Story of the Year.

Need I say more?

Here's looking at 2010.

:) :)

Vamos A La Playa.

So, as the river is in flood at the moment, and the sand bar separating the river from the lagoon is at a decent depth, I decided to take the little boat (Suzy Doo) all the way down to the beach. According to my Garmin, 15km away. Gorgeous summer's day, a bit of a south-easter blowing creating a bumpy ride on the lagoon, but a really nice ride. I think I'd like to try it again soon in Three Summers!!!


The GPS track of the trip (slipway is three blocks from home):


The red track is Suzy Doo's trip - the blue track is a trip earlier in the year in Three Summers. (I use the GPS as my Skipper's log.)

Oh, and those contour heights - they're in metres, just so you know they're mountains and not hills... ;)

I had to take my shoes off at the beach to pull the boat up on to the sand, and left them off for the return trip. Big mistake - my legs haven't seen sunlight for several years (you know, living in England) and now my shins and the tops of my feet are severely sunburnt!!! From one hour's exposure!!!!

Ouch.

Time to get some sunblock.

Still, a worthwhile trip.

:)

The Boat.

Not, not the usual one(s)!

This is Platanna, named after a type of frog common to the area.


Not my boat, but I'm now her skipper, on a part time basis. Probably one of the most difficult boats to drive I've experienced, with a chugging diesel driving a water-jet: steering is finicky to say the least! Still, I drove her on Friday afternoon with her owner, then did my first 'solo' yesterday morning, as a commercial river cruiser (in the sense that I had paying passengers), and handling gets better very quickly with practice. Nice to know, but I think the steering cable might be a bit clogged up inside - my arms are sore today.

All in all, it gets me on the water, and I get paid for it!!!

Then, another wedding last night! Today is definitely a day off!

:)

Girls on Film.

What a day!

Spent the morning sanding the hull of "Lazy Days" then went to a wedding this afternoon. As the official photographer!



:) :)

Rip Her To Shreds.

Well, deconstruction has begun in earnest - though the days are getting pretty hot now and it's best to work early in the morning and late in the evening. 29ºC yesterday and no shade to work in.

Most of the deck has been removed, exposing some pretty horrific wood below:


These pieces of mostly rotten plywood are what's left of the deck:


It's pretty obvious to me that this is not the original deck, and the repair work to the frames below it are rudimentary at best. None of the wood, even that which may be original, has been sealed or protected from water intrusion at all. A second, or maybe third repair job involved filling the volume under the deck with foam, which though it may keep the boat afloat if swamped, has also served to trap water in every below-deck compartment. At a guess, I'd say there was easily half a tonne of water in there, and I still haven't seen what's in the aft compartment. I think I will find out later today.

Ah, well, at least it's not my boat, but it will be a better boat when finished. And I'm not paying for it!

Also, it's an interesting insight into the quality of a "professionally" built production boat. I think I'll stick to building my own.

:)

A bit of TLC is needed...

To get this little (18 foot) ugly duckling looking like a swan!


Always up for a challenge!!

Seems a pity to paint it...

But that's what the customer wanted.



Someone's got a nice new gate.

:)

The internet...

Every now and then one comes across a real gem!!


Made me laugh!

Our town.

Just a quick post, to show the town we now live in:


Today is one year since I left London (the First Mate left about a week before me) and I thought it might be a good time to show where we are...

:)

Where they are.

The rooms, that is:


In these plans (drawn by the First Mate's architect uncle), pink and blue are the rooms in the previous post.

What is marked as kitchen is actually our existing bedroom, separated from living/dining by a passage (red) that travels in an inverted 'U' from bedroom 1 up and over kitchen, and down to double garage at the bottom right. It's a long way to walk around.

So, the next walls to come out are probably from kitchen through passage, to living/dining and some glass doors from the kitchen into the courtyard (green). After that, we'll be able to see from the courtyard right through the kitchen, living/dining areas and front terrace to the mountains beyond... :)

Double garage (as marked) is our present kitchen, and is large enough for two cars and a bike - way too big to be just a kitchen!!

More later, but for now we are going to be moving into the 'new' bedrooms in preparation for the dirty work in the new kitchen, to begin in a month or so.

:)

Changing rooms.

Work continues on the bedroom wing of the house, with the ours and the little 'un's future bedroom now ready to re-carpet.




The colour came out just a tad bolder than we anticipated from the swatch card, but hey, it's much better than the sickly yellow the whole interior was when we moved in!

No prizes for guessing which is whose...

;)

Jack...

...has moved into the house, he seems lonely and is very needy for affection.

