Each year estates in and around the farmlands of Elgin open their exquisite gardens for viewing to the public. Visitors spend the day, and sometimes the weekend visiting estate after estate, enjoying tea and light lunches in the midst of some of the most beautiful scenes Nature has to offer.
This year we missed out, though. Amongst others, Kerry-Anne desperately wanted to visit "The Secret Garden". Alas, it was not to be, and as a small consolation we headed off to Stellenbosch for an hour or so just to make her feel better about missing out on the annual visit to Elgin's gardens. Neither of us were aware that Stellenbosch had a botanical garden, and this small consolation turned out to be a gem of a discovery.
Stellenbosch Botanical Gardens are significantly smaller, but easily rival the well-known Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens in their beauty. After having a drink and some cake at the restaurant we spent a short while walking through the gardens. We'll definitely have to spend a couple of hours there soon - in fact I believe Kerry-Anne's making plans to try and visit after her exam on Friday.
In preparation for our national elections next year, the Electoral Commission has designated this weekend as Voter Registration Weekend.
We've moved house and voting district since our last round of elections, so Kerry-Anne and I popped in at Stellenberg High School today to update our details. The registration process was painless and simple. There were no queues and we walked in, filled in a 1-page form, had our ID books scanned and voila, we were out of there in under 5 minutes.
If you've moved since the last round of elections, or if you have never registered to vote, be sure to visit your local IEC registration station on Sunday. If you're not registered, you won't be able to vote, and with these elections gearing up to be very interesting indeed, you should consider it a civic duty to vote, rather than merely a right.
It seems you will still be able to register at your local municipality on weekdays during working hours, but let's face it: if you aren't going to make the effort to register this weekend, when it's been made as simple as possible, you're unlikely to go to the effort of taking time off from work to visit your local municipality at some other time. So off you go. :) Visit the IEC elections website if you're not sure in which district you live or where your voting station is. Unfortunately the site only works in Internet Explorer... so if you're a Mac, BSD, Linux, etc. user then you're going to have to wander the streets trying to find that darn IEC poster.
Here I'm not referring to the beautiful city of Cairns in Australia, but to a lonely pile of rocks, often used to mark an event, landmark, or a route of sorts. Here are a few examples that I found in a Wikipedia article:
They may mark a burial site, and may memorialise the dead.
They may mark the summit of a mountain.
Placed at regular intervals, they indicate a path across stony or barren terrain or across glaciers.
The Inuit erect human-shaped cairns, or inuksuit as milestones or directional markers in the Canadian Arctic.
In North America, cairns may mark buffalo jumps or "drive lanes".
In North America, cairns may be used for astronomy.
In the Canadian Maritimes cairns were used as lighthouse-like holders for fires that guided boats, as in the novel The Shipping News.
In parks exhibiting fantastic rock formations, such as the Grand Canyon, tourists often construct simple cairns in reverence of the larger counterparts.
They may be used to commemorate events: anything from a battle site, to the place where a cart tipped over.
Some are merely places where farmers have collected stones removed from a field.
When hiking on and around Table Mountain you'll be sure to find a few cairns. We spotted this particular cairn in the middle of farmlands, and judging by the size of the individual rocks, it must have taken quite some effort to build it.
Gerhard Pieterse, Executive Director of Autism Western Cape built a jail cell, had it erected in a local shopping mall, and then presented himself to police officers asking to be arrested. Gerhard was fingerprinted, formally cuffed and transported in the back of a police van to the purpose-built Bayside (and later Canal Walk) shopping mall jail cells. Gerhard spent a total of 74 days and nights in his shopping centre cell watching, being watched by, and interacting with shoppers.
Gerhard's aim was to increase awareness about autism as well as to raise 1 million rand to help people with this disorder.
For those who don't know, autism is a neurological disorder which results in sufferers having impaired social interaction and communication skills. You may recall the movie Forrest Gump or perhaps Rain Man in which lead actors portrayed autistic characteristics. While the disorder is a complex one the people affected are certainly not stupid or unintelligent. From a layman's perspective, they are simply unable to relate socially.
