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Encountering the Campanile bells

On Tuesday morning I noticed a post on Facebook where the Mandela Bay Development Agency (MBDA) announced that the Campanile bells would be coming down that morning, if the weather allowed, as part of the restoration of the Campanile building.  I was stuck in a workshop and very disappointed that I was going to miss it.  On Thursday morning one of my friends at Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism called me having just heard that the most of the bells were…

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01/05/2016
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The beach is calling

I don't think it matters if its summer or winter, living in Port Elizabeth means that the beach is always calling.  You don't have to go swim to go to the beach, just go for a walk or lets the kids run free a little.

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30/04/2016
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A penguin party video, kinda

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qiBBaWWLv0&w=500&h=400]On 25 April we celebrated World Penguin Day. Here in Algoa Bay we are very fortunate to have the biggest breeding colony of African Penguins on St Croix Island.  But we're not just fortunate to have them here, we are thus also aware of the desperate plight of the African Penguin.  Penguin numbers have plummeted since the 1980's with only around 18000 breeding pares left out in the wild.  As a belated celebration of World Penguin Day, I'm posting this…

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29/04/2016
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Exploring (and not ghost hunting) the Somerset East Museum

I struggle to pass by a small town museum if I have time on hand and time on hand I had the last time I visited the Karoo Heartland town of Somerset East.  I immediately headed up to the Somerset East Museum standing in the shadow of the Boschberg Mountain at the top end of Beaufort Street.  I've been here before but it's been a few years so I decided another visit was in order.The Somerset East Museum is also…

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29/04/2016
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Sidewalk dining

A new restaurant recently opened in the McArthur's Pool complex.  This post isn't about the restaurant as I don't even know what its name is, but rather about the people who sat outside having a meal or drink on the evening of Ironman.

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28/04/2016
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An Anglo Boer War lookout near Springfontein

About 35 clicks north of the Gariep Dam just off the N1 towards Bloemfontein stand a blockhouse looking out over the surrounding landscape.  Most passing motorists probably don't even notice it but the fact that there is a Geocache located there has put it on my radar.   On the previous two road trips north I just looked up at it in passing, but on my last trip to Johannesburg I decided to pull over and make my way up…

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28/04/2016
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Winter is coming… But not just yet

The new series of Game of Thrones may have started this week and yes, over here winter is also coming, but we're still having fits of good weather and some people are still enjoying the beach a bit before it gets too cold to do son.

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27/04/2016
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A little bit of Bo-Kaap in the Bay

This row of colourful houses in Alfred Terrace, Central always fascinate me.  It shows that if all the old Settler homes in the area gets a proper revamp and a lick of paint that we can have our own colourful historic area like the Bo-Kaap in Cape Town.  The only difference will be that we will have old stone churches rather than mosques.  How about it? What do you think?

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26/04/2016
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Walter Battiss Art Gallery – the home of Fook Island

The Karoo Heartland town of Somerset East is a place full of interesting and quirky attractions.  One of them is the Walter Battiss Art Gallery which also houses the local tourism information office.  Battiss (6 January 1906 – 20 August 1982) was generally considered to be the foremost South African abstract painter but is probably equally as famous as the creator of the quirky Fook Island.  Fook Island was Battiss' "island of the imagination" for which he created a map,…

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25/04/2016
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The Algoa Bay Yacht Club after dark

Last week while attending the launch of Algoa Bay as the Bottlenose Dolphin Capital of the World I sneaked outside for a quick photo of the Yacht basin and the harbour lights. Wish one could get onto more areas in the harbour to take photos.

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25/04/2016