Tag: table mountain

Half Price Cape Sunsets

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The Table Mountain Cableway are offering half price trips up the mountain after 6pm for the next four months:

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Table Mountain Cableway: Four months of sunsets at half price.
Cableway goes ½ price from 6pm.
Valid from 1 November 2009 – 28 February 2010.
Adult return R80.00. Child return R40.00 (under 18).
Information line (021) 424 8181. Cableway operates weather permitting.

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I haven’t been up the mountain for ages and this seems like the perfect excuse for a few beers and some stunning views.
And this time, I’ll take my camera!

Not a rainbow quota photo

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It is important for readers of this site to understand that not every photo posted on here is necessarily a quota photo.

To clarify, a quota photo is a device used to fill space in order to maintain my “post a day” promise. Quota photos are used on days when news is slow, time is short or inspiration has run dry. These conditions do not apply today, thus what is published below is a photo that I took this morning and that I want you to see, not one that was posted because there was nothing else to say and no time to say it.

Glancing out of my passenger window for my favourite view of Table Mountain from the car as I was passing Rondebosch Common this morning, I saw that someone had daubed a rainbow across the big rock. Everybody loves rainbows.
The disappointment that immediately followed at not having my camera to hand rapidly vanished as I realised that it was in the boot. I swung violently across two lanes of no traffic, jumped out of the car and began painting with light.

You can see it bigger or visit my Cape Town set for a few more that I took this morning, plus loads of other varied and eclectic photos, each with some vague link the the Mother City.

This was not a quota photo post.

Moody Mountain

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Yes, Spring is supposed to have sprung, and indeed it may be happily bouncing around the rest of South Africa, but the Cape coast remains distinctly wintery. A delectable cocktail of 13°C, strong winds and heavy showers is forecast for today after a hailstorm of note woke the family from its collective slumbers at 3:30 this morning.

Spring, it certainly ain’t.

Table Mountain was decidedly moody this morning as I paused to snap a couple of quick pics on the way to work. It refused to smile and turned its back on me. Grumpy bugger.

A measure of the rain that we have had over the past couple of days are the waterfalls coming off the top of the mountain. These are temporary affairs – usually only seen after prolonged heavy rain: it has been wet.

Accompanying the rain were some nice high winds, hence these pictures of the ship – a Turkish coal carrier – which broke anchor last night and was (and still is) beached at Blouberg.

And finally – desperate for something warmer and drier – a lovely summary (geddit?!?) of the Brandon Huntley saga from Jeremy Nell. Funny stuff.

EDIT: Since I had my camera to hand, I took this photo too. I quite like it.

Table Mountain From The Car

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Some blogs have confusing, technical or arty-farty titles. Others are more empirical.

Table Mountain From The Car features a daily photograph of Table Mountain, taken from a car. Which is brilliant.

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There now, that was pretty straightforward, wasn’t it?

EDIT: TMFTC appears to be the brainchild of Just Plain Ron.

Table Mountain Silhouettes

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It was cold and dark and wet in Cape Town yesterday. All day.
Now it’s cold and dark and wet again, but at least one third of that is due to it being night time. 

The cloud has been thick and grey and low. I’m quite sure that Table Mountain does still exist, even if we can’t actually see it. This information is especially important for pilots and aviators of any kind to remember. I’m still wondering if once we get clearer weather, we’ll find Air France 447 sat on top of it. Although I’m not wondering this ever so seriously, if I’m honest.

Meanwhile, a reminder of warmer times up the mountain: December 30th 2007 to be exact. We were up the mountain that day with the same couple that we visited today for an indoor braai (believe it, because it’s true), so it seems reasonable to step back 18 months and enjoy one of my most very favourite pictures.

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Which is fully explained here and fully illustrated here.

There were flashing lights all over Devils Peak as we drove back into Cape Town this evening. I don’t know why. Suffice to say they looked like emergency vehicles rather than Christmas lights, but I can’t elaborate further just now because I’m all out of elaborative details. I could make some stuff up, but I find that often gets me into trouble, so probably best to wait for the newspapers to tell me what happened tomorrow.

One final word: this was a big relief after I watched this last night.