This is the plane we flew home in on Sunday - funky, isn't it? Do your domestic airlines also have brightly-coloured planes like this one? This plane belongs to kulula.com, who have a reputation for being the fun airline. Their safety briefing is very amusing, as long as you're not scared of flying... :)

Since Wednesday Kerry-Anne and I have been on a mini-vacation in Durban. We met many lovely people, socialised a lot, ate a lot and had a lot of fun. We visited attractions like uShaka Marine World, Karkloof Canopy Tours and Dave's Place. For reference sake, Durban is a 90- to 120-minute flight north of Cape Town on our east coast. In the next couple of days we'll introduce you to the official Durban Daily Photo Blog.

These houses are located in a suburb above a gorge. The view is spectacular, but does anyone want to hazard a guess as to where this view is located? We'll be back home tomorrow evening and will reveal all...

We're still on vacation... The photo of this "surfer-babe" was taken just outside of a popular water park that we visited. "Weird & Passionate" took a guess at where we are, but I haven't yet had a chance to confirm the coordinates they gave. Can you guess?

Kerry-Anne and I are on a mini-holiday this weekend. Can anybody guess where? I'll give you a clue or two. We're not in the Western Cape but we are in South Africa. As you can see we had some fun today. As far as I know there are only three adventure tours of this kind available in South Africa. Take a guess and let us know where you think we may be. We'll post another photo tomorrow in case you can't guess from this one.

While visiting friends we noticed this strange braai (barbecue) light hanging over the neighbour's outdoor fireplace. We postulated that the owner had crashed into a street lamp and had decided to claim the light as his own. Perhaps he crashed into the street lamp and the top just fell into his car... Who knows? I'm sure that even on the darkest of nights our mystery-man has no trouble cooking his meat to perfection under this light.

I noticed this lamp on the side of a building in Loop Street on Monday - it's right opposite the offices of a client that I visit fairly often, and yet I've never seen it before. Which just goes to show how terribly unobservant we can be as we go rushing through our lives, busily doing our work and fulfilling our obligations.

Producing this blog has certainly taught me to slow down and be more observant, paying more attention to the people, things and stories around me.

The title of today's post is the answer to that of yesterday's. This is what the highway looked like today at around 11h30, as seen through my windscreen - not exactly ideal driving weather, but I rather enjoyed the trip, with Toto's apt lyrics "I bless the ra-ains down in A-africa..." blaring from my iPod. :)

It seems winter has decided to come back for another round.

The last two days have presented Cape Town with awesome weather. Not too hot, not too cold, clear skies and no wind - absolutely magnificent.

We actually spotted this scene yesterday, but were on our way to an appointment, so we couldn't stop to take a photo then. Yesterday's sky was bright orange, whereas today's retained its blue hue. I believe that blue predicts rain and orange predicts clear skies - let's see what tomorrow holds...

Workers in the petroleum sector began an indefinite strike last week due to a dispute over wages. Several petrol stations have run dry and motorists have been warned not to drive with less than a quarter of a tank of fuel - lest they end up stranded, without petrol, at a dry filling station.

Hopefully the dispute will come to an end in the next day or two; else I'll be working from home in a week or so :).

Yip, that's right, when you visit Cape Town, you're bound to come across at least one floating dog, if not an entire flock of them! They simply hang around in the air playing all kinds of ball games - Kerry-Anne thinks that they're getting ready for 2010, hoping to be part of the football team.

I wonder how many people stand on the promenade at Mouille Point gazing at cargo ships, wondering, "What on earth could be in all those containers?"

Kerry-Anne said it reminded her of this nursery rhyme:

I saw a ship a-sailing,
A-sailing on the sea;
And, oh! it was all laden
With pretty things for thee!

There were comfits in the cabin
And apples in the hold;
The sails were made of silk,
And the masts were made of gold.

Apart from the silken sails and golden mast, of course. :)

Crispy bacon, fried eggs sunny-side-up, chips, steak, fried tomato, hot buttered toast and a big steaming cup of coffee - this is what breakfast should be. Oh, if only our waistlines and arteries would allow us to eat like this every day!

Anyone who's ever been on a road-trip in South Africa should be familiar with the Wimpy breakfast. There are a number of Wimpy restaurants located at large one-stop petrol stations along all of the country's main routes, and after you've woken up at 4am to get an early start on the road, there's nothing quite like an 8am breakfast stop at the Wimpy to cure a carful of yawning heads and rumbling tummies.

