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The place to be this time of year

The places to hang out this time of year around Port Elizabeth is the coastline with the beaches along the city's main beachfront being the most popular.  One of the busiest beaches tend to be Hobie Beach with the Boardwalk across the road and a lot of other eateries, the Pier and beachfront promenade right there.  Why aren't I posting a picture showing the packed beaches?  Well, as you read this I am on holiday having spent the last 10…

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27/12/2011
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A true PE icon

The Donkin Reserve with the Lighthouse, Pyramid and new Route 67 located there are truly one of Port Elizabeth's main iconic attractions both from a visitor as well as landmark point of view.  Here a couple of tourists are standing next to the Donkin Memorial (yes, that's the pyramid's proper name) enjoying the view from the Hill.

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26/12/2011
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So it is Christmas…..

To quote John Lennon "So this is Christmas, And what have you done, Another year over..."  It really feels like Christmas has creeped up on me and shouted "WHA!!!"  Last year I was in the Christmas spirit from late November already, but this year the working year seemed to have been so busy towards the end that it was halfway through December before I really started to hum Christmas songs. "Tra la la la laaaa, la la la la...."  Merry Christmas…

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25/12/2011
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Merry Christmas (from a beach in Africa)

The traditional Christmas one always sees is a white Christmas with snow, a fireplace and all kinds of wintery things.  But more than half the earth actually has a summer Christmas where Santa should probably be wearing board shorts and slops while driving an open top vehicle and enjoying the sun.  When Santa isn't going around handing out gifts he must surely go somewhere and that somewhere is a beach in Port Elizabeth close to the Willows Resort.I would like to take…

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25/12/2011
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Ocean Basket at Brookes on the Bay

With the redevelopment of Brookes Pavilion (now called Brookes-on-the-Bay) completed, the new tenants have started to move in.  One of the first restaurants to open was Ocean Basket and I'm sure with the fantastic view it has over the beachfront its sure to become one of Port Elizabeth's most popular seafood restaurants.

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23/12/2011
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The sun shines on the Wildside

The coastline from Cape Recife to Schoenmakerskop is generally known as the Wildside due to it rocky coastline and the fact that the prevailing south-easterly wind can pump out there on the best of days and make the sea well and truly rough.  Don't get me wrong though, the weather isn't always bad and when its good this piece of coastline is an amazing spot to explore, fish from or just have a family picnic.  The spot in the photo…

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22/12/2011
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Knysna forest roads

The are two ways of exploring the indigenous forests around Knysna, by car and on foot. Several forest roads take one all over the forests surrounding Knysna from down by the Knysna River up to Gouna, across to Millwood and over the Prince Alfred Pass.  The road in the picture is called Kom se Pad.The best way to really connect with the forest is by going on one of the many hiking trails criss crossing throughout the forest. This is the only way…

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22/12/2011
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Going home for the holiday

This time of year there are a lot of people all over South Africa returning to their home towns to be with their families over the festive season.  A lot of people living in the townships in Port Elizabeth have family in rural Eastern Cape in what used to be the former black homelands of the Ciskei and the Transkei and most of them will make use of long distance taxis and buses to go home for Christmas.  The long distance…

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21/12/2011
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Two of the Big 5

Visitors to the Addo Elephant National Park often go home with stories of magnificent elephant sightings and sometimes have an awesome story to tell of how an elephant walked so close past their car that you could reach out and touch him (just don't actually go and do it).  On a good day you could also tick buffalo, lion and perhaps even black rhino off your "spotting the Big 5 list", but not often can one say that you had more than one…

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19/12/2011