Campsite Cricket

Having a budding young cricket player on our hands, it wasn't difficult finding Miggie around the campsite at Mahai in the Drakensberg during December when we were looking for her.  Just find the nearest cricket game and she will be there.  Preferably one with adults playing as "they bowl better", to quote her.

What is Jukskei?

A couple of months ago on a road trip to Johannesburg I detoured through the town of Kroonstad in the Northern Free State to stretch my legs and... well... you know... find a geocache or two.  One of the caches I was after is located at a holiday resort called Jukskei Park and on arrival I found cars parked everywhere.  The resort plays host to the South African Jukskei Championships every year and I picked the week of the tournament to swing by.

"What is Jukskei?" I hear you ask.  Well, Jukskei is an South African folk sport and originated over 270 years ago.  Apparently even a forerunner of American Horseshoe Pitching.  

It is believed that Jukskei was first played around 1743 in the Cape when transport riders who traveled by ox-wagons started using the wooden pins of the yokes (Afrikaans: Skei) of the oxen to throw at a stick that was planted into the ground.  It is known that the game was also played during the Great Trek. and in later years by farmers from the Boland on beaches during their holidays.  In 1939 Jukskei became an organized sport and rules were formalized.

Like in bowls the game is played by teams of four (as well as pairs and singles).  The rules and scoring is also very similar but it has a few difference though.  A team gets three points if the peg is knocked over otherwise the team lying closest to the position of the peg, scores as many points as they have skeis closer to the peg than their opponent's closest skei.  First team to get exactly 23 points points win the game.  But there is a twist.  If you get more than 23, then your points revert to 0.  Jukskei is generally associated with White Afrikaners (not that I've ever played), but in the areas where it is played it is gaining popularity with people of all races and cultures.  

I'm not too sure if I've ever seen it played here in Port Elizabeth, but perhaps I should find out and go and give it a throw... I mean go. 

The abandoned Carlisle Bridge cricket field

No exploration expedition has ever ended in failure.  Well perhaps some have.  One or two may have run out of water trying to find a way out the desert, the odd expedition may have lost boat and crew on uncharted seas and at least one was never seen again after getting lost in the Amazon.  Detouring from Port Elizabeth via Grahamstown onto the R350 to Bedford, I wasn't really expecting to see much en route other than passing over the Great Fish River and the few caches lying in wait along the way.  So did I find anything really interesting? I think so although others may feel differently.  What? An abandoned cricket field.

Cricket was brought to South Africa by the British in the start of the 1800's and entrenched in the Eastern Cape after the arrival of the 1820 British Settlers.  The Settlers' decedents started cricket clubs in all the small Frontier Country towns and many of them still have the game played there.

The cricket club at Carlisle Bridge unfortunately is no more.  As game farming in the Eastern Cape increase it leaves less people in the districts to play cricket.  This is particularly the case at clubs away from the towns where it becomes very tough to keep numbers up.  Carlisle Bridge unfortunately falls in that category.  The club stopped playing cricket around 2003 and it didn't take long for the ground and buildings to start falling apart.

Although I passed through on a coolish early summers morning, it is said that Carlisle Bridge was the hottest place in the district to play cricket.  There is even the story of the local farmer who went to hell and on arrival asked the devil for a blanket.  He told the devil, "This place isn't hot.  Try playing cricket at Carlisle Bridge in February."

By the way, I couldn't find the Geocache at Carlisle Bridge.  Finding the abandoned cricket field was a great consolation prize though.

Waiting for the sevens

Late last week I got to go on a pre Nelson Mandela Bay Sevens Instawalk around the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium as the final touches was being put in place for this weekend's #NMB7s tournament.  I've been to the stadium so many times before and I was looking for something slightly different and I kinda like the result I got just by changing the angle a little bit. 

FNB Soccer City - The Calabash

If you are into soccer (or football as they call it in Europe), then you would at least have heard of the FNB Stadium.  Also called Soccer City and The Calabash, the stadium is seen as South Africa's main soccer venue and is situated next to Soweto in Johannesburg.  The stadium has a capacity of 94 736 making it the largest in Africa.  Significantly it was the site of Nelson Mandela's first speech in Johannesburg after he was released from prison in 1990 while it also hosted a massive memorial service to him after his death.

