Cape Town Life

Helderberg Nature Reserve (Somerset West)

noreply@blogger.com (Leon van Heerden) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 22:37:00 +0000

We took a drive out to Somerset west the other day and went to the Helderberg Nature Reserve to take a bit of a hike. Here are some pictures from there.

Flowers at Darling

noreply@blogger.com (Leon van Heerden) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 21:43:00 +0000

This past Sunday we drove out to Darling to go flower hunting.

We love going to the Tienie Versfeld Wildflower Reserve halfway between Darling and Yzterfontein. It is about an hour and a half drive from Cape Town, but worth it.

I have added the full Album and Geo-tagged the pictures on Google Earth.

Flowers at Darling - 2009-09-06

Green Point stadium pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Leon van Heerden) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 17:21:00 +0000

I have not had the opportunity to go out and take pictures around Cape Town as often as I would like. This means that my Green Point Stadium pictures has not been progressing as I would have liked.
Today I received a comment from another blogger here in Cape Town that follows the progress much closer and I am promoting that blog, since I think that pictures are amazing and it is interesting to see the progress.

Here is http://greenpointstadium-and-capetown.blogspot.com/

I hope to start adding pictures here again soon.

Fokofpolisiekar and Die Vegas en Parow show at Mercury Live

noreply@blogger.com (Leon van Heerden) — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 23:48:00 +0000

Last night was probably one of the best live shows that I have experienced.
The "Vegas en Parow Show" [update link] is not for the faint hearted. They are hardcore Afrikaans rappers that will make your ears bleed if your not careful. You should keep your children indoors if they walk down the street. ;P
They definitely did have the crowd going last night.

The crowd was roaring , jumping, and singing along so loud that they overpowered the speakers when Fokofpolisiekar arrived on stage.

This band controlled the evening.

If ever you have the opportunely to see them live, do so. The one that I will not miss is the Kirstenbosh Botanical Gardens on 18 Feb 2008.

South African bands in Cape Town

noreply@blogger.com (Leon van Heerden) — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 04:00:00 +0000

I hope that you enjoy the pictures. I am posting links to the albums on Facebook.
There has been a lot of band activity lately. :P

Winter soul at Mercury Live 2007-09-28 (Goth Industrial Gathering 2007)

Battery 9 Unplugged at Kunskafee 2007-09-27

Ankst at Mercury Live 2007-09-28 (Goth Industrial Gathering 2007)

Psyche at Mercury Live 2007-09-28 (Goth Industrial Gathering 2007)

Battery 9 at Mercury Live 2007-09-28 (Goth Industrial Gathering 2007)

Lark at Hidden Cellar 2007-05-17

The Awakening at Klein Libertas 2007-07-28

Foto na Dans at Kunskafee 2007-10-12

Caroline Coon at ROAR (above Gandalfs) 2007-10-11

Pik meets Pierre at Kunskafee 2007-10-18

Melktertkommisie at Kunskafee 2007-10-23

Running with scissors at Stones in Tableview 2007-10-25

Shy Guevaras at Stones in Tableview 2007-10-25

Autopilot at Cock and Tail 2007-10-26

Running with scissors at Cock and Tail 2007-10-26

Pik meets Pierre at Kunskafee 2007-10-27

Plofmot at KunsKafee 2007-10-27

Hier kom die Bokke...

noreply@blogger.com (Leon van Heerden) — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 06:56:00 +0000

Last night South Africa gave England a hiding in the rugby game that brought South Africa together for 2 hours. Driving through the streets last night after the game, everyone was partying together in the streets, in their houses, in their cars and the clubs.

If this is our first glimpse of what it is going to be like during the Soccer World cup in 2010, then this country is going to be the place to be.
There were only two colors on ours streets last night and they were Green and Gold. Congratz Bokke. You brought South Africa together. Now we must just keep standing together.

I took some pictures of the people in the streets, but since I don't really have the permission to put strangers' pictures on my blog, you will have to go look on Facebook for the pictures. :) Ask for the link and I will send it to you.

Cape Town Panoramics again

noreply@blogger.com (Leon van Heerden) — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 02:27:00 +0000

It's been a while since I updated my Cape Town Greenpoint Stadium Pictures. So today I thought I would do something more detailed. I have included a huge panoramic of just the stadium. I have also included a picture from the opposite side of the stadium towards the mountain.

On my way back I took a small detour and found a nice viewpoint where I took another panoramic of Table Mountain. I hope you like it.

These images are about 1600x400, but if you would like to see the 10439x3200 please let me know and I will try and email it to you.

Battery 9 Unplugged...pun intended

noreply@blogger.com (Leon van Heerden) — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 01:21:00 +0000

This Thursday I attended an unplugged session by Battery 9. This was held at the KunsKafee in Durbanville.
I can recommend the band to any industrial / Heavy music lover.
They have a very tongue in cheek sense of humor that comes out on stage and the crowd is always enjoying it.Even though they use industrial tools to assist them on stage, they can perform with just a guitar and a microphone. This was a reflection of their versatility when it comes to live performances.

