Cape Town

This is the first of the blogs from South Africa. We have been in Cape Town for three nights at the Big Blue Backpackers. We stayed here 3 years ago because it is in a super position for everything we wanted to do. The first photo is of Table Mountain from the Victoria & Alfred waterfront – it never fails to impress.  

Stuart in front of a welded metal elephant at the V&A.

I’m the one in the hat!

If you look at the blog from 2008 there is a similar photo of Sue in front of the Iziko Museum. We always want to see the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition which is always excellent.

Governor's Gardens with Table Mountain in the background. 
This garden was set up by Jan van Riebeeck during the heyday of the Dutch Trading Company to supply passing ships with fresh vegetables. By the beginning of the 18th century  the garden had been largely abandoned. During the British administration of the city, it was brought back to life as Cape Town's Governor's garden.

Castle of Good Hope

Built between 1666 and 1679 by the Dutch East India Company as a maritime replenishment station, the Castle of Good Hope is the oldest surviving colonial building in South Africa.

Sentry box at the Castle of Good Hope.

This one is for Andy – The Royal Artillery insignia

Changing the guard – interesting , but seriously iffy

The 12 0’clock gun at 12.07 – it was a very big bang for such a small gun. The Edinburgh Castle’s 12.00 clock gun knocks spots off this.

Signal Hill is a prominent landmark from which the historic noon gun (a much larger gun) is fired. It offers spectacular views across Cape Town harbour, city and Atlantic Ocean.
It is named for its original use: the practice of flying signal flags to communicate with nearby ships, and later firing the famous noon gun.
Sue at the top of Signal Hill enjoying the views of Cape Town. As you can see it was very bright and this was before 10am. Robben Island can just be seen to the left of Sue’s brolly.

The new football stadium at Green Point built for the World Cup 2011. Reading in the local press this is rather a white elephant because it can be used only for football, rugby and concerts. Rugby however does not want to move from Newlands.

On our return from Signal Hill we visited Bo Kaap again to see its colourful houses.

This one needs a makeover. It looks as though some of the houses in this area are being snapped up and renovated. Is this the up and coming area of Cape Town?

Nobel Square – this is new to us. It celebrates the South African Nobel Peace Prize winners.

Lego man made out of Coke crates.

Relaxing after writing a million postcards.

We kept seeing this floating thing – I think it is advertising holidays in Holland.

This finished off our visit to Cape Town. We move on to Worcester next.

Welcome to The Buchans 2011 blog

 

I’ve changed the theme for this year and thought it should be bright and cheerful. I reserve the right to change it at a later date.

Firstly the weather - this is a photo of the forecast for the 29th December not good!

Between the 29th and today 15th Jan we have had some good weather. Here are some photos taken on a ramble. Lots of sunshine, but lots of flooding.

      

Sue on her way out to Jane’s ?0th birthday party. A Ladies’ only affair. It was a great do with lots of scrumptious food and a very good looking wine waiter. You know who you are Ron!

Sunday afternoon (9th Jan) was fantastic weather so we went out to the Barton beach and to do a few geocaches.  The excitement of the afternoon was two collies coming over the cliff top (in a controlled manner). Once over they couldn’t return because of the steepness. They spent ages trying to find a way up and finally succeeded after 20 minutes. I bet they were cream crackered.

                 

We are off on our travels soon to sunnier climes. The name at the top of the chart gives away our destination – Cape Town. Why there? Just look at the temperatures. It was a tad hotter the previous week, but anything in the 20’s is perfect.

I’m taking my notebook computer so hopefully I will keep the blog up to date in between sipping a beer and rubbing on the suntan cream.

Vakansie groet – afrikaans for ???