Visit to Grahamstown

We love visiting different parts of our own country and this weekend past we travelled to the Eastern Cape Province to the beautiful little town of Grahamstown for their annual Arts Festival.

In the pics are my kids Mark (left) and Kate-Lynn with myself (Dave, right in photos) and partner Llewellyn (blonde). The Festival was a blast and we had an awesome time seeing some of the best talent South Africa has to offer, combined with the largest craft market I have ever seen and fab restaurants and evening entertainment.. particularly Pirates!!

Bar fun

Having fun at the Guesthouse Pub are Wessel (left) our new part-time barman Jaco (centre) and Dave (guesthouse co-owner). Jaco will be looking after guests once a month.

Riaan and Michael from Johannesburg joined us for their second July Handicap Race day at Greyville just down the road from the Guesthouse. This was a Facebook event.

I took a short video clip at the races of the naked "13th Race" after the running of the last horse race. Unfortunately I was a bit far from the runners this time, but here's a snapshot from my video.

After a few drinks at the Guesthouse, it's time to get to The Lounge.. here's Dan, our guest from Canberra with guesthouse co-owner Dave and local boy Sandhip Singh at The Lounge. Dan said there are such yummy boys in Durban, he will have to come back soon.

July Races

Africa's greatest horseracing event, the Vodacom Durban July Handicap was an awesome day.. and just down the road from the Guesthouse.

The house was packed for the event and in the photos are from top, Dave and Llewellyn, Guesthouse co-owners in their waistcoats in the theme of the day "The Games People Play". In the second photo is the start of the event, third photo is Llew, guest Dan from Canberra and Dave, forth photo are more guests from OZ, Les and Nelson who also joined us for the day at the races and lastly a guy on stilts showing some of the bright colours that abounded the race course.

Melanie Lowe Coming out Show for Guesthouse

We are set for an awesome July and August with Melanie Lowe's coming out party at the Guesthouse - 2 Shows "Living the Truth" on Friday 31st July at 7pm and a second show on Sat 1st August.

Melanie recently became engaged to Angela and both of the fab girls have stayed with us at the Guesthouse so it will really be a priviledge to host Melanie's official coming out party and Show right here amongst her friends and fans at the Guesthouse.

Accommodation bookings can be made here and if you wish to attend Melanie's Show the cover charge is R60 per person per show and an indication of your attendance can be made on FaceBook and a formal booking made here.

Angela, Melanie and Llewellyn at the Guesthouse recently.

It's the Durban July

The Games People Play is the official theme of this year's Durban July Handicap - South Africa's Premiere Horse Racing event of the year.. and it's all happening just down the road from the guesthouse.

We'll be in the VDP Marquee with guests enjoying the beautiful sunshine of Durban, the fashion extravaganza and the steeds...

Here's the booking link and info for the Marquee:

The VDP GROUP consisting of Clapham Grand, Manhattan, Tiger Tiger, Joe Cools and Clapham Grand-London have secured what they believe to be the Biggest and Best Marquee for the Durban July. The site will have 4 large bars with gorgeous bar ladies, a VIP section, a massive dance floor, an outside deck, 2 big screens, 6 plasma screens, a top of the line sound and lighting rig and in house betting facilities.

Of course the best of the July races is the 13th race.. the unofficial naked guys race which takes place under the full floodlights of the evening as the last horse race finishes. Check out the YouTube video clips of previous races and be sure to take your place in the naked dash or on the sidelines watching the fun, the spills and the hot bodz!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cB8VLc1WqU4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKXxjhylkUc

Meeting the world

We love meeting the world and the world comes to us. In the photos are guests from Singapore, Johannesburg and Atlanta region... we heard tales of Aligators, St.Helena Island and Singapore... always interesting and varied personal accounts from differing parts of the globe.

In the photos are (top) Andries, Llewellyn and Johnathan, and (bottom) David, Peter and Llewellyn (guesthouse co-owner).

Durban mid-winter

Can you believe it is mid-winter in Durban and this is still the weather we enjoy?.. it's an all-year city which is why we love it. Our temperature ranges between 18c in winter to 35c in summer. And today is another glorious day.

SunCaost Casino takes my credits

As former Deputy Mayor of Durban and member of the Durban Publicity Association and Durban for the Olympics Committee, I am usually one to publicise the good about our city.

However the local SunCoast Casino and Entertainment Complex comes in for stern criticism for deleting the credit balance on my casino card and then after a protest offering to re-instate half of the balance.

This is unacceptable.

I am not a gambler at heart but as a member of Gold Circle Racing I like to entertain clients and guests in their private suites at the Horse Racing complex just down the road from our Guesthouse.

