On Monday morning, I headed to the airport, Johannesburg bound.The water crisis in Cape Town is something I’m aware of every day, but to see it from a birds eye view was pretty depressing. Desert by the sea. To see the contrast of dry Cape Town and green Johannesburg was startling.

Green JHB:

Gareth from Clockwork Media was waiting for me and another CT journalist Thinus, at OR Tambo…

We were whisked off to our hotel, The Wanderers Hotel. The room wasn’t ready yet, so I headed down to the pool area where I enjoyed a Beef Carpaccio, sparkling water and went over my notes for MCing later that evening.

I was collected shortly after that and taken to The Venue, Melrose Arch where we did a sound check, a quick run through of some technical matters and then I went into make-up with BK. She is amazing!

Got dressed in the shared backstage area…

I had been looking for a stylist to help me source a dress… and I was horribly let down. Luckily I had managed to find this LBD last minute, from Woolworths.

So funny story… when I was interviewed by Kat Sinivasan from E! Entertainment, I was asked who I am wearing! I couldn’t say it was some designer… so I kept it real and said: “Woolies!” We had such a laugh because I’m pretty sure no one has ever mentioned that on E! red carpet before. I also mentioned that my earrings are by Cara Lee,  which I had purchased earlier that week.

Straight after the red carpet, I went backstage and got my Madonna Mic put on and it was SHOW TIME!

We got to watch Colony, before it screened on TV – exclusive to Universal Channel (DSTV 117) on Monday nights, 8pm. What a show! I’m really excited to see the 10-episode season 1. The great thing is that once Season 1 finishes, there is no waiting, because Season 2 starts straight away!

After we watched the episode, I went back onto stage and surprised everyone by Skyping into Lisbon. Sitting on the other side of the screen, was actress Sarah Wayne Callies. You’ll recognised her from The Walking Dead, Prison Break and now Colony. The media had an opportunity to do a live Q&A with her. Isn’t technology great, sometimes?

Afterwards, we enjoyed canapés and drinks, plus I got to catch up with friends, like Gina 🙂

E! Entertainment’s Atlanta WAG Serenity Ward was also at the event… A few of us were loving her Gucci handbag, which I joked that I should have since it has a bee for me “B” on it. In her southern accent she said: “Oh honey, have it!”

Oh and for the record, I didn’t take it. Obviously. 

The whole team at Clockwork Media was a breath of fresh air to work with. They were so accommodating, so professional and so much fun! They even sent me Thank You flowers, which were waiting for me in Cape Town when I arrived back.

After the event, my Dad came to Melrose Arch and we had a quick bite to eat together. It was great to see him after all this time! Sadly my Mom wasn’t feeling too well to come with.

I got back to the hotel at 22:30 and looked at the bath. With our severe water crisis and water restrictions, I haven’t had a shower longer than 2 minutes in over a year and I definitely haven’t had a bath in almost 2 years. The funny thing is, as appealing as it was to have one, I actually couldn’t. I knew I would enjoy it, but the thought of pulling the plug and watching litres and litres of water go down the drain killed me. I just couldn’t be so wasteful. I did have a 10 minute shower, which was bliss, but I still switched the water off while I was soaping myself. My mindset has completely changed and I don’t think I’ll ever go back to being wasteful. This crisis has opened my eyes as to how wasteful I used to be and it wasn’t done on purpose, it was just not having the knowledge. Knowledge is power now.

I was so excited to get a full night sleep and not waking up to feed Georgie (who still isn’t sleeping through)… instead, I woke up with calf cramps and foot cramps. How annoying. I didn’t even get cramps when I was pregnant! Sigh…

My alarm went off at 6am and we were in the shuttle to OR Tambo at 6:30.

It was such a fun trip. Thank you again Clockwork Media and NBC Universal’s Universal Channel for having me host your amazing event.