No trip to the False Bay coast (or any fishing town, for that matter) is complete without a lunch of fish and chips. Kalky's is, as the name indicates, located on Kalk Bay harbour, which means that you can expect to be served really, really fresh fish here - so fresh that an hour or two before it was still somebody's cousin or aunt, in fact.

A friend suggested that this is the place to go if you really just want to eat fish and chips - it's unpretentious, and the food is straightforward, tasty and filling.

In the foreground you can see the Bo-Kaap, in the middle the city centre, and in the background the lower slopes of Table Mountain.

The quaint and colourful houses of the Bo-Kaap make an interesting contrast with the city office blocks in the centre of the shot. We have quite an eclectic range of buildings in Cape Town, and in the city centre you will see tall modern office blocks located next door to renovated 18th- and 19th-century buildings in a few places.

I took my parents our for a late lunch yesterday. We opted for sushi at the Blowfish restaurant in Milnerton, which turned out to be a good choice - great food, excellent service and a perfect location.

It was a fairly windy afternoon, so there were plenty of kite-surfers for us to watch out in the bay; and the sky was absolutely clear, giving us a perfect view of Table Mountain from our table.

If you've been following our blog, then you might recall reading that we recently moved house. We moved twice, actually - once at the end of March, and again at the end of April (we're all done now :-)). We've moved to a much nicer neighbourhood than the one we lived in before, and here's the evidence.

Every morning these guinea fowl (I counted at least forty adults in the group - obviously the rest are not in the picture) make their way along one of the streets in the area, foraging for worms and bugs in the grass. They're wonderful to watch, particularly now that they have a few babies tagging along with them.

These are not what you would call clever birds, and flying is not really something they do, unless it is absolutely imperative. They might occasionally flap their way up to the top of a wall, and then jump off the other side, but that's really about it.

I was surprised to discover that this set of buildings, which houses the Stellenbosch Council Chambers, amongst other things, was only built in 1941. Stellenbosch was founded by Governor Simon van der Stel in 1679, making it the second European settlement in South Africa (Cape Town itself was the first, of course).

To the left of this building is the Town Hall (not in the picture), which won its architects a design medal in 1941. I'm not quite as enthusiastic about it though, and think this section of the municipal complex is far prettier.

Raadsaal is Afrikaans for "council hall", by the way.

Another shot from Zevenwacht Wine Estate... Scenes like this always give the impression that life on a farm is so placid and relaxed - until you consider getting up at 5am to tend the vineyards, working round the clock during grape harvesting season, walking the vineyards in the heat of the midday sun and dealing with all the logistics that go into keeping a farm running profitably. What do you think? Keen to swap your fast-paced city life for a simple life in the country?

A few years ago we were guests at a wedding that took place in front of the Cape Dutch farmhouse in this photo. You can only imagine how beautiful that was. This is part of Zevenwacht Wine Estate in Kuils River (which is in the northern suburbs - about 30 minutes from Cape Town city centre). In addition to wine, a really good selection of cheeses is produced on the farm.

We posted about the Zevenwacht estate here too.

On any given day you're likely to see a few of these Jammie Shuttles driving along the M3 near the University of Cape Town. This free shuttle service is reserved for staff and students of the university, and transports them between residences, campuses and certain public transport facilities and parking areas in the vicinity.

What I didn't know is that these buses are also available for hire to outside organisations in Cape Town. I wonder how many people we'd need to get together to qualify as an "organisation"? Could be fun transport for a day at the beach... ;-)

Long Street is one of my favourite streets in Cape Town. It's filled with restaurants, bars, backpackers' hostels, eclectic shops and charming architecture; and no matter what time of day or day of the week you're in town, you'll always find life and activity here.

If you look carefully at the parked cars in the photograph, you might notice that it's a one-way street; Long Street stretches for more than 20 city blocks (3.8km), and is one of the oldest roads in Cape Town. If you're interested, read more about the residents and landmarks of Long Street.

Today, a panoramic view of the city and harbour, taken from the slopes of Signal Hill... isn't it lovely?

There's been a decided chill in the air the last few evenings, and I suspect that summer is about to take its leave. Temperatures are still in the mid to high 20s, but I think in around two to three weeks' time we can expect them to start dropping a little.