In turn the Horse Racing club and the Casino have a joint agreement to promote their respective facilities which grants free betting vouchers to their members each alternate month.

I usually enjoy the facilities at the Casino complex which includes restaurants, beach access, movies and entertainment, and I took up their betting offer prior to the expiry of the voucher period. I traded the voucher in and the credits due were loaded on to my Club Festival Card. Similarly you can load cash on to your card as well as winnings and then carry this card around or even leave the casino and return when you wish to resume your gambling.

WIPED OUT!

Imagine my surprise when I returned this week and found that my credit balance had been wiped out by the casino!! R0; zero on the card. I see credits on my card as my cash and taking them away in my view amounts to theft of this money by the casino.

The casino's response is absolute nonsense - the printed terms and conditions on the voucher indicated that the voucher was valid for the limited period only, and I maintain that I surrendered my voucher within the validity period and that once the credits were loaded on my card, ownership of those credits and the funds they represent passed to me and may not be unilaterally cancelled by them.

I challenged the casino on this and their view is that because I didn’t spend the credits by the date that the voucher expired, they were entitled to zero the remaining credits on my card.

PUBLIC BEWARE!

I don’t believe members of the public are aware that the casino has control over the money loaded on to their Club Festival cards and that the casino can tamper with their balances and by the click of a button alter those balances and I feel a public awareness campaign needs to bring this to the public’s attention. I am dissatisfied with the way in which my challenge was brushed off by them and I was offered 50% of the credit value.

* SunCoast Casino have since apologised and are re-crediting my account with the exact amount of their debit. *

View from Durban View roof-deck

Llewellyn captured the moment from our rooftop sundeck as the moon rises in it's full glory over the city of Durban.

Trying out the various settings on his new camera from our Durban View Guesthouse rooftop has produced a stunning glimpse of the view we enjoy each day.

Dave and Llew back from Sydney

After a whirlwind trip to Sydney and Auckland, we arrived back home in Durban yesterday. In the photos are the Sydney Opera House, the city centre and the Sydney Harbour Bridge seen from the Milson's Point side of the bridge. We climbed the bridge, walked across it, went on the Ferry underneath it and crossed it by bus and by train.

Sydney harbour by night on the Ferry back from Manly village.


Llewellyn with the city, bridge and opera house in the background.

Durban harbour seen from our window seat in the SA Airways plane.

The best way to enjoy a long flight is to have a drink or several on the plane. Dave and Llewellyn say cheers, and it's good to be back.

Sunrise

We woke up this morning to a beautiful sunrise... seen here from our bedroom window, looking past our guest City View room to the east and the Indian Ocean. We thought we must capture this 6am setting, trying hard to imagine that it is already 4pm the same day in Auckland and that we will be flying out tomorrow for 2 glorious weeks in Sydney and Auckland... will be posting some holiday snaps here.

The Decks winner

Donovan is the winner of our Underwear and Swimwear Show prize of a 2-night stay at The Decks Gay Guesthouse in Cape Town. The competition was held at the recent Show at Durban View Gay Guesthouse and the contestants were expected to show us what they were wearing!!

Donovan was a bit shy to show the camera his winning underwear when receiving the prize, but here is a picture we took on the night of his sexy bum.

The other side

Photographer Rob Ross who stayed at the Guesthouse this week is not often on the other side of the camera, but here he is at breakfast when he stopped by in Durban this week; and pictured above is one of the awesome photos you can see on his website. Click on the links to see more.

New Gay Club opens

It's not often that a new Gay Club and Bar opens in Durban, so Melanie needs to be congratulated on taking the step of opening Club Barazz.

It's right near uShaka, which at this moment is not the best part of the world, but the photos look pretty decent and is a welcome addition to the Gay and Lesbian scene in Durban.

The Club is situated at 309 Point Road (now Mohatma Ghandi Road) and they have both a website and a Facebook group. Click on the links for more information.

Underwear Show success

Last night's Underwear and Swimwear Show was a hit with some awesome hot bodz and designer SA and international underwear and swimwear at our Guesthouse. In the photos are from top 1. Guesthouse co-owner Llewellyn, model Jarrod, with guests JP and David. 2. Models Jarrod and Timothy (3rd Beach swimwear) with Hypnotic Events and Model Management boss Wesley (center) 3.and 4. Model Marco tries out some of the hot leather gear from Kinx.

Here are links to our Gay Durban Facebook group where you can find all the photos I took, and to the album where the pics by professional photographer Tyrone Crossman can be viewed.