Weekend in Bredasdorp

noreply@blogger.com (Leon van Heerden) — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 23:22:00 +0000

This weekend I visited Bredasdorp, where my uncle lives. This is a small town about 2 hours drive outside Cape Town.

Cape Agulhas is about 20km away from Bredasdorp and is the Southern most tip of Africa.

At Cape Agulhas the Light house is a beautifully sight. I didn't go in this time, but last time I went up to the top and spent some time up there.

On the way back from there we drove along the cost through Hermanus, where the whale festival is on right now. Then through Kleinmond and lastly through the Strand.

Above is the bay where you can see the Whales in Hermanus. I saw a couple, but unfortunately was not able to capture one properly with the camera.

Robbeneiland Trip

noreply@blogger.com (Leon van Heerden) — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 05:06:00 +0000

A Seagull named Nelson.

Yesterday, we took a short trip out to Robbeneiland. The world heritage site and place everyone knows as the jail that held Mr Nelson Mandela for 27 years. This was my first visit to this historic place and was really an eye opener. You always hear about the jail on TV, but once you walk through the hallways, see what they went through and experience the small cells, you can't understand.

As one of the people in our group stated: "Everything is gray, dull and mind numbing. Totally made to keep you down."

The Island has about 180 people living there permanently and working one the island.

It has the 2de largest Penguin population in Africa.

The view and sun set from the island and the boat was amazing.

We were about 6 South Africa's in our tour group with people from all over Africa, Europe and the Americas.

This is a place that you should visit to understand what this country has gone through.

What has happened here, should not happen anywhere else in the world ever again.

Shy Guevaras' new album "We owe you one"

noreply@blogger.com (Leon van Heerden) — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 05:05:00 +0000

Last night I attended the Shy Guevaras' album launch at Mercury Live. The vibe in the club was electric by the time the band appeared on stage and then it got wild.

The new album is called "We owe you one" and features a collaboration on the one track with Inge Beckmann from lark.

I have uploaded all the pictures to my Facebook page and have included the links here.

Part1
Part2
Part3
Part4 If you want to listen to some of the tracks from the band, try their myspace page or the homepage. Both have flash players that plays 3 tracks for you.

Intaka Island at Century City

noreply@blogger.com (Leon van Heerden) — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 08:19:00 +0000

This afternoon a friend and I went through to Intaka Island in Century City. It is a Nature reserve where any birds breed.This place doesn't look that big inside, but we spent almost 2 hours walking around taking pictures.

New Tablemountain Panoramic

noreply@blogger.com (Leon van Heerden) — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 07:52:00 +0000

When I was out taking the pictures of the stadium, I took the opportunity to take some new panoramic pictures.

Cape Town Stadium progress

noreply@blogger.com (Leon van Heerden) — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 07:36:00 +0000

There has been a lot of work done on the Greenpoint stadium in Cape Town for the Soccer world cup in 2010. Here is a picture of the entire work area.

Here is a picture of only the new stadium field.

Grootbrak

noreply@blogger.com (Leon van Heerden) — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 09:34:00 +0000

We spent the last 4 days in Grootbrak to celebrate Jasper's birthday. Groot brak is about 400KM from Cape Town. Very close to Mosselbaai. On Saturday night we had a brilliant sun set.

We had a very interesting braai. A lawnmower converted to a braai. :)

Johannesburg Trip

noreply@blogger.com (Leon van Heerden) — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 02:02:00 +0000

Last weekend we took a trip to Johannesburg. The main event was Kate's birthday. But we took the chance to visit some landmarks as well. I haven't been to the Voortrekker Monument in years, so that was one of our destinations.

We also took a trip to the Union Building.

The last stop that we made was the Origin Center at the University of Witwatersrand. This was extremely interesting. I never thought that it would interest me, but the exhibits were great. I will go back some time and spend some more time there.

First Lightning Picture

noreply@blogger.com (Leon van Heerden) — Tue, 15 May 2007 07:05:00 +0000

On Sunday night we had a small thunderstorm here in Cape Town and I decided to go and try taking a picture of lightning again. I got three successful pictures. I have posted one of the best.

The lightning struck behind Table mountain.

The Greenpoint Stadium

noreply@blogger.com (Leon van Heerden) — Thu, 03 May 2007 09:50:00 +0000

I had to catch up on some blogging tonight so there is a few posts directly after each other. I hope to get some more pictures soon.

I have gone up to Signal hill again this weekend to get a picture of the progress of the demolition of the stadium and this is how it looks by now. Unfortunately the weather has been a bit cloudy lately so it isn't one of the best picture. In this picture you can see that more than half of the old stadium has been demolished already.

Cheese and Wine Festival

noreply@blogger.com (Leon van Heerden) — Thu, 03 May 2007 09:24:00 +0000

This weekend past, the annual Cheese and Wine Festival took place in Franschhoek.