I went to a Standard Bank Pro20 cricket match in Paarl today (I was going to be live-blogging the game) - unfortunately we had some rain in Cape Town this morning, and so the field was too wet for any play to take place. This is the Pro20 mascot, Hardy, who was driven round and round the field in his blue buggy, while the crowd waited to hear whether there'd be a game or not. Isn't he too cute for words?

While I was there, I bumped into one of our legendary cricketers, Jonty Rhodes, who is now the fielding coach for the SA team; but I was so distracted by my thoughts that I didn't realise why he looked so familiar until AFTER he'd walked past. Have you ever had one of those "duh" moments? Um, Jonty, if you're reading this, next time I see you I'll say hello like I mean it. :-)

Rick's Cafe Americain is one of the most delightfully decorated establishments around Cape Town, full of eclectic light fittings, comfy couches, old-style movie posters and brightly-coloured cushions.

I haven't actually had a meal at Rick's yet, only drinks, but I hope to rectify that soon - they specialise in tapas, gourmet burgers and Moroccan dishes. You can see a few photos of the interior here.

About a week ago we posted a photo of a street in the Bo-Kaap. Here's another part of the Bo-Kaap, with even more colourful houses than those in the previous post.

Many of the current residents of this area are descended from the Indonesians, Malaysians, Sri Lankans and Indians who were brought to the Cape as slaves in the 1700s. The Bo-Kaap is also known as the "Malay Quarter".

That's Table Mountain's famous table-cloth - often formed on summer days by thick white cloud spilling over the top and down the front of the mountain. It might be a gorgeous day in the city, but trust me, when that cloud comes over, it gets bitterly cold on top of the mountain. The other thing to remember is that when the cloud comes over, it becomes very difficult (nearly impossible, in fact) to find your way around on top of the mountain. Visitors are always warned: take warm clothing if you're going up the mountain, no matter how hot it is when you start up from the bottom - that way, if you do get lost on top of the mountain, at least you'll be able to keep warm until the cloud lifts.

In case you missed it, read our story of how not to climb the mountain here.

Thank you! Yes, you! We were awarded the title of Best South African Travel Blog at the SA Blog Awards ceremony this evening - and we couldn't have done it without your support. We were up against some *real* journalists in this category too, so we're very pleased to have won, as you can imagine. :)

Thanks to the organisers for all the behind-the-scenes effort, to the sponsors Warwick Wine and Stodels Nurseries for our prizes, and to Butlers Pizza for the great food. Congratulations to all the winners!

Again, thank you - for reading, for commenting, for supporting, and for voting.

It may not be a Kreepy, but it's still crawly. This odd-looking creature of the deep is in fact a Baracuda, and we discovered it in the swimming pool at our new house (which we finally moved into today).

The first automated pool cleaner, the Kreepy Krauly, was invented in South Africa in 1974, by Ferdinand Chauvier, a hydraulics engineer from the then Belgian Congo. Since then, a number of other brands have been developed, of course - one of which is the Baracuda, pictured here doing its job gobbling up all the sediment in our pool. (If you're interested, you can read the whole Kreepy Krauly story here.)

178 blogs are participating in today's theme day; visit them by clicking on the links below:

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This house, and many others like it, can be found just a few kilometres from the Bo-Kaap area, in the quiet neighbourhood of Tamboerskloof. Situated between the city proper and Lion's Head, Tamboerskloof is filled with quaint Victorian houses, most of which were built between 1895 and 1905.

At that time the city centre simply couldn't house the large numbers of people arriving from Europe and the northern parts of South Africa, and so the farms on the slopes of Lion’s Head had to be sub-divided to make space for the exploding population.

The Bo-Kaap (pronounced something like "Boor Carp", and meaning "Upper Cape") is a quaint and very colourful area, situated on the slopes of Signal Hill. The streets - a number of them still cobbled - are narrow and extremely steep (not the kind of place you want to go for your driver's licence test, in other words). Most of the houses here are painted in bright, bold colours, giving the suburb real character.

These two ladies might look chilled out there on their lilo, but let me tell you, they are in fact CHILLED, if you sense the difference in my meaning.

The water at Clifton is just a little on the icy side. When I say "a little on the icy side", I mean of course that you might lose a toe if you step too hard on the way out. Durbanites, who are accustomed to the bathtub waters of their own coastline, are often taken by surprise by this, and can usually be quite easily spotted: they're the ones wearing 8mm wetsuits at Gordon's Bay (which, in case you're wondering, actually has very swimmable water indeed - by Capetonian standards, anyhow).

