van stadens

I really can't reiterate how Geocaching is taking me to places where I've never been before and for somebody who has thought I've seen most places there is to see around Port Elizabeth I keep on being surprised.  Going after a couple of caches in the Van Stadens Wildflower Reserve I had to follow the path linking the Forest Walk with the River Walk which took me underneath the magnificent arch bridge spanning the gorge.  I have driven over it…

Visiting the Van Stadens Wildflower Reserve I noticed that the work on the pedestrian barrier is going well.  A 2.7m high barrier is being put up on the Van Stadens Bridge west of Port Elizabeth by the Friends of Van Stadens Bridge Trust in an attempt to deter suicides from the bridge.  The barrier is being erected along the whole 198 m length of the bridge and will be used in conjunction with the closed circuit television to stop potential jumpers. …

On the way back from spending a day in the Gamtoos Valley, I decided to take a drive through the Van Stadens Pass and stop at the bottom to snap a couple of pics (and log the geocache hidden there).  Doing some rock hopping I got to a point from where I could see both the new and old bridges as well as the original drift through the river. The river and original pass was named after one of the area's pioneer farmers…

Travelling along the N2 towards the Garden Route from Port Elizabeth, most people cross over the Van Stadens River Bridge in seconds as they hurry along.  I often wonder how many of those have ever taken the time to take a leisurely drive along the pass on the old road.  At the bottom of the pass one can pull over and enjoy the view, both up towards the bridge as well as down the gorge.  It felt like such a…

Today's post is a follow up on yesterday's post on the Veld Fire in the Van Stadens Wildflower Reserve. A week or so after the fire I got to go past that way again and popped into the reserve to check out the damage. I found this scene very ironic (and funny).