Gerhard spent 74 days and nights in his cell and with support from friends and family raised just over R600 000, which will be put to great use in establishing schools and facilities to help people with this disorder. You're still able to donate to the Jail4Bail cause and I'd encourage you to visit their website to read a little more about the organisation, perhaps donate money, or even discover an alternative way in which you could assist them.
South African Convention Movement, Barack Obama, what’s next?
It's been a political week for South Africa and the USA alike. Aside from yesterday's US elections, on Saturday Mosiuoa Lekota, our ex-Minister of Defence, announced the formation of a new political party, arguably the only party with a real ability to topple the ruling ANC's supremacy.
The formation of this new party could be the best thing for our democracy, and if Lekota is to be believed, its roots are fixed in strengthening our economy, building a nation free from the past, upholding our constitution, and keeping the values held dear by our beloved former president Nelson Mandela.
There's a long road ahead for both the SACM and Barack Obama - so we wait with bated breath to see what the South African Convention Movement, Mosiuoa Lekota, and Barack Obama have in store for us. Watch this space. ;)
There I was, out on the gravel road leading to Fair Cape dairies, taking photos of a windpomp (pronounced something like vind-pawmp, directly translated as wind-pump) when I heard this bakkie (pronounced buck-key) approaching quickly from behind.
Considering the amount of dust being thrown up into the air I grabbed my camera, ducked into the car and snapped this shot from a point of safety. The signpost reading "stadig, stof op koring" clearly didn't mean much to the driver. At the risk of this post sounding like a lesson in Afrikaans, "stadig, stof op koring" means that we should drive slowly (stadig) because the dust (stof) thrown up by vehicles settles on the wheat (koring).
And who was it that said I make a terrible teacher? Perhaps I should start giving Afrikaans lessons. ;)
I rushed through to Cloud 9 Air Charters this afternoon for the annual Canon roadshow, "Get your wings". Like at last year's roadshow, Roger "Epic" Machin (Photo Video Product Manager for Canon SA) introduced Canon's new gear, and fashion photographer Clinton Lubbe entertained everyone with his enthusiastically-presented workshop on Photoshop and lighting.
I probably shouldn't be sharing with you that each year Canon SA gives away thousands of rands of equipment at these roadshows... and I probably shouldn't be sharing that you can find out about upcoming events on their website... but now that the proverbial cat's out of the bag, if you're into photography keep an eye out for the details of next year's event.
In case you can't make out what the photo is, it's the propeller of one of the light aircraft that was parked in the hangar where the roadshow was held.
Few may realise it, but sources tell me that South Africa was the first country outside of North America to which the Ford Motor Company exported its cars. Ford today remains a strong brand in South Africa even though most of the vehicles sold here are far removed from the huge American-style V8s (like the Ford Fairlane in the photo) that we became familiar with decades ago.
I'm sure that the sentiment of the question stated above is a little over-estimated - and I'd have to concede that the sale to South African Arthur Youldon back in 1903 probably played little role in Henry Ford's success abroad. :)
I've only twice had a stranger step in front of my camera and pose for a shot. Once was at the beach and this time on a railway line. As this little guy strolled over the railway lines he turned to me, posed, I shot two photos, gave the thumbs-up, he smiled, he left.
How strange. It must be a confident person who steps in front of a stranger's camera to be the subject of their attention.
Cape Town, and several other cities around our country, are gearing up for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Although I don't have any insider knowledge it would appear as though they're making steady progress on the new Greenpoint stadium. The roads leading to and around the stadium have been altered, improving traffic flow around the area.
For those who know the area, the large traffic circle in Greenpoint has been removed and I believe the intention is to raise it above ground level and build some kind of fly-over. Please leave a comment if you know any more about what's intended with the roads around the stadium. It does sound like substantial road engineering is in the pipeline.
Those of you who know Cape Town and have perhaps lived here or visited on vacation might find it impossible to believe that I've lived here all my life and have never visited Cape Town's Two Oceans Aquarium. Whenever friends say "You know, at the aquarium..." I have to stop them with "I've never...", and then I get a slightly dumbfounded look that seems to radiate the question, "Why?"
I believe it's really cool, being an aquarium and all, but I've just never gotten around to visiting it. There's always something else to go and see or do, and rightly or wrongly, I seem to have adopted the mindset of "seen one, seen them all".
