Don't Fence me in!

On the home front, the hope of a chance to make things better politically has been keeping many of us busy. Up until now, I have felt "fenced in" by the fact that the ruling party is getting more and more entrenched, and giving itself more and more freedom to play around with the constitution and the law to suit its own agenda. Much as I believe every citizen has a duty to vote, in recent elections I have struggled to decide who to support, as it seemed so pointless. But, as I have mentioned before, the new Cope party has, for the first time, offered a realistic hope of challenging that.

Things are getting interesting..... South Africans living overseas may now get a chance to vote (in a piece of policy making madness, it was decreed that SA Citizens who were abroad at the time of elections could not vote, but convicted criminals in prisons could freely do so....this has been appealed and overturned in court.) An election date has been announced (22 April) and it is all systems go to get the fledgling Congress of the People party, with no Government funding or billionaire backing, ready for the challenge to ANC's entrenched place in Parliament.

Intimidation is becoming rife, the ANC has been attacking Cope supporters around the country, and engaging in dirty tricks like electioneering at pension payout points in the rural areas, telling people that if they want to continue getting their pensions, they must vote ANC (they must have been taking lessons from their friend Bob up North!) and Cope is working hard to get the message out that what happens in the ballot box is private, and it is safe to vote for them.

So..... interesting times ahead. By the way, if you are interested in this development, and want to know more, there is an extremely lively Discussion Board on the COPE facebook group and a link to the Cope manifesto. There is also a fascinating group called Political Discourse, where a high level of articulate debate goes on. (If you do get into the Cope DB, just bear in mind that it is a free for all, and not confined to Cope members, so don't take everything you read as Cope policy, I sometimes think there are more ANC and DA members than Cope people taking part in the debates, but that in itself indicates the broad tolerant approach of the new party, which welcomes healthy interraction and freedom of speech.)

When I am not doing my "political activist" thing, I am conscious that I have such itchy feet lately, all I want to do is travel. The reality is, both time and budget constraints don't allow too much of that right now. But there are ways around that, like blogging and visiting all those fascinating parts of the world I long to go to, portrayed through the eyes of those who live there and document these places in Fab photos. I am loving the Northern Hemisphere snow scenes right now. (To be honest, there's a lot to be said for this armchair travel, keeping warm whilst admiring the snowy scenery has its up-side.)

My other strategy is to make a point of enjoying the world in my immediate vicinity, noticing the everyday beauty around me, a new flower in the garden, a lovely sunrise over the sea, a confused Jacaranda tree that put out some beautiful purple blossoms, thinking it might still be spring :), kids playing in the park.... capuccino at Vovo Telo, the great cafe and artisan bakery around the corner, and of course, taking every opportunity that presents itself to hit the road over the weekend, even if it is just a jaunt along the coast to Schoenmakerskop or further afield to St Francis.

This sunset was taken on Friday night, on the outskirts of town, on our way to Port St Francis. (I posted more pix on facebook if you want to see them....)

Spa---ring partners

Ok, I promised to tell you a bit about my day of being pampered on Thursday.

My friend Julie fetched me at 9am, and off we went to Addo. This is a little farming village about 70km from PE. It is better known for the Addo Elephant park nearby, but it is actually a citrus growing area on fertile soils fed by the Sunday's River.

On the way we went past the Swartkops River mouth, with the little village of Amsterdamhoek nestling on the river banks.

The lighting as the sun struggled to make an impact on the cold and bleak day was stunning, and Julie could see I was itching to take photos, so she very patiently stopped on the side of the freeway so i could do my thing.....here she waits in Ndlovu (her new monster car, appropriately named... it means Elephant in the local Xhosa language, but what a great ride!)

As you can see, it was a really sombre day, but this is on the sea side of the freeway, and you can just see the line of buildings along the shore, with the sandbanks in front of them that shows the position of River mouth.

looking inland is the Swartkops Estuary and behind it the mountains where Uitenhage lies (famous as the home of Audi and Volkswagen South Africa). There is even a glimmer of blue sky!

We arrived at the Spa to this wonderful welcoming sight....

It was on a farm in Addo that Suzette Meyer had the vision of setting up a health spa. She trained as a beauty therapist, and then set about modifying the old farm house and building the Resort. She is a very talented lady, and has created a delightful place with a really welcoming, relaxing ambience.

(Here is Julie, seated on the front patio, with Suzette on the right. )

One of the things about building on an established farm is that there are already some wonderful old trees, like this magnificent Tipiana Tipu, which give is such a settled, peaceful atmosphere.

We started of with a nice hot cup of coffee on the front patio, overlooking the lovely gardens.

As you can see from our attire, it was still pretty cold!

The spa has been constructed around a gravelled courtyard, with the reception area and all the treatment rooms and in the old farmhouse along the front, and then surrounding it at the back are the Jaccuzzi, the gymnasium and some outdoor chalets for accomodation.