D'dog on the other hand, is quiet and behaving like a child that has broken a toy, and won't be getting a new one. Which is about right...

Oscar, R.I.P.

Yes, we lost another cat yesterday. It seems cats and dogs don't always get on with each other. So now we are left with Jack, the oldest of the three mogs that came over with us, though we hardly ever see him as he pretty much lives in the boat.


He too will be missed.

:(

:(

Housebreaking!

No, not break-in - breaking, as in breaking down the house. The First Mate's uncle is an architect, and he has drawn plans for how this old ugly house should look. So, we've started. First, the main bedroom.

New door-frame in the passage, (old WC visible behind that, which will be broken down):


And a couple of pics showing how the bedroom looks at the moment:


The WC in the first pic is behind the big blue wall in the other two pics, above and below...


Much noise for the next week or so...

:(

:)

Suzy, R.I.P.

An e-mail I sent to a friend this morning, after his concerned enquiry as to our Suzy:

Suzy always suffered from allergies, and it more-or-less affected her whole system, to the extent that she would wee/poo whenever needed, not matter where she was at the time. That's the main reason all the internal doors in the house are kept closed, to try and contain her to one area. Rachel's going to start exploring soon, and we had to do something - and after talking to animal welfare and the vet, we were really only left with one option.

Tough one, and I don't feel good about it, but we think it was best for all, including Suzy who never really had fun in life.

Jack and Oscar know something's changed, even though they never really interacted with Suzy, and they're both suddenly a bit more 'needy' the past day or so. Still, if it makes them come into the house a bit more, then hopefully things will be better for them too. Sometimes I think they got a raw deal being moved here, unfamiliar place and all, then have to contend with an over-affectionate dog that keeps chasing them into the boat. They never saw eye-to-eye over in London, with Jack's territory being outside and Oscar's being inside, with both defending their spot from each other (sometimes quite violently), with the only truce being at dinner time. Now they are sleeping next to each other in the kitchen.


She will be missed.

:(

And here it is:

1.4 litre, 3 years old and only 40,000km (24,800 miles) on the clock!! Only just run in, really...


:)

New car - coming soon.

Y'all might not know, but the First Mate is a UK qualified driving instructor, and is setting up shop here.

To this end we have acquired a newish CitiGolf, which is really the original VW Golf MkI, still being manufactured in SA. I wonder if it still being made anywhere else?

Anyway, we should have it sometime this week, and get the signage done to make it all look professional, and away she goes!!

Photo to follow!!

:)

Edit, to add CitiGolf info from Wikipedia: CITIGOLF (clicky)

THUMP!

I did a trip to De Kelders on the VFR, and hey! The whales are playing!!!

I spotted about eight today. I say 'about' as they keep moving around and it's difficult to keep count or avoid double-counting.


What's the sound a 100 tonne whale makes when breaching? Silence, followed by THUMP as they hit the water!!

BIG THUMP!!!



:) :) :)

Playing in the sea.

Some of the whales have now calved (saw one mother and calf this morning) and are starting to feel frisky again. The last few weeks the ones we have seen have been fairly docile, but today this one was playing around a bit more than usual.


Within the next few weeks I expect them to start breaching fairly regularly, and THAT is quite something to see!

:)

Bugs!

Found this in the garden this afternoon:


:)

300 metres!

That is how far one must keep from whales here, as far as I understand.

Clearly, this boat doesn't think the law applies to him (picture taken on Friday):


Or this swimmer, picture taken this morning...


Though, I'd loved to have been there - it must have been quite an experience!!

:) :(

How green is my Valley?

Winter is the "green season" and well worth travelling a bit to see it. It's also the time that the proteas come out, and where we are is an area of "scientific interest" - you may not be able to see it, but within that out-of-focus area of the picture are probably more plant species than exist in the entire North American continent.

I kid you not!!




Just a couple of pics from today's drive-around...

;) ;)

Visitors.

Well, we spent last weekend in Cape Town, glorious weather for the middle of winter; around 22ºC or so - I could get used to this!!

While there we went to Simonstown for lunch with good friends, and boy, do they have a view to die for!!! (Yes, that's snow on the mountains in the distance!)


One thing that takes a bit of a mind adjustment, is seeing a US warship in a South African naval base - in this case USS Arleigh Burke (I looked up the number on Wikipedia), probably with enough firepower to take out Cape Town...



:) :)

Rain, software and 4x4...

Well, the warm dry spell of last week ended in torrential rain, starting on Sunday and continuing through until last night. The Klein River, which runs past our town, has been mildly swollen for the past few weeks, but today was really flowing. Normally, from the viewpoint in this pic, you would not even be able to see water: the stream goes behind the reeds in the middle of the river you can see now! (Oh, and no comments about lens flare please!!)


