On Thursday we had a very foggy day, so I was unable to drive to work without a quick photoshoot stop. I love the ethereal way everything looks in the mist; it is a time when you wonder if the world has not maybe moved a little closer to that of the fair folk…
Bridge to nowhere
Trees in the mist
I lived in Newlands for many years, and sometimes when the wind was blowing just right you could smell the malty taste of the boiling beer, but I have never actually visited the brewery.
The fermentors – 5 stories high, and 2 tons of yeast added per fermentor – my fermentor at home is just 20L
This week they kindly took myself, my wife and a few friends on a tour of the brewery, and it was the most fantastic evening. We thought it would be a quick tour & tasting, but we asked so many questions and were enjoying the tasting so much that we ended up spending most of the evening at the brewery.
Bottling
The plant is a very slick operation and almost runs itself. The automation is staggering. Just one person overseas the brewhouse, and about 10 people look after the entire bottling line.
Bottling
They told us that some of the bottles that leave the brewery have a turnaround time of 3 days. Yes in just 3 days some of the empties are returned – ready to be filled for the next batch.
The microbrewery
They have a small onsite microbrewery which can make about 2000l of beer at a time. Compare this to my little brewery which can just make about 20l at a time! Personally I think that the beer from the microbrewery is the most interesting, they do an ale, a blond ale and a weiss (wheat) beer. All of which are fantastic.
Post-tour beer tasting
If you want to visit the brewery you can book yourself on a tour. It just costs R80, and that includes a beer tasting and 2 beers in the pub afterwards. Highly recommended!
When I was doing a photoshoot at the Cape Town Magic Club a few weeks ago, I met Greg Gelb, a “deception artist” who does amazing sleight of hand magic tricks. We got talking, and he he ended up booking me for a photoshoot.
Not only did I get paid to do a really fun photoshoot, I also got a free magic show thrown it. Greg does some amazing stuff! If you’re looking for a magician for your function, give Greg a call (and no this is not a paid post – Greg is really very good).
He performs at The Thirsty Scarecrow in Stellenbosch every second Sunday from 1-4pm (I’ll be there on Sun 3rd), so if you want to check his magic out and have an entertaining afternoon, pop on down.
Here are two more pics from the shoot.
Remember the Rubik’s Cube
I’m not sure if I would play a game of Poker with Greg
I love living on the Vlei – there is always something interest happening there. Last weekend I took the dogs for a walk on the vlei, and I saw a canoe regatta in full swing. So of course after walking the dogs I popped back down to the vlei to take a few more pictures.
I have no idea what the rules were, but it seemed to be some sort of time-trial between sets of two boats.
neck to neck
giving it their best
There was a beautiful winter sunrise this morning over Zandvlei.
Magic Man
On Monday evening Lois and I went to visit the Cape Town Magic Club. The club is hosted in the cellar of the Cape Town Club, down a flight of stairs through a door discussed as a bookcase, and down into a tiny theatre in the cellar.
MC – Marcel Oudejan
The club only put’s on two shows per week – every Monday at 7pm and 9pm, and different magicians on on stage each week, and the shows are top-class. On Monday, our MC for the evening was my good friend Marcel OudejansJesse Brooks did a great job warming us up, and the headline act was some great illusions performed by Andrew “Magic Man” Eland.
Jesse Brooks
There are only 2 evenings left this season and very few tickets left (really – it is almost sold out!), so hurry up and book your tickets, otherwise you will need to wait for season 2 later in the year.
If you want the best Fish and Chips in Cape Town there is only one place to consider, and that is Kalky’s inside Kalk Bay Harbour. The fish and chips are brilliant, inexpensive, and unpretentious.
I hardly ever seem to get there, but when my colleague Arijit from India wanted fish and chips I had to take him to Kalky’s.
Hake and chips at Kalky’s
Arijit get’s ready to eat his Snoek. He didn’t listen when I warned him about the mountains of bones in Snoek. There are loads of bones, you have been warned!
Kalky’s – simple and unpretentious
Running on the beach at sunrise (pic from Energy Events)
Wednesday was the second Muizenberg Monster Beach Run – a 20k “there and back again” dash starting on Muizenberg beach. Only about 45 or so peopled entered, and I ran it in 2:01, with a very respectable position of 22nd. But it was tough running on the beach – even though most of the sand is hard, there are still soft spots, and you are always running on a slight camber.
The start line
My trail shoes were so full of sand by the end that I had to wash them with the hose-pipe afterwards. But it was amazing running on the beach as the sun slowly rose, and the sky went from almost black, to a golden yellow sunrise, and then into the day.
I will be back next year!
One of the water crossings
A small fishing boat waits on Fish Hoek beach before going out for the day.
It is not just penguins that you see on Boulders Beach in Simonstown. The beach has hundreds of Dassies, which look like a mixture between a cute squirrel and a rat.
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