Two Saturdays ago I joined the local Geocaching community for a picnic event in St Georges Park. I just realised again what an amazing place we have right here in the city where we can go and picnic while the kids run around and play on the park equipment. Really something more people should do.
The Baakens Valley truly is Port Elizabeth's green lung stretching all the way from the west of the city through to the harbour. The valley really has so much potential to be one of the city's playgrounds, but the stigma of crime is sticking to it like velcro. Mountain bikers, trail runners and hikers use parts of the Baakens Valley on a regular basis but the valley has so much more to give. I am a true believer in the…
When we were small we often went to swim at the pools (both the pool by the Smartie Train and the kiddie slide pool) at Kings Beach. I remember the day so well when I decided that I was big enough to go and try out the "big" slide at McArthur's Pool. The kiddies slide (and Smartie Train pool) closed down before I had kids so they never got to experience that part of my childhood memories. After the slide…
Trinder Square is the latest addition to the Route 67 public art pieces. All around the central grassy area mosaic covered benches have been erected. The benches have been inspired by the exposed roots of the wild fig trees growing in the park and can be used to watch the locals play soccer in the park or kids playing on the newly installed play equipment.
In yesterday's post I showed you the view of Settlers Park looking west from the parking area off How Avenue. Today's post is the view looking east from the same spot showing the little dam in the park.
I wonder how many people have asked me how to get to Settlers Park. They know where the park is, but not how to get to it. The best way is turn off Park Drive down How Avenue next to the St Georges Hospital. The entrance to the main parking is just a short distance down the road. This is the view from the parking area looking west. Settlers Park Primary School (previously called Walmer Primary) is visible on the…
Uitenhage's Willow Dam and its surrounding park has always been a very popular recreational spot in the Garden Town. For a while it seemed to have gone downhill a bit and people stayed away because of a bad reputation that was developing, but that is changing again. People are returning to Willow Park to picnic and play, there's a weekly market and the park is once again nicely maintained.
At the one end of the Kings Beach Park's lake is an elevated area from where water cascades down into the lake. This elevated area have been here as long as I remember. Long before the redevelopment took place. When I was small there was a kiddies waterslide and small pool where we often went to swim. I remember the day so well when we were big enough to leave the kiddies slide behind and go to McArthur Pool's slides for the…
In Magennis Park just off Church Road (Graaff-Reinet Road) in Uitenhage is a monument that seems kinda out of place in this part of the province. It's a memorial commemorating those who died in the Morosi Mountain and Basuto Campaigns of 1879 and 1880-1882. Morosi's Mountain was the name given to a fortified mountain in the Drakensberg mountain range on the banks of the Orange River in southern Basutoland (modern day Lesotho). This was the site of a siege during the Gun War, also known…