We have been going every year for at least 4 years. It is a huge event with hundreds of stalls with samples of cheese and wine. There are also other stalls like the Wedgewood nougat stall, that never seems to be able to have enough stock, since everyone always wants some of it. All the stalls have products to sell and usually at very competitive prices. This event runs over 3 days and is always very popular.

We always buy a bottle or two of wine, some cheese and some breads. Then we go an enjoy it on the grass in the sun. Unfortunately, this year it was very cold and raining intermittently. So we had to use the tents that they set-up. It was still great.

If you ever find yourself in Cape Town at the end of April, organize to go and go early. They had to close the gates for non ticket holders by the afternoon this year.

DHL (part 2)

noreply@blogger.com (Leon van Heerden) — Thu, 03 May 2007 09:13:00 +0000

We received a fax from DHL stating that since they delivered the package to the destination they will only be able to refund us 30% of the cost of shipping. After checking the results of the shipping again, we found that before it went to Brussels, it was actually in Amsterdam already. So this is the route the package took:

Tuesday -> Cape Town – South Africa

Wednesday -> Amsterdam – Netherlands

Wednesday+Thursday -> Brussels – Belgium

Thursday -> Amsterdam – Netherlands

Thursday -> Johannesburg – South Africa

Friday+ Saturday+Sunday -> No idea where it was? (We asked that they send it back to us)

Monday -> Dresden – Germany

This sucks so much, since the package was useless by Monday. It contained a report that had to be in by Thursday.

FedEx got it done.

noreply@blogger.com (Leon van Heerden) — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 02:47:00 +0000

Well ,after a stressful morning trying to get the package to Germany we just used a new courier(FedEx). I am glad to say that the package made it to it's destination on time and with no fuss.

We delivered the package directly to the depot on Friday morning(Freedom day, a public holiday here in South Africa), since we had to have a new copy of the report printed and bound. The package got there this afternoon.

The saga continues for DHL though. After many phone calls, on Friday night late (after 21:00) we got a call that the package was back in South Africa. They wanted to know if we would like it delivered to us to to try and send it of to Germany again.
We told them that we have already used a different courier to get another copy of the package to Germany and that they could send the package back to us and refund us.

This morning they phoned to let us know that the package has been delivered in Germany and thus will only be able to refund us partially. I am sorry but if this is the way that they do business I will not use them again.

DHL : we Don't Hesitate to Loose your shipment.

noreply@blogger.com (Leon van Heerden) — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 07:28:00 +0000

We have had an absolute ball trying to get a very important package to Germany before Thursday.

We thought DHL would be a good option to use since it is a German based company, so we contacted them and they said no problem ship it on Tuesday and it will be there on Thursday.

Well lets have a look at the route it took:

April 24, 2007	14:40	Cape Town - South Africa	Shipment picked up
April 24, 2007	21:37	Cape Town - South Africa	Departed from DHL facility in Cape Town - South Africa
April 25, 2007	23:58	Brussels - Belgium	Arrived at DHL facility in Brussels - Belgium
April 26, 2007	02:06	Brussels - Belgium	Transferred through Brussels - Belgium
April 26, 2007	02:06	Brussels - Belgium	Departed from DHL facility in Brussels - Belgium
April 26, 2007	05:44	Amsterdam - Netherlands, The	Arrived at DHL facility in Amsterdam - Netherlands, The
April 26, 2007	06:29	Amsterdam - Netherlands, The	Transferred through Amsterdam - Netherlands, The
April 26, 2007	08:19	Amsterdam - Netherlands, The	Departed from DHL facility in Amsterdam - Netherlands, The
April 26, 2007	22:38	Johannesburg - South Africa	Arrived at DHL facility in Johannesburg - South Africa

I don't know about you , but I don't think it is going to be there in time. After a ton of phone calls we have no decided to use a different courier company and hope to have it there before Monday.

This has been the most incompetent system that I have seen in a long time. How can you ship something from one country to another and then just redirect it back to the originating country, and then not even back to the original city.

A little hike.

noreply@blogger.com (Leon van Heerden) — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 08:53:00 +0000

A couple of weekends ago we took a drive out to Houtbaai to take a hike up to Kapteins Peak. I found out about this hike from Mike Lundy's book Best Walks in the Cape Peninsula. The hike was not 100% accurate as per the book, but it was definitely worth it. The wind was blowing something awful, but that was probably a blessing in disguise, since it was quite hot.

As you can see from the panoramic shot, we had a spectacular view from up there. The second picture was just a couple of hundred meters in the opposite direction of the panoramic shot.

Picture Lark

noreply@blogger.com (Leon van Heerden) — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 08:38:00 +0000

Here are all the best pictures of the Lark night.

Lark in Cape Town

Lark Live

noreply@blogger.com (Leon van Heerden) — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 00:44:00 +0000

I have uploaded the first song of the night as well. I hope you like.