Fountains in Paarl

This really is a beautiful town, but if you travel the 60 kilometers from the city, don’t expect to be wowed by the main parts of town. Rather look to the pretty places off the main road and on the outskirts of town.

Mini road road trip

In case you’re planning a trip, perhaps it’s worth noting that Malmesbury isn’t really a town to visit on an outing – in my opinion. The town itself isn’t very pretty and rather the kind of town that one passes though when heading up the West Coast, or when going to places like Riebeek West, or Ceres.

Please, I’m looking for someone to disagree with me – so if you’re keen on Malmesbury, please do leave a comment to say why you love it. I’m just being honest when I say that although the countryside is extremely beautiful, I’ve never found the town very pleasant at all.

Cloudy-grey on Bottelary

The weather represented in the photo is actually in stalk contrast to the weather that we’ve been experiencing yesterday and today. In my next post I’ll show you just how great the weather that we’re having now is. After living here for so many years it’s still astonishing to me how quickly and drastically the weather conditions change in Cape Town.

The narrow road, not often travelled

I first walked among the graves at Stellenbosch cemetery, taking photos, but later discovered that this little road wasn’t only for official use, but was made for visitors to drive along – presumably because many people aren’t able to walk the steep incline to see the graves of their loved ones.

I hopped in my car and took a drive through the graveyard – it was a little eerie, I have to admit.

Autumn leaves at Stellenbosch cemetery

This place must have seen a great amount of sadness in its time but yet manages to be so beautiful. Isn’t autumn lovely?

Roadworks

The good thing about the stop/go system is that it forces us to pause in the midst of our rush to get somewhere. The bad thing about it is that 10 minutes can make all the difference when you’re late for an important meeting. (Which we fortunately were not.)

Take a moment to pause your day… visit donothingfor2minutes.com.

Pedestrians are walking

This particular interchange always use to be a difficult crossing for pedestrians – but that was before the city received a makeover in preparation for the football World Cup in 2010. The pedestrian bridge (which you’re able to see a part of on the right side of the photo) as well as the well-marked pedestrian crossing make it far easier that it use to be to cross the Buitengraght double carriageway.

If you visit the Google Map for this location – you’ll notice that the satellite image doesn’t show the bridge. If you then switch to StreetView you’ll discover that depending on where you’re positioned the bridge appears and disappears (showing that the various StreetView photos were taken some time apart).

If you read this article (and click on the links to StreetView) months or years after January 2011 you may not see the difference in StreetView – Google may have sent the little StreetView buggy around to update it’s records. Sorry about that!

Sunset road

Perhaps it doesn’t look that way from this angle, but the roads in this area are so narrow that everyone parks on the curb in order to prevent this two-way road becoming fit for only a single lane. The little green Mini Cooper that you see parked on the curb is Kerry-Anne’s. You’ll notice that we decided to follow suit when parking. This was not only out of courtesy to other drivers, but also to prevent her little car from being scratched by other (under-cautious) drivers.

Cul de sac

In South Africa, we normally have these words painted on the entrance to a dead-end road, as well as a small rectangular green sign displaying a T-symbol where the vertical bar of the T is white and the horizontal is red. I guess what they’re trying to say is, “slow down lest you come to a sudden and unexpected stop” – and “no, this isn’t a shortcut“.

Beautiful beach weather

Fortunately, we struck it lucky this weekend with both Saturday and Sunday holding the most beautiful weather suitable for relaxing at the beach and sipping on sundowners, or spending the day at the swimming pool and braaing in the sun.

This is Cape Town folks.

N1 Highway

The sign may not look that large in this photo, but did you notice the huge advert for the iPhone 4 against the side of the building on the left? That poster looks absolutely huge when viewed from your car on Eastern Boulevard. Because it’s located next to a part of the road where lanes merge and traffic is accelerating out of the city, I find it dangerously distracting – especially if the advert is particularly eye-catching.

I’ve actually erected a mental block, forcing myself not look at the sign when traveling along that stretch of road!

Public prosecutors

You may have heard about people such as the “National Director of Public Prosecutions” in the much publicised cases against various politicians and high-powered businessmen. The National Director is the top prosecutor in our judicial system supported by a hierarchy comprising the Deputy National Director, Directors, Deputy Directors and finally the Public Prosecutors mentioned in this photo.

Given who these people are I’d say that it’s better than one takes heed of the sign and doesn’t park on this side of the road.

Old Paarl Road

I wasn’t around at the time, but at some point I was told that the Old Paarl Road was the main route that one took to get to Paarl (a farming town about 60 kilometers from Cape Town) before the N1 was built.

OR Tambo Airport

I mentioned in my previous article that we would be on away a short holiday in Kruger National Park (one of Africa’s largest game reserves, north-west of Johannesburg).

Kerry-Anne and I woke up bright and early on Thursday morning to catch a two-hour flight from Cape Town International to OR Tambo International in Johannesburg. Once there, we waited at the arrivals area (shown in the photo above) to be whisked away by Thabo, one of the lodge’s drivers and probably the most jovial person I’ve had the pleasure of meeting in a while.

