We checked out of the Nooitgedacht Lodge this morning at 4:30 AM and drove to Dullstroom for a 7 AM check in at the Dunkeld Equestrian Estate where we will stay for the remainder of our time here in South Africa. It’s a stunningly beautiful place with zebra, bless buck and more running freely through the massive property. This is where all the teams competing in the World Masters Fly Fishing Championships will be lodging.
After the early check in we boarded a bus for Johannesburg. The Master’s Fly Fishing isn’t the only fishing tournament going on in South Africa. There’s actually 19 types of fishing from our trout fly fishing venue to carp to big game ocean fishing competing and it includes more than 50 countries. The massive event is called the Sport Fishing World Games and we kicked it off in an Olympics style celebration.
Traveling all the way to Johannesburg was a long way to go but if you’re in this thing you need to be at the shindigs. The 3 hour each way bus ride made a stop on the way there and a stop on the way home. Our manager/sponsor, Jerry Arnold, made it fun for us by buying us Magnum ice creams for the morning ride in and beers for the afternoon ride home.
We were pretty dang tired after the round trip to Johannesburg. We didn’t get back to the hotel until around 7 PM. Then we had to go to an opening Masters Fly Fishing dinner. It was a great time and I caught up with many of my international pals from other countries that I’ve competed against for years.
We’re all absolutely exhausted. Fortunately for us, all we do tomorrow is a much smaller opening ceremony that includes a parade march through Dullstroom and we’ll draw for our competition fishing beats. No long drives and we don’t need to get up at 4:30 AM!
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