In from the Polish cold

Welcome to our Guests Gerhard and Jacques (pink left!) who have been cruising on the Sinfonia's Rainbow cruise this weekend, as well as Guests from Poland Roman and Valdi, seen here with Guesthouse co-owner Llewellyn (right).

In the smaller photo Valdi who is presently working and living in Dublin, Ireland, comes from the city of Bielsko-Biala in Poland and they are soaking up the glorius sunshine in Durban before heading back to the cold. Guesthouse co-owner Dave is also in the photo with Valdi.

Durban boyz at CT Pride 2010

We managed to snatch a weekend away for Cape Town's 2010 Pride and took part in the march from the gay village to the city centre and back on Saturday.

Here I am in the top photo (centre) with two local boyz in the parade, in the second photo the hot boyz from Bronx (see Youtube video clip) carried the rainbow flag and in the bottom photo Llewellyn (Guesthouse co-owner) shows the view from The Decks where we stayed in Sea Point.

The speeches at Pride decried the recent trend elsewhere in Africa to tighten anti-gay laws with action against gay and lesbians.

Cruising in Durban

Our Guesthouse is a great starting-off or stop-off venue if you're booked on one of the cruises which leave Durban harbour for the Mocambique coast.

Here's Johan, Christof, Emile, Llewellyn (Guesthouse co-owner) and Riaan who had a party second-to-none the night before the cruise... we actually felt sorry for them getting on to the boat after a night of revellry with us!!

I am sure neighbours could also hear the pounding of the piano from the talented guests who were raising the roof after a few (!@) drinks. Amazing voices!

I hope the cruise was awesome too guys; come visit soon. Dave

30 years together

Meet the Cape Town bois who came to visit the Guesthouse this weekend.

Philip (top left) celebrated his 50th birthday at the Guesthouse whetting his appetite for a 5 day cruise on the Sinfonia followed by another 2 nights back at the Guesthouse.

Philip and Max (top back) have been together 30 years, which means when they met they were 20 and 27 years old respectively - great going guys, it's an inspiration to us all.

Also in the photos are Cornelius and Enzo, from Cape Town as well who co-incidentally were also off on the same Sinfonia cruise along with other 2 other guests. So it was great for them all to meet here beforehand and get to know each other.

In the 2nd photo is Guesthouse co-owner Llewellyn (middle) sharing a toast with the guests at the Guesthouse Pub which we have recently decorated with some 2010 souvrenirs for the World Cup Football which gets going in South Africa in 100 days.

We also enjoyed a fantastic celebration dinner out at Harvey's Durban's top and famous restaurant just up the road from the Guesthouse.

Amsterdam rocks

We have just got back from a trip skiing in Bulgaria, followed by an awesome few days in Amsterdam... plenty to do and see for gay guys here...

Check out the link to Cockring, one of the better clubs we went to as well as Church, which looked inviting but did not get a chance to visit. Anyone been there who can share a comment or experience?

Hearty Durban Welcome

A Durban welcome to Guests Stephan from Munich (left) and Michael from Pensylvania (middle) with friend Michael (right) and in the smaller pictures Lucy from South Korea and Michael enjoying a hubbly bubbly and braai (barbeque) at the Guesthouse this weekend.

Nelson on the up...

Our good friend and regular Guest Nelson Clemente has been chosen by Windows 7 to possibly be awarded a Studio session for an album.. to qualify he needs as many people to download free his track re-mix "90 days" off this site.

Just click on the link above, select Current Contenders, then scroll down until you find his "90 Days" track and follow the free download instructions.

Nelson is a talented musician, composer and singer and his music is definitely on the way up. Good luck Nelson.

Time out to the Beach

After a house load full of Guests for Christmas and New Year we took time out this week with the kids to the beach at Scottburgh.. our favourite camping spot just a short distance down the south coast.

In the pics are (clockwise) Dave's kids Mark and Kate-lynn, and Llewellyn's kids Caitlin, Calvin and Lauren with us.

In the second pic Dave holds a little crab which he picked up dashing around the sand.

Rubic's Cube 21st

Dave gets ready for daughter Kate-Lynn's 21st Birthday with a Rubic's Cube theme... everyone needs to dress in the 6 colours of the cube then swop clothing with other guests to end up all one colour. Should be loads of fun.

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.