Trying something New.

Our internet is very iffy here so I have downloaded Open Live Writer and I hope I’ll be able to assemble my posts off-line and then post them.
Monday was a stressful day. I was navigating with Google maps which usually only gives you one move ahead. The Cape Town highways have many exits, sometimes about 200m apart and it is stressful trying to find the right one and not knowing which lane to get in.
When we got to Fish Hoek Caravan Park, we saw nobody camping there. We asked the friendly lady at the reception if it was safe and she said, “Fairly safe” She recommended, however, that we should rather go to the Simon’s Town Caravan Park. This is about 5km beyond Simon’s Town. When we got there we were informed that we would have to go back to Simon’s Town and pay at the library. A very efficient security guard wouldn't let us in without an invoice but gave us the phone number of the lady to contact. The bad news was that although there was space during the week, the park was booked up over the weekend. We wanted to stay for 9 nights. We have booked a car from tomorrow and if we have to move on Friday, we will have two cars to sort out. We were quite stressed by this time, especially as it was approaching rush hour traffic time which everybody had warned us to avoid.
After praying for guidance, we went to the tourist information. Another helpful lady phoned the Muizenburg Caravan Park which required booking 7 days ahead.
At last she remembered a newish resort called Froggy Pond in Simon’s town itself and they had space for us and here we are.
We have a view of the sea including stunning sunset displays.

Road Trip: Port Elizabeth. Beach and wildlife

Today is our anniversary. 39 years ago we were married in Port Elizabeth.  It is very special to be able to celebrate one's anniversary in the place one was married.
It dawned a beautiful, sunny, windless day - perfect for the beach.

On the way we saw the giant flag was flying again. The pole is 60 metres high and the flag is the size of a tennis court and can be seen even from the beachfront. There is a you tube video of it being taken down in a typical Port Elizabeth wind.

First we went to Angelo's on the beach front for breakfast. We had a lovely table with a view of the beach.

We watched kayaks paddle past, swimmers doing laps to the pier and back and people just enjoying the sea.

After a yummy breakfast we went to the other side of the pier to Hobie Beach.

I had forgotten how much fun swimming in the sea can be. Port Elizabeth must have some of the best beaches in the world.  The sand is clean and neither too course nor too fine. The sea bed is soft and the water is clear. We went beyond the breakers to the swells and bobbed up and down hoping the waves wouldn't break in our faces. I thought I was too old to enjoy swimming in the sea but I had so much fun!
A number of other people had realised what a lovely day it was and the beach was reasonably crowded.

Different people were having fun doing different things.

Divers coming in from their morning dive

Families making memories together

Nobody is too young to go to the sea

Some people had fun surfing in the waves

Others enjoyed digging in the sand

Once we'd had enough sun we made our way to Seaview Predator Park. It is a cross between a game park and a zoo. We drove around the game park area by car and saw some giraffes and wildebeest.

The lions and tigers were in fenced off enclosures

Lions sleep 18 - 20 hours a day

Tigers are not indigenous to South Africa. These were Bengal and Siberian Tigers.  Unlike lions, tigers lead solitary lives in the wild. Unlike most big cats, tigers love swimming. Every tiger in the world is unique; no tiger has the same stripes.

There is a restaurant nearby where even the chairs fit the wildlife theme.

From there the Sanctuary, or zoo,  is accessed via a rather rickety bridge/walkway.

The animals I found most interesting were the caracal and the meerkats.

Lots of information was given about the various animals on large signboards.

After an enjoyable  and interesting day in the sun, we finished off with dinner at the Beach Hotel which is where we spent our wedding night 39 years ago. I'm happy to report that the standard is just as good as it ever was. Tomorrow morning we are going to church at Walmer Methodist Church, the church in which Brian's Dad and his Uncle John conducted our marriage ceremony.

Moonlight Walk

SANCOB, (previously SAMREC) which is a marine bird rehabilitation centre at Cape Recife, organised a moonlight walk last night to see the sun set over the sea and the full moon rise. I was surprised at how many people turned up!

There was an opening address but there were so many people we couldn't hear a word.

It was a lovely walk along the beach towards the light house and back. Because it was in a crowd we felt quite safe walking along the beach at dusk but people spread out and walked at their own pace so we didn't feel crowded.

