Yearly Archives: 2009

Fuel Tanker

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Petrol Tanker

In yesterday's photo I drew attention to one of many pieces of litter littered about in a nearby field. Today our photo focuses on a different, and possibly more damaging, form of environmental damage. Yes, you have it, fossil fuels. This fuel tanker was headed for the Caltex oil refinery in Milnerton where it was presumably to pick up a consignment of diesel or petrol.

What I've always found strange is that for years we've all heard about hydrogen-powered cars and cars powered by water, but it seems as though petrol- and diesel-power still flourishes. For years the world has voiced concern over the environmental impact of fossil fuels, but clean-energy vehicles never seem to take hold. Even vehicles like the Toyota Prius aren't great for the environment... well, at least not the first few iterations (read more here).

Perhaps one day it won't be all about the money.

Careless litter

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Field of litter

I took this photo while walking back home after leaving the Kwikspar (mentioned in my last post). Whilst the field's not a complete litter dump, I found it annoying that every now and again I came across of a piece of careless litter like the one presented in the photo.

Even as a kid I would never have dreamed of throwing my chocolate wrappers on the ground. Even if they fell by accident I'd pick them up. Even if the wind blew them beyond reach, I'd chase them down. Why is it that some think it's okay to not take care? Do you think it's that they simply don't think about what they're doing? Do you think that they believe that someone else should chase after their rubbish because they're too awesome to have to deal with it?

Warm bread and cool butter

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Our local Kwikspar
Instructed to find fresh bread, rolls and a pack of very lean bacon, I hurried over to our local Kwikspar, which is only a short walk from our house and (for the record) is one of the best Kwikspars that I've ever shopped at. The staff are normally pretty friendly, and the managers are even more so. The shop is always clean and tidy. The veggies look pretty fresh. The meat is of pretty good quality. There's always a variety of fresh bread and rolls.

I've found myself buying more bread from the Kwikspar's bakery lately. For the last few years we've been buying a brand of "toaster bread" that's manufactured in bulk by large manufacturers. What started to concern us about this bread is how long it lasts... I mean, is it normal for bread to last 2 weeks and still be soft? When we thought about it we remembered that when we were kids bread bought on Monday was stale by Tuesday... and I think this is the way it ought to be, else there's something terribly wrong with the substance we call bread.

As I said, lately I've been buying fresh rolls and bread from the Kwikspar... and I can definitely say that it's way better than the artificial bread we were previously buying. I mean, what's better than a thick slice of warm bread with a chunk of butter? Yum!

It wasn’t always called Table Mountain

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Bushman's Chilli sauce

Before anyone else settled in the Cape, the Khoi and the San (perhaps known more widely as the Bushmen) inhabited the area. Eventually, in 1652, the Dutch East India Company sent Jan van Riebeeck to establish a supply station at the Cape - and I guess this is where the battle for land and rule officially began (at least between Europeans and Africans).

Here's an interesting piece of information that I'm surprised I'd never considered before: before Table Mountain was named as such by the Portuguese admiral António de Saldanha it was known by the native inhabitants as Hoeri ‘kwaggo - or Sea Mountain. Given its location, I guess this makes absolute sense; though I guess at the time António must have misinterpreted his hosts' hand-signs and gesturing.

"Oooohhh... I thought you said taaaayyyyble". :D

GeekDinner at The Pasta Factory

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GeekDinner at The Pasta Factory

This month's GeekDinner was held at The Pasta Factory, a restaurant in Park Road, Cape Town. We really enjoyed the venue - it was open, people could hear and see the speaker easily and it was easy to mingle with other geeks and wannabe geeks. :)

The talks ranged from Joe's talk on spectrum (as in wi-fi spectrum) and how we need to conserve and optimally use it, to the viciously entertaining slideshow karaoke by Elodie on how to charge batteries using other batteries. (In slideshow karaoke, the "victim" has to give a talk based on someone else's set of slides, which they've never seen before. The results are always rather amusing, as you can imagine.)

