Floating on air

A while ago I had the privilege to go on the ultimate adventure hot air ballooning with Bill Harrop near Magaliesberg north of Johannesburg. I have posted two pics of it before (Hot Air Ballooning), but wanted to show of a couple more pics from the experience.If you would like to see more pics featuring the sky by photographers from all over the world, visit the good people at Skywatch.

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“For the love of the game” Art soccer balls

There is currently an exhibition called "For the love of the game" on the go in the newly revamped lighthouse keeper's cottage on the Donkin Reserve. (I will do a series of posts on the "new look" Donkin Reserve after the World Cup). The exhibit consists of decorated paper soccer balls done by art students of the Art Enrichment Programme and the PE Montessori School. The kids were given the clean balls and were allowed to decorate them in any…

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Horse Memorial Silhouette

For a while now I've wanted to get down to the Horse Memorial here in Port Elizabeth to get a nice silhouette sunset shot. Well, the other night I had my chance. It wasn't the most painted sunset sky, but I love the effect.

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Information lifeguard

No, this isn't The Hoff sitting on his lifeguard chair on Baywatch. Anybody needing information about the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the Fan Fest programme, transport details or anything else on the event can go to the guys sitting on their high chairs around the Fan Fest. On those cold windy days I actually feel sorry for these guys as it's been quite chilly on some occations.

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Overgrown grave yard

On visiting the Somerset East Museum recently, I discovered this old overgrown grave yard behind it on the slopes of the Boschberg Mountain. I have a thing for old cemeteries and had a look around. Unfortunately the guy who was going to show us through the museum arrived and cut short my exploration, but next time I'm in town I will definitively head back there for another look.

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God’s Property

I used to go to the town of Grahamstown (about 120km east of Port Elizabeth) quite a lot during my tour guiding days. Just outside of town as you are heading towards Bathurst is a spot where fresh spring water flows out of a pipe into a little stream. Most of the times I passed there was somebody filling up containers of water which made me very curious.I asked around a bit and Oom Willem at the Grahamstown Tourism office…

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Stadium

Today the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium here in Port Elizabeth is hosting its 4th game of the 2010 FIFA World Cup between Chile and Switzerland. So far the stadium has already played host to Greece, Korea Republic, Portugal, Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Germany and Serbia. The last first round match here will be England vs Slovenia on Wednesday. We are all still waiting with bated breaths to see who will play here during the knockout rounds. Since the start of…

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Red Skimmer Dragonfly

I may use the name Firefly, but my favorite insect is the dragonfly. Skimmer Dragonflies (Family Libellulidae) are strong, fast flyers are are normally seen skimming low over the water's surface. They are carnivores and feed on other insects. Skimmer dragonflies mate in flight and the female will lay her eggs while skimming over the water. They would normally have their wings out horizontally when at rest, so I think this one was trying to hide from me by making…

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Soccer Ball light structure

On the two traffic circles outside the airport two big (half) soccer ball shaped structures surrounded by flags have been put up. At night the structures are specially beautiful with lights shining through thousands of holes in the tubes. I have done a post about these structures on The Firefly Photo Files before, so please follow the link for more pictures.

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Soccer lights

Outside the FIFA Fan Fest at St Georges, the municipality has put up festive lights for the occasion. The elephant refers to the fact that the Addo Elephant National Park is situated just outside Port Elizabeth and that provincial sports teams from the area use the elephant as their mascot.

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