But yes, before I get flamed in the comments below, I suppose that's much like saying "seen one city, seen them all". I guess I'm just not that into seafood... :D
As some of you know Kerry-Anne has something of a distaste for spiders. So, when this one spun its web on the path from our back door to our swimming pool, she was clearly not impressed. This was, however, before she noticed that the spider (now called Chris the Clever) was busy making his way around in a spiral, tacking his web together with dexterity second to none.
So while she still has a distaste for spiders in general, I was instructed not to squish Chris the Clever, but rather to move him to a more appropriate part of our neighbour's garden.
Chris now spends his days at number 15 where he has his own private garden-nook.
For the past couple of summers we've been intending to take a trip around greater Cape Town on one of these buses - just to see what the city looks like from a tourist's vantage point. We've vowed that this will be the year that we do just that. Of course, it does help our resolve that Kerry-Anne's nephew and niece will be visiting us from Sydney for two weeks in December.
The Hop-On Hop-Off buses have two routes, a Red Route and a Blue Route, with the former being far shorter than the latter. The Red Route takes you on a quick tour through the city and then heads on over Kloof Nek, through Camps Bay, all the way back along the coast to the V&A Waterfront, and finally back into the City centre.
The Blue Route is far longer and takes you through the southern suburbs, past Claremont, Bishops Court, Constantia and Tokai, all the way through to Hout Bay, before heading back towards the City via the coastal road to Camps Bay, where it joins up with the Red Route.
It's going to be loads of fun with plenty of great photo opportunities!
For some reason this photo reminds me of whiskey - which is something that at this point in the week I have a dire need for. :) Work-wise the pace seems to have increased for all of us as we head towards the end of the year. It seems as though there's just far too much to get done before December holidays. This brings me to the tag line: just keep walking - it's almost holiday time.
Speaking of holidays, summer has started at last - the weather has warmed up and by all accounts our swimming pool water is warm enough to entertain the notion of taking a swim. It's going to be a beautiful summer, and Cape Town, as always, is ready for it!
Many years ago my dad worked for SATS (South African Transport Services) at Cape Town harbour. At the time SATS was owned by the government. On 1 April in 1990 a strange thing (IMHO) happened: SATS was restructured and became Transnet Limited, an incorporated company with the State as its sole shareholder.
At the time it was said that SATS was being "privatised", but this made no sense to me since the State owned all the shares. If you happen to know the rationale behind this action, please do let us know.
Okay, so where I was headed with that story was simply that this diesel goods train belongs to Transnet Freight Rail, a division of Transnet Limited, and formerly (last year) known as Spoornet (which translated means rail network).
If you're planning to visit Cape Town around this time next year, and if you enjoy rock music, then make a point of taking an afternoon and evening out of your diary to head to Lente Lawaai - you certainly won't regret it.
Prime Circle's lead singer and guitarist Ross Learmonth (pictured here) wasn't the only one who swept up fans with his band's rocking music at Lente Lawaai on Saturday. A number of awesome bands played throughout the afternoon and evening and we were fortunate enough to be around to snap photos of a few of them; the photos are now available on Cape Town Daily Photo Extras. In order of appearance:
We spent the day watching several bands play music at Black Bull's open air venue in Techno Park, Stellenbosch. While many extremely talented bands spent all their energy on stage the final, and arguably best, performance was by our old favorite, Prime Circle.
If you're a fan of the band and don't know it yet, they've just released a new album, All or Nothing. While we only heard a couple of the new songs tonight, if they're anything to go by then the album's going to be a huge success. In fact, if you click through to their website you'll be able to listen to samples from the album.
We're still processing our photos and will be posting them in the next day or two. As for now, we're both all partied out and heading off to sleep.
In case you don't speak Afrikaans and are confused by "Lente Lawaai" in the title of this post, it's very easy. The bands played mostly rock or heavier music, so the name "Lente Lawaai" is an apt choice of words meaning "Spring Noise" directly translated, but interpreted means "loud music in spring".
If you've ever been lost at sea around the stormy Cape Town coast, that may have been the first time that you gave the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) a second thought. The Cape of Storms, as the area was once known, is no misnomer, and if tragedy were ever to strike I would be darn glad that the Society of Master Mariners decided to donate a rescue craft to a handful of volunteers way back in 1967.
