Usually the rules of surfing are unwritten rules as far as I understand. Something you have to know before you hit the waves so that you don't get hit by another surfer's board... of fist. But just in case you would like to read some of these they are posted along the beachfront like this one on the boardwalk at Lovers Lane.
One of the fun aspects of Geocaching, specially when you cache with children, is finding bigger caches containing SWAG. SWAG is an acronym for "Stuff We All Get" and are small trade items. The rule with SWAG is that if you want to take something you have to replace it with something of equal or greater value. Drama Princess has a SWAG bag in her Geocaching bag with items to swop if she finds anything she likes. This SWAG box is part of the Port Elizabeth Beachfront TB Hotel located at the Boardwalk and I have seen many a young cacher's eyes light up when they open the container.
Addo Elelphant National Park is on Port Elizabeth's doorstep. Literally. Matyholweni, or the south gate as most just refer to it, is located at Colchester on the Sundays River, just outside the boundary of Nelson Mandela Bay. Up to just over a decade or so ago Addo was mostly all about elephants. Today it is so much more than that. The Greater Addo Park stretches from the southern Karoo around the Darlington Dam, across the Zuurberg Mountains through the main game area and down to the coast. The park also includes the Alexandria Dunefields and a marine reserve surrounding the islands in Algoa Bay. Thanks to this Addo is the only reserve in the world that can boast to be home of the Big 7 being the Big 5 (elephant, rhino, buffalo, lion and leopard) along with the Southern Right Whale and Great White Shark. Watch this excellent promotional video for Addo.
Weekends are the time to do some work in the garden. That is when the KidZ don't have sport or parties or whatever or the Damselfly doesn't drag me to the shops. I'm curious where Port Elizabethans go to dump their garden refuge. With the Kragga Kamma transfer station still closed the options in our area are Walmer (now that is a dump dump), Summerstrand (a little far), Arlington tip (there I will NEVER go again) and Kabega Park. The Kabega Park transfer station - or dump as most just call them - is found along Cape Road just before where the old Hunters Retreat shopping centre used to be. Going to the Kabega dump is a treat every time. Its anything but an ordinary dump and have been transferred into a garden and recycle centre where people also go and dump their garden waste. The dump is actually properly managed and there is a system in place where everything that can be recycled is done so and the money made pays the managers and people working there. Unlike most other tips where one is hassled by informal "helpers", this one is a pleasure to visit. The cherry on top is the garden. Everything that could remotely be recycled into garden ornaments have been done so. Amongst it this dude taking a nap on an old camp chair while on a fishing trip. Also see this article that appeared in the Herald on 27 February 2013.
The iconic South African playwright, Athol Fugard, has very close links to Port Elizabeth. His famous play Master Harold and the Boys is set in St George's Park where his mother ran the St George's Park Tea Room. An important part of the play includes a kite which the character Sam makes Hally (Fugard). Here is my question for you today. Have you ever noticed the kite "art piece" across the entrance to the St George's Park swimming pool where the tea room used to be?
I'm a bit of a lazy bones when it gets to getting up early for sunrise. That is one of the things I like about winter. Sunrise is so much later. During last weekend's Father / Son camp I took a walk out of the campsite to snap this the sunrise over the Elands River Valley.
Port Elizabeth has had a couple of absolutely stunning sunsets this week. Yesterday local surf blogger MillersLocal posted a time lapse of Wednesday night's sunset taken from her apartment window overlooking the beachfront *seriously jealous*. I immediately asked if I could post it as this week's Video Friday and she proceeded to also send me pictures of the sunsets earlier this week.
