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Then and Now – Port Elizabeth Airport

I've been collecting historic photos from the Port Elizabeth groups on Facebook to be able to do Then and Now posts and found the "Then" one in this post showing the Port Elizabeth Airport in what I guess was probable somewhere in the 60's.  Perhaps the older folk around here can help me out on this one.  The day after finding this photo I had to drop something off at the airport and snapped the "Now" picture.  Clearly there's a lot more cars, and…

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16/02/2016
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Camping at Vloedbos in the Overberg – a winning option all around

Every year we go on a camping over the summer school holiday.  We're not the "return to the same place year after year" type of campers as we want to explore and discover new places.  As we live in Port Elizabeth and by the sea, we're also not bothered by coastal holidays which tends to be windy in summer and effects us badly as we camp in tents.  After a lot of searching and researching, we settled on Vloedbos in…

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15/02/2016
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Then and Now: The Humewood Slipway

Last week I did a post Then and Now : Humewood Beach showing a couple of historic photos of Humewood beach along with a modern one.  I purposely didn't post the two historic photos of the Humewood Slipway below as they were taken from a different direction and I decided to make a separate post for them. The pillars and old slipway you can still see at Humewood Beach was built long before Port Elizabeth had a harbour.  Construction on the…

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15/02/2016
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The sun setting over Seaview

Chaos Boy spent Saturday afternoon at a friend's place in Seaview and I headed out there late afternoon to fetch him.  It wasn't quite sunset time yet, but the sun was starting to head towards the horizon so I pulled over to snap this pic.  I'm still trying to figure out the best setting on my DSLR to take sunset pictures but hopefully I'll get there soon.

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14/02/2016
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Fort Cannon

Fort Frederick, built in 1799, was originally defended by two 8-pounder guns and one 5.5 inch Howitzer.  These guns, that never fired a shot in anger, was removed when the fort was decommissioned.  But what is a fort, even a historic one that has been declared a national monument, without guns?  So a selection of muzzle-loaders dating from the later part of the eighteenth century was placed on the fort to simbolise the original guns. 

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13/02/2016
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3 minutes by train from Uitenhage to Port Elizabeth

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OIy08BSKNo&w=500&h=400]When last have you been on a train?  It's something most of us don't get to do and I really think it's leaving  gap in our lives.  And to think it's something our parents probably did quite often when they were young.  Alan Straton of MyPE took the train from Uitenhage to Port Elizabeth and condensed the 45 minute trip in 3 minutes.  I loved it when I saw it and just had to share. 

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12/02/2016
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Agulhas – the most Southern point of Africa

I have finally had the opportunity to take the family to see Cape Agulhas.  I got to visit it the first time when I was doing my tourist guide training for the Western Cape but as a family we have never been in the area.  A day of exploring along the coast took us from Gansbaai past Danger Point to Struisbaai and Agulhas.  It took us a lot longer to make the journey than initially expected and the family already…

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12/02/2016
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Then and Now – Humewood Beach

Humewood Beach is one of Port Elizabeth's flagship beaches and one that is popular with just about everybody.  Being a Blue Flag Beach it has to adhere to international standards of safety and cleanliness and with the bridge overhead creating shade and nearby parking it's a great family beach.  But where did Humewood get it's name from and has it always been popular beach?Humewood Beach obviously got it's name from the suburb of Humewood which in turn was named after William…

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11/02/2016
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Humewood Beach

Humewood Beach is one of Port Elizabeth's premier beaches and is the oldest Blue Flag Beach in South Africa having received Blue Flag status from the first year of implementation.  

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10/02/2016