The NSRI's 840+ volunteers respond to emergencies 24x7x365 and if they were to have a tag line, I believe it would read "We will respond" - they always do. I happened to notice today that the institute is raising finances to purchase satellite-based tracking devices for their boats, which could save the lives of the volunteers and the people they're out trying to save. If you feel prompted to support their initiative, read more about it on their website, or click here to download the PDF for more details.
I didn't have a photo of one of the NSRI boats handy, so if you haven't figured it out already, the rescue sign above was on the side of an aeroplane... but I'm embarrassed to say that I failed to take note of exactly which aeroplane it was. :o
I was extremely jealous when I heard that a colleague, Ettienne, actually had the opportunity to visit the USS Theodore Roosevelt as part of a media tour. I unfortunately can't take credit for his superb photos - you can see one of them above, and the other four are posted to our CTDP Extras blog.
If you've been following the reports and news you'll know that the SA Navy, SA Government and US Navy went to quite some effort to make this visit possible. The basic problem, as Ettienne explained to me, was that since the USS Theodore Roosevelt is nuclear-powered, South African law required certain legal liability to be accepted by the US Navy.
Clearly this was all resolved in the end and the American carrier slipped into Table Bay very early on Saturday morning. Read a little more about the USS Theodore Roosevelt and her arrival in this article, written by Ettienne.
The Theodore Roosevelt Strike Group left Table Bay yesterday morning and is headed up our East Coast, I believe. I have my suspicions that the Group may be headed up to the Somalian coast to "play tag" with pirates terrorising that area's waters.
Summer is almost here and along with it will come days at the beaches around Cape Town. Summer also means it's time for our annual visit to the penguins at Boulders Beach in Simon's Town.
If you've not yet had the pleasure of watching penguins up close then best make some time to visit Boulders Beach on your next visit to Cape Town. They are really one of the funniest animals to watch... they always seem to remind me of a picture out of one of Gary Larson's books.
The weather has been fantastic this past weekend. According to WeatherSA the temperature peaked at a spring-time high of 30 degrees Celsius today.
With warm weather like this and a huge aircraft carrier parked in Cape Town's back yard drawing everyone's interest, I'm not sure that an awful lot of work is getting done. Luckily for our economy it seems as though it's going to be cooling down considerably tomorrow, with even a possibility of rain!
With over 200 cases of maritime piracy reported each year, naval vessels (like the USS Theodore Roosevelt) are indispensable in protecting the innocent and keeping our loved ones at sea safe from the modern-day-missile-launching-gun-wielding pirate.
As many of you will already know, this aircraft carrier was invited by the SA Navy and our government to visit Cape Town and meet with senior naval and governmental officials. The reason for the visit (apart from experiencing our beautiful city) is to foster better relations between our respective navies and to discuss matters of maritime security.
I'm not sure what the Americans were up to today, but we watched for about half an hour today as helicopter after helicopter left with some sort of cargo suspended below. While helicopters are cool and all, to be honest, I'm waiting with excitement to see if any of their F18 fighter aircraft take to the skies. :)
Friends of ours were kind enough to treat us to our first dinner at Mr Chan Chinese Restaurant in Sea Point.
The first thing I noticed about the restaurant was how many Chinese people were already dining when we arrived. My dad always tells me that if I'm looking for an authentic Chinese restaurant that I should watch to see where the Chinese folk eat - they know the real-deal. And, I hate to admit that he was right (only kidding), but he was - the food was absolutely yummy!
Oh, in case you're unable to make it out, that's a flower floating in this cup of tea. Apparently the tea does wonders for digestion - or so we're told. ;)
From about June or July (but mostly at this time of the year) our bays come alive with whales, until December, when the water becomes uncomfortably warm. The most common of these visitors is the Southern Right Whale.
Most will know that between the 11th century and the mid 1900s whaling claimed the lives of many of these peaceful animals. What you may not know is that up until 1937 recorded killings alone had amounted to a shocking 93,300 whales - nearly rendering the Right Whale extinct.