There are 100 blogs participating in this theme day. Use the links below to visit them, and enjoy breakfast around the world:

Saint Paul (MN), USA - Bellefonte (PA), USA - Menton, France - Monte Carlo, Monaco - New York City (NY), USA - Tel Aviv, Israel - Hyde, UK - Port Angeles (WA), USA - Mainz, Germany - Stockholm, Sweden - Paderborn, Germany - Singapore, Singapore - Haninge, Sweden - Nottingham, UK - Ampang (Selangor), Malaysia - Manila, Philippines - Boston (MA), USA - Seoul, Korea - Singapore, Singapore - Joplin (MO), USA - Chandler (AZ), USA - Paris, France - Sequim (WA), USA - Greenville (SC), USA - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Boston (MA), USA - Chennai, India - Madison (WI), USA - Baton Rouge (LA), USA - Toulouse, France - Seattle (WA), USA - Mexico (DF), Mexico - La Antigua, Guatemala - Selma (AL), USA - Wassenaar (ZH), Netherlands - Albuquerque (NM), USA - Cleveland (OH), USA - San Diego (CA), USA - Lubbock (TX), USA - Jakarta, Indonesia - Sheki, Azerbaijan - Sydney, Australia - Mumbai, India - Seoul, South Korea - Cottage Grove (MN), USA - Cypress (TX), USA - Saarbrücken, Germany - Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina - New Orleans (LA), USA - Budapest, Hungary - Kyoto, Japan - Tokyo, Japan - Austin (TX), USA - Singapore, Singapore - Villigen, Switzerland - Montréal (QC), Canada - Stayton (OR), USA - Melbourne, Australia - Silver Spring (MD), USA - Moscow, Russia - Springfield (MO), USA - Inverness (IL), usa - Arlington (VA), USA - Cologne (NRW), Germany - Anderson (SC), USA - Oslo, Norway - Saint-Petersburg, Russian Federation - Manila, Philippines - Kajang (Selangor), Malaysia - Maple Ridge (BC), Canada - Bandung (West Java), Indonesia - Stavanger, Norway - Bastia, France - Hong Kong, China - Wailea (HI), USA - St. Louis (MO), USA - Chicago (IL), USA - Rabaul, Papua New Guinea - Sydney, Australia - Bucaramanga (Santander), Colombia - Kansas City (MO), USA - Grenoble, France - Paris, France - Evry, France - Saigon, Vietnam - Prague, Czech Republic - Cape Town, South Africa - Brookville (OH), USA - Brussels, Belgium - San Diego (CA), USA - Wellington, New Zealand - Newcastle (NSW), Australia - Saint Louis (MO), USA - Sharon (CT), USA - Shanghai, China - Zurich, Switzerland - North Bay (ON), Canada - Lyon, France - Naples (FL), USA - Olympia (WA), USA

Does anyone remember where the rumour started that the moon was made of cheese? I guess that it must have had something to do with those meteor craters making it look something like a big Swiss cheese... only without the wax coating.

Speaking of cheese, once Spring comes around we'll take a drive to the winelands and visit some of the cheese and wine farms to bring you photos of what's on offer.

That reminds me of one of the shops in the area that used to have free cheese-tasting. I remember making several turns around the cheese table "tasting cheese". We always ended up buying something, but always made sure we got our money's worth first :).

Needless to say, the shop wised up, and free tasting became paid tasting a couple of years ago. Sadly, these days the students at Stellenbosch University go hungry over their lunch break.

I stopped to grab some lunch at High Street Shopping Village, and thought a shot of this mini-carousel might be in order. There was not a single child to be spotted anywhere - I suspect the weather was just a little too cold for them - so both the carousel and the teeny-tiny ferris wheel nearby were standing empty and motionless.

I can't tell you how many times we've heard of international visitors to Cape Town being surprised that there are no lions to be found walking the streets of the city. It seems as though many believe that we keep Lions and Cheetahs in our back yards and have elephants strolling the streets. Nay I say, it is not so. This photo illustrates the only kind of lion you'll find wondering our streets.

If you find yourself in Cape Town one day and would like to see the king of the wild up close - and if you can't afford the time to travel to a game farm for a safari, then perhaps you could visit our local lion park, Drakenstein Lion Park, about 40km outside of the city. This park serves as a rehabilitation home for lions that have been saved from canned lion farms. Visitors can view the lions for nominal entry fee of about 3 euros per adult, so do make it a stop on your way to the winelands of Stellenbosch (though I do suggest you visit the lions before visiting the wine farms ;).

To quote from their web site: "Drakenstein Lion Park is involved in the re-homing of lions which are kept in intolerable conditions, both locally and overseas."

I think this might be what my mother was talking about when she used to tell me that something was "sky-blue pink with yellow spots"... Paul tells me that he's never heard that expression before, but I used to hear it all the time when I was growing up, usually just after I'd asked my mother a particularly silly or overly inquisitive question, or one she just really didn't feel like answering.

