Dennis Laidler's Blog

Motorcycle trip

2011-01-16T21:48:00.002+02:00

While Gigi is off for a week to Grahamstown for a Conference I have taken the opportunity to take a ride on my motorcycle for 5 days - going no-where slowly idea. See my annotated photo album at

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=604577&id=669715281&l=665035b5f0

Henpecked Hadeda ...

2010-11-20T18:34:00.003+02:00

Chris was handing back the laser pointer that he had borrowed from Gigi for his final Computer Science honours presentation. Gigi absent mindedly shone it into the tree above and was amused by the Hadeda's reaction. We don't generally tease wild animals but, being careful to not shine it into the bird's eyes, we just had to have a little fun at the expense of these two bird brains.

Rondevlei Nature Reserve, Cape Town ...

2010-11-07T23:59:00.000+02:00

After dropping Carla off at the airport for her trip to Kruger Park, Gigi and I visited Rondevlei Nature Reserve in Grassy Park. Here are some of the interesting birds we saw.

Carla checking out of Cape Town ...

2010-11-07T16:50:00.004+02:00

Just a couple of pictures to wish Carla well on the next stage of her South African visit.

She left Cape Town this morning at 09h00 on British Airways for Johannesburg.

She is driving with colleagues from there to Wakkerstroom in Mpumalanga for two days before going off to Kruger Park for another five days or so.

Carla checking in at Cape Town Airport

Carla's flight to Johannesburg

Carla is now off to experience some real African savannah in Kruger National Park

I give Carla her first hands-on woodturning lesson ...

2010-11-06T20:00:00.000+02:00

The day before she left Cape Town we managed to squeeze in a first hands-on woodturning lesson for Carla. We turned a couple of spin tops for Carla's young niece back in Lisbon.

Carla was an excellent student and learned quickly, completing the third spin-top almost entirely on her own.

We will continue with Carla's woodturning lessons when she returns to Cape Town next year.

I'm looking very forward to that Carla. I hope that all your plans to return to Cape Town for an extended period next year come to fruition.

I hope that you really enjoy your Kruger Park visit before you fly home.

A shoping expedition and bike ride around Cape Town with Carla ...

2010-10-23T12:00:00.000+02:00

On 23 October 2010 I accompanied Carla, a very good friend from Portugal, to various Cape Town craft markets to shop for gifts for her family and friends.

We took my old Honda Steed 400 and continued our shopping expedition with a ride down the Cape Peninsula via Llandudno, stopping for lunch in Hout Bay. After watching some seals on the Hout Bay Harbour breakwater we completed our ride by taking a trip over Chapman's Peak Drive and home over Ou Kaapse Weg.

Carla took some great video footage from the pillion.
Share our shopping and bike ride in the two part video below ...

Part 1

Part 2

End

Collecting Carla from Stelenbosch ...

2010-10-22T21:11:00.000+02:00

On Friday I rode out to Stellenbosch to collect Carla to visit for the weekend.

She says, "Come and see this African Goshawk nest in the middle of the University Campus".

Before we get to the Goshawk nest I spot this classic Royal Enfield Bullet 350

See here for more info

The Goshawk wasn't sitting on the nest but I got a good pic of her in a nearby Plain tree

On the subject of plane trees.

I had something nearby to show Carla.

A plane tree grafted on to an oak tree.

Carla is going to try and find out more about this strange tree from staff of the Botany Department

We took the coastal road home along the False Bay coast and stopped for a couple of pics.

Very scenic but what a stupd place to build a road - along the coastal primary dune and in places even seaward of the primary dune.

But that doesn't detract from this beautiful image.

Later on our walk in Kirstenbosch I took a pic of the full moon

Carla takes a ride along Chapman's Peak Drive ...

2010-10-22T09:15:00.004+02:00

Here is a short video of a ride that Carla and I took on my Burgman 650 over Ou Kaapseweg, Chapman's Peak Drive and Constantia Nek in October 2010.

Sunny skies, stunning scenery, interesting geology and extrovert Southern Right Whales make for a great ride.

Spotted Eagle Owl and chick ...

2010-10-21T09:34:00.005+02:00

Yesterday I took some video footage of a Spotted Eagle Owl and chick in Kirstenbosch National Botanic Garden, Cape Town.

Here is the video that I compiled.

The chick is about two weeks old.

And here is a short video that I took on 12 and 19 November 2010 when the chick had been out of the nest for about 3 weeks.

He does seem rather alone though compared to previous years where the parents raised two chicks each season. This year the second egg unfortunately failed to hatch.

He is doing very well and growing rapidly. I really enjoy the fact that when we walk in Kirstenbosch each evening there always seems to be someone else "just checking up" on the owl chick. He is very tame and is quite a hit among regular visitors to the garden.

A ramble around the back table of Table Mountain ...

2010-10-14T20:08:00.000+02:00

On 14 October I took my good friend Steve for a ramble around the back table of Table Mountain.
Starting in Kirstenbosch National Botanic Garden we climbed up Skeleton Gorge, visited the Waterworks Museum just below the Hely-Hutchinson Dam and hiked along the old railway track to the top of Kasteelspoort where we had a magnificent view over the Southern Atlantic.

After a lunch break we retraced our steps along the old railway track and crossed the dam wall of Woodhead Reservoir. We walked along the jeep track past Victoria and Alexandra Reservoirs after which we cut back, northwards along the Eastern edge of the mountain to the top of Nursery Ravine. After a visit to Castle Rock, the top of the buttress between Nursery and Skeleton Gorges we returned and descended by Nursery Ravine back down to Kirstenbosch Garden.

The video that I took of the hike is recorded below in four parts
(Parts 2 - 4 have yet to be uploaded to YouTube but I'll do that over the next couple of days and update this post as I go.)

PART 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

After our hike we delivered Steve to the Airport later that evening and in due course he arrived home in Columbus, Ohio, USA.

A day at Jonkershoek in the rain ...

2010-10-10T23:30:00.017+02:00

On 09/10/10 we had dinner with John and Ziska in Stellenbosch, spent the night at the family cottages at Oude Nektar and the following day 10/10/10 we had a lazy morning and drove around the Jonkershoek circular drive and took lots of pics.

First thing we drove up to the 3 Stone Pines on the hill to take in the view

Here is a wonderful example of a tree resprouting from it's burned bark after a severe fire last summer

Some Proteas on the other hand shed their seeds after the fire so although most of the Proteas die a new population of plants is established from the shed seeds

This is an 'interesting' spiky tree growing next to the cottages on Oude Nektar

I must do some research to discover it's name!

Steve walking alongside the lower dam at Oude Nektar

Hans Peter's wife, Midori, is Japanese so there is quite a strong Japanese influence on the estate

The wine tasting room is on an island in the middle of the dam

View from the wine tasting room at Oude Nektar

The wine cellar at Oude Nektar

Carla

Carla chatting to Gigi

Carla

Carla chatting to Gigi

Smiles all around

Andi indulging in the very soft lighting of the overcast morning

Steve doing the same

Andi enjoying herself

The beautiful curves of the bridge to the tasting room

The wine tasting house at Oude Nektar

The wine tasting house at Oude Nektar

Gazebo at the damn

Stopped on the circle route to take pictures in the beautiful soft light

Watsonias

Watsonia

Gladiolus

Gladiolus

Gladiolus

Binky

Swartboskloof behind the ridge

Carla braving the elements to get photographs

Afternoon Tea with John and Dear 'Auntie' Ziska

This is actually Ziska's guest house where Carla is staying

Andi and Gigi

Steve

John

Carla

Carla

John

Ziska

Ziska

... and after tea it was off back home to Cape Town

Climbing the India-Venster route up Table Mountain ...

2010-10-09T23:30:00.015+02:00

One lovely Saturday morning ...