All in all we had a great evening - helped along by plenty of good wine (kindly sponsored by Delheim), as well as a few Jägermeister shots. ;)

Don’t breathe out

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Boa Constrictor

Apart from the album that I've uploaded, this is the last of the photos that I'll post from our visit to The Giraffe House. Boa Constrictors aren't native to Africa, but I thought that I'd post this photo because the snake show/educational was so interesting. I'm not a parent, but what was nice was that the snake handler in the photo engaged with and invited kids forward to touch and hold snakes - yup, even this large Boa Constrictor.

One of the interesting things that I learned was that Boa Constrictors are often kept as pets and each year several owners are killed by their friendly slithery snakes. Boas are classified as constrictors, and contrary to what you may think, they don't actually crush their prey, they suffocate it. Each time the animal (or... erm... human) breathes out, the reptile tightens its grip so that the prey is unable to fill its lungs properly. Eventually the victim is unable to catch a breath and suffocates. So... DON'T BREATHE OUT! :)

One of the other interesting things that we were taught is that if a snake is coloured with red, yellow and black, the rule of thumb is that if the red scales touch the black scales then the snake isn't poisonous [*see edit below], but if red touches yellow... you should probably back off. The handy rhyme goes:

"Red touching black - poison lack; red touching yellow will kill a fellow."

EDIT: Please see my the comment below which corrects what I understood the handler was meant by red/black and red/yellow.

My humps

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Camel in the Cape

Pete (that's our name for the camel we found at The Giraffe House) is a Bactrian camel - meaning that this fellow is of the two-humped variety.

The Bactrian Camel is apparently one of only two species of camel, the other being the Arabian, or Dromedary, camel. What I found interesting is that there are only very few camels in the world that are not domesticated. The weirdest thing of all is that it seems as though the camel is the only land mammel able to drink salt water without suffering ill effects!

One of the fun things you can do in Cape Town is to take a ride on a camel: Imhoff Farm offers short rides around the farm as well as a 2-hour-long "Bush Ride", which I hear is loads of fun.

If you've ever taken a ride on the Imhoff Farm camels, please leave a comment and tell us what your experience was like (as well as any tips that one may find useful on a 2-hour-long camel ride!). The only camel ride Kerry-Anne and I have taken was a short one on an Arabian camel while on honeymoon many years ago.

Gerry Giraffe – star giraffe of Free Willy 4

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Gerry Giraffe

There we were, at The Giraffe House, and unbeknown to us we had a famous actor in our midst. According to iAfrica, baby Gerry is a star in the soon-to-be-released movie Free Willy 4. At the time I wondered why she immediately rushed over to us when I pulled my camera from my bag! To think that she's only just over a year old and already a star! Kids grow up so fast.

On a more serious note, it's worthwhile taking your kids to see the few animals at The Giraffe House, especially since they have "animal encounters" each day at 11h00, 13h00 and 15h00, showing snakes, birds, tortoises, a speedy caracal (called Felix) and the perhaps the coolest of all, Gerry’s 16-litre bottle-feeding.

The Giraffe House – a real giraffe in Cape Town!

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The Giraffe House

Not only does The Giraffe House have this bouncy plastic giraffe (don't you love his smile? :) ), but they have a real one too! Right here in Cape Town, just down the road from Stellenbosch! I did catch a few (well, actually plenty of) shots of the tall and timid animal, but that I'll show you in Monday's post.

We've been meaning to visit The Giraffe House for some time now, so when we were given the choice of going to our godchild's 6th birthday party HERE or a "boring adult cake-and-tea"... erm... there was no contest. Definitely, The Giraffe House! The cool thing about the place was that they don't only have a giraffe, but also an assortment of other animals, some of which I'll show you on Tuesday and perhaps Wednesday.

Thanks, Ethan, for having a birthday and convincing your mom to take us all to The Giraffe House!

Mavericks – don’t expect to find Tom Cruise here

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Mavericks

Now if Mavericks were spelled with an apostrophe-s then I'd say your chances of finding Tom Cruise here would be small to good. In this case however, there is no apostrophe, and Mavericks is indeed - as I'm sure you can gather from this billboard - a strip club.

I've no idea how many such clubs there are in Cape Town. The only two that I can remember ever seeing are Mavericks and Teasers... and I guess this is because they're the only ones that I've ever seen advertised.

