Robben Island

OMG - what a day.  Beautiful sunshine and a pleasant high of 29 degrees.
Another hearty breakfast and off to catch the 9.00am ferry to Robben Island.  We then transferred by coach for the first half of our tour.  We saw the only building left after it was primarily a leper colony.  We saw the limestone quarry where the political prisoners used to work.  In fact, with the intense sun reflecting off the limestone, Nelson Mandela had to have an eye operation after his release and no one was allowed to take flash photography of him.
Robben Island is now inhabited by 200 villagers - it's 12km from Cape Town and the island is 12km long.
Mandela was imprisoned there from 1964 to 1982 and our guide who showed us round the prison was an inmate with him in 1981.  All tour guides are previous inmates.  It was also whilst on Robben Island that Mandela wrote Long Walk to Freedom.  The pages of his book were smuggled out in photo albums!
I could have spent so much more time there - so interesting and thought provoking.
Back on the boat for 12.00 which actually didn't leave until 12.20 (had to refuel).  Merrily  sailing along with Cape Town in full view and suddenly the captain does an about turn and is heading back for Robben Island.  We had a coach to catch at 1.30 to get us to Gardenia Primary School by 2.00 and the match was due to start at 3.00.  Apparently there were 20people who had missed the boat hence our about turn.  But no - we had Dean Wann on our side.  He boldly goes where no man has been before and tells the Captain we don't care about 20 people left on Robben Island we were more interested in 30 boys who were going to miss their game of rugby and football!  A radio call later to his boss and we turned around and headed back to Cape Town.  An hour late we stuffed KFC/McDonalds down our throats and then made our way to Gardenia Primary School.  Unfortunately we arrived too late to go into the school but we were saw all  the young children with Welcome Lochinver signs in the street outside the school.  The actual playing fields were a 4 minute drive away.

When we arrived we were greeted by young children running up to us - what a fantastic sight.

First up was the Rugby - A's vs Gardenia

Coachs Verdict
Another hot day, another big pitch but Lochihughs's ran out comfortable winners  24-5.  We tackled well enough and moved the ball when we were able to do so.  The opposition tackled hard and one or two of our boys suffered knocks but nothing too serious.  Charles LC - head and Charles W - hand.
Against the upcoming sides we will need to improve our ball retention in contact and our decision making.  Men of the match - Harrison Berger and George Fishpool (Harry & Fishy).

The 2nd team then played soccer with Gardenia.

Coach's Analysis
Fanzone Danny Barth
11 rugby boys were delighted by the fact that that they had to ditch the oval ball for a round one this afternoon.  Delighted being used very loosely, as they stated continuously, "It's a rugby tour, sir!"
The boys played against a good side  and although working very hard lost 8-1.  Good efforts by all involved, back to the 15-a side from here on!!

I must also mention here that both rugby ad football were played barefoot.  Not an easy task.

After the rugby and football we were treated to an extraordinary reception by the school.  They presented us with gifts of wine (with commemorative labels) and personalised medals  It was so humbling - I'm such a wimp - had to have a cry!

Back home to hotel with an hour to wash and make ourselves look lovely, again.  Off to Mama Africa for traditional African fare.  I had crocodile kebabs followed by Sprinbok (medium rare).

The band was playing and the boys were itching to show their moves!  It was a great evening and great fun was had by all.

On the way home the party continued with a lot of singing -ooh ah, I wanna know, will you be my gal! What will they be singing in 5 years time on rugby tour???