... on 9 October 2010 a bunch of friends climbed Table Mountain in Cape Town

... and rested often

What gorgeous scenery ...

India ravine in green which we traversed, right to left, just below the rocks.

You can just see the path on the right hand side.

Looking across India ravine to the base of the crux section.

Higher and higher and more rests to take in the scenery.

Resting below the crux

Resting above the crux.

I used Andi's video to film the crux pitch so there will be links to you tube here soon!

And up and down went the tourists.

We were having much more fun.

Carla says, "Don't let my Mom see these photos!"

"It doesn't look so bad in this photo, you can't tell why i'm grabbing on that rock so hard :)"

Carla says, "Do not do this if you cannot deal with heights! But for me the challenge bit was the one with the staples and chains...and greasy hands.."

But unfortunately we all need to use sunscreen!

Andi catching breath and settling the wobbly knees.

Go girl - you did good. Much less swearing compared to the first occasion!

Steve was very casual about the entire climb. Very laid back.

Hup we go Steve

Hup we go Gigi

Life is good

Steve sharing one of my favourite places on the planet.

Carla says, "Mine too"

Andi and Steve chilling out for a moment.

Up here Andi and Steve - don't look back!

Christian bouldering

Ride that rock Christian

Carla adds to the cairn on the edge while the gobbed smacked tourists sail by

Carla says, "This is the one I don't want my Mum to see!"

Then we walk around on to Fountain ledge and Carla photographs an Agama (Bloukopkoggelmander!)

Carla with the corner of Clifton Beach and the whole of Camps Bay beach far below

Photographing the rock climbers above Fountain ledge

A couple of tricky scrambles to ascend up levels on Fountain ledge

Look at that wonderful view again

There are the rock climbers everyone was photographing. they were taking the more direct route!

The 3 fixed ropes were those of Absail Africa, a commercial group that allows climber/tourists to absail off the top of the mountain.

Nice work Andi.

Although you don't seem quite vertical to the horizon?

But we didn't go down!

Andi and Steve arrived first.

And were shortly joined by all the others.

One of the rules of the mountain is never to loose contact with anyone in the group!

We walked right across the mountain (Christian and I taking a detour to the cable station to fill everyones water bottles) to Maclear's Beacon, the highest point on the mountain.

The plaque on Maclear's Beacon

Steve posing on Mclear's Beacon

After 'climbing' the beacon we all had a well deserved lunch break in the amphitheater just below the beacon

Walking back from Mclears beacon across the Eastern Table towards Platteklip Gorge and the upper cable station on the Western Table

The National Parks staff have built walkways across the marshy sections to prevent erosion

Chondropetalum sp. (Restionaceae) beautifully back lit in the late afternoon sun

Everlastings (Helichrysum sp.) on the Eastern Table

Carla admiring the view from the top edge of the mountain

Gigi and Carla at the upper cable station before we all took the lazy way down!

All of us at the upper cable station before the decent.

Carla hamming it up for Xanic as we left the lower cable station

AWSA 2010 Port Elizabeth - Day 1 ...

2010-09-24T23:30:00.000+02:00

Day 1 of the 2010 AWSA Symposium begins at the Cape Recife School in Port Elizabeth

Jez Rowe, the AWSA Chairperson opens the event.

Andi Wolfe photographing the proceedings - photographing me actually!

Alan Ferguson - Durban

Left to right:
Let me know who these guys are and I'll name them

Left to right:
???
Alan Ferguson - Durban
??? and
???

The AWSA 2010 committee

Port Elizabeth

Jez Rowe, Nigel Waters and Rolly Pattel

Trent Bosch, the featured demonstrator from near Ft Collins, Colorado, USA

Wonderful guy and excellent demonstrator

Hollowing

Trent produces his own range if tools

The hollow form for Trent's

'Vessel of Illusion'

After morning tea I attended Rolly Pattel's demo on segmented turning

Planning is critical

Gluing the two half rings together with toothpics as spacers

A sneaky way of thicknessing the rings

Here is a link to a very clever mini lathe mounted drum sander by Awilda (Tita) Wilson and ...

here are some additional plans and pics for the same project by Greg Darling

Rolly Pattel finishing off his demo piece

I loved the soccer ball inspired piece by ??? for Schalk's Challange with the FIFA World Cup Poster behind

A wonderful piece by Wally Rossini

African Sun

Juri van den Heever of Stellenbosch

Night sky

Another shining example of work by Jurie van den Heever

An open segmented vase

Jimmy Stephenson

Untitled

Nigel Waters

Sinking Soon

by Nigel Waters

Inter-Planetry Pregnancy - birth of a rock star

Nigel Waters

Searching for Surf

Nigel Waters

???

Nigel Waters

Nico Swart

Nico Swart

Nico Swart

Nico Swart x 2

Collin Merry making someones day turning a dinner platter for her dolls house

Collin has a beautiful jewelers lathe for his miniature work

Buffing a miniature vase

Back in another Trent Bosch Demo

Many examples of his work were handed around to illustrate different aspects

Andrew Stephens absorbed by Trent's demo

Nigel Water's demo on colouring and texturing

Burn baby burn!

Carving stands by a local supplier

One of the exhibitor areas

Trent's slide presentation

I really enjoyed his wide range talents including metal casting

And of course a braai at the end of the day

Discussing the dark arts!

Practicing the dark arts

The dark arts spell potions almost brewed

More dark discussions

Sharon Ferreira capturing the action for posterity

Ashwin Ramhith, Peter Nicolle and Gert Ferreira

Gert Ferreira - Cape Town

Peter Nicolle - Franschoek

Gigi Laidler photographer and AWSA's Turnaround Editor extraordinaire - Cape Town

Wendel de Buy - Cape Town

Barbra Mills and Marie Lawson making merry

John Derek - Cape Town

John Derek re-hydrating after a hectic day

Ted Horn? gave us a couple of rousing songs

Wish I had a voice like that!

Ashwin Ramhith - Alice

Schalk van Niekerk - Johannesburg

and

Gigi Laidler - Cape Town

Peter and Ineke Nicole - Franchoek

Another great Trent Bosch demo

Burr Olive Bowl

Rodney Band

??? Bowl

Rodley Band?

Sneezewood and ??? vessels

Nico Swart - Port Elizabeth

Wall plaque

Nigel Waters - Port Elizabeth

Fluted vessel

???

Selection of miniature turnings

Dave Stephenson - Sedgefield

'Fire and Motion'

John Wessels - Sedgefield

??? and 'Fire and Motion'

John Wessels - Sedgefield

Off to Port Elizabeth for the AWSA Woodturning Symposium ...

2010-09-23T23:30:00.000+02:00

We left Cape Town at 6am.

This was our first chilly stop on top of Sir Lowry's Pass.

Still too early, cold and windy for the baboons to put in an appearance.

Then we had a couple of obligatory stop/go sections where the roads were undergoing maintenance.

We jumped out to take pics.

Can't understand those that sit in their cars and vegetate!

The lazy sitters missed these beautiful Ixias? growing along the roadside

We saw ostriches ...

That ran away when Andi approached with her camera armaments.

So she just tugged back to the comfort of Binky

Due to packing and setting up the dual battery system in Binky I only got three hours sleep before the journey.

So Gigi drove periodically so I could catch a nap in the back seat from time to time.

Here is Andi Wolfe taking in the scenery.

Andi's blog also has lots of additional pics and videos.

Binky is well appointed with paraphernalia.

She/he/it is not just any old landy!

The view of Wilderness from Dolphin Point

Picture perfect.

The soon to be renovated (hopefully) Mossel Bay to George railway line

The derelict mansion on the slope that, since the floods about two years ago, is threatening to slide into the chasm below.