 

The stadium was designed to look like a calabash, or African clay pot, from the outside.  The cladding on the outside is a mosaic of fire and earthen colours and at night there is a ring of lights around the bottom of the structure which makes it look like there is a fire underneath the pot.

 

The stadium hosted the finals of both the 2010 FIFA World Cup and the 2013 African Cup of Nations but has also played host to major rugby matches and many top music concerts.  I've never had the privilege to go to a match at the FNB Stadium but its a little difficult being based over 1000 kilometers away.  Perhaps some day though. 

The KidZ are Ironkids

This past weekend (12 - 14 April 2013) was Ironman weekend in Port Elizabeth which, in addition to the main Ironman event on Sunday, also included an Irongirl 8km run on Friday and Corporate Ironman and Ironkids on Saturday.  Both Ironkids and Irongirl are the biggest events of their kind in the world.  Just for those who don't know what Ironman is, its an ultra triathlon with competitors doing a 3,8 km swim followed by a 180 km cycle and ending off with a 42,2km run.  Ironkids are open to kids between 6 and 13 years old with the 6-9 year olds doing a 60 m swim and 1,2km run and the 10 - 13 year olds doing 100 m and 2km respectively.  Somewhere the organisers slipped up this year though and all the kids ran the same distance.  I'm not complaining too loudly as I followed Chaos Boy on foot from the swim to the end and aren't really in the same shape he is for a distance run. *wink* This year both the KidZ took part in Ironkids with Chaos Boy doing it for the first time while Drama Princess also took part last year.

 

 Because it was Drama Princess' second time she was quite at easy with the whole process, even taking the opportunity to smile and wave at dad while waiting to go to the swim start.

 

Chaos Boy was a little more nervous.  He's not a very good swimmer and had a long discussion with one of the volunteer helpers.  Apparently he asked if he had to dive in and she said that he could also just jump in.  He then asked if its fine to just climb in which he subsequently did when the whistle blew.

The kids were split into groups of twenty at a time.  Each group had at least 10 lifeguards swimming with them and helping out the kids who can't swim that well or who got tired along the way.  Drama Princess (8) made sure she grabbed herself a lifeguard from the get go.

As Chaos Boy (11) is in an older age group the lifeguards don't dive in with them and watch them carefully from the side.  When they noticed that he just paddled along they kept a special eye on him and kept asking if he was alright.  After a bit he shook his head and two guys dived in, one then helping him through to the end of the swim.  I take my hat off to these youngsters, jumping in and out, swimming with the kids and then running back to the start for a good three hours straight.

The run went a lot better with both the KidZ not having any problems with that.  The Damselfly tracked Drama Princess on the run, following her to the end, while I did the same with Chaos Boy.  Following them was more to see how they do as there were marshals, volunteers, scouts and police personnel along the way to ensure that all the kids stayed safe.

 

I am so proud of both the KidZ for taking part in this fantastic event.  Chaos Boy isn't really the sporty type and after watching his sister last year wanted, to our surprise, do it this year.  He did extremely well and, to be honest, I had a tear in my eye when he wasn't bothered with the other kids diving in and swimming right out from under him.  He just did his thing. 

Unlike her brother, Drama Princess is very sporty and competitive.  Daddy's little sports star.  This kind of thing is just down her alley and she couldn't wait to take her medal to school to show her teacher and the head master.  I'm sure we will be back again next year.



Nelson Mandelabaai Stadion

Die Nelson Mandelabaai Stadion in Port Elizabeth was een van die stadions wat voor die 2010 FIFA Wêreldbeker gebou is.  Die 44 000 sitplek stadion het R1,1 miljard gekos (omtrent $150 miljoen) om te bou en is die eerste wêreldklas stadion in die Ooskaap.  Die stadion is langs die Noordeindemeer geleë en het gou een van Port Elizabeth se uitstaan landmerke geword. 

Die stadion maak vir 'n absoluut pragtige foto op aande wat daar 'n wedstryd plaasvind.