I clicked on over to the Mavericks (careful, PG-rated content) website to see what it's all about, and noticed two things. The first is that the place looks stylish and has a red Moulin Rouge feel and atmosphere. The other thing that was apparent is that most of the ladies working at the clubs are from Eastern Bloc countries like Russia and Lithuania. In fact, the "dancer application form" is downloadable in two languages, English and Russian!

Constantia Nek Restaurant, the oldest in Cape Town?

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Constantia Nek Restaurant

According to their website, the Constantia Nek Restaurant is the oldest restaurant in Cape Town. I think that my mother would contest that as she often feels like her kitchen is the oldest restaurant in Cape Town. ;)

Seriously though, I can't confirm whether or not it's true, but based on the fact that the restaurant is in a spot secluded from the city's development I guess that it's possible that the restaurant is the oldest surviving restaurant in Cape Town. I have to be honest and say that we've never had dinner there, but I do remember stopping by for a couple of beers while watching a friend of mine play guitar in a band.

Back then the inside was decorated old-style, with benches that you'd expect to find in an old English tavern. What was really cool about the place was that they had extra-warm (that's slightly warmer than warm) fires burning inside to keep the place nice and toasty during winter evenings. While I stood outside taking this photo, I could hear voices and laughter emanating from the building - it would seem as though that warmth lives on, fire or no fire.

New 7 Wonders of the World

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Table Mountain, one of the 7 Wonders of the World?

Pardon me for today using this old photo from my helicopter trip on 8 July. Based on the title of this post perhaps the reason is fairly obvious to you though. Or, perhaps you haven't heard that Table Mountain is one of the finalists in the New 7 Wonders of the World campaign?

Please take some time to click through to the official website where you can cast your vote for what you consider to be the 7 top wonders of the world. (Hopefully Table Mountain will be one of them, but if for some reason you're not convinced by this photo, take a look at a few of the reasons at southafrica.info or get a better perspective by taking a look at these two photos taken from the summit. :) )

Head over to the New7Wonders website, click on the photos, add the 7 that you consider most deserving to your list, and follow the step-by-step instructions. Simple!

In closing, first do the voting thing; but when you're done, if you're interested in seeing a few of the photos from my exciting helicopter trip, click through to the photo album that I put together for the ship's crew.

Drip, drip drip, drip

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Drip, drip drip, drip drip drip...

Over the last few days I've been posting photos from the Worldwide Photo Walk that I attended on Saturday. Even though Cape Town was at her best on Saturday, and there are plenty more photos that I'd like to draw your attention to, this will be the last one that I'll publish as a blog entry. I have however uploaded the rest of the morning's photos to our "Scott Kelby's Worldwide Photo Walk - 2009" album. Please indulge me and take a look through the album - the city really was very photogenic on Saturday morning.

On a side note, although we had perfect weather on Saturday, I found this gutter downpipe dripping really fast, almost as though it were raining... which makes publishing this photo today co-incidental since this week we've had our fair share of rain! Perhaps the dripping was prophetic in some or other way? :)

Enjoying the sun

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Enjoy the sun

This is one of my favourite photos from Paul's Photowalk set. I love the facial expressions, the composition, the way these people were taking advantage of Saturday's summery weather to warm themselves up, the inclusion of the "Happy Birthday Madiba" poster to the left of the group, and the selection of photos on the wall just behind their heads.

If you're wondering about those photos on the wall (and I certainly was), Paul shot this scene just outside the offices of the Cape Argus, and presumably those are some of their recent or most popular press shots. I guess that makes this another example of meta-photography. :)

Meta-meta-photography at St George’s Mall

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Recursive photography
I must have some kind of fetish for taking photos of photographers. Not 'that' kind of fetish, understand? I caught a photo of Mr X (never got his name) taking a photo of two other photographers, Leon (walk leader) and Mr Y (never got his name either) in our Worldwide Photo Walk group. I guess one could call this meta-meta-photography!

What you see in the background is St George's Mall - an open-air shopping mall with several restaurants, and most importantly a Vida E Caffé, a well-known and well-loved coffee shop franchise.

