Gap Year Experiences

The Lions Begin

Sunday 14 June 2009

The group arrived bleary eyed but itching with excitement after twelve months of anticipation yesterday morning at Cape Town International. The flight by all accounts was fairly festive with BA running out of beers 30 minutes in. After a welcome Pepper-shot ceremony on Signal Hill overlooking Cape Town we moved to Hudson a trendy new burger bar, for brunch and a few welcome speeches and a drink or two.

3pm kick off at Newlands Stadium saw Western Province putting up a worryingly good fight against the Lions. It came down to the final moments with the Lions kicking a penalty to secure a tight 26-23 victory. Although it was a warm up game atmosphere was awesome and the Lions supporters were in full flow with the traditional anthems! A great sign of the things to come when we get to the test matches from next weekend.

Most of the group had not stepped foot in South Africa before so meat was next on the agenda. We had an amazing dinner at a traditional steak restaurant near the stadium, with people actually coming through from the bar to stand around and watch the guys give the 4 British national anthems very respectable reditions. This was followed by a night out at one of the local areas best night clubs. When we left the group, things were still going very strong so its going to be interseting to hear the stories from last night when we fetch them in 20 minutes for a day out around the Cape Peninsula. All in all day one was a great start to the tour and the next 2 weeks promise some very good times!

Doug, Pip, Johnny and Vince