Beauty and the Quirky - a wander around Kalk Bay

Little fishing boats bobbing in Kalk Bay harbour

At the risk of causing you all to fall off your chairs in shock – yes, yes, it’s true, another blog post! The second in one week. Gasp! I know, it may yet snow at the equator! Stranger things have indeed happened.

It was a public holiday on Thursday and D decided to take Friday off as well – as did most of South Africa. Bah! sucks! humbug! to productivity, right? Given that it was a lovely day yesterday, though rain was threatened, we decided to wander down to Kalk Bay.

Harbour Lights - do you know your port from your starboard?

Fishing boats

The railway line runs from the city, through the suburbs and all the way down the coast

I suppose you might call it a village, but for us it’s just another suburb of Cape Town – quite far south and a bit out of the way, but a quirky little seaside place. The name means Lime Bay in English, though it’s never been called that - the name having been given to it by the early Dutch settlers. (Kalk means lime – and no, not limes as in citrus fruit, but as in the stuff you quarry.) The history of the place is quite interesting, it was variously a mini port for the Dutch East India Company and later became a small whaling station and then became home to a growing population of Filipinos. You can read more about the history and take a “tour” on the official Kalk Bay website.

The view from the harbour wall, looking across to Simonstown in the far distance

Mucking around in boats

For the past few years, it’s been quite a trendy, quirky spot, with lots of generally overpriced (yes, we know how to mug tourists in more ways than one) junk/bric-a-brac and antique shops and several decent restaurants. It’s very touristy in summer, and getting there and back in the high season can be a real nightmare. The narrow main road gets clogged with traffic moving at pace which would make a snail proud. I noticed though, as we wandered around yesterday, that a lot of the shops have closed down and new whacky boutiques have opened – sign of the times, or recession, who knows.

The "branding" at Quagga Trading

Kalk Bay Trading Post - all the junk you never knew you needed

Of course you always wanted a broken gumball machine. Of course you did!

And an old garden chair

And horns and horseshoes. Oh go on, admit it, you can't resist such a purchase!

I shouldn’t comment on the food, given I’ve nothing polite to say about it. Suffice it to say we opted for fish and chips down at the harbour – and have both been struck by very unhappy guts. There you go, another bad review for me to write (I’ve been making a habit of it of late…).

Filleting fish, fresh off the boats

Still, before the bug struck it was lovely wandering around in the mild spring sunshine, camera in hand, snapping the beauty and the quirky.

The wall of sweets at the general dealer/postal service/bait shop

The general dealer's sign, all things to all men - and women.

The local nursery, oozing colour

And because I just know you love to go "oooh" and "aw", some local residents...

Cape Fur Seals, only too happy to pose, in the hope you might throw them a fish!

Come for a drive, go for a walk

Susan asked in the comments the other day if I lived in paradise. Some would say I do, though it's a funny sort of paradise. As I've said so often before, it's a strange juxtaposition - magnificent natural beauty sat alongside rampant crime, violence, inequality, poverty, xenophobia and corruption.

Anyway, you've seen plenty of shots of the natural beauty, you've heard plenty about the crime and violence and poverty, (if you haven't, take a stroll through the archives...), so today I thought I'd show you around the roads I travel daily, the routes I amble along on weekends. Most of these shots are snapped whilst driving, with the small Pentax - so I make no excuses for poor quality.

So, to start, the avenue where I live...

From one direction and from the other...


And then we'll go off to the supermarket, just two minutes by car, up the road... to the traffic circle, hang a left at the posh golf estate...


The small "village" shopping centre - on a Sunday afternoon. It has two small versions of two of the primary supermarkets in it and a whole lot of chi-chi boutiques, most of which seem to close as fast as they open. But there are some really nice restaurants and what can you say about the view...


