Category: News

I’ve been just hanging out here in Durban at Mum & Dad’s place for the last couple of days. Had lunch with other family members today and drove around the city this afternoon just to re-aquaint myself with my hometown. So much has changed since I’ve been gone; not surprisingly since it’s been 20 years since I lived here. Many areas are unrecognizable. Some previously squalid neighborhoods are fashionably yuppie these days, and some previously fancy neighborhoods look pretty tired and neglected. Funny how that happens. This photograph is of a new soccer stadium under construction in preparation for the 2010 FIFA World Cup – one of many incredible stadiums being built all over the country to accommodate this event.

Well we left the Cape area three days ago and have traveled approximately 1,000 miles back to Durban, stopping overnight twice on the way. It’s much warmer here, and more humid than in the Cape. The scenery changes so much along the way, from the scrubby Karoo, through the grassy Free State, and finally the midlands of Natal. There has been widespread rain, so all the dams have plenty of water, and even the Karoo – habitually parched – is green and full of puddles. Anyway, we are now trying to figure out what we will do with my remaining few days in South Africa. In the meantime, here is a collage that represents a couple of snapshots of the roadtrip. Some new friends I met at the Skietkuil B&B in the Upper Karoo, the road near Golden Gate in the Free State, and Mum and Dad at a coffee shop in Matjiesfontein, an historic town in the middle of nowhere, where we stopped for lunch. Dad is happily anticipating his next spoonful of icecream!

Yes I know the date is Saturday, 25th as I write, but I’m trying to play catch-up because for 3 days I have been in the boonies with no access to the internet. This photo was taken somewhere near Cape Agulhas as we criss-crossed the landscape going from bay to bay. The weather was wild most of the time with gales blowing and rain a lot of the time. It is so interesting to learn from memorabilia and old records housed in local hotels about the countless ships that were wrecked on this coastline from the 1600’s up until 1982 when a relatively modern freighter was driven onto the rocks by the notorious Cape Southeaster. Anyway, getting back to this photo, we came around a corner to be met by these cows being herded home for the night.

We moved from Cape Town up to a small fishing village called Arniston. I was hoping of course to feast on quaint, photogenic scenes but there was a good old “southeaster” blowing and no sun – gusts up to 55kph and when I bravely ventured out with my camera, everything got sandblasted. So we stayed inland mostly, traveling down dirt roads and exploring the area. This is a picture of Mum and Judy, who at the time were the southernmost located people on the African continent. The place is Cape Agulhas – southernmost tip of Africa. Heading North tomorrow towards Durban, taking three days for the trip. First stop tomorrow night near a place called Three Sisters. Will get back online when I can …

So the weather turns sunny just as we are packing up to leave Cape Town. We are leaving for Arniston after lunch and hopefully will be able to get some great pics in a few days. It is the boonies though, and we will be on the road until sometime Saturday when we arrive in Durban, so I don’t know when I will be able to post again. This image was taken in Simonstown.

Such a short time that we were all together, and there were a couple missing too, but today all 16 of us that could be together had lunch at the 120 year old Chapman’s Peak Hotel in Hout Bay. The weather was miserable and grey, but the rain stopped long enough to take some family photographs on the beach afterwards. Here is one of them – the 4 girls. Afterwards, Lesley, Trev and their girls left the group and later this evening, the Coulsons left for their flight back to Wales. A bien tot!

As I speak, a bunch of kids are celebrating Rebecca’s 18th birthday. Many of them probably won’t go to sleep at all tonight. Earlier they spent time romping on the beach and this was one of the photos I took of some of the girls. After awhile us “old people” left – except for Graham who still thinks he’s a kid anyway, and met at the Brass Bell in Kalk Bay for dinner. Great little place – appropriately tacky and suspended over the surf on the beach side of the station and railwayline.

Woke up early this morning when it was still dark. I guess my internal time clock is confused. Life at Hedge House is typically chaotic with guests being catered to, children being shuttled in different directions, and visiting family from Durban, Wales and the US adding their respective dynamics to the mix. Planning for Rebecca’s 18th birthday party is underway. 40 kids in formal dress all getting on a train bound for Simonstown and partying overnight in Graham’s recently renovated townhouses. There will be pictures … Featured today are Anna, Peter and Catherine.

The last couple of days were a blur of airports and planes and sitting, sitting, eating, sitting – oh my gosh. But I’m finally here, in Cape Town with lots of family, and it seems almost like it was yesterday that I was here and nothing much has changed. It’s so funny. While I’m here, this is my reality and home in the US seems like a distant mirage, and then of course I go home and this seems like a faraway dream. Imagine the constant stimulus to be God and be everywhere and experience everything at the same time – mind-blowing stuff. This is Detroit airport – I will get going with this blog again on a regular basis soon. Got to go help prepare a big dinner for tonight.

Before I left the office this afternoon, I activated my email “on vacation” auto-reply, changed my message on the voicemail “…I will be on vacation until Monday, May 4th …” and hit the road. What a great feeling. I am not looking forward to my 27 hour trip via Detroit and Amsterdam and finally into Cape Town, but heck, I’ll try and make it a worthwhile part of the whole package. This evening, I wanted to try one more time to shoot the Legare Flats, specifically Backman Seafoods for the “2009 Vanishing Landscapes” contest currently underway under the Coastal Conservation League’s banner, but the lighting was flat and boring and I knew before I even headed out there that it wouldn’t work. My friend Cosmo was a good sport and showed up with bucket, fishing rod and beer ready to be my lone angler model on the old, rotten dock. Nothing I shot was worthwhile, but I played with it in Photoshop and ended up with something completely different. OK – cannot procrastinate any longer – gotta pack. Back blogging in a couple of days from way south …