim-card starter pack to them. This is particularly useful for international travellers who do not have a local sim-card when visiting South Africa, and now gives them afforable local telephone contact.

A purchase of R50 airtime is necessary to activate the account and this should be sufficient for the duration of their visit to this country and will save them international roaming rates. Airtime is available to guests at the guesthouse through MTN Banking - a vendor for airtime across all networks as well as offering banking accounts and credit cards - a great new initiative of MTN in conjunction with Standard Bank - South Africa's leading banking institution.

Party weekend

It's the weekend and here to party up a storm in Durban are guests John, Gerhard and Rudi, and Cape Town visitor Marcel who popped in for a drink.

If you're in Cape Town and needing a fabulous flowers and decor for weddings, events and corporate functions, Marcel is your man!

Rudi is here on an MTN-Banking mission with MTN Mobile Money, a new concept in cell-phone and internet banking also marketing the re-selling of cellphone air-time by sms.

Images of the city from the Guesthouse

Our recent guest Friedrich was a whiz with his camera and took these photos of the city from the Guesthouse.

In the top photo is our new 2010 FIFA World Cup Football Stadium which has just been completed. There were sceptics who said the Stadia in the country would never be completed in time, but they were proved wrong. The Durban Stadium, the Moses Mabhida Stadium feature a stunning cable car lift which ca take visitors to the top of the Stadium arch and for those more adverturous there are stairs on the other side to take one up or down as well.

In the middle photo are the night lights of our beachfront hotels, whilst the day photo below shows the CBD of the City from the Guesthouse. Thanks Friedrich for these stunning new pics.

Braai for the tourists

Whilst we don't generally provide an evening meal at the Guesthouse, when we have a few international tourists staying with us and more often in summer, we have a braai (or barbeque as they may know it) with some of the local flavours and dishes. This also gives the guys a chance to meet and chat.

In the photo above are Julian (San Francisco) with Stuart and Furdoon (London). Both sets of guests took advantage of Emirates new flights to Durban which skip out the inconvenience of and time delay stopping in Johannesburg - unless you intend to spend a few days in that city.

In the case of Julian who flew from San Francisco to Durban via Dubai business class, he was also given free accommodation and meals for a stop-over in Dubai which he enjoyed thoroughly.