It is inevitable to drive around the Karoo and visit all its interesting towns and places and not venture onto a dirt road somewhere. And when you do drive along one of the dry Karoo gravel roads leaving a plume of duct in your trail, I bet you will stumble upon a couple of old rusty road signs. In this case the sign indicates a cattle grid on the road.
On Friday afternoon I made a quick stop for bread on my way home. As I came out the supermarket I saw the fire department's grass fire truck go by and noticed smoke just up the road. I rushed over and found a grass fire next to the suburb of Overbaakens. The fire truck pulled in just after me (yes, I took a shortcut) and the team got their kit out very quickly and got working on the fire. I…
On my way home on Friday I noticed the fire department's grass fire unit go by towards some smoke in the distance. I took a shortcut and actually got there before the truck, just to find a grass fire next to the surburb of Overbaakens. There were three crew members in the truck and they got the hose out very quickly and started working on stopping the fire from getting to the houses. I took this pic litterally moments before…
EPSAC is currently hosting an Watercolours exhibition by the East Cape Watercolour Association. I popped in on Friday to have a quick look and was quite impressed with some of the work on show. For anybody looking for the perfect Christmas gift for an art lover, this is the place to come and buy something. And best of all are the prices. The majority of the paintings range from about R150 (US$18.50 or 12.50 British pounds) to R450 (US$56 or…
Standing at one of the view points when I visited the Valley of Desolation near Graaff Reinet recently, I found this little guy sunning himself on the rocks. As I got closer he ran down the side of the rock to hide. Literally seconds later he was back and as I got myself comfortable and in a position to take a photo, off he went again. But again seconds later he was back. Either he was really enjoying his spot…
Yesterday (Friday, 20 November) was the deadline for submissions of personal tax forms. As per any deadline there were lots of people who hadn't done it timely either manually or via e-filing. I drove past the SARS (South African Revenue Service) office in town at about 1pm and this was the line standing outside the door in the early summer heat.The second photo is just to show how the line continued past the Phoenix Hotel next door.
One of my cyber friends, Nadine Larter, recently started a poetry website called The Poetry Project. It is a site where she brings together the poems of a number unknown South African poets and pair it up with pictures by local photographers. In her own words: "For a long time now I have been wanting to bring picture and pen together in a symbiotic relationship of expression. What you see here is simply the start of what I hope will…
A couple of the historic houses in one of the streets of Cental. In this immediate area there are many old settler houses that date back to the mid 1800's. Most of them are very well looked after and maintained while others are being restored. Unfortunately just down the street a couple of blocks away there are a lot of buildings crying out to be restored. Unfortunately some of the property owners in Central doesn't care enough about the heritage…
The Maitlands River would never really be called a river of note, more like a local stream. But on its way to the ocean it flows through Sleepy Hollow and past the giant Maitlands sand dune. Just before it slowly flows into the ocean, it forms a small lagoon next to the dune. Usually in summer kids will splash around in it as the sea at the river mouth is a bit of a dangerous spot to swim in.
The reflection of the sun in one of the farm dams at Buffelshoek near Graaff Reinet. The previous day the area had a monster of a thunder storm which filled in all the dams in the area, so the picture would not have been possible the day before. For more absolutely awesome sky pictures from around the blogosphere, visit Skywatch.