Guest Blog from Debbie
Today was fantastic
South Africa, located in the bum end of the huge continent that houses so many of the marvels of the wild, has been home to us since Wednesday last week.
Like Australia, it has its winter in June, so I felt well prepared when packing clothes for this trip. I expected weather similar to Sydney's at this time of year, and was not disappointed. Especially since it has been emulating the 'big wet' that we were having in Sydney just before I left.
But it has been rather cold along with wet, and after a week of that, the sun came out and gave us the most beautiful of days today
We took advantage of the conditions and drove the hire car all the way to Hermanus, about two hours away if you take the freeway, but if you clung to the coast, like we did, it was a half day to get there.
The coast road is spectacular, clinging in many places to the side of the Hottentots Holland Mountain range. These are huge rolling rocky mountains with little vegetation in most places. By the time you get to Hermanus they seem to be covered with fine green baize to soften their harsh lines. This forms the backdop to the magnificent bay.
There certainly was a whale out there today, it was also the worlds laziest whale, refusing to do any sky hopping, tail thrashing, breaching or blowing. In fact, had it not been pursued by a whale spotting craft, we would have written it off as an energetic pile of kale.
We lunched at one of the many cafes that share the superb water views and soaked up the sun.
On the way back Graham managed not to run over a troop of baboons that were crossing the road in a leisurely fashion, stopping to give our car a shifty look.
I have found that quite amusing, all the signs to be careful of the baboons, not to feed the baboons and so on. Today there was a sign that gave instructions on how to deal with them if they invaded your house. Nice!
The day before yesterday it was the African Penguins that come ashore and march through Simonstown, which annoys some of the locals but also literally forms a backyard industry for others along the Tuxedo Trail, as they set up stalls selling soft drinks from their garages and car ports. Actually, that was a good day weather wise, too, just not as warm as today. There will be pictures of us at the lighthouse on top of the Cape of Good Hope, with the icy wind blowing our hair every which way.
Tomorrow promises to be another warm one- maybe as much as 21 degrees, but I guarantee it won't be that warm at 5.30am when we are getting on the bus to the Game Park reserve. I also guarantee we won't be spotting the 'Big 5' , but will let you know just how many we do shoot.
With the camera, but you knew that.
South Africa, located in the bum end of the huge continent that houses so many of the marvels of the wild, has been home to us since Wednesday last week.
Like Australia, it has its winter in June, so I felt well prepared when packing clothes for this trip. I expected weather similar to Sydney's at this time of year, and was not disappointed. Especially since it has been emulating the 'big wet' that we were having in Sydney just before I left.
But it has been rather cold along with wet, and after a week of that, the sun came out and gave us the most beautiful of days today
View of the Hottentots from Gordons Bay
We took advantage of the conditions and drove the hire car all the way to Hermanus, about two hours away if you take the freeway, but if you clung to the coast, like we did, it was a half day to get there.
The coast road is spectacular, clinging in many places to the side of the Hottentots Holland Mountain range. These are huge rolling rocky mountains with little vegetation in most places. By the time you get to Hermanus they seem to be covered with fine green baize to soften their harsh lines. This forms the backdop to the magnificent bay.
There certainly was a whale out there today, it was also the worlds laziest whale, refusing to do any sky hopping, tail thrashing, breaching or blowing. In fact, had it not been pursued by a whale spotting craft, we would have written it off as an energetic pile of kale.
We lunched at one of the many cafes that share the superb water views and soaked up the sun.
On the way back Graham managed not to run over a troop of baboons that were crossing the road in a leisurely fashion, stopping to give our car a shifty look.
Baboon Etiquette
I have found that quite amusing, all the signs to be careful of the baboons, not to feed the baboons and so on. Today there was a sign that gave instructions on how to deal with them if they invaded your house. Nice!
The day before yesterday it was the African Penguins that come ashore and march through Simonstown, which annoys some of the locals but also literally forms a backyard industry for others along the Tuxedo Trail, as they set up stalls selling soft drinks from their garages and car ports. Actually, that was a good day weather wise, too, just not as warm as today. There will be pictures of us at the lighthouse on top of the Cape of Good Hope, with the icy wind blowing our hair every which way.
Tomorrow promises to be another warm one- maybe as much as 21 degrees, but I guarantee it won't be that warm at 5.30am when we are getting on the bus to the Game Park reserve. I also guarantee we won't be spotting the 'Big 5' , but will let you know just how many we do shoot.
With the camera, but you knew that.
posted by Graham Hand | 12:33 PM
2 Comments:
How come your photos have pretty labels and mine just appear at the top of each day?
Guest Blog from Debbie
Today was fantastic....Tomorrow was not.
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