Spider lily

A couple of years ago I posted on The Firefly Photo Files about the Spider Lilies I have in a pot at home (here and here).  I was very surprised to find a lot of Spider Lilies in flower next to the big fish pond in St Georges Park when I walked through there the other day.  Was quite impressed to see them in flower seeing that mine flowered about a month or so ago already.

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Ships in the harbour

A couple of container ships moored in the harbour as viewed from the harbour wall side

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Welcome to Despatch

Originally developed in 1942, Despatch is regarded as a relatively young town and only officially obtained municipal status in 1945. The name of the town was derived from the brick industry, as it was from a railway siding (later known as “Hitler’s Halt”) in the late 1800’s near Uitenhage, that bricks were “dispatched” or rather, “despatched’. Many of the older buildings and houses in Port Elizabeth and Uitenhage were built with these very bricks. Sadly, the brick business is now…

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Schoenies from the village green

I often wish I lived in Schoenmakerskop.  A beautiful place for walks, swims, snorkeling, fishing (not that I'm a fisherman), sunsets and photographs.  Plus its nice and peaceful in the week and only gets a little busier over weekend.  My kind of place, unless the wind pumps out of the south-west.

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Lighthouse

The Cape Recife Lighthouse looking spickerish with its new coat of paint.  The 24 metres high octagonal masonry tower was built in 1851 to warn mariners of this treacherous piece of coastline west of Port Elizabeth.  The light can bee seen from 29 miles away making sure that ships steer clear of the dangerous Thunderbolt Reef.

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Full moon shining

Before anybody says it. I know its not full moon at the time of posting this pic, but I took it a couple of weeks ago so its been uploaded and waiting to be posted for a while now.  I wish I had a big fancy camera with which to take a proper moon picture, but this just shows that even a superzoom amateur camera can take a moon pic if it wants to.

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Kings Beach

Kings Beach is a beautiful piece of white sandy beach stretching from the harbour wall up to McArthur Pool.  With the royal visit to South Africa in 1947 the royal family also stopped in Port Elizabeth.  The train they were travelling on was parked just above what is now the Kings Beach parking area and apparently part of the beach was fenced of for the use of the royal family.  The princesses went horse riding and the king went for swims…

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Welcome Carpet

Most people notice Route 67's big colourful mosaic next to the Donkin Reserve but doesn't realise that there is another beautiful mosaic right across the green in front of the King Edward Hotel.  The Welcome Carpet was done by Lisbet Demeyer and was one of the first art pieces to be done as part of the Route 67 development.  The mosaic is made up of coloured quartz and bead work and forms a red carpet welcoming visitors to the Donkin Reserve. …

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Pumba Game Reserve lodges

I absolutely love visiting private game reserves, who wouldn't? Luxury accommodation, excellent food, personal service, sipping drinks around a camp fire under the stars and, my ultimate favorite about game reserves, going on game drives in the late afternoon and early morning. I've discovered photos I haven't posted before and here are three from the magnificent Pumba Game Reserve between Port Elizabeth and Grahamstown showing some of their accommodation.  I got to visit Pumba while showing some media around in…

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