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Windward – sculptured benches on the Donkin

Is it a surf board? Is it a sail boat? Is it a seat? Well, its kind of a combination of the lot.  Windward is one (or rather three) of the art pieces forming part of Route 67 on the Donkin Reserve.  The shape of the sculptured benches hint at Port Elizabeth's nautical history while the title refers to city's "Windy City" nickname.  The seats are made to look like a combination of a surf board and a sail boat…

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03/03/2014
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Cradock celebrates 200 years

Cradock is one of the main towns in the Karoo Heartland and this year celebrates 200 years since being founded.  By the late 1700's Graaff-Reinet had been established as a magistrate district and Dutch farmers has settled in the area.  In 1814 Sir John Cradock decided to build a series of forts along the lower Fish River and all the way up to present day Cradock to try to contain the Xhosa people to the East of the Fish River which by then…

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03/03/2014
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Splash down

Summer fun at the Splash Waterworld super tube at Kings Beach

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02/03/2014
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Bird Rock on the PE beachfront

Geocaching is fun with most caches hidden somewhere fairly easily eccessible.  For a while now I've been eyeing Bird Rock on the beachfront thinking it could be a great site for an "extreme" terrain 5 cache and the other day I took a swim out there with fellow cachers Seekoei and erenei to place one with only three cachers swimming out there since to log it.  Bird Rock is situated between Hobie Beach and Pollok Beach and is always surrounded…

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01/03/2014
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Narrow gauge station remains

On a recent Geocaching outing I got to walk a bit around what is left of the old Humewood narrow gauge station.  Of the actual station and sheds nothing really remains, but there are still a couple of carriages on the line between where the station used to be and Kings Beach.  Makes for interesting photography.  

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28/02/2014
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I am an African and proud of it

https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/O0pKrpj-Loc&source=udsI am an African and I am proud to call myself an African.  Yes, my forefathers came from Europe a couple of hundred years ago, but my father, grand father, great grand father and before him was born in Africa.  As was I.  Does it mean that the fact that I am white means I'm not an African?  I beg to differ from anybody who would so say so.  I am a white African.  A proud African.  One with a passion for…

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28/02/2014
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Then and Now – Grey Institute

In the mid 1800's there was a boom happening in Port Elizabeth.  It was during this time that Sir George Grey, Governor of the Cape from 1854-61, played a leading role in the establishment of educational institutes throughout the colony.  At the instigation of John Paterson, one of Port Elizabeth's the first Town Councillors, the then municipality took over vacant land on top of the hill opposite the Donkin Reserve and the establishment of a grammar school.  A Mr Archibald was commissioned to prepare…

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27/02/2014
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Malachite Sunbird in Addo

Addo Elephant National Park boats with over 450 different bird species making it not just great for elephant and game watching, but also bird watching.  I'm not always too bothered with trying to photograph birds with my superzoom as it isn't really fast enough to take proper pictures of them, but on my last visit I had a borrowed SLR with a long lens and snapped away at anything that moved.  One of those was this Malachite Sunbird.  The adult…

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27/02/2014
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Lighthouse Mosaic Moments

Everybody who visits the Donkin Reserve is in awe of the huge 470 m2 mosaic next to the pyramid.  Very few actually notice the frame of mosaic blocks surrounding the base of the lighthouse.  The mosaic blocks is a celebration of symbols and icons within Port Elizabeth and its surrounds referencing various stories, personal ideas and journeys.  One actually have to spend some time and look at each one individually to really see what they are about and to appreciate…

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26/02/2014
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Passing the Fish-Bird

Visitors to the Donkin Reserve may think the aliens have landed when they walk past the Fish-Bird art piece on the Donkin Reserve.  The Fish-Bird is one of the art pieces forming part of Route 67 and was done by artist Mxolisi Dolla Sapeta.  The sculpture represent the fish found in Algoa Bay which is visible from Donkin and the birds found on the Reserve itself.  The Fish-Bird has "landed" here to take ownership of this transforming site, making itself at home…

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25/02/2014