We stopped at the Scarab Market to visit Dave Stephenson at The Natural Edge

However he had already left for Port Elizabeth where we caught up to him later.

The wonderful chairs are by Richard Henley.

The turnings being admired by Andi are primarily the work of Dave Stephenson

Nice display of turnings

Dave's stunning collection (for sale) of minature turnings

More stunning turnings

And yet more ...

The courtyard of Scarab Market

Real mushrooms in the courtyard by the water feature

Onward to Port Elizabeth

Spring ride on an old 1994 Honda Steed 400 ...

2009-11-05T18:27:00.055+02:00

This is a post about a three day bike ride that I took from Cape Town to Beaufort West and back via the Swartberg and Rooiberg passes by the dirt roads of the Little Karoo.
I did the trip on my 1994 Honda Steed 400 in October 2009.

This goes to show that, as much as I admire Ewan McGregor and CharlieBoorman's beautiful big 1200cc BMWs, one doesn't have to have the biggest and best equipment to thoroughly enjoy ones self.

I've captioned day 1 and most of day 2 and I'll caption the remaining pictures over the next few evenings.

The pics and full story are also available as three FaceBook albums here:

Day 1;
Day 2;
Day 3.

At the entrance to the Hugenot Tunnel. The worst bit over, running the gauntlet of the N1 between Cape Town and Paarl.

The view back. Paarl and Paarl Rock.
I left before Gigi and Wendy in the car, knowing that they would travel faster in the car.

Along the Hex (Witch) River beyond Worcester.
Gigi, back at the filling station in Cape Town, had called the AA to help open the car's fuel cap! I had a one hour lead.

The BEAUTIFUL Hex River Valley. Andy, this one is for you. Those peaks way at the back, just left of the bike, are the ones we climbed - from the other side.
Gigi had sent the AA packing and had called the Volkswagen agency for assistance!

Looking back down the Hex River Valley.
The Volkswagen guys had shown Gigi a trick leaver to pull to open the fuel cap.
She was eventually on her way to fetch Wendy!

The Hex River Mountains with the Matroosberg on the right.

The Hex

Stopped for a break at at Matjiesfontein in the Karoo.

Gigi had collected Wendy and I had a four hour start by this time. So much for Gigi and Wendy's plan to stop at all the farm stalls along the way and also do some bird watching while I caught them up on the bike! Ha ha.

The Lord Milner Hotel at Matjiesfontein

The fire truck at Matjiesfontein

The hotel owns the old London bus which is used for taking sundowner cruises through the desert. Love it!

I resisted the temptation to dine at the Lairds Arms

The end of Matjiesfortein

Now to ride the looong road through Laingsburg and on to Beaufort West deep in the Karoo

The Witteberg range

Off across the Karoo

And on and on.
Still waaay ahead of Gigi and Wendy

Riding across the Karoo at 80 to 90 km/h is a truly Zen experience.
The traffic was minimal for this route

Cruising

Two 10 - 15 minute stop/go stretches for road maintenance just outside Prince Albert Road.
Gigi and Wendy were catching up fast

On the bike I was able to ride right up to the front of the stop/go queue, almost.
I didn't bother to check out the expressions on the faces of the drivers of all the fast cars and trucks that had passed me in the last hour or two as I cruised by to the front of the queue - priceless :-)

I arrived at Karoo National Park, just outside Beaufort West, a full five minutes ahead of Gigi and Wendy. Whew :-)

Karoo National Park

We stayed in luxury in the National Park

The view from the cottage

More view from the cottage

DAY 2

Setting off from Karoo National Park on Sunday, the second day.
Note that the bike is still all shiny and clean!

Filled up with fuel in Beaufort West and headed due south for about 100km.
This area is in the rain-shadow of the Swartberg range over there on the horizon (use your imagination dammit!). Very dry and very flat. Not surprisingly I had my best fuel consumption of the trip on this stretch.

Another great cruising experience

Getting closer. You can now see the Swartberg range on the horizon.
I was hoping that if the bike behaved itself on a test stretch of dirt road I could ride over the Swartberg pass. Ever hopeful. This has been a dream of mine for years

I could have ridden all the way to Prince Albert on tar but wanted to find out how the bike handled a dirt road. This is the last pic of a clean bike!

The bike handled the dirt road with aplomb. Waaay better than I had dared hope for.
The secret was to vary ones speed depending on the road condition (sand, rocks or hard clay).
Avoid having to use the brakes, particularly the front one, by using the gears to decelerate to the appropriate speed before the obstacle.
Slow down and engage a lower gear before sandy patches, accelerating slowly through the sand

A signboard - just to prove I was there! Note that I had covered all the rear baggage with covers to protect against the dust

I had a friend who was severely injured near here.
He was driving at night with his family in his BMW when he hit a Kudu which came over the bonnet and through the windscreen.

Some of the scenery was stunning.
Due to the bike running so well and the gorgeous weather, I was starting a total emotional 'high' which lasted right through the next day until I hit the tar roads again in the afternoon

The road to Prince Albert, close to the start of the Swartberg Pass

Approaching a slightly dubious river crossing!
I love roads where this type of signage really means something.
(It could have a really deep meaning in the rainy season)

After a burger and Sprite in Prince Albert I was off to try the pass.
The Burger, out of interest was served to me by a returning resident who had been a car designer for Chrysler in Detroit.
He had taken an early retirement package and followed his daughter and her boyfriend to Prince Albert - where apparently he had his arm twisted gently by a local estate agent and bought the local 'Take Away' joint

The start of the Swartberg Pass
Rocks glorious rocks

These layers of sandstone were laid down horizontally under the ocean.
Just look at them now!

Totally magnificent scenery

Fantastically folded sandstones form the Swartberg (Black Mountain) range

Up and up we go.
Riding very gently and treating self and the machinery with due care. By now I knew that this bike would probably take me anywhere I wanted to go :-)

The folded sandstone is spectacular but also look at the wonderfully engineered stone walling supporting much of the road

One of the spectacular switchback sections of the Swartberg pass.
Look at all that hand laid stone work

Another view of the switchback section

Looking back

Looking doooown and back to where I'd just ridden up

See the small bus full of tourists down there.
They past me earlier and got quite excited about seeing me on the bike

Even further back down the road

And even further back

Looking back again. The switchback is beyond the furthest section of visible road.
It drops into the gorge beyond

Looking forward for a change.
The turnoff right to Gamkaskloof (Die Hel) is just right of centre.
The top of the Swartberg Pass is high on the ridge on the extreme left of the photo.
More info about Gamkaskloof here:
http://www.diehel.com/

Looking up towards the top of the Swartberg Pass.
On the ridge, just left of centre.

To ride down to Gamkaskloof or not?
That was the BIG question at 15h30 on 4 October 2009.
I had camping gear and food with me. mmmmmm?

Hell yes, why not!

It was a life's ambition to visit Gamkaskloof and I've never had the vehicle to do it - till now

The road was decidedly worse than the Swartberg Pass itself.
It doesn't look that bad here but was much rockier in parts.

After an hour's tough riding I came across this view. It was clear that I still had a very long way to go.
Look carefully just above the most obvious piece of road and see the zigzag road disappearing over the next ridge way in the distance. Gamkaskloof camp site and "village" was down into the next valley even beyond that :-(
Decisions, decisions. This was tough on me, the bike, the loaded panniers and I realised that if I carried on then it was going to be an extremely long and tough day getting all the way back to Cape Town the next day.
So very reluctantly I turned the Steed around and headed back to the Pass itself. Another day I'll leave early in the morning, with a light load, from Oudtshoorn or Prince Albert and go all the way down.

Riding out of Gamkaskloof towards the Swartberg Pass

Nice little challenge to cross the stream with a very loose gravelly bed.
I did - without getting my feet wet :-)

Quite rocky in places

Back on the Swartberg Pass and heading for the top.
Stopped to photograph two Grey Rhebuck (Vaalribbok).
See them just beyond the bare earth.

