Impressions of South Africa from an Australian Radio Announcer
I gotta say – South Africa is not a bad place for a holiday. The Aussie dollar went a long way. Let’s look at the good and the bad… The Good. Great service flying Qantas, food great etc etc The Bad. It was 14-hour flight and the guy in front of me was farting for 12 of […]
I gotta say – South Africa is not a bad place for a holiday. The Aussie dollar went a long way. Let’s look at the good and the bad…
The Good. Great service flying Qantas, food great etc etc
The Bad. It was 14-hour flight and the guy in front of me was farting for 12 of them.
The Food and Drink (in South Africa)
The Good. Dirt cheap and excellent quality. Main courses around $8 Aust. A Heineken set me back $2.50 a bottle. A Pina Colada Cocktail $3.50.
The Bad. There was no bad.
The People
Very friendly and welcoming, most South African households have hired help, someone to make the beds, vacuum, do the dishes etc. These people seemed to mainly come from Malawi, a nearby country that’s very poor, with not much work available to them
The Bad. They get paid around $2.50 an hour, some were begging on the street. One guy was selling paper boats to get some money. He was too proud to beg, and readily accepted our leftover meal with a big smile.
The Politics
The Good. The locals adore Nelson Mandela.
The Bad. They despise the current leader Jacob Zuma. What Mandela achieved after being released from jail this guy has undone in seven years. Which is pretty sad.
The Traffic
The Bad. It’s a nightmare, cars everywhere, horns a tooting, no one does the speed limit, everyone’s on their mobile, and the streets you think are one-way are actually two-way.
The Good. Out of all the above, no road rage. Everyone got along, somehow …lol.
The Shopping
The Good. Was great, plenty of shopping centres.
The Bad. Security everywhere, all houses had razor wire around them.
The Welfare Centres
The Good. Dropped off some baby clothes to a women’s refuge in Cape Town. They very much appreciated it.
The Bad. The government pays each child around a $1.50 in support a day!
The Australian Connection
The Good. I wore my [NRL team] South Sydney t-shirt a lot whilst over there, and I met Coach Michael Maguire in the urinal at Sydney Airport.
The Bad. No one recognised my cap or had heard of the mighty Bunnies, which broke my heart… However they had heard of Russell Crowe. That’s something I guess. Glory Glory.
So there you have it – my review on South Africa.
Check it out whilst you can. I was told another uprising is on the way. Let’s hope things get sorted quickly.
***
PETE BRANDTMAN is an Australian radio announcer for 2ST in New South Wales. Read his original post here – South Africa – My Journey etc etc etc, republished on SAPeople.com with Pete’s kind permission.