New Website and Blog

Both The Firefly Photo Files and Port Elizabeth Daily Photo have been combined into one blog called Firefly the Travel Guy and moved over to the Wordpress platform.  

Please join us at https://www.fireflythetravelguy.co.za

Fire in the sunset

Last night's sunset was something else. Wow, literally fire in the sky.  Unfortunately, I was kept busy with visitors leaving and only got to grab my phone for a pic just before it was too late.  Still striking! 

Sunrise over Algoa Bay

I'm still here.  I may not have posted anything on my blog for a month but I'm still around.  It's scary though how busy my life has become between work, family, sport (the kids', not my own) and everything else I'm involved in.  The two things that have suffered the most are my blog and exercising.  And to a lesser extend Geocaching.  Plus my laptop at home has packed up again.  You know how it is.  When it rains it pours.  If it would only do that literally in our catchment areas.  So I'm currently trying to wrap my head around how I can juggle it all and get blogging again.  In the meantime, I just had to stop on my way to the office this morning and grab this photograph to share.  Doesn't matter how busy you are, you can't help but stop to admire true natural beauty.

A walk on the beach

We haven't taken the dogs for a walk on the beach in ages so this morning we gathered up the kids and the sausages and headed down to Pollok Beack. We weren't the only ones who were enjoying the beautiful autumn weather we've been having lately. I left my camera at home wanting to spend time with the family, but ones there I kinda wish I had it. Snapped this pic with my phone but need to make a plan and spend some beach time with my camera in hand.

Baakens and Tramways

The Baakens River flowing past the renovated Tramways Building.  The Lower Baakens Valley has become a hub for activities and markets especially since the renovation of this building and the willingness of both private and public sector to invest in the area.

Ironman on Seaview Road

Every year with Ironman we like to go and watch the cycle leg somewhere to support these amazing sportsmen and women.  Like last year we joined a big number of other supporters at Grass Roof next to Seaview Road as you can see them going both ways.

Ironman supporters

This past weekend was Ironman weekend in the Bay and Port Elizabeth showed off as usual. Beautiful weather, great scenery and, most importantly, excellent support.  One of the things most Ironman visitors to PE comment about is the support along the course.  We headed out to Seaview Road at Grass Roof and joined a couple of hundred other supporters cheering on the Ironman competitors on the cycle leg. 

Govan Mbeki Road on a Sunday morning

I don't get down to Govan Mbeki Road that often and most of the time just driving through.  A little while ago I was in the area on a Sunday morning which means it was nice and quiet with very few people around.

The lady with the chair

Have you ever sat down to have a chat with the lady holding the chair on the Donkin Reserve?  Asked her about the lives of all women who have lived on the shore of Algoa Bay over the years?  About what she sees daily? 

This Untitled piece of the lady was done by well-known artist Anton Momberg.  The piece has been left untitled with the features and clothing on the female figure deliberately neutral, as the work is meant as a conversation piece rather than a conceptually specific entity.

Beauty in the abandoned

There is always beauty to be found in the abandoned.  It could be in the ruins of the building, nature taking back what is her's or just the surroundings.  In this case it is an aloe flowering early at the unused and abandoned Humewood Station. 

Unused railway

The narrow gauge Humewood Station has been standing abandoned, neglected and unused for probably a decade now although some of it was cleared and fixed up in December for the Apple Express to be able to run through there.  It was while waiting for the train to pass wanting to grab some photos when I ended up getting into some abandoned railway photography.

Tjoekepaf, here comes the Apple Express

A busy schedule, working till just before Christmas and all kinds of other excuses led to us only being able to go on the Apple Express on the last weekend it was running in January.  And it seems I placed the photos in a folder to edit and totally forgot to do so.  

After nearly 8 years of inactivity, the first fase of the Apple Express' comeback took place in December with a partnership between the operator, the municipality and Transnet.  The interest in the train was unbelievable and even though it only did a short trip up to the airport and back to Kings Beach, something like 6000 people went on the trip during the season.  The process is on the go to get everything in place and back on track on a more permanent basis and to make this little historic steam train a more regular sight again.   

