Looking for something to do with the kids this holiday? Why not head out to Uitenhage? The town has a few worth while spots to visit to keep the kids busy at. Start at the Cuyler Manor Museum, visit the world class VW Auto Pavilion and round the day off at the Nelson Mandela Bay Science and Technology Centre. Although the centre really has the potential to be so much more than what it currently is, it's sure to keep…
One of the lesser known museums in Port Elizabeth is the Prince Alfred Guard Drill Hall in Central. The museum was established as a fusion between the old military museum that was housed at the Donkin Reserve and the old Prince Alfred Guard regimental museum. The Prince Alfred Guard was founded in 1856 as a City Regiment but had their name changed when they provided a Royal Guard for Prince Alfred, the second son of Queen Victoria, on his visit to Port Elizabeth in…
I met a friend and colleague for coffee at South Boulevard Café at the South End Museum the other day. The museum is situated at the intersection of Beach Road, Walmer Boulevard and the Settlers Freeway. The coffee shop has seating both inside and out on their first floor verandah which gives one a view of the intersection and harbor beyond. To some people this wouldn't be the best view around yet I actually enjoyed watching life go by while enjoying a cup of…
The last South African-made Volkswagen Beetle came off the production line on 18 January 1979 and went straight into the Volkswagen museum which later became the VW AutoPavilion. The metallic bronze Beetle was the last of 288 353 built at Uitenhage plant 1951. The car only had 200km on the clock when a vehicle carrier overturned on the way back from a show in Cape Town in 2006, destroying nine of the AutoPavilion's most important historic cars, including this one. It was decided though to…
One of my favorite geocaches done lately was one located inside the VW AutoPavilion in Uitenhage. The coordinates take you to the museum itself from where you have to follow the instructions in the cache description. These tell you to look for the blue racing car and to get in to find the cache. I'm giving this one away a bit, but the container is muggle proof so doing so isn't the end of the world. The cache container turned out…
The VW AutoPavilion in Uitenhage doesn't just have some awesome exhibits inside the facility, there are also a couple of outside exhibits. One of them being this replica roadhouse and garage.
A quick trip out to Uitenhage to fetch my drivers license had me pop into the VW AutoPavilion briefly and even though I was in and out quickly I just realised again how much of a world class attraction it is. We really are very fortunate to have it right on our doorstep but I often wonder how much more popular it would have been if it was in Port Elizabeth and able to attract more visitors. Locals tend to be a bit…
A scene from the upcoming Jurrasic World movie? Not quite. It's scene from the dinosaur section at Bayworld.
The Port Elizabeth Museum, which forms part of the Bayworld complex, has a very unique exhibit hanging in the Marine Hall. It's the skeleton of the last Southern Right Whale to be harpooned in Algoa Bay and is the focus piece of a exhibit that covers whales and sharks (amongst others) along with everything associated with them.
The Cape Dutch style Drostdy building in Uitenhage was completed in 1809 during the time that General Jacob Glen Cuyler was the Landdrost of Uitenhage. The building houses the town's Africana museum following the historical development of Uitenhage and the surrounding districts. The museum contains various exhibits which include historical artifacts from the town, toys, porcelain, clothing and an archive library.