Clearly these ladies are braver than I - the longest I've managed to stay in the water at Clifton is about 30 seconds. And that was just up to my ankles. Nearly lost a toe too, on the way out...

The annual floats procession along Adderley Street is just one of the fundraising events organised by the University of Cape Town's RAG committee.

Students work in teams to design and build floats based on a theme (this year's theme was "Homegrown Heroes"); the floats are then driven up and down Adderley Street in a colourful, energetic and wonderfully noisy procession. Each student has a collection box, and as they walk, run or... um... dance alongside their floats, they creatively request donations from the spectators lining the streets. All the money they collect goes to SHAWCO, a student-run organisation that concentrates on youth and community development programmes.

We took a LOT of photos today - visit Cape Town Daily Photo Extras to see more than 100 photos of the floats procession.

If you enjoy Cape Town Daily Photo, please don't forget to vote for us in the SA Blog Awards - click on the SA Blog Awards logo at the top right, and then hit the Submit button at the bottom of the voting page. There are just a few days of voting left!

Not just their milkshakes, actually - their burgers too; and not just the boys either - apparently Salma Hayek (who, according to my sources, is definitely a girl) was quite taken with Royale's gourmet burgers and milkshakes too. This shot was taken inside Royale Eatery, a funky diner-style restaurant on Long Street, renowned for their huge gourmet burgers and heavenly milkshakes.

We had our burgers with sweet potato chips, which turned out to be an excellent choice; Paul had a Honeycomb milkshake, which was so good, I tried to steal it while he wasn't looking; and I had a Plum and Grape milkshake, upon the recommendation of our delightful - and very pretty - waitress. (Paul mentioned in passing that if he were a single guy, he's spend a lo-o-o-ot of money at Royale, 'cos they've got some of the loveliest waitresses in town.)

Most lamp-posts in Cape Town are adorned with posters advertising shows, exhibitions, concerts and other events - at least, it certainly seems that way.

We thought we'd post this one today: firstly, because the colours are rather pretty, and secondly, in case you're in Cape Town, and didn't realise that the UCT Rag Floats Procession was taking place this weekend.

And if you're not in Cape Town, don't worry - we'll make sure we get up early enough to get some photos of the floats as they make their way up (or is it down?) Adderley Street on Saturday morning. Stay tuned. ;-)

This unusual view of Table Mountain (enlarge the picture and you'll be able to see the cable-car station at the top) was taken from one of the highest roads in Camps Bay.

I'm sure we've mentioned before that the beachfront area in Camps Bay is one of our favourite parts of Cape Town - particularly in December, when the streets are jammed, the beaches are full of holidaymakers, and the restaurants are packed with beautiful people.

The houses aren't too shabby either, as you might be able to see from this shot. Camps Bay is an affluent neighbourhood, and a high proportion of the properties here are owned by foreigners.

In fact, a UK woman has apparently just paid R44 million (that's around $5.6 million or 3.6 million Euros) for a double-storey building on the beachfront - and she plans to demolish it!

This reminds me of one of those kiddies' puzzles - how many cranes can you count in the picture? (I got to 17, but I could be wrong.)

These cranes are over at the construction site of Green Point Stadium, one of the stadiums that will host several soccer games during the 2010 World Cup. In the middle of February, city spokesperson Pieter Cronje apparently said that a third of the stadium is already complete, and that it's well on its way to being completed on schedule, by 15 December 2009.

I find the presence of the cranes on our skyline really inspiring - to me, they're a symbol of progress and growth.

If you're very, very observant, you might have noticed that the SA Blog Awards button to the right has changed a little. That's because we've been nominated! Yes indeed - we were thrilled to discover that we've received nominations in three categories: Best Photographic Blog, Best New Blog and Best Travel Blog. If you enjoy our blog, please click on the button to vote for us, and while you're there, have a look at some of the other nominated blogs and vote for those you fancy. What an awesome first birthday present for Cape Town Daily Photo!