Die stadion is die tuisveld van beide die OP Kings (wat in die Currie Beker Eersteliga speel in 2012) en die Southern Kings (wat in 2013 in Super Rugby gaan speel) en het ook al gasheer gespeel vir die Springbokke in wedstryde teen Engeland en Nieu Zeeland.  Dit is ook die gasheerstadion vir die Suid-Afrikaanse been van die Internasionale Rugbyraad se wêreld 7's toernooi.  Behalwe vir rugby word daar ook van tyd tot tyd sokker gespeel.  In 2010 het daar 8 wedstryde in die FIFA Wêreldbeker hier plaasgevind en daar sal ook wedstryde hier gespeel word in die 2013 Afrikabeker.

Tackeling the city on the Urban Run

Road running isn't for everybody. Pounding away at the road for kilometer after kilometer bores me a little bit, but I do like to participate in races with a difference. The Urban Run around Port Elizabeth's city centre area surely is one of those. Urban Run is a 10,5 kilometer urban obstacle coarse which 1. helps to get people back into the city centre, 2. get people to visit places that they may not have seen or visited in ages, 3. generate money for the chosen charities (R190 000 in fact) and 4. just to have a whole lot of fun. I stuck my mobile phone in a plastic bag (so that it doesn't get wet) and took it along to get a couple of pictures along the way.  This also meant that I was posting said pics onto Facebook at every opportunity I got.

 

I did the Urban Run with the Damselfly and her friend Belinda in tow (although they were probably towing me part the way as well) while trying to keep up with my ultra distance running colleague CW.  The race started on the Donkin Reserve and the first obstacle made its appearance just after the 1 kilometer mark where they had us slither on our tummies through cement pipes.  Hectically tight which meant that you couldn't just crawl through but rather had to claw your way forward while pushing with your toes.   After this everybody knew that this was going to be an unforgettable event and the best was yet to come.

Next up was a series of traffic barriers that had to be crossed over and under along Govan Mbeki Avenue (Main Street).

 

 

The first tough climb was rough. Very rough.  And steep. Very steep.  It wasn't just a climb but a series of steps that took us up Castle Hill for about 100 odd meters before heading down to Military road and up some more steps.

 

Next up was probably one of the most exciting obstacles along the route. Scaling the historic Fort Frederick by way of a cargo net.  That's me in the green shirt and blue pants reaching the top with the picture being taken by one of our friends who waited there with the Kidz so that they could see what we were doing.

 

   

One of the toughest challenges was climbing to the top of the Duckpond Pavilion at St Georges Park, running along the top tier and back down on the other side.  This was followed by a muddy leopard crawl under a cargo net on the sports field next to the stadium while somebody was spraying us with water.  Thank goodness for the plastic bag I had my phone in.

After a run slow jog brisk walk through St Georges Park we left the urban environment and headed down into Settlers Park where we had to cross the Baakens River twice on two different structures built by the Scouts.  It also gave the runners the opportunity to go off road for a little while before hitting the city centre again.  Some runner fell in and got soaked. Me? Luckily I landed on my feet. 

At the bottom end of Settlers Park was a twenty meter long slippery slide with quite a crowd watching at the bottom...

Yes, that's me entertaining the crowd.  I made a head over heals tumble after hitting the rubber mat at the bottom and coming to a sudden and very abrupt stop. There is quite the bruise on my thigh as proof of this.

A number of runners got to visit the Port Elizabeth station for the very first time where we had to enter the one side of a stationary train and run down the length of it, exiting again at the bottom.  This was followed by a very awkward climb over a raining to get back onto Strand Street.  Awkward for those of us with short legs that is.

By now the legs were starting to wobble a bit.  Not because of the distance covered but more because of what it was expected to do up to now.  So just to put some more strain on it they had us run up the 5 or so storeys of the Grace Street Parking Garage and back down again.  The end was in sight.  Well kinda in sight.  The last stretch of the coarse followed Route 67's winding path up the Donkin Reserve to the finishing point close to the lighthouse. 