Another interesting switchback section of the Swartberg Pass just before the top.
The old forester's house is now used as a hiking hut

On the flats, beyond the hiking hut, hidden by the rocky knoll, is the turnoff to Gamkaspoort

More view close to the top of Swartberg Pass

Close to the top of the Swartberg Pass

Just over the top of the Swartberg Pass looking down the southern side over the Little Karoo

The top of the Swartberg pass looking North

The old 1994 Honda Steed 400 performed flawlessly

Descending the southern slopes of the Swartberg on the Swartberg pass

Skelmdraai ! Says it all.

I see Skelm variously translated as rouge, ruff neck, skally wag, rascal etc.
The most accurate definition I came across was "little shit" :-)
"Draai" is bend.

Therefore "shit little bend" OK ;-)

Post Skelmdraai.

Beautiful scenery.

There were actually beautiful flowers throughout the trip both in the karoo and fynbos areas.

And then we hit the tar road at the bottom of the Swartberg Pass

Honda Steed meets Dromedary.

A local farm close to the Cango Caves offers camel rides.

These beasties must feel quite at home in the Little Karoo.
I was clever enough (having worked in a zoo in my early years) not to try and pet them, however friendly they appeared.
Camels got teeth - therefore camels bite!

Camping at Cango Mountain Resort, between Cango Caves and Oudtshoorn, 20km from Oudtshoorn.

R120 for a campsite (without electricity), a good hot bath and soft green lawn near a running stream.

Excellent.

Day three dawns.

A lovely sunny morning at the Cango Mountain Resort.
Pack up and off we go.

We have ideas to make up for yesterday's disappointment about not getting all the way down to Gamkaskloof .. mmmmm ;-)

The 20km drive in to Oudtshoorn starts with the very pretty Schoemanspoort.

The attractive pink bush is the Klapperbos or Chinese Lantern bush.

Schoemanspoort

Stopped briefly in Oudtshoorn to buy some chain lube, fill up and get out of there.

Could have had a Wimpy sunshine breakfast but ate well back at camp and was keen to get on the road.

Down the concrete road to Calitzdorp Spa.

Heart of ostrich farming country.

The ostriches kept their distance from my Steed.

Actually they were expecting me to come in and top up their feeding trough - greedy self centered fowl!

Short Left - definitely.

My next treat was to tackle the Rooiberg (Red Mountain) Pass between Gamkasberg and Rooiberg "direct" to Vanwyksdorp.

I've only done this pass years ago, once, in the opposite direction, and always wanted to come back - grinnnn

One of the numerous reserves in the area.

Gamkasberg to the left (east) is home to the very rare Cape Mountain Zebra.

Another spectacular switchback road up the Rooiberg.

More exquisitely made road and hand laid stone walling.

Absolutely loving it.

Riding gently and soaking up the isolation.

This pass by far more isolated and less used than the Swartberg Pass and all the more enticing for just that.

Only passed two vehicles on the whole pass, one in each direction

Grrrrrreat :-)

Up towards the top the road is less steep and magnificent vistas unfold.

There may as well not be another soul on the planet.

Rooiberg in the background.

Karoid vegetation gives way to rhenosterveld and then mountain fynbos higher up

Looking back Northeast towards the Swartberg

The Swartberg towards the North

Seweweekspiek, the highest peak in the Western Cape, with its head in the clouds.

I've been on that peak some years ago.
On that clear day we could see from the Langeberg at Montague to the escarpment above Beaufort West.

To the right (East) of Seweweekspiek is the gorge forming the Seweweekspoort. That's another easy ride someday, including the route down Bosluiskloof (bush tick gorge!) Pass to Gamkapoort Dam. (Oh if I just had more time!)

But I had to keep going through to Cape Town by the end of the day.

So no rest unfortunately.

At the top of the pass is a lay by with a pile of stones, an interesting Rhus tree and a picnic table and chairs.

Gamka's Mountain Prayer Mound

According to anecdote these stones were gathered together in the 19th century by devout travelers that prayed here and gave thanks for a safe crossing and on every such occasion added a stone to the pile.

The "Raportryerskorps" of Calitzdorp in colaboration with the National Monuments Commission maintains this.

This memorial plaque was unveiled on the 10th October 1984 by Dr H.M.J. Van Rensburg, MP of Mossel Bay.

Of course I also added a small stone to the mound.

The Rhus (karee) tree.

Reminds me a bit of the old magic tree in Kirstenbosch.

Probably first hollowed out by game seeking shade.

The stone pile is just to the right of the tree.

And now continuing south.

Down we go into the Little Karoo, with the Langeberg (Long Mountains) on the horison.

On the other side of the Langeberg, the coastal plain, near Riversdale, and the southern Indian ocean beyond.

The descent from isolation to isolation - peace

Riding very gently downward - no rush.

Just soak it all in.

Gently - don't stress the machinery.

Really don't want to break down or puncture here.

Help is a long way off.

A homestead in view.

Is this THE gate to "civilization", whatever that may purport to be?

Still quite a long ride to Vanwyksdorp.

When I was there last the sign on the door of the bank read something like, "Open Tuesdays and Fridays, 10h00 to 13h00, first and third week of the month."

That is the pace I'd like to keep forever.

Still the magnificent road unwinds before me.

It was getting warmer now and I was forced to strip off the heavy riding clothes

Vanwyksdorp came and went.

Then it was southwards deep into the koppies (rocky hills) of the Little Karoo, turning westwards just north of the Langeberge.

The riding was easier now. The breeze was warm and I felt total freedom cruising through the desert. Elated at completing the Swartberg and Rooiberg passes and looking forward to cruising the totally vehicle free back roads.

I had a grin right around my face for the next couple of hours riding the back roads to Barrydale.

This area is in the rainshadow of the Langeberg and only has about 150mm rain per annum.

The rocky hills are very "lunar".

Red spring flowers even right out here in the rain shadow area

Approachng the north slopes of the Langeberg.

The grey clouds "loering" over the mountains indicated a cold front passing by the coastal plain beyond.

That area has been through a very dry period and needed the rain. I knew that it wasn't going to rain on my parade though.

And off westwards, north of the Langeberg heading through Muiskraal and Brandrivier.

Find those on Google Earth or a map if you can!

Stopped for a break at one of the famous quartz patches of the Little karoo.

This is where all those endemic and rare succulent plants grow. So beloved of unscrupulous succulent collectors.

Reminded me of the succulent poachers that were caught by my colleagues in CapeNature. Their camera contained all the evidence necessary of their collecting exploits and the exact localities - ag shame, how dumb could they have been?

The same happened to a well known curator of one of the big German botanical gardens. He was caught collecting without the necessary permits - domkopf!

Cruising through the great peacefulness.

Really interesting countryside.

A mixture of renosterveld and karoid vegetation.

My trusty Steed

My dusty Steed.

Exceeded all expectations on the dirt roads.

Here we get back towards civilization again.

Still far from the winelands proper - but getting there.

There were quite a few (at least 6) snakes run over on the road in the previous 10km or so.

Mainly Cape Cobras and Puff Adders

And back to the tar road between Ladismith and Barrydale.

Only about 10km from Barrydale.

Looking back up the tar road towards Ladismith.

I could have ridden all the way from Oudtshoorn on that tar road - but what would I have missed, wow.

The very pretty little town of Barrydale. at about 14h00.

In Barrydale I took a break, ate a lovely clay oven baked pizza and cappuccino.
The wind was howling along the Langeberg from the West - ahead.

In an ideal world I would have spent the night here, either camping or in one of numerous lovely guest houses in the village. But I had to face the trip back to Cape Town to be at work on the following day.

