Gay Wedding at the guesthouse

Congratulations to Paul and Neil who got married at the Guesthouse yesterday. What a beautiful ceremony on the rooftop at the sun was setting over the city as they said their commitments to each other. Arriving in Durban from Newcastle in the UK on Wednesday it was a whirlwind few days and we were delighted to be part of the service. Paul and Neil have already been together for 14 years and felt that it was time to get married and come somewhere exciting for the ceremony and honeymoon.

 

 

Breakfast at the house

Breakfast anyone... Dave gets the breakfast spread out for our guests...

 

Comrades today

 

Good luck to cousins Gary and Matt (below) seen here in a pic at the Comrades Wall with their plaques halfway along the 87km route of the Comrades Marathon before the big day. The race started this morning at 5.30am and Llewellyn drove them down to the start. It's become a tradition for the two to come stay over at the guesthouse the night before the uprun, as we are just a few kilometres away from the start and unwind, enjoy a few beers and get their heads in order for the race. Both runners are going for a silver medal today which would be an incredible achievement only obtained by the top 450 or so runners out of a field of 17 000 - coming in in less than 7 1/2 hours to qualify.

 

Sundowners

Always good to catch the sundown from the guesthouse roortop. Another great day in Africa. And welcome Robbie. Hope your move to Ireland goes well. I love that part of the world and have some awesome friends in Dublin.

Brisbane it is

Llewellyn and I enjoyed dinner out with our guests Josef (left) as well as the couple celebrating their 5th anniversary, Ben and Jack (right) from Brisbane at Billy's, famous for their Monday "beer and burger" special.

Hope you guys had an awesome time - stunning winter weather on Sunday and Monday in Durban!! - and enjoy the rest of your visit to South Africa.
 

Welcome Indaba Delegates

http://www.indaba-southafrica.co.za/Indaba is Africa's top travel show and allows tour operators and tourism delegates from around the world to visit South Africa and Africa's showcase of hotels, Safari and game parks and lodges, and tour attractions. Almost 14 000 delegates converge on Durban for this annual show which is now   Africa's largest such showcase of our finest resorts and attractions.

Welcome to exhibit and stand designer Nicolas, as well as Eddie and Dawid seen here with Guesthouse owners Dave (left) and Llewellyn (right) as we welcome arriving Indaba guests to the guesthouse for a drink in the pub.

Restaurants within 150m

The interesection of Cowey and Gladys Mazibuko Roads, 150m from the Guesthouse with 10 restaurants, take-out, coffee shops and food outlets

The location of the Guesthouse is perfect with top restaurants in Durban within a kilometre of the Guesthouse and some even within 150m - to walk to eat.

Chateau Gateaux for the best coffees and pastries

Restaurants, food outlets, Coffee shops and Take-out nearest to us include Market (one of Durban's best dining places), Tong Lok Chinese restaurant and take-out, Food Lovers' Market, Woolworths, Nino's Coffee Shop, Chateau Gateaux, Aroma, EatWise Health foods and smoothies, and Hubcaps Pizza.





Market Restaurant for excellent evening meals, now with a covered outside area for eating out in the cooler winter weather, or dine inside.
 

Yummy take-out pizza at Hubcaps

 

Redecorating

The Pool Room at the Guesthouse gets an upgrade this week ahead of Durban's Tourism Indaba which kicks off on Friday. Dave and Llewellyn, guesthouse owners pitch in with the repainting and new decor.

Catching our Rainbow flight

Lee took this great action shot of Llewellyn and I in our rainbow coloured plane ZDL on our flights to Mozambique last week.

We are back and looking forward to hosting the tourism Indaba guests at the guesthouse this week. More about Indaba in a post shortly.
 

Renewal

Guesthouse co-owner Llewellyn puts the finishing touches to the new headboard we installed in the City Light room today, as well as new bedside pedastal tables.

We're gearing up for our annual Indaba conference season next month and the weather has been awesome the last number of days, so come visit; Durban beckons!

Back from trip to Gay Amsterdam, Berlin and Munich

We're back from an awesome trip to the gay hotspots of Amsterdam, Berlin and Munich.

 

We stayed in other gay guesthouses and with friends and sampled the gay delights of these incredible cities. It is always embarrasing to admit that we have only one real gay bar/club in Durban whereas they have so many choices, but I would never exchange what we have for the seriously cold weather we experienced as Europe had a "cold snap" in their Spring - temperatures plummeted to as low as - 13c in Berlin.

 

 

We switched our warm summer weather in Durban for the icy cold of Europe for a 10 day jaunt to the gay hot spots

 

We're feeling welcome

Superb first meal in Amsterdam cooked by Rogier

Francois and Rogier hosted us for 2 days in Amsterdam

Cycling around Amsterdam is the way to go

Hotel Armistad in Amsterdam where we stayed part of our stay there

The Berlin Bear took on new colours in the gay area

Thanks Mark and Mario for hosting us in Berlin

Berlin host Mario and Dave in a toast to friendship and a good meal

Dave hams it up in an attempt to climb a portion of the Berlin Wall at the museum

As a brotherly pledge to work towards the demolishion of the Berlin Wall in 1989, Russian President Gorbochef gave his counterpart the famed kiss on the lips, now immortalised in a painting of the event on the remaining piece of the wall.

Dave and Llewellyn at the Brandenberg Gate at the entrance to the city of Berlin

In anticipation of Easter coming this weekend, the store displays everywhere were amazing

Hofbrauhaus

There was only one thing in someone's mind in the gay area after the snowfall

Even the angels in Berlin hae goaties and moustaches

Llewellyn was feeling at home with this orange mini, similar to the one he had last.

Jurgen in Berlin was the most helpful host with information about his city, gay life and simple things like menu translations where we had ground to a halt.

I would have loved to bring some gorgeous gay art back home, just the prices of everything were hectic for us poor South Africans.

Fraud Alert

Internet crime is on the increase and we are sad to report that a guest has paid money into an account that was furnished by email, thinking that the money was being paid to us.

The fraudster cleverly created a fake email that looked like it was coming from us although the name of the accountholder given as N.L.Phisi could perhaps have alerted the guest to the fact that this was not our guesthouse banking account.

Nevertheless the booking amount was paid to this account and the police and Fnb are investigating the fraud.

We wish to remind guests not to make payment of any amount to an account given, no matter how genuine it may seem, unless they have personally verified the account with either Llewellyn or myself (Dave). We also have credit card facilities at the guesthouse and payment can be made by credit card.

Our new secure internet payment gateway will also shortly be up and running for online bookings, so look out for this new development, improving the way we interact with our valued guests.

Fun weekend

We had a fun weekend in the Durban surrounds this weekend and discovered a new place for our guests to visit when coming to this part of the world. ..1000 hills chef school and micro-craft-brewery.

They make over 10 labels and we did a beer tasting, rating each of the beers and choosing the best. We also bought a few of the beers for the guesthouse bar and for our guests to try. The brewery joins a growing number of new micro-breweries that are springing up and our verdict was excellent.

The chef school and brewery is just 45kms west of Durban nestled in the 1000 hills area - truly spectacular and worth a visit. We also had lunch there, cooked by the chefs in training and the cheeses, pickles and salami were all made there.. yummy and a great find.