Crossing the finish line in 2 hours and 15 minutes didn't break us any records, but it still was an absolutely amazing experience which can be highly recommended even if you aren't a regular runner.  Next year we'll be back and will aim to go under 2 hours. 

Skateboarding down the Donkin

One of the things that the redevelopment of the Donkin Reserve in Port Elizabeth has done was inadvertently create the ideal winding downhill skateboard (long board) coarse.  This has led to the first Donkin Downhill Dash taking place today.  The pathway, starting up at the historic lighthouse and pyramid with its crosses representing democratic votes past and future, makes its way down towards Chapel Street and are long enough for the top skaters to clock times of about 1 minute 22 seconds.

The turnout was quite good with over 50 skateboarders taking part and hundreds of people turning out to watch what is hopefully the first of many such competitions to come.  It was also the ideal opportunity for the photographers of the city to bring out their hardware and shoot the action with me starting to get some lens envy watching some of the guys click away with their big cameras and lenses.

After a couple of warm up runs the first heats took place with everybody getting a run.  It was a timed event which means a race against the clock and not against each other on the coarse.  During the lunch break the guys were doing free runs again before the second heat and it was nice to get a couple of photos with more than one skater in the picture.

This event and the venue has great potential to become very big and we will hopefully see both national and perhaps even international skaters here in future.

Sokkerstad

Sokkerstad, ook bekend as die FNB Stadion, in Johannesburg is die grootste stadion in Afrika en kan net minder as 95,000 mense akkommodeer.  Die stadion is opgegradeer net voor die 2010 FIFA Wêreldbeker en het die bynaam Kalbas gekry omdat dit soos 'n tradisionele Afrikapot lyk.

Stadium in lights

Good bye 2011, hello 2012.  I'm still struggling to figure out where 2011 went.  For some reason this year just flew by and even though it went quickly so much have happened.  But at the rate that time is flying there is no time to dwell in the past so lets rather look to the future.  I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a happy and prosperous New Year.  May 2012 bring joy and happiness and may all your wishes come true.  Not too much to ask, is it?

Today's picture is the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in lights photographed recently during the South African leg of the IRB 7's World Series hosted in Port Elizabeth.

Just in case why I haven't been posting as regularly as always, the end of the working year was hectic at work and we have been on holiday from the 17th of December.  So by now we have had (well hopefully cause I'm forward posting this and the holiday hadn't actually started when I did the post) had a stunning time in Montagu in the Klein Karoo and is hopefully lounging next to a pool in Cape Town today.  So as soon as I get back I will start to process all my Western Cape photos from the holiday and will start posting regularly again.  Happy New Year.

Canoeing at Morgan Bay

The Mini vs Maxi Challenge gave me the opportunity to experience a number of new activities and the very first activity we did at Morgan Bay on the Wild Coast was no different.  I have, for some unknown reason, never canoed in my life.  After checking in at the hotel we mozied down to Morgan Bay's lagoon and got a couple of canoes at the caravan park.  Neil, having done it before, hopped in a one man canoe while Sisa and I, the two canoe virgins, took a two man canoe. 

It actually didn't take us long to figure out the proper paddling style and shortly after the talk started about taking on the Fish River and Duzi Canoe Marathons.  Big talk from a couple of okes who slightly struggled to make way against the wind when we turned the corner. LOL!

The big surprise was that we could actually glide slowly and quietly very close to birds along the shore to take some photos.  The bonus, spotting a Fish Eagle flying overhead. 

Paragliders over Sedgefield

Sedgefield is a very popular paragliding destination and you can often look up from town and see a number of paragliders leisurely hanging overhead.  A slow (but still adrenalin filled for first timers) sport for an official Slow Town.  Looking up from the Steam Whistle Stop Cafe at Sedgefield Station this was the scene with my last visit.

A slightly closer look

Horse jumping

The South African Junior Equestrian Championships took place at the Port Elizabeth Riding Club over the last week or so and I popped in with the Rugrats for a quick look.  A quick look you may ask? They were bored after 10 minutes and doesn't matter how much I was enjoying it, we had to move on.  I did get a couple of photos before we had to hit the road though.