“Whites Only” benches – a bizarre era

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Apartheid benches outside the High Court
I captured today's photo at the doors of the Cape High Court in Queen Victoria Street, during yesterday's Worldwide Photo Walk. The plaque next to these two benches reads:

"In the 1960s a room in this building was the scene of hearings of the most bizarre and humiliating kind as ordinary people came before an appeal panel to argue about what 'race' they should be labelled. Between 1950 and 1991 apartheid's Population Registration Act classified every South African as belonging to one of at least seven 'races' - and accordingly granted or denied citizenship rights on a sliding scale from 'White' (full rights) to 'Bantu' (with the fewest). The classification was subjective, and families were split apart when paler or darker skinned children or parents - or those with curlier hair, or different features - were placed in separate categories."
- The Times

Don't you think the word "bizarre" describes this practice fairly accurately?

Worldwide Photo Walk, Cape Town

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Nelson Mandela

As many of you will probably know, today is Nelson Mandela's ninety-first birthday. Co-incidentally, it's also the day on which groups of photographers took to the streets of their towns and cities armed with cameras, to take part in the second global Worldwide Photo Walk.

After our late night at Wakame, I momentarily regretted signing up for the walk, as it meant getting up in time to meet the rest of the group near the planetarium in Cape Town at 8am. But somehow I dragged myself out of bed, drove through to town, and met up with a group of about 20 photographers. We spent the next two to three hours walking the streets of Cape Town, spending quite some time in the well-known open-air St George's Mall. In retrospect I was glad that I didn't bail on the outing - the weather was fantastic, the other photographers were friendly and fun, and there were almost too many great opportunities for photos.

We'll be posting more of the photos from the walk over the next few days; but for now, let me close by wishing you, Madiba, a happy birthday and brilliant next year!

Wakame and Green Point Stadium

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Wakame and Green Point Stadium

At least one of our UK readers in particular will immediately recognise the inside of Wakame, a popular tapas and sushi restaurant in Mouille Point, located very close to the Green Point soccer stadium. In fact, the stadium is precisely what you can see brighly lit out in the darkness.

While we were enjoying really (very) good sushi, I watched welding sparks dropping to the ground from the structure in the distance. It would seem the stadium's construction workers are putting in some serious overtime to catch up after last week's wage dispute.

Caltex oil refinery in Milnerton

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Caltex oil refinery

We've been trying to get a photo of this oil refinery for almost as long as we've been running this blog. Paul's tried while I was driving; I've tried while Paul was driving; I've even tried snapping a shot while stopped at the traffic lights opposite the refinery; but for some reason the angle and light has never been quite right and we've always ended up with a tree in the way, or blurry shots, or a passing car obscuring the subject.

Yes, of course, in theory we could just pull the car off the road and walk back a little way to get a good shot, but the trouble is that we're always (and I mean ALWAYS) in a hurry when we're passing this way. A few days ago we got lucky though, and you can see the result above (this is just a small part of the refinery complex, of course). I'll leave it to you to guess who was doing the driving and who was doing the shooting... ;-)

The refinery was built in the early 1960s and began operations in 1966. Of course, it's been upgraded a few times since then, and according to the Caltex website it "remains one of the largest industrial undertakings in the Western Cape, providing much-needed jobs and economic growth in the area." Unfortunately it also provides a rather unpleasant fragrance, but that's a story for another day...

Waterfront shopping

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Shopping at the V&A Waterfront

This is the Barrow Mall on the first floor of the Victoria Wharf Shopping Centre at the V&A Waterfront. At these barrows you can buy anything from pet's clothing to jewellery, and from sporting merchandise to mugs. This is presumably a slightly cheaper option for retailers, offering them a space to sell their products at a very popular mall, but without the high costs associated with renting an actual shop. Of course, it means they miss out on some of the luxuries of a shop too, like, say, a door...

As someone who used to sell products at a craft market, I think it would be awesome if these barrows were actual trailers that could be towed behind a car - you'd be able to sell your products anywhere you liked, without having to pack and unpack every time. Of course, with the way I take corners in my car, I'd have to tape everything down with duct tape, or stick to selling soft, non-breakable items like cushions. ;-)

Stormwater drains

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Man hole cover

Ever since I was a kid I've been curious to know what lies beneath holes like these. When I was young I remember playing in stormwater pipes not far from my parents' home. I remember walking below the streets watching people pass by from beneath the drains in the road. Fortunately for my brother, sister and friends we had sense enough not to play in the tunnels when rain was imminent, but still, I sometimes shudder at the danger we put ourselves in. Not only was there the possibility of being trapped by some kind of freakish flood, but there could have easily been freakish people wandering the tunnels too.

