Rainbow Cruise send-off



Alan, Llewellyn  and Kevin




Dustin with Alternative Travel's Leon Nel and Ernest




Finalists Errol and Karl




Francois and Jared




Gavin and Juanne




Guests Jaco from Namibia, Elad from Israel, Juanne from Joburg, guesthouse co-owner Llewellyn and Joe from Namibia




Jared with guesthouse co-owner Dave




Joe with Mr Gay South Africa organiser Coenie, Jaco, and Mr Gay World 2010 Charl van den Berg




Juanne with Finalist Prince from KwaZulu-Natal




The Guesthouse was full for the weekend and enjoying drinks at The Lounge on Saturday were Guesthouse co-owners Llewellyn and Dave with their Namibia guests Joe and Jaco




Hamming it up are guests Peter, also from Namibia with Elad from Israel and Juanne from Johannesburg



Enjoying a weekend of fun at the Guesthouse we had an evening of drinks and pantomime on Saturday, followed by a pre-cruise Cocktail party on Sunday for the Mr Gay South Africa finalists and judges and the Rainbow Cruise passengers who left for a 5-night cruise to Mocambique today. Enjoy the cruiseguys and we look forward to your return for more fun with us on Friday.

Mr Gay South Africa ™ contestants cruising from Durban

Rainbow Cruise operator

Ms Sinfonia sailing from Durban

It's going to be a bumper weekend in Durban with the Mr Gay South Africa 2010 ™ Contestants arriving for the Rainbow cruise on the Ms Sinfonia which leaves Durban for Mocambique on Monday.

The action hots up right here at the Guesthouse on Saturday evening as we start our Pink Night welcoming guests at a Cocktail Party, followed by the adult pantomine Peter Pan at Musgrave Supper Theatre.

Durban's fabulous, famous and hilariously funny cast will present their annual show featuring Captain Hooker (Anthony Stonier), Rowan Bartlett (Peter Pan), Rikki Hastings (Wendy) and Thomie Holtzhausen (Mrs Darling). So get your weekend off to a great start and join us here at the guesthouse from 6pm this Saturday.. and see where the weekend takes you....

Ernest Gravett, Mr Gay South Africa ™ finalist

Internationals tour South Africa

We love the international flavour of the Guesthouse. In the photo are Ton and Robbert  (from Utrecht, Natherlands) and travelling for the first time in South Africa... following a tried and tested itinerary - land in Johannesburg, travel to the Kruger National Park, drive down through Swaziland to the east Coast visiting the Game Reserve Mkuze and St Lucia Wetland Park (Hippo and Cocodiles) and then to Durban. From Durban fly to Port Elizabeth and then drive along the Garden Route to Cape Town visiting the Tsitsikama Forest, Storms River, Knysna, possibly Oudshoorn and then Stellenbosch. Another route, and perhaps better would be to drive from the Kruger Park down through our Drakensberg Mountains to reach Durban rather than the coastal road and through Swaziland.

Joining us at the guesthouse also in the photo with Llewellyn (guesthouse co-owner, middle) are Ian and Nick from Melbourne, who have been working on contract in Johannesburg for the past nine months and are taking some time out to see our country.

Welcome guys and enjoy!! Great to have you with us.

Welcome to Shisa

Welcome to Joe from the fun Guesthouse north of Cape Town - Shisa, where the locals go to play.

It's always a bit intimidating to have other guesthouse owner's come stay with us, like for the annual Indaba Tourism Conference in May each year, but then it's also a good opportunity to network and get to know the other gay operators in South Africa. We will be sure to visit you guys soon. We love trips to Cape Town, especially since my son is now studying there, so it's a chance to visit him, drink wine in Stellenbosch and play.

Pride Films in Durban

Not very well publicised but Ster Kinekor are halfway through their Pride Film Fest in South Africa with 2 movies left to screen in their Cinema Nouveau complexes around the country.

In Durban there will be a screening of The Kids are Alright on the 12th November whilst their other movie Eyes Wide Open screens only at 4 venues excluding urban on the 12th (Rosebank and Cavendish) and 26th November (Brooklyn and V&A Waterfront).

Last year I was appalled by the lack of publicity for the few films they were showing and adverts at the Cinema for the gay film fest apologised to straight patrons for the screening on one day of the year of films to suit the gay community. Poor show Ster Kinekor.

Weekend in Durban

It's a big weekend in Durban with the AmaShovaShova Cycle Race in Durban on Sunday. And guests Henk and Riaan (centre) who competed recently at the Gay Games in Cologne are here in Durban for the big race from Pietermaritzburg to Durban.

Joining them for a drink in the guesthouse pub are Adrian (left), Dave (Guesthouse co-owner - back), and guests from London Greg and Will (right).

Also in Durban for a regular visit from Johannesburg is Italian Engineer Emmanuel (above). Enjoy the sunny day in Durban guys... the rain has cleared and Sunday's cycle race should be in perfect conditions.  

Prawn Fest

Enjoying a taste of prawns from 25 participating restaurants at the Prawn Festival in Durban last night are myself, Dave (left), Ian (centre) and Llewellyn.

By the end of the evening we still had food vouchers left after eating more than a dozen prawns each prepared in a variety of ways - the best being the Mozambik restaurant in Ballito. Very yummy.

Euro guests

Llewellyn (guesthouse co-owner, centre) welcomes our guests Stas from Zakopane in Poland and Michael from Germany who have been together for 6 years and are presently living and working in London.

Stas and Michael are doing a driving tour of South Africa, having visited the Kruger National Park, St.Lucia, and Durban and are en route through the Garden Route to Cape Town.

