First up it's no exaggeration to say that this is a football obsessed country that has gone completely football mad for the World Cup. Every business is dressed in flags from big businesses to small outlets - even a women's hairdressers we passed his morning had the football on their TV sets as a backdrop to the frenzied blow-drying taking place. Most street corners (including freeways!) have opportunistic local salesmen selling flags, car flags and vuvuzelas. They've clearly done a roaring trade as every car is dressed with a South African flag as a bare minimum and generally a second flag of a second nation based on where their extended loyalties lie. A new addition to the public displays of football affection are natty little car accessories that can only be described as wing mirror socks - elasticated national flags that sit snugly around the wing mirrors displaying your allegiance to the on-coming traffic. As we've made our way to matches in our coaches ever car, bus and truck toots their horn with big thumbs up and smiles all round.

As we drive through the suburbs you notice that rather than a high street set up most have their own multi-purpose shopping/eating/drinking centres which are security patrolled and perfectly safe. A constant reminder of the reality of life in South Africa is ever-present with even the most modest of dwellings upwards sporting combinations of razor wire, electric fences, security cameras and very visible "Property Protected by Armed Response" signs and most properties having all of the above. We've heard the odd story of people being mugged however they appear to have always been alone and not in one of the aforementioned public places. You need to use your common sense, avoid being alone wherever possible especially at night and don't head to places where you're obviously going to display you don't belong or know where you are. Employing these most basic of safety precautions should ensure your stay in South Africa is incident free.

The gap between the haves and the have-nots is predictably obvious but football is the game owned by the black South Africans and this feels like their time in the spotlight and they seem determined to enjoy it and make sure everyone else does to. The support for Bafana Bafana is universal and genuinely seems to have unified the whole of South Africa behind the football team. It really would be a great reward for the people if they could make it out of the group and progress to the knockout stages. The atmosphere created in the stadiums by the vuvuzelas is totally unique to South Africa and as such I firmly believe any talk of banning them should be ignored. This is South Africa's World Cup...this is how they support their football and it should stay as it is. It's not like this is a gimmick for this tournament alone. They are a permanent fixture at any game of football in South Africa and as we experienced at Soccer City provide a surreal back drop to a game of football. Personally I find them far less offensive than the Mexican wave at a football match.

The build up to this World Cup was continually questioning South Africa's readiness to host the tournament and on the ground here it's clear those doubts were well founded. The stadiums are complete and in Soccer City and the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban I feel lucky to have visited to genuinely world class football arenas. However, the surrounding areas feel unfinished and with little by way of public transport infrastructure fans are bussed in and out of the stadiums and the roadways leading to stadiums seem ill-equipped to cope with such a high volume of traffic. That is causing major headaches for fans and for FIFA with journeys to and from stadiums taking far longer than expected. We're getting to stadiums very early to avoid this and every stadium has a protected security zone ringing each stadium at which you must produce a match ticket then you progress into the stadium precincts where there are bars and the ever present sponsor activation areas. Food and drink at the stadium is reasonably priced (for us at least) with a beer (plastic bottle of Budweiser only) costing $5 and a packet of Biltong - the essential football snack of dried, cured strips of beef here - costing the same. One of the downsides of people arriving very early was that at both the England and Australia games the bar has first run out of cold beer early on in the piece and by half time or early in the second half run out completely.

Eating out in South Africa is a meat lover's paradise with high quality steaks costing around $15 at a decent restaurant and beers around $4-5 at a restaurant or $2 each at a bottle shop. This makes for the World Cup being a very affordable experience for Aussie fans and not feeling like you have to live like a backpacker on emergency rations for fear of blowing the tour budget on the odd night out.

Four days in I can wholeheartedly say the wide spread scare mongering was misplaced, football fans are not being indiscriminately murdered on a daily basis - far from it, they are being welcomed at every turn - and a basic awareness for your own personal safety is enough to ensure a thoroughly unique and immensely enjoyable experience.

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