Eastern Cape - Firefly the Travel Guy

A historic walk around Graaff-Reinet

History buffs totally love Graaff-Reinet, what with it being the oldest town in the Eastern Cape (fourth oldest in South Africa) with about 220 listed historical buildings. Best of all, you can see just about all the best ones on a relatively short walk around town. And obviously, that is what we did otherwise I wouldn't be writing about it. We parked our car in front of the Graaff-Reinet Tourism office, grabbed a map from the friendly staff in the…

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01/08/2017

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“Lost” in an antique store

Getting lost somewhere doesn't always have to mean you don't know where you are. Sometimes you are so in awe of where you are that you lose track of time and literally get lost in your own mind. While exploring Ira's Antique Shop in Graaff-Reinet while looking for the oldest cake in South Africa, I spotted this guy down the passage looking totally lost in himself.

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19/07/2017

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Russell Road Cemetery

The Russell Road Cemetery is another of Port Elizabeth's historic grave yards dating back to the early days of Port Elizabeth. As the town grew the increased demands on the St Mary's Cemetery next to the Baakens River became too much and a solution had to be found, not just for another cemetery but also to accommodate the different religious affiliations. Small pieces of land was allocated to the various Christian denominations on the town margins in the late 1830's…

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13/07/2017

Firefly the Travel Guy

Discovering South Africa’s oldest cake in the town of Graaff Reinet

One of the first things Karoo Girl asked me when she heard I was going to visit her hometown of Graaff-Reinet, as if I was going to go and see the oldest cake in the country. Now I know most of Graaff-Reinet's attractions, but the cake was a first for me. She directed me to aunty Ira's Antique Shop next to the Graaff-Reinet Tourism info office and that is where we headed on the Saturday morning of our visit before…

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11/07/2017

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Giant cacti at Obesa

I have always had a love for cacti and succulents. Perhaps because there are so many different species, because they often surprise you with the most beautiful little flowers or because they don't need much looking after or water. But nothing I knew about succulents could prepare me for what I encountered at the Obesa Cactus Nursery in Graaff-Reinet. We were in town for a long weekend and had a couple of hours on our hands to explore, so when…

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04/07/2017

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Graaff-Reinet – a gem discovered

Graaff-Reinet in the Karoo Heartland is often referred to as the Gem of the Karoo. Spending a long weekend in the town just again proved to me that this gem isn't one buried deep under ground somewhere but rather has been unearthed and is mesmerizing those that get to visit it. Located in a horseshoe created by the Sundays River and totally surrounded by the Camdeboo National Park, Graaff-Reinet is situated about three hours north of Port Elizabeth and the…

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26/06/2017

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The Graaff-Reinet church – looking rather ghostly

The last two months have been an absolute blur. Don't ask me where it went, I just know it's gone and I am exhausted. But things are getting back to normal and hopefully I will get my blogging mojo back as well. The pictures from our Graaff-Reinet weekend is lined up and just waiting for the words to be added. In the meantime here is one I took of the Groot Kerk at the top of the main drag into…

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12/06/2017

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Looking out the museum doorway

I'm finally busy going through and editing the pictures I took in Graaff-Reinet a few weekends ago and will start posting about our visit shortly. One of the photos I found was this one of Miggie standing in the door at the Reinet House museum looking up towards the Drostdy Hotel. She clearly likes being outdoors a lot more than going through museums.

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25/05/2017

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Up(s) and down(s) and into the water at the InniKloof Waterfall hike

Everybody has their travel bucket lists. I'm no different but because I would still like to do a lot of travelling I have divided mine into International, African, South African and Eastern Cape. One of the things that has been on my Eastern Cape travel bucket list for a while now is doing the Innikloof Waterfall hike. Innikloof is situated near the Gamtoos Valley town of Hankey and the hike is done once a month as a guided hike as…

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08/05/2017

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Black Oyster Catcher nest on the Wild Coast

The Wild Coast is all about the rugged coastline, beautiful beaches, rolling green hills, dramatic waterfalls, spectacular river mouths, friendly and hospitable people. So in fact that many visitors often miss the little things. And y'all know how I can go on about not just looking at the bigger picture when you are travelling.A little while ago I was staying at Wavecrest Hotel and took an early morning walk down to the river mouth. It was raining all night and…

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12/04/2017