The trip over and Jo'Berg

We left Sydney at 3pm on SQ to SIN, then a 4 hour layover which became 5 hours when our SQ flight to JNB was delayed. We arrived around 6:40am local time on Thursday Sept 12. The airport was very quiet and we breezed through C&I, picked up some RAND and found our pre-booked car and driver and were on the road to our hotel about 7:30am. The traffic was bumper to bumper and it took over an hour to reach the Marriott at Melrose Arch - a gated community in Jo'berg full of eclectic and brand name shops, hotels, restaurants and apartments.

We had advised our hotel of our early arrived and we only had a 30 minute wait for our room which we spent in the Club Lounge having a light breakfast. We were quite zapped after our marathon trip so unpacked and settled in then went for a walk around Melrose Arch - it was a real eye opener - you would not know you were in Jo'berg ..... We vegged out for a few more hours then hit happy hour at the lounge.

We did not do much in Jo'berg except recover from jet-lag. We booked a half-day city group tour which turned out to be a private tour. It included a one-hour tour of the famous (infamous really) jail where Nelson Mandela and Ghandi were imprisoned. The conditions were totally shocking. We then drove through the city center with a few more stops - clearly the CBD is to be avoided by tourists - essentially the place is crumbling.