Diaz Cross at City Hall

Market Square is surrounded by a number of historic buildings and monuments.  The Diaz Cross on Market Square is a replica of the one erected on St Croix Island in Algoa Bay by Portuguese explorer Bartholomew Diaz in 1488.  The City Hall on the right was built between 1858 and 1862 and still houses the office of the city's Mayor.  The tower in the background belongs to the Old Post Office building and also dates back to the late 1800's.

Zipline

The Tsitsikamma Falls Zipline is a stunning experience about an hour and a half from Port Elizabeth.  Its even more awesome when the Kruis River is flooding.  There are eight slides that cross to and fro over the gorge.  Slides 4 and 5 cross over a couple of waterfalls and the river was running so strong on our visit that the spray was blowing in your face as you zipped across.  From one of the platforms the one waterfall made for a stunning backdrop as my fellow zip liners were going along.

Read about the whole experience and see more pictures at The Firefly Photo Files.

Stadium sunset

I went to an EP Kings rugby game at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium the other day and caught this unusual sunset photo through the gaps in the stadium.

St Georges Prep visit No7 Castle Hill

Visiting No 7 Castle Hill on Friday morning you would have been excused if you stood there with your mouth hanging open not knowing what was going on.  Grade 4's start doing history for the first time and part of the syllabus is the history of Port Elizabeth.  A lot of the schools visit historic sites around the city and one of those sites is the No 7 Castle Hill Museum.  Every year St Georges Prep school goes the extra mile for their visit and all the kids dress up in (or as close as possible) period clothing creating a highlight on the No 7 Castle Hill calender. I got word of the visit and made sure that I was there to snap a couple of photos.

For a couple more pictures of the occasion, visit The Firefly Photo Files.

Beachfront promenade

I have mentioned before that I try and go for a walk during my lunch time and I normally end up on the beachfront.  Usually there isn't a lot of people walking or jogging at that time of the day.  About a week or so ago we went down to the beachfront late on a Saturday afternoon.  The weather was playing along and there were hordes of people enjoying the beachfront.  The beachfront promenade stretches from Kings Beach past Hobie Beach to Polock Beach.  From there the Humpback Dolphin Trail is an extension of the promenade along the coast up to Flat Rocks and Pine Lodge.

Airforce Museum Mirage

I remember when I was small and we saw a. airforce jet overhead we always called it a Mirage.  Didn't matter if it was or not, in our minds it was a Mirage.  Now if you really want to know what a Mirage looks like, visit the South African Airforce Museum behind the Port Elizabeth Airport.  They have a Dassault-Breguet Mirage F1CZ on display which they are busy putting a flight simulator into.  Once that is up and running it would be a boost for the museum and hopefully assist in getting more feet through the door.

Autumn on Hobie Beach

You know its autumn in the Bay when there is a number of people on the beach on a nice warm day but very few in the water.  Autumn is setting in and you can already start to feel it cool down early mornings and evenings.  The days are slowly starting to loose it's summer edge and, like I said, you do notice that there are less people in the water than in the middle of summer.

Reflection on the Boardwalk lake

The lights of the retail section of the Boardwalk Complex reflecting on the lake

Kings Beach Kite surfer

St Andrew's Church in South End

One of the sites on the South End Museum Heritage Trail is the old St Andrew's Presbyterian Church.  The church was openend in 1901and used by the presbyterians untill they moved out of South End in 1928 and the building was taken over by the Dutch Reformed Church.  The Apostolic Church later took over the church and is still using it.