Eastern Cape

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Graaff Reinet Museums

The beautiful Karoo town of Graaff Reinet is South Africa's fourth oldest town. It has 220 heritage site (national monuments), more than any other town in South Africa and a number of these are magnificent examples of Cape Dutch architecture. The Graaff Reinet Museums take up some of these old Cape Dutch buildings and includes a fossil and rock art collection, period furniture and contemporary history exhibitions. The main gem in the museum crown must be Reinet House containing the…

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30/07/2010
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Windpomp and church tower

Two of the most typical things that you would associate small towns in the platteland (countryside) with are churches and windpompe (windpumps). They are to small towns as Aston Martins and girls are to James Bond. In this scene in Nieu Bethesda in the Karoo I got them both in one shot. James Bond driving with the top down and a beautiful girl next to him.

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27/07/2010
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Tuishuise and Victoria Hotel

We spend a weekend at the very interesting Tuishuise in Cradock recently. The Tuishuise is an elegant collection of beautifully restored Victorian era craftsmen’s houses in this Karoo town about 3 hours north of Port Elizabeth. The more than two dozen Tuishuise line Market Street and are furnished with mostly antique furniture. Each house constitudes unit so you won't be sharing your house with anybody else. We were there in winter so the fireplace in our unit came in very…

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24/07/2010
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Algoa Bay Yacht Club

The Algoa Bay Yacht Club in the Port Elizabeth Harbor is a club with a proud history. Established in 1959, the club organises regular organised regattas and informal sailing events on top of being home to most of Port Elizabeth's yachting fraternity. I am sure Alan will pop into the comments section and add a few tit bits more.Footnote: Alan did pop by and here follows his few tit bits:mmmmm how many more titbits can you stand from the loquacious…

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19/07/2010
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Queen Elizabeth Profile

Driving east through the Gamtoos River Valley from the Baviaanskloof side towards the town of Patensie, the road wounds along a section between the river and Enon conglomerate cliffs. If you keep one eye on the cliffs above while watching the road with the other, you may just spot one of the valley's landmarks. The profile of Queen Victoria. I'm not sure who would have been the first person to recognise her, but with a bit of imagination you can…

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18/07/2010
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1820 Settlers Monuments

The town of Grahamstown (well, its actually a city as it has a cathedral) in the Eastern Cape is situated right in the middle of Settlers country. It is in this area that the 1820 British Settlers (see here, here and here for the Settler story) settled down and it was inevetable that the town would put a monuments to them. On the hill overlooking the town the Settlers Monument was built as a living monument. Opened in 1974, the…

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10/07/2010
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Nieu Bethesda Fossil Centre

I love Indiana Jones and when I was younger I wanted to be an archaeologist discovering lost civilisations and crawling through jungles looking for artifacts. I still have an great interest in archaeology and have a small collection of fossils and other interesting bits which I hope to still add to in future. So on a visit to Nieu Bethesda in the Karoo I reveled in the knowledge that I would be able to visit the Kitching Fossil Exploration Centre…

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07/07/2010
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Prince Alfred Guard flower

I snapped this picture at the Prince Alfred Guard Memorial in Port Elizabeth the other day. I hadn't been to the monument for a while and stopped by to see if I could get a couple of photos from angles that I haven't taken there before.

6 Comments
02/07/2010
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Sharing a meal

A couple of pachyderms having a meal together at the Addo Elephants National Park just outside Port Elizabeth. I just loved the fact that the second elephant actually looks like the first one's reflection.

5 Comments
29/06/2010