When I retire in about 18 months I'll do the same trip, and more, over at least 10 days - yeah!

Tradouw Pass, over the Langeberg, which starts off in the kloof behind is one of the most picturesque and well finished passes in the country. The engineers that finished off that pass really took pride in their work. Beautifully cobbled road verges and drainage channels and lovely stone walling and stopping points.

View from Op Die Tradouw looking back towards Barrydale.

By now the wind was really howling. You can see it whipping up the water on the dam and blowing the cloud over the mountain.

Wind or no wind the Steed just kept on going.

All I had to do was hang on!

Lovely roads on a windless day but quite a battle in the wind after three hard day's riding.

I just had to use my yoga training to relax all those taught muscles as I rode along.

Rider's eye view

Magnificent Cogmanskloof just beyond Montague.

This is the area where Chris and Nic go climbing regularly. I wonder why?

The road tunnel at Cogmanskloof with the old fort above guarding the route through the gorge

And onward against the wind to Worcester

Magnificent mountains above Worcester.

Filled up with fuel for the last time at Rawsonville near here.

More mountains near Worcester.

Lot's of pics of mountains - I needed a good break after the long ride against the wind.

After filling up at Rawsonville I turned southwards on to the N1, the main road between Cape Town and Johannesburg.

Into the setting sun.

I gave the toll road through the new tunnel a miss and rode over the top of Du Toit's Kloof Pass through the old tunnel pictured here.

I had to slow down and focus carefully going through the old unlit tunnel. Didn't want to hit any of those huge tire treads that make a habit detaching themselves from truck tires.

Lovely views of the mountains in the setting sun

View from the top of Du Toit's Kloof Pass over Paarl.

Now just to ride the gauntlet of the mad 70km of traffic on the freeway between Paarl and Cape Town. But I took a deep breath and enjoyed the quiet descent of the pass in the setting sun first.

Saw a big troupe of baboons foraging on the way down.

I paused briefly on the freeway to capture this lovely sunset.

Table Mountain hiding under the cloud on the left.

A passing motorcyclist unexpectedly stopped and rode back up the shoulder of the road.

He warned me not to linger as there had been lots of bike hijackings on that streatch of road recently.

OK - I was definitely back in "civilization" - yuck!

Home about 20h00!

You can see by the huge grin on my face how much I had enjoyed the last three days, even though I was dog tired.

Roll on retirement!

The legacy of Pierre Uys in the Western Cape ...

2009-05-31T14:28:00.001+02:00

The legacy of Pierre Uys in the Western Cape.

Woodturnings embellished with pewter ...

2009-05-03T22:43:00.008+02:00

Here are a few pics of recent turnings embelished with pewter.

Oak vessel with pewter decoration.

Diameter 240 mm.

Oak vessel with pewter decoration.
Diameter 240 mm.

Bubinga vessel with pewter top.
Height 165 mm.

Bubinga vessel with pewter top.

Height 165 mm.

Bubinga vessel with pewter neck ring.
Height 160 mm.

Pewter textured with a Dremel tool with a small spherical carving burr.

Bubinga (Guibourtia demeusei) bowl with pewter rim and foot.

Diameter 103 mm.

Bubinga (Guibourtia demeusei) bowl with pewter rim and foot - detail.

Diameter 103 mm.

Camel thorn (Acacia erioloba) bowl with pewter rim and foot. Diameter 100 mm.

This wood is harder than the pewter! The wood makes the absolute best coals for a braai which has resulted in it recently being declared a protected tree as a result of overexploitation.

Camel thorn (Acacia erioloba) bowl with pewter rim and foot. Diameter 87 mm.

Detail of foot. Camel thorn (Acacia erioloba) bowl with pewter rim and foot. Diameter 87 mm.

Suzuki Burgman 650 ride to Mossel Bay ...

2009-02-03T22:45:00.009+02:00

Check out my Facebook album to see pics of my ride to Mossel Bay to deliver the keynote address at Eden District Municipality's Climate Change and Disaster Management Summit.

The address seemed to be well received.

If you are interested you can download the presentation here.

You can download the Western Climate Change Response Strategy and Action Plan and the summary document here.

The guest password for both download drops is "1amaguest"

How woodturning can revive a broken wine glass ...

2009-01-24T22:02:00.008+02:00

What do you do with broken wine glasses?

Take one basic spindle, round it, drill a hole equal to the narrowest diameter of the glass stem

Taper the hole to fit the glass stem ...

... until the glass stem fits snugly

Reverse it on to the mini lathe

Round off all the remaining corners

Reverse it on to a cone revolving centre in the tailstock

Turn the spindle down to 25 mm diameter

Turn some beady and covey bits and a spiky bit for standing in the lawn at a Kirstenbosch concert or into beach sand

Increase the class factor by a factor of ten by adding some grooves

Increase the class factor by another significant factor by burning black lines with a piece of wire

Part it off to a fine point, insert the glass and add another tool to your tool rack!

Here I am with my friends Gerry and Holly at the Kirstenbosch concert with the resurrected glasses

Many of those around commented favourably about them

"Look Ma no hands"

Some recent woodturnings ...

2009-01-24T21:47:00.006+02:00

My new specialised photo booth. Requirments: Basic stand - 1 small planet; upper diffuser - 1 medium cumulus cloud; lower diffuser - 1 weather textured "best 4v4 by far" bonnet; light source - 1 medium yellow star; setup time - negligible

Yellowwood bowls cored from a single bowl blank

Beefwood bowls cored from a single bowl blank

Close-up of beefwood bowls cored from a single bowl blank

Bubinga bowls cored from a single bowl blank

Norfolk Island Pine (Araucaria excelsa) vases. I dropped them off at the waterfront this morning and the small one sold before I arrived home - wonderful

Norfolk Island Pine (Araucaria excelsa) vase

Grootvadersbos State Forest and Infanta ...

2009-01-03T23:07:00.003+02:00

We spent 4 days of our Christmas break at Grootvadersbos with a Christmas day jaunt down to friends at Infanta.

Chris on his Landy crossing the Breede River on the pont at Malgas on the way down to Infanta

A beautiful big Hard Pear (Olinia ventosa) burl on a tree at Grootvadersbos

I've added two albums of pics on Facebook:

Album 1

Album 2

Woodturning Retreat ...

2009-01-03T22:45:00.005+02:00

Wow - I haven't posted anything on my blog for ages.

Anyway I've posted a batch of photos on Facebook of our great woodturning retreat at John and Jane Wessel's place at Sedgefield with the WCWA.

Check out these 3 albums of pics.

Album 1

Album 2

Album 3

Left is a pic of Gert Ferreira watching John demonstrating techniques involving pewter and woodturning.

Cape Town Storm 30-31 August 2008 ...

2008-08-31T09:24:00.007+02:00

Here are a couple of interesting images showing the storm we have just weathered here in Cape Town over the past 24 hours.

The satellite images on this post are all "copyright EUMETSAT 2008"
I have accessed these images from the SA Weather Website, following the links "Satellite Images" from the menu at the top of the page and the "EUMETSAT Satellite Viewer" link on the left of the page (South Africa falls in area 8 and 9).

The webcam images are all taken from the "Cape Town Webcam South Africa - Kapstadt Webcam Südafrika" site.

I generally use the EUMETSAT site (area 8) to track the weather approaching Cape Town.
This together with the Cape Town Webcam South Africa site which shows me the prevailing weather in the southern suburbs, where I live (left of the mountain), in downtown Cape Town, where I work, in front of the saddle between Table Mountain and Signal Hill, and directly approaching Cape Town from the Atlantic Ocean on the right of the image.

I use the latest webcam image daily to decide whether it is 'weather safe' to use my motorcycle to travel from home to downtown Cape Town, or alternatively, if I'm at work with the motorcycle, how much rain-gear to wear for the ride home.

