These shots were taken on the beach in Pringle Bay. It was right in the middle of the “golden hour”, where sun reflecting off the rocks and the rock pools gives such wonderful colours. The top picture reminds me of the fantasy novels that I used to readwhen I was younger. I bet a fire-breathing dragon lives just to the left of the shot :-)
In a recent post I promised to show you a photo of Cape Town from the “other side” of False Bay. Well, here is a view of the False Bay coast of Cape Town, taken from Pringle Bay, looking a Simonstown on the left, heading past Muizenberg and towards Cape Town itself on the right.
Pringle Bay is a wonderful area, amazingly under-developed, with the most beautiful beach. We spend Saturday and Sunday there, and it was such a relaxing break, much needed to charge the batteries before the Christmas chaos about to come.
Emily
We took Eccles and Emily with us, and they both (literally) had a whale of a time.
Eccles
I saw these guys paragliding yesterday just off Baden Powell Drive. It was fascinating to watch them launching themselves off a very low cliff just above the beach. The thermals must have been very strong, because as they jumped, they almost shop up vertically into the air.
It looked so graceful and peaceful, a wonderful way to spend a still day in Cape Town.
A few days ago we celebrated Lois’ birthday at the Royal Cape Yacht Club in Cape Town. The Yacht Club, which is over 100 years ago, is home to some of the most expensive yachts in South Africa. It is also the starting point of the Cape to Rio yacht race, which is in January next year. The race covers a distance of 3320 miles, races from Cape Town to Rio de Janerio every three years or so.
It is a wonderful venue to spend an evening; both the food and drinks are served at regular club prices, which is far less than most restaurants.
This picture was taken from the marina during a moment of solitude at the party.
Taken about 6 weeks ago at a conference in Pretoria. I love the red sunsets that you get up there on the South African highveld.
Looking for a place to stay? Check out the best hotels in Pretoria on SafariNow – this post was written in collaboration with SafariNow.
The vineyards in Constantia are looking beautiful at the moment; the landscape is green as far as the eye can see. This is not really surprising considering that the earliest of the grapes will be harvested in less than two months.
Constantia is the oldest wine region in South Africa, and this particular vineyard is on Klein Constantia, home of the famous Vin de Constance, the wine of Charles Dickens, Jane Austen and Napoleon Bonaparte.
It is a privilege to live in Cape Town; it takes me two minutes to get to the beach, and 10 minutes in the opposite direction to be tasting wine in Constantia. So grocery shopping this morning, followed by a quick winetasting. A very civilised Saturday.
These beach houses remind me very much of the Muizenberg beach houses. Well that should not really be a surprise since the Muizenberg beach houses are based on the ones in Brighton.
However while Muizenberg has about 5 houses, in Brighton there are rows are rows of them, literally hundreds of them in a long ling all the way from the Pier through Hove into the next village.
If you plan on buying a hut you had best start saving; they start at 11,000 pounds!.
By the way, the rules dictate the colours that the houses are painted, but you are free to paint the door whatever colour suits you.
One of the many daily commuters in Brighton cycling past the famous beach huts.
Yes, it is true. Brighton does not have a real beach. The beach consists purely of round pebbles. Ok so yes the beach is real, just not to a South African.
They have been word down for such a long time, that they are almost soft to walk on. But it is really different to walking on the beaches in Cape Town.
The upside of course is that when then wind blows, you don’t get the Cape Town sandblasting.
Here is a small pier with fishermen on the end (of course not to be confused with Brighton Pier)
Brighton beach is a great place to sit and contemplate the world; these two people were shot in Hove, sitting and watching the sea
There is a rather quaint fishing museum in Brighton, on the beach just below the pier.
This pic is of one of the old fishing boats. You can see the pier in the distance, and notice the jet trail cutting the sky across the middle.
Here is another boat, parked just outside the entrance to the museum.
Brighton Pier can only be described as a little tacky. It has huge potential, but I get the feeling that there is no great effort put into it.
It is filled with ice-cream shops and penny slot machines, as well as a few restaurants that don’t look particularity exciting.
It is the kind of place that you visit and cross off your list of places to go to.
Having said all that, Brighton itself is a wonderful place and well worth visiting, I will be posting some pics of the village shortly.
One of the many seagulls found in Brighton. These are the beach version of a rooster, waking you up really early in the morning,
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