Today is #MarketFriday and this will be the second time for me to post in this community.
In general, I avoid going to shops or any markets because I don't really enjoy being in crowds. But I've seen some of the #MarketFriday posts which caught my attention and I realized it doesn't have to be about shops or the traditional "market place" which I tend to associate with rushing around within a crowd, doing cold, hard business. Okay...maybe some of you enjoy shopping...but I guess you realize by now...I don't...lol.
But reading some #MarketFriday posts, I started to realize that the posts in this community are more about having the freedom to move around, having fun, and visiting interesting places.
I recall a post by @dswigle that I have read, where she asked "If you had $10.00 in your pocket, what would you be able to do with it?"
Well, today is #MarketFriday, a project initiated by @dswigle! And I decided to take part in this project today by doing a post about spending some time while having fun in Durban. If you would like to participate in this project, you can read more about the rules in this week's post by @dswigle.
For today's post, I took a look at various places where I have taken some photos in the past. But these are places that I would like to visit in the near future and spend some money to actually enjoy some of the activities.
Let's start just below Wilson's Wharf, in the Durban Harbor area.
Here we find the Port Natal Maritime Museum. We visited this museum many years ago when both our daughters were still in the house. Today they both are married and have children of their own. So maybe it's time to start thinking about taking the grandchildren on the same outing.
Although they are not on the water, you can physically get onto some real boats and go inside to see what it looks like...even down to the engine rooms.
At the time of writing this post, the USD/ZAR exchange rate is $1.00 = R17.7766
The cost to enter the Maritime Museum would be:
- R10.00 per person ($0.56 per person).
- R5.00 for children - 6 to 12 years old. ($0.28 per child)
Our oldest granddaughter is 5 years old and our grandson is 3 years old, while our youngest granddaughter is only 5 months old (she will still be a bit young to understand or enjoy this outing...lol). But that means our grandchildren will still be able to enter at no cost.
That means it would be $0.56 per person for my wife and me to go in. It will currently cost us nothing to take the grandkids in.
The museum is nothing spectacular from the outside and if you don't know about it, it might even be easy to miss it.
Yet, it's very interesting and educational...and lot's of fun for the little ones.
From there, we move on to the water canals on the Point Waterfront.
Here, the cost would be:
- R100.00 per person for a 30-minute cruise ($5.62 per person).
- R80.00 for children of 3 years old and older ($4.50 per child)
You can choose to go on your own with a paddle boat or to be taken on a cruise on a gondola boat (seen in the photo below),
...or bigger motorized boats for bigger groups (which can be seen in the next photo).
Here are some photos of people just relaxing and having a good time on some of the paddle boats at various spots on the canals.
From the boats on the canals, we move up along the Marine Parade along the Durban Beachfront, towards Mini Town.
This is a miniature replica of some of the popular/well-known landmarks of Durban.
To enter Mini Town, we are looking at the following rates:
- R40.00 per person ($2.25 per person)
- R30.00 per child - 2 to 13 years ($1.69 per child).
While being out on a walk in the garden behind Mini Town, I was able to get a "sneak peak" over the fence and I took some photos just to give you an idea of what you can expect to experience when going into Mini Town. It is on the agenda to take the grandkids for an outing into Mini Town. I will then take proper photos inside and share those too.
There is a replica area of the harbor, with boats actually moving around on the water.
There is also a replica of the sugar mill in Durban.
Although in real life, the airport is not next to the sugar mill (it is actually just north of Umhlanga Rocks), in Mini Town, the airport is also shown here (but next to the sugar mill...lol), with the one airplane (to the far left) moving around.
So, if I had $10.00 with me, I would be able to pay for myself, my wife, and the 2 older grandkids for a visit to both Mini Town and the Port Natal Maritime Museum with about $9.00 and still have $1.00 change.
Going on a cruise on the canals, I would be able to pay for a cruise for me and my wife, for just over $10.00. I'll need another $10.00 if we want to take the grandkids with us on the canals.
And that's it for today, folks. Thank you for reading my post! I do appreciate it!