I’ll tell you a little more about our our first day in the Balule Nature Reserve in my next article, but in closing let me say that the five-hour drive to Tremisana Lodge in the Balule Nature Reserve (part of the Greater Kruger National Park) was awesome, because I didn’t have to drive! The route winds its way through some beautiful scenery, with wide-open skies and seemingly endless fields. We were driven through several towns that we’d never visited before, the prettiest of which was definitely Dullstroom, where we stopped for lunch.

If you don’t fancy the five-hour drive, there is another option: you could instead fly to Phalaborwa or Nelspruit airport, both of which are much closer, though a lot smaller, than OR Tambo. If you have limited time, this would be a great idea!

Concealed driveways

These signs still baffle me a bit, to be honest, although for a slightly different reason. I presume their purpose is to warn us that people might unexpectedly be turning out of these concealed driveways – but surely it’s the responsibility of the motorist doing the turning to make sure that the road is clear before they pull out into it?

The top of Kloof Nek Road

The ride up the hill is really very beautiful at sunrise. From the road you’re able to see the bright glow ascending in the distance over the Boland Mountain Range and the low-lying mist over the city and suburbs that slowly clears as the sun heats the air. The city looks so peaceful from the hill that it’s hard to imagine that there is anything but friendly happy people waking up from their slumber.

A rear view

Although the evening cools down substantially around this time of the year, we still have great weather. Skies are clear and there’s not too much wind around – wind being something that Cape Town is well known for! I’m just hoping that this weather persists for two months more – I hate watching soccer in the rain.

A goods train

This photo nearly cost me my camera. I took the shot by holding my camera out the car window, with one hand, while travelling at about 110km/h. Fortunately I had a reasonably good grip as the force of the rushing air hit, trying to pluck it from my hand.

This train line crosses the N1 highway near the perpendicularly-running N7 highway (map), and is (to a great deal) used to transport cargo up and down our West Coast. I’ve always wondered exactly where it leads to, so I tracked if for a while on a map using Google Maps. If I’m not mistaken this line is the same one that takes passenger trains to well-known places like Evita se Perron in the little town of Darling.

If you’re into small and intimate theatre experiences, I’d encourage you to see a performance by Pieter-Dirk Uys at Evita se Perron, his little West Coast theatre.

Bo Kaap

If you’re super religious about reading my posts (and thank-you if you are ), you may recall that in April of 2008 I wrote one about Longmarket Street and how (many years ago) farmers used it to get their produce down to Greenmarket Square.

This photo is a different perspective on Longmarket Street. Can you imagine taking a horse cart filled with produce down to the market way below? Wow!

An old car

While driving on the N1 national highway, I passed this Mercedes Benz whizzing along at a comfortable 120km/h. Taking a photo while driving would have been tricky, so I handed my camera to Kerry-Anne who opened her window for this shot, almost losing my camera while doing so!

It may be of interest to you that the first Mercedes-Benz, the Benz Velo, arrived in South Africa in 1896, and in 1958 Car Distributors Assembly had the first Mercedes-Benz rolling off their production line.

In recent years our automotive industry has accounted for about 10% of South African exports and about 7.5% of our GDP. That makes the industry a huge contributor, providing stable income to thousands of people. The past two years have however been as difficult for the local industry as they’ve been for the global one. Fortunately however, the economy is turning and folk seem to be buying cars again… unfortunately I’m not one of those folk.

Clifford, Frank and Table Mountain

Besides the proximity of Table Mountain being fantastic, this area of Cape Town, Vredehoek, has gorgeous views of the city, harbour, and Table Bay. As I’m sure you can imagine, this particular spot in Cape Town is highly sought after, making it impossible for most to afford a home here.

However, there’s another price to pay for living in this area – and that would be the wind. When it’s a beautiful day, it’s awesome, but around this time of the year every now and again the wind howls like a troupe of irate banshees, leaving the only means to a peaceful night’s sleep a comfy pair of earplugs!

People under the Stairs

This photo reveals a little more context around my previous photo. People under the Stairs is an underground hip-hop group from the USA… who by all accounts played at Zula Sound Bar on 20 November. If you’re into hip-hop I’m going to guess that you’ve heard of this duo, but if not, take a look at their MySpace page and listen to a few of their tracks – they have some interesting stuff!

For interest’s sake, this photo was taken in Gardens, where Maynard Street crosses under Mill Street (the M3). The area is an awesome place to just wander around and take photos. While it’s not an unsafe area (and perhaps I’m being over-cautious), I did notice a few loitering people around, whom I avoided. So, if you do take your expensive camera on a walkabout, just keep your eyes open and all will be well.

District 5, aka De Waterkant, aka Cape Quarter

Most locals would know that De Waterkant is also known as the Cape Quarter. I never realised, though, that it had previously been District 5, sibling to the infamous District 6.

