Looking down the railway bridge
Standing in the middle of the Van Stadens Narrow Gauge Railway Bridge I snapped this picture looking down through a gap in the bridge
2 Comments
09/06/2014
Van Stadens protea
The Van Stadens Wildflower Reserve just west of Port Elizabeth is probably the best spot around the city to see a wide range of protea species grow in the wild. The reserve offers visitors two different trail options with a couple of stunning view sights over the Van Stadens gorge. South Africa's national flower, the King Protea, is amongst the flowers that can be seen in the reserve.
01/06/2014
Late afternoon at Van Stadens lagoon
The sun slowly heading down after a perfect day at Van Stadens lagoon
03/05/2014
The lagoon at Van Stadens Mouth
We spent a day at Van Stadens Mouth Resort for the first time in many years and the KidZ absolutely loved the lagoon next to the resort. There are paddle boats for hire but we took along our own little blowup boat along and it was a huge struggle to get the KidZ out of the water for the braai later on.
Comments Off on The lagoon at Van Stadens Mouth
01/05/2014
Van Stadens railway bridge – the highest narrow gauge bridge in the world
When the Apple Express used to run (and lets hope it will be running again some time) it always stopped at the Van Stadens Railway Bridge to allow passengers to walk across the bridge if they wanted to get photos of the train crossing it. I decided to drive out to Van Stadens to look for two Geocaches at the bridge and got to visit it for the first time in over ten years. The Van Stadens Railway Bridge is…
Comments Off on Van Stadens railway bridge – the highest narrow gauge bridge in the world
03/04/2014
One Van Stadens Bridge seen from another Van Stadens Bridge
Most people driving along the N2 over the Van Stadens Bridge west of Port Elizabeth have seen the Van Stadens Railway Bridge (the higherst narrow gauge railway bridge in the world) higher up in the gorge in the distance. On a geocaching outing the other day I visited the railway bridge for the first time in ages and got to take a picture of what the Van Stadens Bridge looks like from the railway bridge's side.
Comments Off on One Van Stadens Bridge seen from another Van Stadens Bridge
21/03/2014
Then and Now – Van Stadens Pass drift
Approaching Port Elizabeth from the west you have to drive over the Van Stadens River Bridge about 40 kilometres outside of town. Looking down into the gorge you can just imagine what an effort it must have been getting through that back in the earlier days. The river was named after one of the area's pioneer farmers - Marthinus van Staden, who was the first person to plot a basic route through the gorge in the 1850's. In 1867 Thomas Bain rebuild the…
Comments Off on Then and Now – Van Stadens Pass drift
29/01/2014
Rock climbing at Van Stadens
After a couple of recent posts (including Wildflower Reserve Trails and Under Van Stadens Bridge)that covered the Van Stadens area, I received an email from Derek Marshall with a couple of pictures. They were about, as he puts it, one of the more unknown aspects of PE. Rock climbing. I did a quick bit of research and found the following. The Van Stadens River Gorge have 154 sport routes ranging from grade 17 to grade 34. There are a couple of spots around the historic…
25/11/2013
Bridge series #3 – Van Stadens Bridge
This is post #3 in the Port Elizabeth bridge series. The city's most imposing and best know bridge is the Van Stadens Bridge 35 km west of the city and also situated on the western boundary of the Nelson Mandela Bay metro. The 125 meter high, 340 meter long bridge was completed in 1971 and is the first of a serious of large arch bridges between Port Elizabeth and Plettenberg Bay. The others are the Storms River Bridge, Bloukrans Bridge, Groot River Bridge and…
06/11/2013
Wildflower Reserve trails
The Van Stadens Wildflower Reserve is looking stunning at the moment with loads of Pin Cushions and King Proteas in flower. We went for a short walk through the reserve and eventually Drama Princess and I fell so far behind the Damselfly and Chaos Boy cause she kept on stopping to look at flowers and ask questions about them and other things we saw. I didn't mind though because it gives me a good excuse to snap some pictures as well. …
25/10/2013