30 August 2008 06h00

The cold front approaches Cape Town from the West

30 August 2008 09h00

The approaching cold front (north-westerly wind from the right side of the image) causes cloud to form over Table Mountain and occasional rain in the southern suburbs

30 August 2008 15h00

The wind is really howling now - up to 90km/h

I rode to Gert's house in the northern suburbs during the morning and although the wind was vicious I didn't get wet till I was 2km from home on my return to the southern suburbs (Plumstead)

30 August 2008 15h00

The rain had really set in during the afternoon when Chris and I took a drive to some 4x4 shops to look at accesories for his Landrover

By the time we went back to the Waterfront to collect "Milandi" (My Landy) at 18h00 it was raining harder than I have ever experienced in downtown Cape Town

30 August 2008 21h00

The webcam shows the streaming rain really well

30 August 2008 21h00

The main front is through Cape Town.

What Gigi and I call 'Spikkel weather', from the speckled appearance of the cloud patterns that follow each front, then sets in.

This weather is a series of freezing cold rain squalls, often bringing hail or snow, interspersed by cold sunny intervals

31 August 2008 06h00

It's still dark in Cape Town - and I'm still asleep in bed with occasional rain and light hail pattering on the bedroom window which faces the approaching weather

31 August 2008 06h00

The satellite image shows the 'squally' weather

31 August 2008 09h00

I'm lying in bed with Gigi, drinking coffee accompanied by her famous buttermilk rusks, watching the BBC Series "Walking with Dinosaurs" and posting this blog

later ...

31 August 2008 12h00

OK - The 12hoo image has finally been loaded.

Here is a full disk image showing the front spreading up into South Africa today. You can see the cold air from the deep cold southern ocean 'exploding' northwards across the south of the continent.

The cities up north, like Johannesburg and Pretoria, are in for a rude drop in their temperature this evening!

This is an interesting 'Air mass' (whatever that is) image from the WeatherSA web site which clearly shows the cold front in all its glory.

My sympathy to residents of New Orleans.
I've just heard on the midday news of the evacuation of the city ahead of the approaching hurricane Gustav which is forecast to strike the U.S. Gulf Coast harder than Katrina did three years ago!

Photo copyright NOAA

Turning ivory and pewter ...

2008-08-24T23:19:00.001+02:00

I've added five more pics of recent turnings to my Facebook woodturning album.

Route 62 on a Suzuki Burgman 650 …

2008-08-09T21:23:00.005+02:00

This is a blog post that documents my trip from Cape Town to Oudtshoorn in the Little Karoo, along Route 62, where I recently attended an environmental conference, a first combined conference of the ‘Fynbos Forum’ and ‘Arid Zone Forum’, nicknamed ‘Interfaces’. This was my first long distance motorcycle ride. The weather was forecast to be fine for the day of my departure from Cape Town and light rain for the morning of my return. As I would be arriving back in the afternoon and was well equipped to weather a little rain on my return I decided to keep my carbon footprint low and travel to the conference on my bike rather than travelling by car. As it transpired the likelihood of rain on my return evaporated during my stay in Oudtshoorn. To explain my interest in keeping my carbon emissions for the trip low I should explain that over the past two years I have been the project co-ordinator for the Western Cape Provincial Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan. You may like to download the Western Cape’s Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan Summary Document

I left Cape Town at about 08h00. Unfortunately the ride to Paarl along the N2 was directly into the rising sun. This was not entirely pleasant as under those circumstances one sees the world as a black and white silhouette. A motorcycle visor, even one with a slight peak, does not provide the degree of glare protection of a car windscreen visor. Of course the same black and white silhouette applied to the motorists I was traveling along the freeway with so I kept a wary eye on my rear view mirrors. I traveled without incident though. I topped up the bike at the N1 Winelands 1 Stop about 43 km from home, just outside Cape Town. As a concession to my lungs I decided before I left Cape Town that I would avoid riding through the Du Toitskloof Tunnel and instead took the scenic route over the top of the pass. The shade cast by the mountains was a most welcome relief. This is the view over Paarl from near the top of the Du Toit’skloof Pass.

Here I am down the sunny side of the pass towards Worcester. The sun was rising higher and now less of a problem. The road along the Molenaars River was in excellent condition and the traffic was light.

I turned eastwards at Worcester on to Route 60 into the Robertson Karoo. The sun was now behind me and I was warming up nicely. This picture is taken from a gentlepass, looking back along the route, just about 10km before Robertson. A gentle ride through Robertson, the village of Ashton and through the scenic Cogmanskloof to Montague followed.

Cogmanskloof just outside Montague, the western gateway to the Little Karoo. This is also the start of Route 62. The Little Karoo is a stunningly beautiful arid zone in the rain shadow between the Langeberg range to the south and the magnificent Swartberg range to the north. Further north beyond the Swartberg range lie the plains of the Great Karoo that dominates the inland plateau of southern South Africa

Route 62

After Montague a beautiful ride unfolds along the northern slopes of the Langeberg towards Barrydale. At Barrydale I stopped at “The Country Pumpkin” for a toasted sandwich and coffee. The hospitality included a complimentary Muskadel, for which the area is well known, and a Route 62 biker pin. Showing admirable self restraint I managed to resist the temptation to drink the Muskadel with my lunch. Perhaps they should provide the Muskadel to riders and drivers in a small bottle to drink later in the evening after completing their journey. Serious ‘brownie’ points were earned by this restraint! I’m sure that the issue of not drinking the Muskadel did not enter the mind of the biker downing his second (at least) beer at the table just across from me! I also topped up the Burgman’s tank with 9.19 litres in Barrydale. I had travelled 263km from home in Cape Town and 219km from the previous fill-up at the Winelands 1 Stop. The average fuel consumption for the latter distance was therefore 4.2 litres per 100 km (4.4 litres per 100 km indicated on the bike’s instrumentation).

Leaving Barrydale I stopped at the viewpoint above the village and ‘stripped’. It was getting up above 20degC now! Off came the riding trousers, the lining of my jacket and tracksuit top. Much better.

Now I set off right across the Little Karoo towards Ladismith at the foot of Towerkop in the Swartberg range. I traveled the entire route cruising easily on the Burgmann between 100 and 110 km/hr. Although the bike can easily travel faster than this I felt entirely comfortable at this speed and was relatively happy to ‘read the environment’ as I road along. Being a trained environmentalist traveling through any landscape is to me just like reading a fascinating book. I just can’t bear to travel fast and miss the whole story.

According to articles I have read the Burgman apparently tops out about 180km/hr although I have no intension of ever testing this stastic myself. My sense of self preservation is way too developed for that!

As I rode into Ladismith, with the first really close view of Towerkop this was the view that struck my eye. It’s ironic that during the studies for the provincial ‘Growth Potential of Towns’ study most small towns in the province touted tourism as the future economic mainstay of their municipal economy and yet the above photo illustrates the extreme lack of attention paid to this aspect in local ‘development’ initiatives. Shame!

Another view from the main road where I managed to exclude all but one telephone line!

Towerkop (Magic Mountain – 2197m) is topped by a huge sandstone dome with a huge cleft. The cleft dome of Towerkop is explained by a legend involving a witch. The legend is that, in a hurry to fly home, the peak loomed before her and in a rage she whacked it with her broomstick, splitting it in two. You can read the story of a Tyrollean traverse between the two buttresses.

I paused for a short biscuit break at the turnoff to Seweweekspoort. This is a gravel road pass through the Swartberg northwards to the Great Karoo. I have driven this road on numerous occasions in the past and once even walked its entire length as a family outing with a group from the Mountain Club. The Swartberg pass is the best place in the country that I know of to view the spectacularly folded rock formations of the Cape fold-belt mountains of which the Swartberg is a part.