We passed beautiful seascapes and interesting people.

We got to the lighthouse at just about sunset.

After climbing a couple of sand dunes and admiring the sunset, we turn around and started the 2 km return journey.

The moon rose behind a strip of cloud so we didn't see it rise from the sea. Nevertheless quite soon we could see it in all its glory. Unfortunately it is extremely difficult to photograph the moon so these photos don't nearly do it justice.

Luckily we had brought a torch because it was dark when we finished our walk.
Altogether a lovely evening out.

Fountains and Kings

 

The plan was to get takeaways for supper and then to take them to watch the musical fountains at the Boardwalk.   When we got there we saw the perfect seats outside the Wimpy.   Well, I thought, Wimpy is just about like takeaway.   So some of us procured the table and ordered cappuccinos for 5 while the others went to get their meals from other places.

The sun was just setting and we settled down to enjoy our cappuccinos.

We can’t claim that they didn’t warn us.   On the railings near our table were signs saying that the area could get wet when the fountains are playing.   Well, we have fountains in Randburg – at the Brightwater Commons - and a little bit of spray never bothered me.   It would, in fact, cool us all down because we were having a lovely spate of ideal holiday weather, sunny and hot and sometimes windy. 

Our food was arriving just as the fountains were introduced and we were advised to get our wellies, raincoats and umbrellas and enjoy the show.    Well, this was not a bit of spray!   More like a torrential downpour.   I was wearing an all weather jacket so I put up my hood and zipped up.   Brian evacuated immediately with the tray of food but some of us die-hards stayed put.   And the spectacle was magnificent.

However, when my denims were getting wet and there were so many drops on my camera lens that they interfered with my photography, even the die-hards caved.

We went inside to eat our supper.

The next day we were in the beach area again.   We decided to spend a short while at Kings beach and to investigate the possibility of hiring bicycles to cycle along the beach front.   The beach was much more crowded than Sardina Bay!

After spending about half an hour enjoying the waves and trying to avoid other people enjoying the waves, we made our way along the beach towards the MacArthur Pools.

It turned out that bike hire was R100 per day and we didn’t want to spend a whole day cycling.   We lingered at the flea market and wondered at the chair set in a pool of shallow water.   Some kind of art perhaps?   We thought of sitting in the chair and taking a photo but wondered if it was a tourist trap and somebody would jump out and ask for R20 or R50 for the privilege.

Another sunny day in Port Elizabeth.

Christmas cheer and Sardinia Bay

We stayed in a spacious studio at the Old Cash Store in Sardinia Bay.  In nearby Mount Pleasant somebody had taken a lot of trouble to bring Christmas cheer to the community.

We read about it in the local newspaper and went to have a look.   They had even organised a security firm to hang around in one of their patrol cars.   This reminded me so much of the Christmas we spent in Napier, New Zealand.   There an estate agent had organised a Christmas light competition.   To enter, one  posted the address onto a web site and the rest of the community could go onto the website and plan a tour around the town looking at Christmas lights and voting for the best.   Apparently the competitive element had got out of hand and when we visited, it was just an opportunity to visit the houses that had registered on the website.

This was not the only similarity we notice with Port Elizabeth and New Zealand.   The beauty of the scenery and the drives along the coast were another.

3km from where we stayed is Sardinia bay Beach.   We went early because for all it is the Friendly City, Port Elizabeth is also the windiest city in South Africa so if you don’t get to the beach early, the wind picks up later in the morning making beach activities less pleasant.

From the parking lot there is first a high sand dune to negotiate before going downhill to the beach.   The view, of course, was stunning.

Although it is the height of the holiday season, the beach is not overly crowded as some of the more popular beaches are.

 

 

 

We had brought a portable shelter and spent a lovely couple of hours.   We were about 500m from the official swimming area but when some other people started swimming in the waves I did too.   I was very impressed with the lifeguard.   While I went back to the shelter to fetch my inflatable pillow to more seriously ride the waves, he came all the way across from the swimming area to tell the 3 remaining swimmers to move to the designated area if they wanted to swim.   He obviously took his job seriously.

The journey back to the car was daunting.   The sand dune was much higher from the beach side.

 

However, after we had successfully completed the challenge, we treated ourselves to an ice cream.