Hot Durban

Hot boys in Durban there are, but this is clearly not our beach here.. we have white sandy beaches, so good bod, but not local. Will have to show you some more local beach shots.. the season is hotting up so surfs up!

Long weekend in Durban

It was beach, jacuzzi and pool weather in Durban this weekend. Having fun in the Guesthouse hot tub are Gerhard, Pieter, and Johann from Cape Town with Michael from Germany, while in the top photo Dave and Llewellyn check out the rock pools at the beach in Scottburgh.

Surf's up

Being on the warm east coast of South Africa, it's always summer in Durban, but now that Spring is here, it is really hotting up and the beach is the place to be.

Exit visit Durban

Welcome to Exit newspaper whose freelance reporter Molife and partner Farai paid us a visit this weekend. In the photos Molife and Faria enjoy a drink in the Guesthouse pub with Guesthouse co-owner Llewellyn and guests from Erkelenz in Germany Dieter and Andreas.

Llewellyn, Andreas, Dieter, Molife and Farai

Dieter and Andreas

Molife from Exit and Farai

Melanie sings in Durban

A nice surprise was the whistle-stop trip former Idols star Melanie Lowe made to Durban this weekend giving a performance at the local St Clements restaurant in Musgrave Road. We thoroughly enjoyed the show - Mel you are a real star! Seen in the pics are Llewellyn, Melanie and her girlfriend Gaye.

Llewellyn, Melanie Lowe and Gaye

Llewellyn enjoys the prawn pasta

Llewellyn, Melanie and Dave

Melanie sings one of her own compositions from her latest Album

Durban weekend

Enjoying a few days in Durban are Rushin and Dominic from Cape Town, seen here with Guesthouse co-owner Llewellyn (middle). Glad you guys could come and see the stunning improvements to Durban with the World Cup.. just a pity you brought some of the Cape Town weather with you...lol. Great to have you with us.

40 in Russia

Although we have been back in Durban for almost a month, there is still some catch-up I have to do to show you where we went and what we did for Llewellyn's 40th birthday in Russia. Visas were difficult to come by but if you booked an excursion through the ship we could get a blanket visa for Russia. Conveniently they had a trip to the Russian gay nightclub "Central Station" in St.Petersburg the night of the 1st August so we could party away the last of his 39 years and into his 40th.

So here's some pics of Llewellyn with the hot bois in Russia where we drank vodka, and danced in the steamy heat of Central Station along with over 500 guys from the ship who did the Russian nightclub with us. And was it hot!! not only were the bois hot, but they were having a min-heatwave in St.Petersberg and no place there seems to have airconditioning, so everyone just had to take their shirts off...ha ha..mmm

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Llewellyn catches the sunset on the eve of his birthday

Dancing in Central Station nightclub in St.Petersburg, Russia

Even the DJ seemed to come from South Africa

The hot bois made sure the eye candy was good while we danced

Durban Beach Stag

Dave finds a sight on Durban's beachfront... thought for a moment it was something gay, but it was a Stag-Party, or was it?

Prince in finals for Mr Gay South Africa

We recently held the Provincial finals of the Mr Gay South Africa Pageant at our Guesthouse here in Durban and the organisers asked me to take some pics of the 1st runner up - Prince - for the underwear sponsors Bonewear.

So I was on the roof of the Guesthouse today and took this pic of Prince as well as quite a few others around the house, outside shower and jacuzzi.

Sunday chilling

Hey it's just me chilling on Sunday - check out more on Dave's blog here.

Wine Week in Durban

The great thing about the annual Mercury Wine Week in Durban is that it is always on Dav'e birthday, so who needs a reason to celebrate? With friends who enjoy a good glass of Wine there was aplenty with over 180 Cape Wine Farms represented. Needless to say I have a memory lapse after far to many tastes of the beautiful nectar.

Another Birthday %$#@& for Dave

Llewellyn and Dave enjoy a glass of wine with Chris and Gavin of Tyson's Properties - we were all on the recent gay cruise to the Baltic as well.

Dave and Llewellyn eye out the hot winemasters from the Cape. And for wines we enjoyed the Slanghoek wines.. must make a note to visit the farm next time we are in the Cape.

Tinktienkie

Meet Berend a recent guest whose family is now divided between South Africa and Argentina with a sister there who runs a Hostel with her Russian husband... Hostel Tinktienkie and I said I would put a link to it here on our blog... seems one way to get out of the rat race, or you could just come to our Guesthouse here for a few days of relaxation. Even though it may be cold elsewhere in South Africa, we spent a few hours on the beach here yesterday.. glorious weather.

Back in Durban after Amsterdam Pride

We sailed into Amsterdam on Saturday in time for the 2010 Gay Pride Canal Parade which attracted 400 000 spectators despite the slight rain. It started with a warm welcome at the dockside and ocean terminal as we stepped off the "Eurodam" after a whirlwind cruise of the Baltic with 1500 gay guys, then an interview screened on Dutch TV that night, the spectacular canal parage through the main canals of Amsterdam and awesome parties in the streets of the city.

Even the street barmen were hot and willing to wave the flag for us.

The rights of gay Africa were represented for the first time in the canal parade.

More than 40 floats took part in the parade in intermittant rain.

Street artists claimed their share of the action too.

The hot "kissing boys" did not need to decorate their float too much - just add skin!

Even the Police were represented at Gay Pride... with a helmet..

And Dave admires the boobs... lol

Dave and Llewellyn take every opportunity to show the South Africans were there.

Flags and balloons greeted the "Eurodam" at the dockside in Amsterdam on the morning of arrival for Gay Pride 2010 and we showed them our Pride.