Between 1980 and 1984 legislation was introduced into South Africa to ban harming the animals in any way, and according to simonstown.com, it's even illegal to be within 300 metres of a whale (with a watercraft)!
Thanks Brad for stopping off in Kalk Bay to bring us this photo of a Southern Right Whale. Brad told us that there were plenty of whales frolicking in the bay yesterday.
Well done to anonymous for guessing the answer to yesterday's question correctly. Indeed, the petrol gauge is from what I believe to be a 1928 20HP Rolls-Royce.
Today's photo is of a more well-known part of a Rolls, the brand's mascot, The Spirit of Ecstasy. There's a Jane Austen-like story to be told about this mascot involving a secret love affair and a tragic death. If you have a moment, hop on over to ICONS.org.uk to read the story.
Another interesting point is that the only Rolls-Royce to not feature this mascot is that of the British royal family. Their vehicle's mascot is the figure of Saint George on horseback, slaying the dragon.
For years this vehicle has arguably been the pinnacle of luxury, reliability, and power. Are you able to identify the motor car that this petrol gauge belongs to?
It's not often that we see such colourful grasshoppers in the suburbs, let alone the city. My nephew (that's his hand) spotted this one in a field near Yzerfontein, a small town on the West Coast.
It's hard to believe that this friendly little fellow could one day purposefully drown himself. Nematamorpha larvae are parasites sometimes found on grasshoppers. As these worms (known as Horsehair worms) grow and mature, they somehow influence the grasshopper's brain, causing it to seek and jump into the nearest pond. Take a look at this video if you're interested in watching the full story.
The West Coast flower season is almost over. The time of densely packed flowers over rolling hills is only a memory. There's more or less a 1 month window of opportunity from early to mid August until early to mid September where the West Coast becomes a blanket of vivid colour.
Fortunately for me, even though the flowers were hiding somewhat this day, an unforeseen subject wandered into view amongst what remained of the once-brighter field of colour.
"I will be faithful to the Republic of South Africa, and will obey, observe, uphold and maintain the Constitution and all other law of the Republic..."
These were the words spoken by our country's new President, Kgalema Motlanthe, during the swearing-in ceremony this morning at De Tuynhuys (the office of the President).
The next year will be a tough ride for the new President as the country heads towards elections in 2009. I think it's going to be an interesting year in South African politics - I can't wait. :)
On a slightly different note, relief spread across the country this afternoon as our beloved Finance Minister, Trevor Manuel, was re-elected to serve under President Motlanthe. Welcome back, Trevor! :)
Thanks to wikidnickers for capturing the proceedings in Parliament this morning on her cellphone camera. You rock!
Today marked Heritage Day, a public holiday on which South Africans are encouraged to celebrate their heritage, their culture, who they are and where they've come from.
It seems today appropriate to quote a few words from soon-to-be ex-president Thabo Mbeki's most cherished speech, "I am an African" :-
I am an African.
I owe my being to the hills and the valleys, the mountains and the glades, the rivers, the deserts, the trees, the flowers, the seas and the ever-changing seasons that define the face of our native land.
My body has frozen in our frosts and in our latter day snows. It has thawed in the warmth of our sunshine and melted in the heat of the midday sun. The crack and the rumble of the summer thunders, lashed by startling lightening, have been a cause both of trembling and of hope.
The fragrances of nature have been as pleasant to us as the sight of the wild blooms of the citizens of the veld.
The dramatic shapes of the Drakensberg, the soil-coloured waters of the Lekoa, iGqili noThukela, and the sands of the Kgalagadi, have all been panels of the set on the natural stage on which we act out the foolish deeds of the theatre of our day.
At times, and in fear, I have wondered whether I should concede equal citizenship of our country to the leopard and the lion, the elephant and the springbok, the hyena, the black mamba and the pestilential mosquito.
A human presence among all these, a feature on the face of our native land thus defined, I know that none dare challenge me when I say - I am an African! ...
If you have a moment, and if you're not afraid to shed a tear, take time to read the full speech here, or watch a short excerpt from the address to the nation here.
The photo was taken at Evita se Perron in Darling. The sign is a genuine relic from the apartheid era, and has been put on display to remind us of where we've come from and to where we should not return.