Just opposite the turnoff to Seweweekspoort is the mission village of Zoar.

Looking north, in the background, is Seweweeks Peak, which at 2325 meters high, is the highest point in the Western Cape Province. As usual at this time of the year the peak had a light dusting of snow which is unfortunately not visible in the photograph due to the unco-operative angle of the winter sun.

As I walked around the back of the bike I spotted the opportunity for a self portrait. Perhaps next time I’ll also smile!

Further eastwards one arrives at the amazingly scenic Huisriver Pass. Unfortunately the pass is currently under maintenance but allowed for a short rest from the saddle.

The red cliffs of the Huisriver Pass with a Klapperbos or Chinese Lantern Bush in which a lesser double collared sunbird was feeding. Ah the joy of being out of the big city

While standing waiting for the Stop/Go I remembered driving over the original narrow gravel road Huisriver pass with my parents as a pre-teen. The ride through the pass was in a convoy of one-way traffic so unless one was prepared to wait double time for the next group of vehicles travelling in the same direction it was not advisable to stop for more photographs. I have many pics from previous trips anyway so cruised on gently, enjoying the scenery, towards the village of Calitzdorp

Passing through Calitzdorp at the foot of the Huisriverpass I had to make a detour to Boplaas, where I indulged myself by buying a bottle of award winning, five star Boplaas Vintage Port. This should ensure my survival during the remaining winter evenings at home

And now the final leg of the trip unfolded. With the Swartberg range extending eastwards ahead of me

The remaining 45 minutes ride down the long straight road to Oudtshoorn …

… where my ride ended at about 5pm. In all I thoroughly enjoyed myself and would be more than happy to tackle the ride any time again in the future. Topping up with 7.54 litres of fuel for the 176 kilometres gave me a fuel consumption of 4.28 litres per 100 km (4.3 litres per 100 km according to the bike’s instrumentation). In all a very satisfying fuel consumption figure. A total of 16.73 litres fuel (excluding the 43 km from home to the Winelands 1 Stop) for the 395 km covered at an average consumption of 4.23 litres/100 km (55.61 mpg)

I was booked by the conference organisers into Lavender House. I stayed in the Butterfly Room. Ya, well, no, fine! Any way a clean comfortable bed is all one really needs whatever the décor! I was actually lucky to get the accommodation. I registered rather late for the conference and was offered the room when a colleague’s wife, inconveniently for him, produced their first child early, a few days before the conference.

From the sign above the window in my room you would not believe that the country is in the throws of a serious electricity crisis.

Also in the grounds of Lavender House was a pond with both the noxious invasive Kariba weed and a black bass.

On my return to Cape Town I had to pause for a pic of these beautiful aloes just west of the Huisriver pass

A view westwards along the Swartberg Range.

Oops

Just beyond Cogmanskloof I came across this truck transporting baled paper for recycling

The truck's load had slipped ...

Spilling it's contents and blocking one lane of the road

Near Rawsonville ...

Beautiful vineyards and mountains

Looking into Stetynskloof

Half way up Du Toitskloof Pass

Into the setting sun

Du Toitskloof Pass

Near the top of Du Toitskloof Pass

Compare this with the weather we experienced on the same route a couple of weeks ago

All in all it was a great trip which I'll definitely repeat sometime soon.

Just out of interest for other Burgman riders the fuel consumption figure for the 531 km ride home (which included 89 km of town riding in and around Oudtshoorn) using 23.65 litres of fuel came out at 4.45 litres/100 km (52.86 mpg)

My first attempt at pewter work ...

2008-08-09T20:56:00.000+02:00

This is my first attempt at pewter work which I intend to incorporate into my woodturning.

I started off with some simple pieces which I pasted on to celebratory cards for Gigi and her sibs on the occasion of celebrating the anniversary of Mutti's birthday at Oude Nektar last weekend.

You can see more pics of the cards on my Facebook album here

Dorothy Constance Dennis ...

2008-07-22T21:05:00.004+02:00

This is a cutting from the Rhodesia Herald, August 1964, showing my grandmother, Dorothy Constance Dennis.

Click on the picture to enlarge it and read the text.

Western Cape Snow ...

2008-07-10T23:53:00.003+02:00

Western Cape Snow

On the way back from sunny KZN we hit the cold front south of Beaufort West. It rained heavily all the way back to Cape Town. In Worcester at 2pm it was so dark and rainy that all the street lights were on!

It was great to see water all through the southern Karoo. Laingsburg was awash, the Groot river flowing very strongly under the bridge.

Matroosburg was covered in snow but the view was not great due to the low cloud

Hex River Mountains at the head of the Hex River Pass

A very wintery Hex River valley

Snow on the Hex

Winter view of the Hex valley

Radiation from cell phone masts is not proven to be harmful but don't let anyone tell you that poorer communities don't suffer the brunt of bad planning decisions

Picture postcard landscape with farm cottages - but bloody cold!

I just couldn't resist pictures of the winter vineyards in the Hex valley

In Du Toitskloof Pass

Cold!

We chose to drive over the pass to see more snow rather than drive through the tunnel

Witteberg - literaly

More cold!

The Du Toitskloof mountains were pouring water

View back down the N1

View from high up Du Toitskloof pass

Every little stream was gushing

Snow and cloud

Our car and small trailer full of lovely Kiaat and Red Ivory logs from up north

The streams were really flowing

Over the top of the pass

It was raining so heavily down the Cape Town side of the mountains that there was no point in stopping for pics

Then into the late afternoon Cape Town traffic, jukkk!

And home to a very warm welcome by the boys.

Gordon's Cottage - Colesburg

2008-07-10T23:52:00.004+02:00

Gordon's Cottage - Colesburg

On the way home from AWSA 2008 we stayed in Colesburg in our favourite accommodation in the town, Gordon's Cottage

Phone +27517530390 for bookings

The front door

The cottage dates from 1861

The main bedroom

There is another room with three single beds

View into the lounge

Gigi by the heater in the lounge

From the lounge, looking back into the bedroom

The kitchen ...

... looking into the back room

Old kitchen utensils displayed in the back room

Washing up area in the back room

The kitchen looking back into the lounge

Very rustic

The bath with lots of hot water

Perfect for cold Karoo evenings

A very pleasant short stay as always

AWSA Symposium 2008 Group Photos ...

2008-07-10T23:50:00.004+02:00

The Association of Woodturners of South Africa (AWSA) 2008 Symposium was held in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa from 3 July to 6 July, 2008

These are the three group photographs I took.

You can download the three full size images from MediaFire here.

In MediaFire click on each file name and then "Download image".

The photos below are smaller 640 x 480 pixel versions of the full size images.

AWSA 2008 group photo 1

AWSA 2008 group photo 2

AWSA 2008 group photo 3

AWSA Symposium 2008 Critique ...

2008-07-10T23:49:00.003+02:00

The Association of Woodturners of South Africa (AWSA) 2008 Symposium was held in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa from 3 July to 6 July, 2008

Here are some pics of the critique session. the crit session was held after dinner and after a very interesting presentation by Butch Smuts titled something along the lines of, "Suppressing the visual dominance of circularity in our woodturning". A most interesting and thought provoking presentation. Thanks Butch.

Chris Morewood of the Conference organising Committee introducing Nick Arnull and Michelle Rall

Michelle Rall is a ceramicist

She and Nick gave excellent crits of the pieces

Nick Arnull doing his crit thing

Mmmmm!

Ja well no fine!

Thanks to Michelle and Nick for a very informative session

AWSA Symposium 2008 Rotations ...

2008-07-10T23:48:00.003+02:00

The Association of Woodturners of South Africa (AWSA) 2008 Symposium was held in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa from 3 July to 6 July, 2008

A couple of pics of the very few rotations that I attended.