Way back in the 1700s and 1800s it was the home of many Malay slaves, and then in about 1966 the government of the day forcefully relocated these people away from their sea view and mountain shade to the comparatively barren and flat Cape Flats. Unfortunately for the government, and definitely not according to their plan, it was not the upper crust that moved into District 5 – it was the bohemian liberals, free-thinking students, and proudly gay population. *snigger*

Today De Waterkant is still an energetic and colourful area with old buildings and cobble streets. It’s an area that you should spend at least an afternoon exploring. Here’s a map with a place marker to help you find this road.

Voortrekker Road in Goodwood

As a comment on my previous article, Jonathan suggested that Voortrekker Road is reminiscent of something out of the 1970s… and I do believe he’s right. Were it not for the more modern cars in the photo you’d easily mistake this for a photo that my mom or dad may have taken.

I mentioned previously that I have lots of memories of Voortrekker Road – one of these is that I bought my first car from “Lekker Lieg Motors”, which is just a little further along this road, on the right. “Lekker Lieg” is our interpretation of the letters that make up the name of the dealership. Roughly translated, the Afrikaans word “Lekker” means “Nice” and “Lieg” means “Lies”. Put them together and I’m sure you get the idea.

Voortrekker Road, Goodwood

If you live in Goodwood, or perhaps did at some time in your life, I hope that you’ll forgive me for saying that it’s not the prettiest suburb.

I have lots of memories of the area, though, from visiting girlfriends and skateboarding with my cousin to going to see the annual Christmas-time parade in this, Voortrekker Road. Today the area just looks old and run-down, and from Monday to Saturday during business hours you’ll always find the area heavily congested.

However, even though Voortrekker Road in Goodwood isn’t the prettiest place to be, it sure is filled with an assortment of interesting small shops (and FAR too many used car lots!). If you don’t live in Cape Town and find yourself here on holiday some day, and if you’d like to experience a little more of what tourists often don’t see, pick an afternoon and take a drive down Voortrekker Road. Don’t expect to drive fast, remember to keep your cool in the traffic, and I guarantee that you’ll see plenty of interesting things.

Red road bus

Have you ever been on a long-distance bus trip? When I was young, I used to go on a lot of school camps, and of course, we were always transported to and from the campsites by bus. Most of these trips were only two or three hours long, but on one occasion we travelled all the way from Cape Town to Pretoria (about 1400km) on a bus – an ordinary bus too, not one of those nice luxury ones with the soft seats, headrests and little curtains.

I guess it’s not so bad when you’re young, because it’s kind of an adventure. Still, I remember it being a Very Long Journey. What’s the furthest you’ve ever travelled by bus?

Highway of rain

Whoa, where did all this rain come from? Kerry-Anne and I drifted out to Paarl to check out the “Persia to Paarl” festival that was being held at the Nederburg estate.

Sadly, on arrival we scoped out the scene and decided that it wasn’t going to be worth the R160 entrance fee (for two of us)… so instead of photos of pretty dancers, lovely bottles of wine, or sparkling beaded jewellery, we bring you this somewhat grey, perhaps even depressing photo of a wintry Cape Town weekend. To be fair, it was raining kittens and puppies, so perhaps that was the reason for the festival appearing to be rather less exciting than we’d hoped it would be.

Perhaps next time, hey?

Roads and Trees

I love these kinds of roads; the trees form a tunnel that makes me feel like a Formula 1 driver – only without the Formula and without the 1. Not that I’d actually be able to drive at those speeds on our roads as, irrespective of the actual day of the week, there’s invariably a Sunday-afternoon-cruiser enjoying the drive somewhere ahead of me. At times like these I need to remind myself that it’s okay, perhaps even good, to drive s-l-oooooo-w-l-y.

Congestion on Cape Town’s roads has been increasing steadily over the past years, with the effects being felt more intensely since the 2010 Soccer World Cup construction work began. Large alterations are in progress at the N1/M5 interchange near the city, as well as at Hospital Bend, which look as though they’ll improve the rush-hour traffic problems significantly.

Believe me, most of Cape Town can’t wait for them to be done!

Take a look at this 2008 article detailing the intended upgrades.

Drip, drip drip, drip drip drip...

Over the last few days I’ve been posting photos from the Worldwide Photo Walk that I attended on Saturday. Even though Cape Town was at her best on Saturday, and there are plenty more photos that I’d like to draw your attention to, this will be the last one that I’ll publish as a blog entry. I have however uploaded the rest of the morning’s photos to our “Scott Kelby’s Worldwide Photo Walk – 2009” album. Please indulge me and take a look through the album – the city really was very photogenic on Saturday morning.

On a side note, although we had perfect weather on Saturday, I found this gutter downpipe dripping really fast, almost as though it were raining… which makes publishing this photo today co-incidental since this week we’ve had our fair share of rain! Perhaps the dripping was prophetic in some or other way?