A few years after leaving home, I noticed that the municipality had erected heavy iron grids in front of the entrances. I do hope this was in response to residents' complaints, and not as a result of some unfortunate incident. To be honest however, I suspect it was because the cops got tired of chasing baddies down the tunnels! :)

Cold weather sucks

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Mud pools after rain
As Kerry-Anne wrote, it's been raining buckets in Cape Town. In addition to the rain though, it feels like it's been getting colder and colder with each passing day. As I write this post I'm wearing two pairs of warm pants, two pairs of socks, and four long tops - an unusual outfit, you must understand. I did a quick scan on our weather page and noticed that of the five weather stations that we monitor, the closest one to us (Durbanville Central) is the coldest at 9.2°C! Now, I know that 9.2°C isn't very cold for many of our readers, but you should remember, this is Africa!

We've often been told by visitors from abroad that the difference between South Africa and other cold countries is that our homes aren't geared for cold weather. We don't have particularly well-sealed windows or doors, I don't have a warm fire burning, there's no central heating, and nor do we have that awesome underfloor heating that a few of our friends are no doubt enjoying right now.

If you do find yourself visiting our city over winter, while you don't have to bring your snow gear along, do bring enough warm clothing, because it does get chilly every now and again.

The rain in Cape Town

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Shortmarket Street in Cape Town

... falls mainly on Greenmarket Square. Well, not actually. The rain in Cape Town has been falling pretty much everywhere over the last day or two, and in rather large quantities too.

We had to go into the city for a friend's birthday party, and both wondered at times whether it wouldn't have been better to take a motorboat or canoe instead of our car. There's been flooding in quite a few areas, including Camps Bay, Newlands and Somerset West. Fortunately our neighbourhood seems to have escaped with a bit less rain than everywhere else, so we weren't affected in any way (apart from getting a bit wet walking from our car to the restaurant from which this photo was taken).

Of course, the great thing about Cape Town's winter is that we get all the cold, rainy weather in a few short, intense bursts, and for the rest of the time it's sunny and clear. ;-)

Charter a chopper – see her splendour

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Table Mountain and the Table Bay

This will be the third and last daily photo from my spectacular-spectacular helicopter trip over Cape Town's Table Bay. Shot while we were coming in to land, what you can see in this photo is (obviously) Table Mountain in all her splendour, and right in the middle the well-known Table Bay Hotel.

What struck me as interesting in this photo is how large Devil's Peak (to the left) appears to be when compared to Table Mountain. At 1 kilometre in height, it's only 87 metres shorter than Table Mountain, making it a fair-sized piece of rock! Visit the Wikipedia page about Devil's Peak - they have an awesome panoramic photo taken from the peak's summit.

P.S. After my little helicopter expedition I've decided to make a concerted effort to do more aerial photography around Cape Town, so if you want to pay someone to fly around the Cape, you know who to call. ;)

The mountains of Cape Town – a helicopter’s perspective

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Table Moutain from a helicopter

I guess you're all used to seeing the traditional Table Mountain photos, where it does in fact look somewhat like a table. I took this shot from a helicopter, after I'd spent about 50 minutes taking photos of two Tidewater Marine boats passing by Table Bay. Read yesterday's post for more info.

Since this isn't the traditional photo of the city, allow me to take a moment to point out which mountains, peaks and hills you can see here. Starting at the back, on the left is Devil's Peak, with Table Mountain to its right, kind of in the middle of the photo. You'll notice that it doesn't look as much like a table from this angle. If you click on the photo and view the large version you'll faintly make out the cable car station to the right of Table Mountain. Following on from the cable station, all the way to the right of the photo is the 12 Apostles mountain range (but, to be honest, I'm finding it tricky to pick out the 12 from this angle).  In the foreground, you'll see Signal Hill (from where the Noon Gun is fired each day) on the left, with Lion's Head just to its right.

From this angle it's fairly easy to see why Signal Hill is often still referred to as "Lion's Rump".