Nick Arnull of Norwich, England was the AWSA's guest turner

Here he is introducing his first rotation

Some of the audience at Nick's first rotation

John Wessels of Sedgefield presented two rotations dealing with 'sheet pewter' and 'cast pewter'

John turning a mold to take cast pewter

John turning cast pewter

Robin Reynolds presented a rotation on ornamental turning with a Holtzapffel type lathe

I took a bunch of photographs for the enthuiasts

AWSA Symposium 2008 Gallery ...

2008-07-09T20:28:00.012+02:00

The Association of Woodturners of South Africa (AWSA) 2008 Symposium was held in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa from 3 July to 6 July, 2008

This is a photographic record of the gallery.

This year's guest turner was Nick Arnull of Norwich, UK.

Some of Nick Arnull's pieces that he brought along

More of Nick's pieces, including his recently released coral series

CB vessels by Wally Rossini

Beethoven vessel in Yellowwood by Gert Ferreira

Platter in Pencil cedar (Juniperus sp.) by Perrie Bullock

Thin stemmed goblets, "Long Walk to Freedom" in wild olive by John Speedy

Natural edged pot in Resin tree (Ozoroa paniculosa) burl by John Mills

Small segmented bowl by the master, Bert Parker

A variety of small vessels by Dave Stephenson

Vessels by Pierrie Bullock (left and centre) in sneezewood and yours truly, Dennis Laidler (right) in pod mahogany

Wooden geared clock by Andre Esterhuyze

Turbulence series - fire, in jacaranda by Andrew Riley

Turbulence series - confusior, in jacaranda by Andrew Riley

Left: "Out of Africa" in camphor by Willie de Wet

Centre: A vase by Tony Lewis

Right: A carved hollow form by Winston French

Left: "Gecko bowl" in brazilian pepper by myself

Centre: Shallow bowl in mulberry by Tony Lewis

Right: Bowl with flame in coastal red milkwood by John Mills

Large platter in ??? by Clyde Neumann

Tree bowl in ??? by Clyde Neumann

A selection of bowls

Only one club, WCWA, participated in the club collaborative challenge

The theme was "climate change"

Powering a treadle lathe produces minimal carbon emissions

Excellent idea WCWA

A set of nested bowls in Pod mahogany by me

Nick Arnull commented on the environmental benefit of maximising the use of a single bowl blank by turning nested bowls

Left: A re-turned curio bowl by Bert Parker

This bowl has been re-turned from a bowl bought as a curio from a street vendor

Right: Staved bowl by Tony Lewis

Bowl in wild olive by Gert Ferreira

Left: segmented bowl by Bert Parker

Right: Pierced vessel in camphor by Andrew Bourke

Weathered piece by Winston French

Bobbins by ???

Gorgeous pieces by Butch Smuts

"Square circle" in cocobolo and kiaat burl inlay by Butch Smuts

Piece in red ivory and african blackwood by Butch Smuts

"Choppy Waters II" in cocobolo and kiaat burl inlay by Butch Smuts

Minature turnings by Chris Morewood

John Wessels managed to obtain a couple of Japanese bowl blanks left over from the AAW's "Japanese Bowls - A Western Perspective"

This is what a few of us did with those bowl blanks. Read more about the "Japanese Bowls - A Western Perspective" on one of my earlier posts and download a beautiful pdf catalogue of all the wonderful pieces from the AAW web site (1.2Mb)

Another view of our Japanese bowls

Dave Stephenson, his mom Joy and sister ???

A beautiful pyrographed platter by Butch Smuts

The cutest mouse box by Peter Nicole

And an armadillo box by Peter Nicole

"Basket Leaves" in jacaranda by Allan Ferguson

A multi-centred bowl in ??? by Butch Smuts

A pyrographed platter by Butch Smuts

Another multi-centred bowl in ??? by Butch Smuts

A stunning carved bowl in ??? by Butch Smuts

Another large carved bowl in Jacaranda by Butch Smuts

"Fire and Motion" by John Wessels

A tall oval turning in ??? by At Smit

A natural edge bowl in pine by At Smit

Front: Bowl in Rubber tree (Ficus nitida) by Greg Christians

Pyrographed vessel in Jacaranda by Allan Ferguson and a vase in Jacaranda which is a collaboration between Clyde Neumann and ???

Natural edged bowl in burned resin wood by At Smit

Bowl in red ivory by Clyde Neumann

"Vasgevang" ("Captured") in Chinaberry, Melia azedarach by Leon Langenhoven

John Wessels large "platter", left, that won Schalk's Challange

Chris Morewood, left, showing some guests around the gallery

Amazon blacklists the South African Post Office ...

2008-06-27T15:08:00.001+02:00

Last week's news was that Amazon.com had blacklisted the South African Post office and will now only courier goods to South Africa. According to reports, rampant theft by Post Office workers has infuriated the internet retailing giant so much that it will no longer send goods to South Africa by post.

Today while driving home from Springbok to Cape Town I heard on the radio that the Post Office has just won the National Business of the Year 2008.

These two reports read together clearly indicate the standard of other national businesses in South Africa. I wonder if Eskom entered the National Business of the Year 2008 competition. If so it must have been a most difficult decision for the judges.

Bonn - Tuesday 27 to Friday30

2008-06-12T17:08:00.002+02:00

The last couple of evenings in Bonn at CBD COP9 went by in a blur of all day sessions and very late night meetings, where I was involved primarily in the biofuels debate - hence lack of attention to my blog.

I just don't have the energy to describe those final negotiations in detail. Suffice to say that watching the EU and Brazil eventually reach a compromise agreement, the Chinese delegate, a very professional negotiator, sneak in for a touch down at the very last moment (12pm to 3am Friday morning), and the oil producing nations try to derail the whole agreement during the WG1 plenary later that morning and then 'compromise' during the final COP plenary in the afternoon was an absolute education for this first time 'negotiator'.

Here are a few pics taken during those last couple of days.

The BIOTA side event where unfortunately the South African NGO rep, from Paulshoek in the Tanqua Karoo, did not even get a chance to speak

Another kind of side event

I love Kolsch!

Dr. Ahmed Djoghlaf, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity

Somewhere close to 3am !!

The Norwegian delegate receiving a necklace from an NGO group who appreciated her efforts regarding Indigenous and Local communities

At one of the late night session I was given a seed bracelet from a young lady from Argentina for the same reason

My colleague Nonhlanhla from Department of Agriculture, Kwa-Zulu Natal

Yours truly holding the fort while the other delegates were otherwise engaged

A WoodCentral sighting!

Forest biodiversity related I guess!

The Japanese delegation inviting everyone to COP10 in Kobe, Japan in two years time

In an earlier post I mentioned that I noticed the blue pleasure boat, the Moby Dick, and referred to it as a significant lapse in German good taste.

Well if you include the floating Chinese Restaurant - perhaps two lapses!

A model railway, complete with wind turbine, at Cologne railway station where I caught the high speed train 'flight' to Frankfurt Airport on Saturday about lunch time

Whew - even a couple of woodturnings in a shop window at Cologne railway station

A solid wooden ball

Not an unattractive burl bowl - though I have seen better

The roof over the platforms at Cologne railway station through which I could actually see the spire of Cologne Cathedral

Leaving Cologne over the Rhine on the first cold and wet day I had on the trip

A grey Rhine view

On board the high speed, approx 300kph, train

Smooth as a plane ride - if not smoother

The Chinese press delegate sitting opposite asked if I'd like my picture taken with my own camera

Nice guy that I am - of course I obliged and did the same for him

And then it was on to the plane at Frankfurt Airport and overnight to Cape Town arriving at 5am on Sunday morning

A quick sleep and off to a friends birthday party at lunchtime! Man am I glad that I took Monday as a days leave!