Yes indeed - it's been a whole year since we posted our very first photograph on Cape Town Daily Photo. In that time, we've visited new places, seen new sights, and done things we'd never done before, all in the interests of getting a good shot. It's been maddening at times - usually at about 23h54 on a weeknight when we suddenly realise that we haven't done a post yet - but mostly it's been out-and-out fun.

Thanks to:
- Eric, for unknowingly inspiring us to start this blog
- Alice, Jules, Jenty, Joy, Abraham, and ALL the other regular commenters - it's always great hearing from our readers, and it really makes a difference to our levels of enthusiasm :)
- All the other City Daily Photo bloggers, especially those who visited our blog right in the beginning and made us feel that we really were part of a community
- All our friends in Cape Town (and the rest of South Africa!) - it never ceases to delight me when I'm introduced to someone who lives in this city and they say, "Oh, YOU'RE the guys who do Cape Town Daily Photo!" It's fantastic to know that so many of our fellow Capetonians and South Africans read our blog regularly.
- And finally, thank you to you, whoever you may be - even if you've never left a comment and we've never met, the fact that you visit here means the world to us.

We still have plenty (PLENTY) to show you in and around Cape Town, so don't you worry, we'll be back tomorrow. And the next day. And the next. And so on and so on, until you get tired of us.

This is the view that greeted us this morning when we woke up and went downstairs for coffee and breakfast. (Yes, we did wake up rather late - not surprising though, considering how little sleep we've had since Wednesday.)

We've been listening to the birds in the reserve all day, and it really does feel as though we're on holiday here. I feel more relaxed than I have in a very long time, and I'm looking forward to exploring this part of Cape Town for a change.

By the way, we have an important milestone coming up this week... do come back on Tuesday to see what it is. :)

We were just entering the V&A Waterfront this afternoon when I noticed that there was rather a lot of smoke coming from the slopes of Signal Hill - too much to be from someone's backyard braai, I thought.

Then I saw the line of flames creeping along the side of the hill... and then, with much excitement, I spotted the helicopter and bambi bucket. If you live in an area that suffers a lot of bush-fires, you'd be familiar with the bambi bucket - we see them overhead pretty often in summer. But not usually from quite this close, which is why we couldn't resist getting a few photos.

Click here to see more photos of this helicopter in action.

Confession time. I have driven past this hand-painted sign more times than I care to recall (having lived in Cape Town all my life and all that), and on many of those occasions I have thought to myself, "What a curious sign... I wonder what it's all about..." But it is only now, today, that I can actually say, with some degree of confidence, "Aha! I know what Potliz is."

Potliz is in fact a ceramics studio ("pot" as in "pottery", see?), established by someone named Liz Albrecht (yes, it all makes sense now!).

The team of artists working at Potliz produce some awesome work, and now that I know that "Pot Liz" is not a woman selling herbs of dubious origin and intent, I shall make an effort to visit the studio and invest in some of their merchandise. The colours and designs are really beautiful, and the prices look pretty good too.

Apart from anything else, I think they're to be commended for making such original use of a hole in the wall. :-)

15 December 2007

Dear Father Christmas,

I've been a really, really good boy this year. I've helped a number of little old ladies across the road, and I've saved two kittens from certain death - one was stuck high up in a tree and the other was about to be savaged by a mean-looking boerbul. I took fluffy toys to the children in hospital, and I ate all my vegetables.

With this in mind, I'd like to put in my request for a Christmas present: I'd really, REALLY like to wake up on Christmas morning to find a tricycle under the tree, with a big shiny bow around it. Yellow is my favourite colour, by the way.

Yours faithfully,
Big Mike

Father Christmas will always bring you exactly what you ask for, provided you're good throughout the year. Just ask Big Mike - he got his trike.

This little fellow is part of a mechanised children's ride we spotted at the Canal Walk shopping centre. I used to love these animal-shaped rides when I was a little girl, and would always beg my mother to give me coins so that I could make them go. If the truth be told, I still love stuff like this - but I've noticed that people give me odd looks if I climb onto one now, so I try to fight the urge. ;-)

Don't forget that nominations for the SA Blog Awards are open at the moment - if you enjoy Cape Town Daily Photo, please do nominate us, along with a few of your other favourite blogs. Today, we suggest you take a look at the Wine Country blog - a fun and non-threatening guide to all things wine-related, with a particular focus on the area around Paarl (located about 40 minutes from Cape Town CBD).