Day 8

We get the point, originally uploaded by simongman.

Departure days can be quite fraught, but today’s manoeuvre ran like clockwork. 38 boys and 4 staff packed all their baggage into the Hylton Ross coach whilst Mr Duncan and Mr Gardiner filled the hire car with rugby balls, blazers, camera equipment, 38 sets of rugby tops (ready to be washed after yesterday's match) and a chocolate cake for Ethan Harvey (Birthday today) all set off for the Cape Point Peninsular. At our first stop of the day Clifton Bay we managed to get a group photo of all the boys wearing the tour polo shirts sponsored by Lancashire Magazine, with a spectacular back drop of the South Atlantic and coast line. The coach then meandered southward stopping at Hout Bay where we boarded the “Calypso”, a boat trip out to a local Island where a large colony of seals were basking in the sun. Back on the road we travelled through the wine growing area of Constanatia then bypassed Muizenberg via the cliff road stopping at the Shark Patrol viewing point to take in the expansive view. We finaly arrived at the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve where we stopped for lunch. Having fuelled up we climbed up the hill to the Point Light House which provided us with some spectacular views of the sea mist crawling up and over the surrounding cliffs. Next stop was just a mile away and called for another photo call at the Cape of Good Hope where we watched the full force of the Atlantic waves crash into the Cape Peninsular. Finally we arrived at the boy’s hostel stop at Simon’s Town High School where we were warmly greeted and shown to their dormitories (16 to a room), then had their evening meal with the children and staff from the host school. Lights out at 10pm in readiness for the next match tomorrow afternoon.

I was lucky to locate a wireless hot spot in town tonight so logged on and completed yesterday's match photo uploads and blog. The previous night the President’s Internet was down and Flckr’s server was down first thing in the morning. The time it takes in preparing these blogs with editing and selecting photos then writing something worth reading has become a labour of love. Enough of that, it is 11pm and time for bed, this is your South African reporter signing off.

For more photos from today goto:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/simongman/sets/72157600588489291/