Aerial photography + ships + Cape Town = fun

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Tidewater Marine - The Gubert Tide
A week or more ago (while we were away in Bloemfontein watching the soccer) one of the Tidewater Marine guys emailed me about chartering a helicopter and taking photos of two boats due to pass by Cape Town's Table Bay. The two boats were the Gubert Tide and Desoto Tide, en route from Singapore to the West Coast of Africa (somewhere near Côte d'Ivoire).

I read a little about the boats and found that they're reasonably new vessels, launched only this year and now being deployed to their new home near Côte d'Ivoire. Apparently, these two are Diesel-Electric-powered boats, which I understand makes them a little special in that they're not quite as bad for the environment as many other ships - they reduce CO2 emission by 30% and are lighter on diesel than traditional diesel-powered vessels.

Enough about Tidewater and the boats for now, and back to the helicopter trip. If you have the opportunity you absolutely HAVE TO take an early-morning flip in a chopper around Cape Town. I now understand why this city is often considered the most beautiful in the world. But, don't take my word for it - visit again tomorrow, because I'll be posting a few more early-morning aerial photos of Cape Town. Early morning is a beautiful time to see the city and its mountains.

Take a look at this article to read more about the two vessels.

A Wednesday morning sunrise over Table Bay

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Sunrise over Table Bay

I took this photo this morning at about 07h50, at a location just past the Table Bay Hotel at the V&A Waterfront. I overheard several people say that the sunrise this morning was the best that they'd seen in a long time, perhaps even the best ever!

Yesterday I gave a clue as to what I'd be doing today, but given that only Hilda from My Manila commented on the post I'm guessing that the clues must have been too vague. Well, either this, or the Internet is ignoring me... :-/

Today's clue in the photo above is the last one and will surely help narrow it down. In fact, I'm sure by now you have a fairly good idea of what I did this morning. Still, today's clue will help you uncover only one half of the puzzle... with the other half still represented in the second clue from yesterday's photo.

Flying high

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Paragliding over Table Bay

Although this photo was taken on Sunday, today's weather was pretty much the same; I thought it appropriate to share this photo because it gives two clues as to something fun I'll be doing early tomorrow morning... before heading off to work. Have a guess, and remember, I did say two clues. :)

Today is Kerry-Anne's birthday and at this stage she's received so many messages from people on Facebook, Twitter, on her cell phone, and in her mailbox that she's spent the whole day just getting through them all. I never knew that she knew so many people! So, believe me, if she hasn't yet responded to your message, it's not because she's ignoring you.

Thanks to the people who've contributed to the "Drummer-girl project" that I started for Kerry-Anne; we're up to R700 already! One of the contributors even offered to let her use his electronic drumkit every now and again! Why didn't I think of that!? An electronic kit with headphones! ;)

Two pennies for your thoughts

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Watching ships

I took this photo yesterday while sitting at Blouberg beach, which is on the east side of Table Bay. Table Mountain is to the left and the famous Robben Island to the right of this picture - both just out of frame.

The two subjects of this photo sat on the fence for a long while, seeming not to talk, just looking out to sea. It was interesting watching the couple because due to the fact that they weren't sitting right next to each other I found myself wondering if they were uncomfortable with each other (being on some kind of "first date") or perhaps they'd been arguing and now sat silent, or maybe they were simply friends enjoying the warm sun (even though the sea breeze was a little cool). I felt that in some way the ships anchored in the bay were a silent reflection of the couple.

On a different topic, tomorrow, 7 July, is Kerry-Anne's birthday! If you will, take a guess at how old she will be. She won't be offended if you guess wrong, promise. ;) If you want to help and have a moment, have a look at the "Drummer-girl Project" that I devised in order to get her the drum kit she's been hounding me for.

Cape Town’s winter weather

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Ice-cream at the beach

I just can't believe the weather that we're having this year. I'm sure it's usually cold with a fair share of rain in July!

We took a drive out to Blouberg beach today to take a few photos and have some ice-cream at the seaside. Clearly similar thoughts about ice-cream at the seaside went through many people's minds. It seemed as though wherever I looked there were people eating ice-cream!

The only sad thing about the weather we're having is that most tourists only visit the city in the summer months and so miss out on these clear and sunny winter days. What I hope for is that next year we have similarly good weather for the 2010 Football World Cup - it'll make our visitors' stay in Cape Town extraordinarily awesome!