Signal Hill Sunset

When the sun sets in Cape Town, many residents and visitors flock to the Atlantic Seaboard to see the sun disappearing behind the horizon of the Atlantic Ocean.

A very popular spot to go and see the sun set is from Signal Hill

There are normally a couple of tourist buses with hordes of tourists aiming their cameras westward.

Looking east from Signal Hill you can see Table Mountain with Devil's Peak flanking it. The afternoon I went up to see the sunset there was a puff of cloud on top of Devil's Peak and the near full moon was rising over it.

For more fabulous Skywatch photos from all over the globe, why not pack a picnic and head over to Skywatch. You can find it here.

The water's edge

When I did the first "Random ..." post on "Roundness", it was because I couldn't find anything else that tickled my fancy for a post that night. The second one on "Rust" was out of wanting to post one specific photo and finding a couple of others which linked to the theme. Now I've realised that there are endless possibilities out there for themed posts that isn't connected to one place. Oh wait, that was actually Karin who said so in one of the comments on "Rust". But what she said is true. There are so many different possibilities to explore, and explore I will.

For today I chose "The water's edge". I love standing where the water gets to the sand and take pictures of the little waves breaking on the sand with some landscape in the background.

Ps. Tomorrow (or today or yesterday depending when you are reading this) is the Damselfly's birthday. I just want to wish her a Happy Birthday! I'll try to get up and make you coffee in bed tomorrow morning. Promise.

Natures Valley beach on the Garden Route

The beach at Cannon Rocks on the Sunshine Coast

Hobie Beach towards Pollock Beach in Port Elizabeth

Rust

After the other day's Random Roundness post I got a thinking. Well, a couple of random ideas flew around my head at least. The possibilities of "Random ..." posts are endless. So today I'm doing a "Random ..." post on "rust".

The fence in front of Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Central, Port Elizabeth

A hole in the rusty shipwreck at Cannon Rocks

Part of a rusty fence at the St Peter's Church ruins

St Peter's Church ruins

The St Peter's Anglican Church in South End, Port Elizabeth was completed in 1877. Situated on the hill overlooking Algoa Bay, it was one of the important places of worship in early Port Elizabeth.

Before the height of the Apartheid era the area of South End was a vibrant area inhabited by people from all races. When the Group Areas Act came into being in 1962, non-white people all over South Africa was removed from what was termed white only areas and relocated to the black townships and coloured areas. The people of South End's time was up in 1965 and they were forcibly removed.

Although now living on the other side of the city, the congregation of St Peter's Church still came back to worship in the church to the dismay of the Apartheid government. To stop them from doing so it was decided to demolish the church. Today the ruins stand just above the St Mary's cemetery in between modern townhouses. The site has been earmarked for an upmarket development with the ruins being enclosed in a glass dome to preserve it.

I've been wanting to visit the ruins for a while now but have just never gotten around to it. Today at lunchtime I popped down camera in hand and wasn't disappointed with what I found. A great photographic setting, not just for ruin scenes, but also for wedding, fashion and other photos.

Random Roundness

Ok, so I didn't quite have something to post about today. I was going through all my photos to find something interesting and decided to pick a couple of random photos that aren't connected to a certain place. I was going round in circles. Round and round... but just could not decide on something. The worry of not having something to post started going round my head and I started walking in a circle thinking. I came up with a big round naught... zero. Meanwhile the Rugrats were having eggs for dinner, oval ones. The ceiling fan was spinning above my head. A ball came rolling down the passage while the big circular sun was setting... Nothing. Oh well, this will have to do then.

Smooth river stones at the mouth of the Storms River in the Tsitsikamma

Freshly picked oranges in the Gamtoos River Valley

Pumpkins on an ostrich farm outside Oudtshoorn in the Klein Karoo

Snakes at Reptile World

We decided to take the Rugrats to Reptile World at The Boma today to experience some slithering serpents. Well, guess who had a legen... wait for it... dary time and who was hiding at the door.

The visit starts with a guided tour showing you all the different snakes. This guy is the most common snake we find in this area. Its called a Puffadder and is a distant cousin of the Rattlesnake. It is responsible for a lot of snake bites as it tends to lie in footpaths sunning itself and people would stumble over them there.

This green snake is a Green Mamba. It is very poisonous and is found more to the north east of here. It doesn't grow as big as its cousin the Black Mamba, but is still one to avoid in the bush.

The best part of the visit starts when the guide takes out the non-venomous snakes. Then the fun starts. Here he is holding a baby boa constrictor.

I did find time to give up my camera in exchange for a snake... actually a couple of times... whenever they offered. I was in my element. I loved it. What an experience. I've never held a snake and here I am standing with the biggest snake in Africa. An African Rock Python.

For more picture of the family interacting with the snakes, pop into Firefly's Personal (B)log, Supplemental.

Shongololo millipede

There are various types of millipedes, but one I always like to find somewhere is the Shongololo millipede.

These guys aren't little worms and can grow up to 20cm long. Around here they are a glossy black, but I see in my nature book that you also find some with alternating yellow and black bands. I also have not found that one so they probably occur somewhere else in the country. I've always wondered how many legs a millipede actually have, so I looked it up as well. Up to 120 pairs of legs. So shouldn't they be called a twohundredandfourtypede? The babies hatch with only three pairs of legs and acquire more at each moult.

This millipede I found somewhere on a walkway had became a meal to these red bugs. I can't find what they are, but they look like some kind of stinkbug (ja ok, so I just made that up).

Edited: Thanks to Jeanne. She has informed me that these bugs are Millipede Assassin Bug Nymphs.

Just some random interestingness connected to this topic. In South Africa there is a tourist train called the Shongololo Express named after these little animals.