South Africa | Travels through a geek's mind

Jul 29 2014

Beautiful country of mine, Experiences, I <3 Pretoria, Joburg, Photos, South Africa, This has nothing to do with travel

Receiving 15 aircraft in your back-yard

I’ve always said that I am a little left of normal and this is true of my entire family. Case in point: my sister Christelle is a student pilot, and her love of aviation combined with my mother’s love for cooking lead to this amazing breakfast fly-in.

We proved a while back that the farm where I grew up is the perfect wedding venue, but Christelle took it one step further this past Saturday by receiving 15 aircraft for breakfast.

The morning started with a true Zandfontein wind, blowing everyone setting up to receive guests hither and thither. The weather app on my phone claimed that it was only gusting at 16kmph (just over 8 knots for those aviatory-folk), but it sure felt and sounded like far more.

By 11:00 the wind had calmed down significantly, and the 900m runway had received a number of slings. The helicopters were lined up nicely and Mike Rumble literally dropped in on the festivities.

If you love great food and want to experience something slightly different in the Joburg and Pretoria vicinity, keep an eye on 29 Zandfontein’s Facebook page for the next event. It should be a lovely lunch in October.

All images by the author: © catterflyworx 2014. Please contact me if you would like to use any images from this site.

Tagged Air shows, Aviation, Fly-in, Johannesburg, Pretoria, Site-seeing in Johannesburg, Site-seeing in Pretoria, Things to do, Weekend

Apr 23 2014

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Beautiful country of mine, Experiences, Photos, South Africa, Travel

A cold Easter in the Free State

As I mentioned in my previous post, we spent the long weekend away from home visiting the beautiful Golden Gate Highlands national park in the Free State. Other than gushing about the beauty and complaining about the bitter cold, I thought I’d share my five tips from the weekend.Yes, and some (mostly HDR ’cause I’m a little obsessed at the moment) photos.

If you’re visiting Clarens (which you should!), don’t pay R60 for a pretentious breakfast. Go to the Roter Hahn Bierstube Und Deli and enjoy a very wide choice of German beers with an even better meal.
Pack lots of blankets. Then another one. Also, a hot water bottle.
Take a good single malt with, it fights off the cold.
If you’re camping in a spot that doesn’t get a lot of sun, stay in bed ’till the sun hits your tent.
Visit the vulture restaurant on the Oribi loop drive. Maybe you’ll have better luck than we did and see some of these amazing birds.

A mountainous view from the Glen Reenen rest camp reception area

Looking back towards Glen Reenen rest camp from the vulture restaurant’s parking area.

An experimental HDR panorama of a watering hole set in the mountains

An experimental HDR panorama of a view on the mountains from the Blesbok loop drive

Another HDR experiment, the golden light on the left of the cliff face is from the setting sun

Some people in the image to add scale to the mountain side 🙂

A last view on the iconic colours of Golden Gate

All images by the author: © catterflyworx 2014. Please contact me if you would like to use any images from this site.

Tagged Free State, Golden Gate, Golden Gate Highlands National Park, HDR, HTC One, photos, roadtrip, Site-seeing in South Africa, Site-seeing in the Free State, South Africa, travel, weather

Apr 19 2014

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Beautiful country of mine, Experiences, Photos, South Africa, Travel

Golden Gate in HDR

We’re spending the Easter weekend in the Golden Gate Highlands National Park. Stunning mountains and freezing temperatures are the first two things that come to mind. These two panorama images, taken on my HTC One, were a spur of the moment experimentation with HDR. I’m quite happy with the results.

Full report back at a later stage (when not posting from my phone and dependent on patches of signal).

UPDATE: Photos and a few tips in the next post.

Tagged Free State, Golden Gate, Golden Gate Highlands National Park, HDR, HTC One, photos, roadtrip, Site-seeing in South Africa, Site-seeing in the Free State, South Africa, travel

Oct 22 2013

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Experiences, I <3 Pretoria, Life in the Capital City, South Africa, This has nothing to do with travel Image

The final count-down

A little less than two weeks to go.

Meet Ceara 🙂

Ceara (Photo by Yolandi van der Linde)

Tagged For the love of cute, Pets, Pretoria, South Africa

Oct 03 2013

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Doctor Who, Experiences, Fandoms, Poetry, This has nothing to do with travel, Uncategorized Quote

We watched “A good man goes to war” last night, and this poem has been stuck in my head. It’s amazingly sad and incredibly awesome.

