[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGEzBiubR6g&w=500&h=400]I was digging around for a video to post for this week's Video Friday and found this short about Port Elizabeth's beaches on Rooms for Africa dating back to 2010. It will be hard to disagree with anybody saying that we really have magnificent beaches here in PE.
As one drives through the 3rd Avenue Dip from Mangold Park side through towards Newton Park, there is a parking area to the right just after the bridge from where the Lower Guinea Fowl Trail starts. On the edge of this open space is a stone bench with plaque on it. The bench and plaque is a little "monument" to David Baillie Lovemore (1926 - 1994) who pioneered this crossing of the Baakens Valley in 1955. The road itself was built by…
Driving through the Karoo Heartland town of Cradock the other day I just couldn't help but to stop and snap a few pics of the "Moederkerk" in town. I've played around with a couple of effects and this is what I came up with. Oh yes, and what is a post without a little bit of interesting historic info? The first Dutch Reformed congregation (and also the first church) in Cradock was established in 1824. The present building was completed on the original site…
The Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism head office recently moved from their old premises in South End to new offices in the Donkin Street Houses. The newly renovated Donkin Street Houses form part of the Donkin Village precinct which includes the city blocks of Donkin Hill, Constitution Hill and Victoria Street. This post isn't intended to start yet another discussion on how the restoration was done and how the houses doesn't look like they historically did. Regardless of all this, the houses are finally…
During the recent heavy rains the 3rd Avenue Dip was closed a couple of times again. After it opened up Drama Princess asked if we could stop down at the bottom because she wanted to see the water. The Baakens River was still flowing strong and water was gushing through the pipes under the road.Looking down the river from the bridge
The very first Geocache I placed was in the historic South End Cemetery. I found a nice little spot on the gate section of a fence around a grave that dates back to the late 1800's. Placing this cache was my way of showing other people this historic gem. On Saturday evening at my birthday event a couple of visiting Johannesburg cachers mentioned that they couldn't find it and that the fence was gone. I just thought they were looking…
Do you know any of these two art galleries? The Ron Belling Art Gallery and the GFI Art Gallery. Perhaps the former sounds familiar. Not sure about the latter? Well, they are one and the same thing.The gallery is housed in a landmark Art Deco style building across from St Georges Park on Park Drive. The building, named "Ridgewood", was commissioned by Axel Stockelbach, then managing director of Ford South Africa, in 1936 and was designed by Gertruida Brinkman, the first woman Architect to qualify…
The last time I had a proper birthday party was for my 21st. For the past five years I've wanted to have a party and this year was the year. I just had to have one to celebrate as it was a milestone birthday. Rather than sending out invites to individual people, I decided to double my birthday party with an official Geocaching event. About 27 people rocked up for the event which was done as a bring and braai…
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgwAPwy4cfI&w=500&h=400]I love watching music videos and adverts (I don't say movies and tv programs cause we haven't really had any) that's been shot around Port Elizabeth and spotting places I know. One of my friends posted a link to this music video for Stuart Reece's Silver Rocket Cadillac on Facebook yesterday and as it started I realized that it was shot right here in PE. See if you can identify a couple of the places they filmed at.
Have you ever wondered why the road at the bottom of Valley Road is always wet? Why there is water running over the road even if it hasn't been raining. Well, here is the answer why.Port Elizabeth isn't really know for it's earth quakes, but that doesn't mean that it's never happened.There are three ancient fault lines in Port Elizabeth where some slight movements can still occur. One of them, the Moregrove Fault, runs along the Port Elizabeth beachfront from…