Ok so the subject line was ‘click-bait’ but ‘Phil travels to South Africa’ isn’t going to inspire as many people to click on the link….
As I plan to shortly leave Australia for the Philippines for the 2018 Worlds Strongest Man competition, I thought it would be good to look back on my travels to date this year, and specifically my January trip to South Africa.
Flying into South Africa, I had inadvertently forgot to book a seat which was exit or window, but rather was the second seat in of the middle 4 seats on the plane, “great”. Fortunately though I had one small woman on each side, which meant i actually had some space to breathe..phew.
We landed in Johannesburg, however I had messed up the connection times and realised that there was only 30 mins to get from this plane, retrieve my luggage and get it on the next plane. Normally I plan better, but this trip had only been planned 2 weeks before as i sat mulling over my Eggs Benedict with Bacon and an extra side of Bacon, thinking what am I going to do for two weeks why my two children go away camping with their mum. So this was flying by the seat of my pants, almost literally..
So to cut a long story (well a paragraph) short, I left my suitcase in Johannesburg as I merrily flew on a plane with a taped together arm rest to Cape Town. The adventure had definitely started.
That night I was picked up the airport by my host, however to paraphrase the bible ” there was no room at the inn” that night. So my host found me a suitable stable to rest my weary head in, well it was a house, but i was so tired i could have been surrounded by animals and wouldn’t have known.
I had been told how ‘dangerous’ South Africa was, and my host told me that he would pick me up from my temporary stable, and bring me back to the guesthouse. In my head this meant, don’t walk outside Phil it’s way too dangerous. So I daringly opened the door slowly and suddenly i saw an old lady walking her dog down the road.. was she completely mad…. Then I saw a lady jogging past… is she mental too. Then slowly i realised that perhaps where i was staying, wasn’t as bad as the stories i had been told. (Not discounting that South Africa can be a very dangerous in some places.) So i walked the 500m to the guest house, feeling really tough.
OK so lets speed this story up, otherwise i could go into the I brushed my teeth, and then put gel in my hair and then had my breakfast, sort of drab writing style, that was so beautifully done in a letter from a penfriend from Italy circa 1980’s, of which letter i never ever finished reading, due to its incredibly sleep worthy content obviously used for the writer to learn English rather than for the recipient (me) to enjoy reading. Ok that was a paragraph i could have saved you from reading….by not typing it. Oh well…
So i stayed in a place called Melkbosstrand, ironically where the English invaded, because they feared the French were going to take over the dutch colony, and they quite simply couldn’t have that, could they…
In this lovely seaside town, I met Andre Englebrecht a Navy Diver, and Strongman. He was fizzing with energy and i found him and his story of beating the bullies as he grew up totally inspiring. (look on Strongheart TV for the interviews) Him and his lovely wife had driven a couple of hours to see me, and that was really awesome.
I also met up with Liesl Schoonraad,( click on name for the Strongheart TV interview) who has completed feats of strength and stamina, and loves the sport of strongman, she was a dynamic woman on a mission, and a great supporter of what we are doing at Strongheart TV.
Cape Town is a beautiful city and I loved spending time on the waterfront, going around the Springbok museum and going up the Cable Car to Table Mountain. Magnificient… Going around in Ubers, I met a range of Zimbabweans, Congolese and South African drivers, I love finding out about their countries and their stories, maybe Uberheart TV.. Umm, might put that one on ice for a while..
After Cape Town I flew back to Johannesburg, (my luggage and I had been reunited a day after I had go to Cape Town) and was met by the immense South African Strongman and good friend Gerhard Van Staden, ( click on name for the Strongheart TV interview) same height as me, but packing 70kg more mass…. like me carrying a soccer player around… Gerhard told me we had to do a little bit of driving before going back to his farm where i would be staying. 300km later and alot wiser about the man himself, we got back to his farm.
My dad used to work on a farm, and i think of farm with the traditional Cows, Horses, Sheep, Pigs sort of picture in my mind.. Not the Gerhard version with Lions, Siberian Tigers, 50 plus Timber Wolves, Donkeys, Emu’s, Peacocks, Meerkats, Mongooses, Warthogs etc… This was definitely a different sort of farm…but it was very very cool.. and I almost forgot the large African Tortoises, which had the capability of being very effective speedbumps for stopping cars, as South African Strongwoman Geraldine Lee Van Aswegen found out.. (Tortoise was safely removed unharmed)
I thank Gerhard and his wife Monique for their wonderful hospitality, it was a crazy amazing adventure. Crazy like having a Siberian Tiger snarling at you from 5 metres away, with no barrier inbetween…. strange i got ‘camera shake’ as i filmed it 🙂 Amazing in driving around this beautiful country and meeting awesome people.
I met three of South Africa’s Strongest Women at a shopping centre, the aforementioned Tortoise lady Geraldine, who spoke English to me when I was swaddled in a flurry of afrikaans, where only the swear words I understood. Meeting Xena Botha was lovely, an ex female Springbok rugby player turned strongwoman, a lady determined to prove what she is capable of, regardless of the negativity of some of the people close to her. Brendali Theron, another top strongwoman was a smiling lady on a mission.
Gerhard also arranged for me to interview Wayne Price who runs Arnolds Africa. There are some people you meet who have a presence about them and Wayne had a really warm friendly one. A former worlds strongest man competitor, who had twisted the arm of the WSM organisers to give him an invite as some people in the country had been saying he was the strongest man in the world. The WSM organisers said he wasn’t, but were happy to let him come and prove himself at the WSM competition, which Wayne had wanted to just compete in anyway. Sadly he didn’t win, but he had a great time in the sport, before going back to bodybuilding.
I loved South Africa and i will definitely go back, if not for the people, for the biltong at every shop, loved it.
South Africa I thank-you..