“Demons run when a good man goes to war
Night will fall and drown the sun
When a good man goes to war

Friendship dies and true love lies
Night will fall and the dark will rise
When a good man goes to war

Demons run, but count the cost
The battle’s won, but the child is lost”

– Steven Moffat

Moffat gives me chills

Tagged Doctor Who, Steven Moffat, Whovian

Sep 30 2013

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Experiences, Life, Life in the Capital City, Photos, South Africa, This has nothing to do with travel Image

Dîner en Blanc Johannesburg 2013

We spent Friday night at the very first Dîner en Blanc Johannesburg, which was also the first DeB in South Africa. It was fantastic! There are more photos on the Facebook page as well.

Francois and I at Monte Casino before the event.

Waiting for the bus at Monte Casino. Yes, my husband is really tall 🙂

My sister putting the final touches on their table.

Other guests setting their table decorations and enjoying some good company

Christelle at Diner en Blanc Johannesburg

Andrea Vermaak at Diner en Blanc Johannesburg

A guest table set with candles

The moment everyone’s been waiting for, sparklers!

Sparkly dresses and skies at Diner en Blanc Johannesburg

All images by the author: © catterflyworx 2013. Please contact me if you would like to use any images from this site.

Tagged Diner en Blanc, Diner en Blanc Johannesburg, Diner en Blanc South Africa, Johannesburg

Sep 23 2013

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Gaming, ReBlogged, This has nothing to do with travel

So this is what the end of the world looks like

I discovered this site last week and am loving every bit of it. This game in particular has caught my fancy and it’s a Kickstarter I’d love to see succeed.

1001-Up.com

Hinterland Studio Inc’s project for their first-person post-disaster survival simulation The Long Dark has a funding deadline of 16 October 2013 on the Kickstarter website. At the time of writing it has already received $54,692 CAD of its $200,000 CAD target and, with over three weeks still left to go, we’re getting behind this curious title.

I initially came across The Long Dark on Emily Clare Afan’s blog earlier this week and then headed over to Kickstarter to take a closer look. To be honest, I can’t say I’ve played many survival games and I’ve found the recent influx of post-apocalypse titles uninspiring (take a look at our Zombies have feelings too video if you haven’t seen it yet). But to come across something in the genre that doesn’t feature the undead – and looks absolutely stunning to boot – then count me in.

Players take on the role of…

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Tagged gamer, gaming, Kickstarter campaigns

Sep 23 2013

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I <3 Pretoria, Life in the Capital City, South Africa, This has nothing to do with travel

Sunday quick-fixes

After an amazing Saturday night at the zoo, we spent most of Sunday lazing about. We did however manage to tick one of the ‘to do’ items off the list, by finally upgrading a sad patch of lawn into a garden path.

We seem incapable of nurturing grass to grow here, and this section is mainly used as a walkway in any case. We used found materials from other patches in the garden, and I think this is a vast improvement. This week we start on the mammoth plan for our veggie garden.

Sunday home-DIY (that cost zero monies) FTW.

The before and after of a sad stretch of lawn in our garden.

Tagged Before & After, garden, garden paths, home DIY

Sep 23 2013

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Experiences, I <3 Pretoria, Life in the Capital City, Photos, South Africa Gallery

A night tour at the National Zoological Gardens in Pretoria

We spent Saturday night at the National Zoological Gardens in Pretoria, better known as the Pretoria Zoo. They offer night tours with knowledgeable guides, focusing on nocturnal animals. The tour starts at 18:30 and ends at around 20:30, where after groups may proceed to designated picnic areas to braai and spend some time relaxing around a bonfire. If you’d like to make a bigger trip out of this, you may also book a camping tour.

The Pretoria Zoo stretches over 88 hectares (roughly 217 acres) and celebrates its 114th year in 2013. The night tour is well worth the effort, as there are only a few other guided tours in the zoo at night and there’s no jostling for a view. The tour is however very focused, so if you want to see a bigger variety of animals it might be better to visit in the day. Photo opportunities will also be better then 😉

I managed to get a few pictures, but with my ISO set to 3200 most of them are very noisy.

An exotic buck seen in a spotlight at the Pretoria Zoo A flock of flamingoes settling down for the night at the Pretoria Zoo

A juvenile eagle owl sitting on a log at the Pretoria Zoo

A male bengal tiger seen at night in the Pretoria Zoo

A view of the union buildings and the city of Pretoria in the background, with a sundial in the foreground at the Pretoria Zoo A pack of wild dogs sleeping under a tree at the Pretoria Zoo

Tagged photos, Site-seeing in Pretoria, South Africa, Things to do in Pretoria, tips, travel

Sep 13 2013

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Experiences, I <3 Pretoria, Life in the Capital City

Look at those feet!

I usually get annoyed with people who post about their pets, but I can’t help it this time!

We’ve been on a waiting list for a new staffie for months now. A new litter has finally been born, and the breeder we’re buying our new addition from sent me some pics yesterday. I cannot wait to bring this little thing home! I know our 2 year old staffie, Gelos will love having a friend (other than the terrified cat).