Post 16 Netball Tour of South Africa 2011
After years of playing Netball for Ashton Park from Year 7 upwards, they girls made it to 6th form. It was then they were promised a spectacular tour! And spectacular they got…….
The tour was over a year in planning and a trip to South Africa costs quite a bit of pocket money, so a fundraising plan of action was put in place! We were……. Bag packing, running raffles, selling Krispy Kreme’s, ran endless evening events, car washing….. the list goes on, but we hit our fundraising total and in April we were off for 10 days.
Our first stop was Johannesburg, to Konka Camp an adventure centre about 2 hours east of the City. Our first 2 days included kayaking, bridge jumping, low ropes course, challenging obstacle course, wall climbing, swimming……………. more bridge jumping, raft building, a Zip line into the river and finishing off with roasting marshmallows over a fire! It was a great way to start off the trip and spend some time together ‘just the girls’.
Next 2 days took us South for Safari….Well we thought Konka was paradise….. Mabula was heaven!!! We felt like we are all on honeymoon together. The food was ‘divine’, trying delicacies such as Eland and Crocodile Kebabs!! But the key attraction was the safari – never before has it been so easy getting 12 teenagers out of bed at 6am!! Elephants, giraffes, impala, Pumba’s, Rhino’s, jekyells, zebra, hippos, crocodiles, buffalo, lions…………….. the list goes on.
Our remainder of the trip was spent in Cape Town. Which included trips to beautiful beaches, Houts Bay for a trip to Seal Island, Simon’s Town and Boulders Beach to see the penguin colony, seeing the most amazing view from Table Mountain, and taking a speed boat trip around the harbour and bays. We had a very busy time!!
One of the best, most memorable and humbling day of the trip in Cape Town was our visit to Langa, the oldest township just outside the City. It was an extremely emotional experience. We toured some of the township, seeing the houses that some families lived in and the level of poverty that they face. We played football in the streets and gave piggy backs to the children and even had our own fan club on the side line of our final game.
Oh yes, nearly forgot to mention the Netball matches!!
The standard was very high and was great for our team to be pushed and challenged in every position. Out of our 4 games we Won 2, lost 2. The heat was a large factor in our loses, playing in 30+ degrees. However it has only helped us improve and expand our playing experiences.