The photo above, as well as the one below, are a combination of nine different exposures, ranging from 4 stops under to 4 stops over-exposed, then combined into one image using "exposure-blending" software (similar to HDR). I thought today would be a good day to try it out, especially as I'm hoping to make some money from it ;)

The pic below is on the riverside road, and what you can't see is the 30cm underwater x 10 metre long bit that I had just driven through, slimy mud and grass underwater = car going sideways most of the time. FUN! 4x4 needed, but didn't have to resort to diff-lock, though I might just go there tomorrow to see how differently it handles with the centre diff locked. Mmm, more fun!!


And to compare, the next pic is the 'best' single exposure of the nine used to create the image above.


I know this software is going to work for interiors and other high-contrast work!!!

:)

They're back!

Along with the arrival of winter, come the whales - We spotted about 6 of them this morning while having breakfast at Coffee on the Rocks, over in De Kelders. Most were far away, with only one breach seen. Though, there was a pair just off the rocks from where we were, one of which is seen here sunning her belly...


Not a great photo, but it is the first shot of the new whale season, and as they get more playful and more calves arrive, there will be plenty more.

;)

Totally biased opinion, but...

...aren't they just the cutest blue eyes you've ever seen?


:) :)

Brownian motion?

Well, that's what today felt like.

07:30 start to get to the municipal office to get the car registered. Told I need to to get roadworthy certificate and police clearance (in no specific order).

Go to police: No one there to help.

Go to traffic: car passes roadworthy, but can't finalise certificate without police clearance.

Go to police: "Where's your RPI?" At municipality.

Go to municipality: Told that police don't need RPI as car is "on the system now" but let me take form anyway.

Go to police: Give RPI, and message, police phone municipality and screams something along the lines of "If I Ask For Something You Give It To Me, And Don't Argue". In Caps. Police pass clearance.

Go to traffic: Roadworthy certified (Where did this car come from again?).

Go to municipality: OK, seems fine. Here's a 3-day temporary permit, but might take longer to register car. Doh! Two of those three days are on a weekend!!!

12:30: Go to coffee shop and down more caffeine than is good for me :(

All in all, I travelled 15km's between three offices about 1km apart (I might have missed a few in my list - I'm tired!)

Back there tomorrow, to hopefully get it finished. 60km round trip.

And I have to do this again for the bike, then the boat trailer.

Grrrr.

:(

The view from our kitchen!

Well, almost; I was on the outdoor side of the kitchen window, but still...

Yesterday was full moon, but I missed it. Next month I will try and get it a day or two before full moon while there is still some sunlight so that the foreground is not totally silhouetted, as in the second picture.





:)

Still playing in the waves.

Sorry, one more pic of the waves. You can tell I've been away from the sea for far, far too long!!

This one was taken from Siever's Point, in Hermanus, just before my (most expensive and useful lens) 80-200mm f/2.8 gave up the ghost. It decided it didn't want to zoom any more, it just wanted to be a 135mm lens. Stuck. Jammed. Bugger! Got home, and a bit of wiggling got it to work between 80 and 135mm, but no further - oh well, service time for an 11 year-old lens.


And, in true African style, we got to eat well last night, mostly thanks to Weber for the hot fire to cook on, and Honda for keeping the fridge and lights inside going. Yep, no power from 06:00 until 23:30 yesterday! In winter! Scheduled maintenance, they say...

Then and now.

Walker Bay from De Kelders, 6 months ago in summer:


And this morning, at the start of winter:


And still the wind blows!!

Winter is here!!!

And along with it, comes the wind and the waves:




There's no sense of scale here, but they are about four metres high!!

Tomorrow morning I'm planning on heading out to the other side of the bay to get more pic's like this, and if the wind keeps up, the waves should be bigger!

Down South.

So we (that's the VFR and I again) took a trip down south this morning.


As far as it is possible to go south on the continent of Africa:


Not quite "The Long Way Down" as the Viffer travelled from London in a container, but still, it's a UK registered bike at the bottom of the world ;)

Other than a plaque telling you where you are, and a nice lighthouse, there's not much there; but hey, been there, done that now!

Table Mountain.

I've travelled. Lots. Seen some wonderful places in the world, but this view is still my absolute favourite:

First winter storm!

Our first winter storm has been blowing through from the west/north-west for the past three days, winds peaking around 65km/h, and building up a swell in the Atlantic, so I took my camera down to the coast this afternoon:




Somehow I don't think "Three Summers" is going to sea until the wind changes direction, which will be around October/November...