Mothers have all kinds of clever ways of deflecting difficult or irritating questions (questions like "What's for supper???") - do you remember any from your childhood, or do you have any that you like to use on your own children?

Remember the restaurant Avocado? Well, I got to spend another rainy Friday afternoon there today, this time with a few more people, and with food.

And this is the outside of the restaurant building - the name kind of makes sense now, doesn't it?

Another of those promised cold fronts hit us today. A little while after I took this shot, the wind picked up and the rain came bucketing down all around Cape Town. CapeTalk radio was inundated with calls and text messages from people reporting flooded roads, mudslides and overflowing rivers. There were even reports of rock-falls on Victoria Road, which runs along the base of the mountain past Camps Bay and Llandudno.

Check out Lynn's pictures of the floods in Cheltenham, England - I'm pretty sure that there's nothing that Cape Town's skies could produce to compete with that!

...but it's still really really cold.

We woke up to a beautiful sunrise this morning. I didn't really want to go outside to take this photo, but the sun shining through the leaves of this Camphor tree was too beautiful to miss.

An archive shot today, since I'm still sick (thanks for all the kind thoughts, by the way!) and the weather is very, very grey, wet and chilly. Apparently we have four cold fronts heading our way, with snow expected overnight and gale-force winds tomorrow. For the last month or so the weather has been remarkable - we really have had a beautiful winter so far.

Oh yes, the picture... this signpost can be found near the bottom of Government Avenue in the Company Gardens. I guess it could be a little overwhelming at first, but at least you wouldn't need to ask anyone for directions!

The title of this post is an Afrikaans expression that roughly means "confused" or "spaced out". If you translate it literally though, it means "through the leaves". See that man's head? No? That's because it's through the leaves. :)

And that's pretty much how I've felt all day today, because the winter sniffles finally got me, giving me a runny nose and a foggy head. I'm very deur die blare.

That's the dome of Cape Town's Planetarium peeping through the trees - isn't it pretty?

It's even prettier INSIDE when there's a show on: the Planetarium hosts spectacular educational shows under that big dome, complete with a simulated night-sky full of twinkling stars.

Having a lovely garden can cost a fortune. Kerry-Anne and I have started trying to plant mostly water-wise plants in our garden. They're cheaper to maintain, good for the environment and easy to keep alive! ;). This photo was taken at a local nursery - Kerry-Anne loves nurseries... just not the baby kind.

This is the last photo in the series about the 90 Minutes for Mandela football match. Before the match about a hundred (I think) kids entered the field carrying flags from all the soccer nations of the world. Don't you just love the mountain sticking it's head over the stadium as if to catch a glimpse of the match?

This Milo and donut man snuck into this photo at the 90 Minutes for Mandela football game.

Happy birthday Madiba! As you may have gathered by now, it's Nelson Mandela's 89'th birthday today. This evening we attended a football match at Newlands Rugby Stadium in honour of this day - a "World 11 vs. Africa 11" game. Members of FIFA were present as well as many international stars who accepted the invitation to play.

This photo shows international football icon Pelé coming onto the field with Samuel Eto'o of Cameroon. Though Pelé never actually played (he is 67 after all) he started the match, kicking the ball into play.

Oh, after 90 minutes the game ended 3 all :).

While driving in and around Cape Town city you'll find many places of worship. This Mosque is located on the corner of Loop Street and Orphan Street. If you look carefully, you'll see the loudspeaker at the top of the tower. Having being a student at Cape Technikon many years ago, one of the things that stick out most about Friday classes is the sound of the lunchtime call to prayer ringing from the nearby Mosque's loudspeaker.

Places of Worship #1

This post is for all the fun-seeking readers of our blog. Herme (seen in this photo) recently discovered this new toboggan fun park, called Cool Runnings, close to our offices. If we're not careful we may find ourselves regularly skipping lunch in favour of a quick couple of rides.

The photo is a bit deceptive - the toboggan ride is much longer and cooler than I've shown here. The cart is pulled (about 200 metres I think) to the top of a wonderfully green hill by means of a slick cable and pulley system. Once at the top the high-speed winding descent starts. It took one or two twists and turns before I had enough faith in the cart to release the brake fully - from then on it was "balls to the wall". :o

Kerry-Anne and I will find a gap to go again soon, so watch this spot for a photo or two more from Cool Runnings.

Oh, the website defaults to Afrikaans if you play the toboggan simulator game, so if you can't read Afrikaans... simply go back to the homepage and click "Enter Site" after which "English" will be given as an option.

These ladies had presumably finished work for the day and were heading in the direction of Cape Town train station. There's not much to say here except that they were having an unusually loud chat in a language I don't understand, Xhosa. Perhaps they were commenting on what a lovely day it was? Whatever it was, they seemed excited ;).