I wonder how many people driving the Swartkops road on a regular basis don't even notice the flamingos anymore. I think its awesome to have so many flamingos on the Swartkoms estuary right here close to the city. I walked the Flamingo Trail recently and snapped this pic of the flamingos taking off as we started to get too close.
On a recent guided walk around St Georges Park, our guide told us a very interesting fact about Doncaster Road. Doncaster Road is on the other side of park drive close to the Prince Alfred Guard Memorial. On the day our guide pointed out that not two of the trees lining Doncaster Road are the same. When the trees were planted it was decided to plant different species all the way between Park Drive and Cape Road in the background.…
The Coastal Fynbos Trail in Schoenmakerskop is probably one of the slightly lesser known trails around Port Elizabeth. Thanks to the PE Geocaching series which created the letters PE as geoart on the Geocache map, a few more people have set off to explore the trail lately. The trail is a circular trail and covers about 7 km on the eastern side of the village, starting at Sappershoek. The first section of the trail is an inland route through the coastal fynbos…
Just west of Patensie, travellers through the Gamtoos Valley will find the Padlangs farm stall. It's a favourite with both visitors and the locals and I really have to do a post on it one day, but that day is not today. Outside the farm stall visitors would find the remnants of transport methods used in the valley in the past. Parts of an ox wagon and an old bakkie (a Chev perhaps?) I placed a couple of Geocaches in the…
A restaurant (and pub) in the oldest hotel in Port Elizabeth. Sawdust covered floors. American memorabilia all over the walls... and ceilings. Historic memorabilia scattered in-between the previously mentioned American stuff. Friendly people. Relaxed atmosphere. Flippen good food. Staff taking photos of each and every table to post on Facebook. Excellent service (even if they're not willing to admit it). Where am I? The Stage Door at the Phoenix Hotel in Central is all of that and more. If you're looking…
Unlike my brother who has provincial colours for fresh water fishing, I'm not a fisherman. I don't have the patience for it. I would much rather go for a walk with my camera and find something interesting to photograph. Perhaps its the same thing, just different. Its the same with Geocaching. I can spend hours doing it while others see it as a waste of time because other than a smiley face on my geocache map and my name on…
During the Second World War a series of harbour defences were built around Port Elizabeth to keep a lookout for approaching enemy ships, planes and submarines. The harbour defences consisted of three Forward Observation Posts (FOP) at Schoenmakerskop, Cape Recife and Bluewater Bay along with the Algoa Battery building in Humewood and the Battery Observation Post on Brookes Hill overlooking Happy Valley. I started out my exploration of these old buildings because they are the sites of a series of Geocaches, but the history…
I'm probably one of the few people who's never tried sushi. That was until the other day. I took a group of bloggers for lunch in Stanley Street in Richmond Hill and after sussing out the restaurants on the strip we decided to go for Fushin. My companions decided to order a couple of sushi platters which meant I had to learn very fast. But Fushin isn't a bad choice for my first sushi experience. One of the bloggers, Heather…
https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/n4-0HCrH3Gg&source=udsAfter yesterday's post, Mohair Weaving, I discovered a video on YouTube called The Hinterveld Story. The video shows some of the scenes and things you would see if you go on the Hinterveld Mohair Mill Tour in Uitenhage and the story of Hinterveld as told by Daniel Stucken. Well worth a watch. I know some PEDP purists would say, "But this isn't a photo. Where is our daily photo?" A photo tells a 100 words and this video does more. I…
The Hinterveld Mohair Mill Tour incorporating Gubb and Inggs, Mohair Spinners South Africa and the Hinterveld Weaving Mill takes one right from where the dirty mohair comes in from the farm through the cleaning process to where mohair tops and yarn gets spun. Lastly visitors get to see the weaving process where products like scarves and blankets are woven. Here one of the weaving operators are busy creating the sought after blankets that Hinterveld is famous for.