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Spending the weekend at The Milk House in Hankey

The Gamtoos Valley west of Port Elizabeth is often just seen as the entrance to the Baviaanskloof yet its a tranquil and very scenic farming area.  I visit the valley a couple of times a year to participate in the annual Gamtoos Tourism Adventure Drive, the Citrus festival and the Patensie Boere Basaar.  This also means that I spend a lot of time in the Patensie area so when Carol Pearson of The Milk House contacted me to invite us…

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16/07/2014
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Ships at anchor in the Bay

If you look at old photos of Algoa Bay dating back to the late 70's and 80's (or even way back to the last 1800's), you would notice that there were always a number of ships laying at anchor in the bay.  These numbers dwindled and for a decade or two up to the time the Coega Harbour was built you would only see a big ship at anchor in the bay if the berth they are supposed to use was…

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16/07/2014
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Wild berries

Have you ever picked up how some people can go through life without noticing the little things?  Often this is the same story when you take a group of people on a hiking trail.  Some people would just do the walk to be out in the fresh air, some would enjoy beautiful views and scenic attractions and usually a small percentage would notice the details.  A succulent with a tiny little flower, a buck spoor in the soft sand, a butterfly fluttering by…

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15/07/2014
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Aloe view of Swartkops River mouth

My three favorite flowers in the wild are aloes, proteas and arum lilies.  The aloes are in full bloom at the moment and gives colour to the winter landscape.  A hike along the Aloe Trail at Bluewater Bay took as to this spot from where we could see Amsterdamhoek and the Swartkops River mouth with flowering aloes in the foreground.

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14/07/2014
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The green green fields of the Tsitsikamma

Most people associate the scenic Tsitsikamma with indigenous forests, river gorges and a rugged coastline.  It also has the beautiful Tsitsikamma Mountains running parallel to the coast and on the eastern side big green open fields used for diary farming.  And that's just the scenery.....

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14/07/2014
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Random stones

Its been a while since I've done a "Random ..." themed post, so here is one.  On a trip up the old Zuurberg Pass from the Karoo side, I discovered an old kraal wall perfectly built without any cement.  Put together like a puzzle.Cobble stones on the beach at Schoenmakerskop in Port ElizabethAnother historic building.  The wall of the stables at Fort Peddie between Grahamstown and King William's Town, dating back to about 1835.  This time, unlike in the first picture,…

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13/07/2014
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Drama Princess leading the way

Its amazing how different from each other one's own children can be.  Drama Princess is the sporty outdoorsy type while Chaos Boy is happy to sit and watch tv or play in his room.  The other day when I announced that I was meeting Shefetswe and Sanhain at the Aloe Trail for a quick 6km hike and a couple of Geocaches, Drama Princess quickly got ready to go with while Chaos Boy just blew us off and went back to…

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13/07/2014
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Heron at dusk

Spending one night at Trennery's on the Wild Coast, I decided that I wanted to explore a bit.  Upstream from the Qolora River Mouth is a spot called The Gates and it was here that I caught this heron sitting on a branch at dusk. 

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11/07/2014
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Nelson Mandela Bay – The Investment Hotspot

https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/HXjf_paVFE8&source=udsPort Elizabeth is the perfect city to live, work and play in.  Its not huge and over developed like some of South Africa's big cities and I often refer to it as a city with a town at heart yet it has all the big city amenities that you expect from big cities.  A couple of years ago the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality did a stunning video called Nelson Mandela Bay : Investment Hotspot to show off just that.  Its…

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11/07/2014