Now we'll travel the road towards the city, which is on the other side of the mountains. The flat topped mountain is Table Mountain (seen from the "side"), the peak to the right is Devil's Peak. This motorway lies alongside the greenbelt (left of pic) which is at the end of the road where I live. To the right of the picture is a small dairy farm, where the cows graze right to edge of the motorway.


Constantiaberg Mountain, for now covered with pine plantations and vineyards - my backyard, so to speak...


Coming down Bishopscourt hill. The white wall to the left hides the Indonesian embassy. This area, which is a five minute drive down the motorway, assuming the traffic is flowing freely, (half an hour if it's jammed) is an old moneyed suburb and home to many embassies. And yes, the motorway cuts right through it...


This is one of my favourite views if I'm driving into town, or anywhere in that general direction.


The same road, at the next intersection. Getting stuck in traffic here really isn't a problem with a view like this. No matter what the season or the weather.


Here we come over the mountain from the other side, having been to watch the whales on the east coast of the Cape peninsula. The road in the pic below is known as Ou Kaapse Weg (literally translated as, Old Cape Road). It cuts right through the Table Mountain National Park which runs from north to south from the city centre to the tip of the peninsula. The Park, which is the most unique of wild and urban parks in the world covers a distance of approximately 60 kilometres and many of Cape Town's suburbs, including the one where I live, border it. It's one of the reasons why, if pickings are lean in the winter months, we get baboons in the neighbourhood...


Coming down the other side, False Bay lies ahead, filled at this time of year with whales. All year round though, great white sharks, ragged tooth sharks, sand sharks, seals and a variety of fish and sea creatures are plentiful.


Following the next bend in the road, as it zigzags down the mountain, the southern suburbs of Cape Town lie sprawled along the edge of the mountains which make up most of the Table Mountain National Park.


But enough driving, let's get out and walk awhile, following the streets in the neighbourhood and into the Park...

Shots taken of the stream around the corner...

And then into Table Mountain National Park - a mere five minute amble from my front door...

The area has been densely forested with pines for the past 100 years. Now, however, conservationists are striving to remove all the pines and eucalypts in the hope that the indigenous vegetation, known as fynbos, will resuscitate. So far, it's only geraniums that have sprouted with a vengeance... Mostly, for now, it's invasive aliens and lots of weeds that are making the most progress. The felling of the plantations has been hugely controversial, but let's not get me started on that topic again...


So, there you go, a day out with Vanilla, just going "round and about". And now I suppose you'd like me to invite you in for tea? Well, since you are there and I am here, my suggestion is a virtual tea party. I'll make a lemon meringue pie, and serve up some vanilla flavoured Rooibos tea, what are you bringing?

It's a tough life...

And herein lies the tale of the strange balance/imbalance of life in South Africa...

It was another hellish day in Africa... as an old friend used to say. It's a tough life but someone has to do it, as another friend said.

It was one of those Sundays filled with blue skies, sunshine, whales, penguins, good food and more sunshine.

And all of it took place only 15 minutes from home. Seriously. No schlepping off to Hermanus to watch whales. We were in fact just planning a short trip down the coast to commune with the colony of African Penguins - and then we saw familiar splashing in the sea...

It turned into a wonderful day, which looked like this:

Above Muizenberg - a seaside suburb frequented by surfers and sharks...

Muizenberg, Surfer's Corner and the Old Railway Station

A Sunday scene of yachts and whales...

It makes for a whale of a tale...

Getting up close and really personal...

Food on the wing...

Rockpool dreams

The southern Cape Town coastline - the peak in the distance is Muizenberg Peak (see first pic)

African (Jackass) Penguins at the Boulders Penguin Colony

Boulders Beach, Simonstown (Simonstown is the southern most suburb of Cape Town)

And then we wended our way back home.

Nothing like a plate of antipasto misto and a sunny garden in which to enjoy it...

Now, there are huge numbers of whale pictures, penguin pictures and a few landscape shots. Do you want to see more? Especially the whales and penguins? The whale shots are the best I've managed to get so far, I think.
If you're up for more, let me know.