Then off we went to our respective treatment rooms, and wafted off onto clouds of bliss as we underwent all sorts of massages, facials, body wraps, Vichy showers, moisturising masques etc. By the time lunchtime arrived, we were glowing gently and feeling decidedly mellow!

We ended a delightful treat with lunch on the patio, and then headed for home.

And as a bonus, there is an orange orchard along the driveway. I bet there are not many Spas in the world where you are invited to pick your own oranges as you leave!

Thanks for the treat Jules.... it was wonderful!

Raindrops are fallin' on my head....

........ and I LOVE it!!!!

I know, I know, i must be some kind of freak, but i have always preferred foul weather!

To be honest, this doesn't really qualify as foul, it is actually delightful, gentle scattering of big fat warm raindrops, 22 degrees C, and that fabulous deep grey light which tends to intensify colours which would normally look bleached and washed out in the bright sunshine.

So here are a few views of our favourite spot, St Francis..... as seen this weekend.

Even on the way here on Friday evening, there was the promise of rain, the most stunning clouds we have EVER seen.... as a distant rain squall was lit by the low sun coming through the clouds in patches. (Unfortunately we were on a section of road where there was no stopping, so I just had to shoot it through the bug splatted windscreen)

then all of a sudden we were in the thick of it for a short way.

and then the sun reappeard through the clouds.

There was a power failure that evening just after we arrived and settled in, so we lit a couple of candles and read a bit, and had a really early night.

But for me an early night usually means insomnia... so at 2am, the lights were back on, and I was photographing the yacht basin!

Of course the cool thing about waking up early on a cloudy morning is that the rising sun brings with it some lovely views.

Later in the day we went off to Cape St Francis, to watch the sea at the "wild side". When the rain was a bit heavy, we sat in the car and enjoyed watching the waves on the rocks, and a young couple climbing around.

Then as it eased, we went off to the lighthouse, which looked suitably ethereal in the wet air.

The famous unique vegetation type known in the Cape as fynbos was really at its best.... fascinating tiny leafed plants covered in dainty flowers, with a wonderful herb like aroma as you brush past it.

this little beach house overlooking Seal Point surf spot reminded me of an Andrew Wyeth painting.

and finally to a little track leading off to the west along the coast.... looking towards Oyster Bay, and Thyspunt, where the controversial pebble bed nuclear reactor is very likely to be built despite heavy public opposition.

today has been a wonderfully lazy one, sleeping, eating, watching old movies, and going for the occasional stroll between bouts of rain.... BLISS!

Valley of Desolation

Right, we finally get to the stunning Valley of Desolation which I have been promising for absolute ages to show you.

It is a mountain overlooking Graaff Reinet, and perhaps I should have shown you this first, as there are lovely views of the town from the top, and it would have helped you to get your bearings. However, the cool thing about blogger is, you can read the posts in any order that suits you, so feel free to jump around! By the time you have read this, and the previous 2 posts, you will have a good overall idea of the area.

We arrived from the North, after going through 2 mountain passes (the same ones which were covered in snow 2 weeks ago!)

Just on the outskirts of Graaf Reinet is a large lake, and if you turn right, skirting around the water and then up the mountainside,

you get to a spectacular view of a rugged valley.

The mountain is of Dolerite, a volcanic (Igneous) rock. You can clearly see, in places, the amazing patterns left by swirling streams of lava surrounding boulders. As it weathers the dolerite goes a rusty brown due to the high iron content, but when the surface chips off you see the dense black rock inside.

Because it is so hard, it remains relatively un-weathered compared to the softer surrounding rocks, so as they are eroded away, it remains, jutting out in spectacular formations.

This little conical hill is a classic formation seen in this area, where alternating layers of dolerite lava flows,

with softer rocks in between, weather and conical hills form with a hard flat dolerite layer on top, and ridges down the sides showering the layering.

If you click on this you should be able to read up a bit about the area.

A German tourist kindly offered to take a photo of us together at the cliff edge.

On the edge of the cliffs the wind is quite gusty, I really had to brace myself against it in order to look down on the deep valley. Max, who does not have a head for heights, was clucking like a nervous hen while taking this picture of me,

but the view was worth it!

There is another viewpoint with 360 degree views, and a topograph, overlooking the town. When we arrived we had a great time locating all the mountain ranges and geographical features shown in all directions.

While we were there it became apparent that the sun was going to go down in just the right spot, so we had to wait to capture it. Of course it was a great opportunity to kill time taking photos........
We started playing with the wonderful zoom capabilities of our camera. (To be accurate Max's camera, which he generously shared with me, and I shamelessly hogged! Perhaps it was due to this expedition that he ended up buying me my own in self defence!)

Here is the view of the town as seen normally,

here a bit closer. Again, the unusually wide ox-wagon friendly streets are evident.

and here is a real close up of the most notable landmark in town, the huge Cathedral.

and you can see the shadow of the mountain creeping progressively over the town while we waited. It was worth the wait.

On Saturday we looked at the art of Pierneef, so let's end this journey with his painting of the Valley of Desolation, painted when the early morning light was glowing in front of rather than behind it. Cheers!