Sunday stroll at the beachfront market

On Sunday at about lunchtime, the Damselfly and I headed down to the beachfront for a walk along the stalls at the Kings Beach Fleamarket.  I'm sure many will agree with me that the flea market isn't what it used to be anymore, BUT... and I have to add this as a counter for everybody who keeps saying that going to walk at the flea market is a total waste of time.  Taking a walk through the flea market still is a very enjoyable thing to do, especially on a nice sunny day.  There are so many other markets selling handmade items these days that it really doesn't matter to me what is being sold.  In actual fact, the Kings Beach flea market is ideal for visiting international tourists to pick up some African craft, gifts and souvenirs to take home.  

St Mary's front and back

On Tuesday I posted a picture of St Mary's Cathedral in the Port Elizabeth city centre.  I realised that although people may know what the cathedral looks like from the outside, that not many may have been inside the cathedral yet.  So today I'm posting two pictures taken inside the building, one looking to the front...

... and one looking back at the pews.

The Cathedral Church of St Mary the Virgin

Before the arrival of the British Settlers in 1820 the needs of the British garrison in Algoa Bay were served by chaplains in passing ships. By 1825 the town of Port Elizabeth had grown to about 500 people and Revd Francis McClelland was appointed Colonial Chaplain.  The foundation stone for the Collegiate Church of St Mary the Virgin was also laid that year.  The church was finally opened for worship in 1832.

Looking up the Campanile

I wonder how many people visiting the Campanile look up before entering and think to themselves, "Self, how am I ever going to climb all those steps to get up there without dying?" Yes, there are 204 steps, but if you take it easy, visit every level and don't think about it too much, you'll be at the top before you'll know it.  Or just take the lift if it's working.  But ascending the Campanile with the lift just isn't quite the same as being able to say, "I climbed the Campanile."

Wine made in PE

I'm not much of a wine drinker, but I do enjoy tasting wine.  Here I'm tasting one of Port Elizabeth's own wines, proudly produced at the Theescombe Estate Wine Farm.

Under the freeway

Strand Street under the Settlers Freeway isn't really a place where many of Port Elizabeth's suburban inhabitants wander but if you do you'll encounter interesting scenes, vendors and shops that you won't really find anywhere else. The painting on the freeway support pillar is one of a series of colourful and evocative portraits that depict young South Africans from a range of cultural backgrounds.  It forms part of Route 67 and is called IDENTITIES.

A wine farm in PE?

Everybody knows the Winelands in the Western Cape based around Stellenbosch, Paarl and Franschhoek. Then there is the rapidly developing Plettenberg Bay Wine Route.  But did you know Port Elizabeth also have a wine farm?  The Theescombe Estate Wine Farm is located on a 2-hectare smallholding in the Theescombe on the western side of Port Elizabeth.  It's not quite a big commercial wine operation yet, but they do make wine and sell it from the farm.  But why is it called an Estate Wine Farm and not a Wine Estate?  It is because they make all their own wines on the farm using only grapes from the farm.  This means that they don't bring in additional grapes from other farms nor do they send their grapes somewhere else for the wine to be made.  Now you've also learned something today.   

The 76 Youth remembered on Route 67

As one follows Route 67 from the city centre up towards the Donkin Reserve you pass the Public Library and St Mary's Cathedral before climbing a set of steps up to Winston Ntshona Street (previously Chapel Street).  The art piece on the wall by the steps is a statement about the 76 generation (referring to the 1976 Soweto uprising) and represents the spiritual journey undertaken by those who fought against oppression.  The art piece takes the form of a pile of newspapers being blown away in the wind and the pages tell the story of the youth. 

It's sad though to see that a number of the newspaper sheets have been removed from the lower section of the piece.  Very disappointing to see their remembrance defiled like this.