A few photos of The Sicknotes' South African Adventure for your perusal...

Zulu village in the Valley of the 1000 Hills, Kwazulu-Natal, Xmas Eve.

The old Medicine Man (they reckon he was over 80) dishing out some love potions.

The local kids treated us to traditional dancing. Then it was our turn to dance. I gave them a taste of (well my version of) a Highland Fling much to their amusement. Here's Gilly's turn... not bad for a ex-champion Highland dancer. Where were the swords though?

Very inquisitive kid and mother. No men to be seen that day as they were apparently all hungover from too much local brew the night before.

Down on the prom on Christmas day.

Big surf and warm water makes Durban Africa's very own surfers' paradise.

Lunch on day 1 of the Durban test. They would let you onto the ground at lunchtime. So a chance to have a peek at the wicket.

More lunchtime practice for locals and tourists alike

A walking advert for the merits of beer and braai'd boerwerst. Now there's a philosophy I can subscribe too.

Yes that is an England flag Miss Swan is draped in. In her defence it was to stop the legs getting fried.

An ol friend from Oz... Vic "Jimmy Saville" Flowers. Yes that man in the hat you see on the telly all the time. Catalyst of the singing you always here in the after Tea session. One song... he's only got one song... they sing to him.

Typical BA scene after tea... and one not amused Scotswoman amongst it all.

And the Army in full cry. In the cheap seats in the open in which you got roasted from the heat and humidity of Durban.

So we moved to the shade of the Castle Lager Tent end where Gilly was much happier spying on Harmieson's or Jones' butts in the field...

Harmieson digs it in at Kallis (I think). Kallis was simply a run-machine.

Polly to Tresco during that enormous stand with Strauss which made the locals eat their words.

Side on view. In the end a draw because of bad light when we almost forced a win. It was gloomy though. But having been 191 runs in deficit at the end of Day 2 we would have taken that.

Down at the Victoria and Albert waterfront in Cape Town - a successful regeneration project of the old docklands - now home to huge shopping malls and many restaurants and bars. Still a working port though. The obligatory sunset champagne cruise was taken from here.

Mamma Africa restaurant's glorious facade. Great live music but no so great food. Tried some Cape Malay food with was a mix of spicey mince with a sort of egg custard crust topping. Belly was unsure of this mix of savoury and sweet. Gilly's steak was not much better. The street vendor's sizzling boerwerst might have been a better bet.

"Jimmy Saville" in full cry at Newlands... "Everywhere we go-oh..."

The much under-used (why?) Simon Jones.

"Ashley Giles...Ashley Giles...Ashley Giles is the King of Spain". They sang. They even brough a Spanish flag with them. Not sure the locals quite got it.

Another 100 for Kallis as he bats England out of the game.

View from the top of Cape Town's Table Mountain. Thankfully we went up on day 4 of the test - luckily because the day after the test finished, when many England fans might have planned to go up, saw low cloud all day!

A thoughtful Mrs Sicknote watches the mist swirl in the distance.

View from Table Mountain down to Newlands. Things going pair shaped for England down there.

After a longer than expected walk around the Table top (without any water, d'oh) we head back to the cable car. En route a view back down to the city bowl and CBD of Cape Town and the Lion's Head peak. Robben Island (the Mandela prison island) is in the distance. Tours to it were booked up long time in advance.

Mr Line and Length Pollock in action as South Africa close in on the kill against an insipid (or knackered from the heat and humidity of Durban) England.

Another for the Mufs Club Kit Catalogue.

The Castle Lager doesn't have to travel far... brewery across the railway.

Can't be many grounds more picturesque than Newlands. Did someone say Fauldhouse, Muirhouse...?

A spot of luxury (and air-con!) after all the backpackers. The Winchester Gardens Hotel. This was a lovely place (except the cold breakfasts!)

However, the dinner we had later on in the courtyard was magnificent and probably the best nosh we had all trip. Medallions of Impala... or was it Kudu. Something deer-like anyway. And a lovely bit of linefish for Gilly.

Very pretty down at Camps Bay and Clfton Bay with the 12 Apostoles in the background, as the peaks are known. Only the brave go swimming as the current comes up from the Antartic.

After the cricket had finished, next day we took a trip out into the Cape Penisula, very pretty like here at Houks Bay where you can go whale watching in the right season.

Do not feed this savage beasty (at Cape Point).

The tour took us on to Boulders Beach where there is this penguin sanctury. Very cute. In the afternoon it was time to cram a trip to the Cape wine cellars in Paarl and Stellenbosch for some tastings. More pinotage dahling, wot wot?

The Bambooza bar at Nomads Backpackers, Durban. Lovely staff and family who owned the place - generally spaced out most of the time! A really entertaining and laid back place to stay. This was our return visit to Nomads and Durban.

From Durban we then drove off to the magnificent and unspoilt Umfolozi-Hluhluwe game reserves in Kwazulu-Natal. A warthog eyes us up.

A White Rhino... distinguished from the rarer Black Rhino by their bigger, squarer head and thick muscley neck to support this. And that they are more docile, thankfully.

Plenty of Zebra to be seen

And even more Impala.

Some buffalo take it easy.

A giraffe on the move. A very inquisitive and graceful animal. But looks right wierd when walking.

More Rhino and piggy-backing friends at the waterhole.

More Zebra.

In Umfolozi we came across this migrating herd of elephants - was about 20 or so of them. Having been on a night-drive the evening before and experiencing a pissed-off elephant charging then we were a little more wary than we might have otherwise been - particularly with the baby elephants and protective mothers'around! Not to be messed with.

A pack of hyena.

Even more impala.

And even more rhino. Watch where you are sticking that horn, mate.

And another zebra.

The big cats in the park were pretty elusive except for this particularly savage beasty. All in all the Umfolozi-Hluhluwe game reserve had to be the highpoint of the whole trip, cheers Clayton for the tip!! Must do this again some day. After the reserve there was one last night in Durban and then the flight home to freezin ol' Blighty.