Weekly Events Round Up (30 Apr to 6 May 2012)

Energy Expo

This week con­tin­ues with the hive of activ­ity sur­round­ing the pub­lic hol­i­day sea­son and if you are lucky enough to take the Monday off work as well you can make an extra long week­end of it! We all lead busy lives but it is a good idea to get out and do some­thing dif­fer­ent over the holidays.

South Africans will be com­mem­or­at­ing Workers’ Day on 1 May, a pub­lic hol­i­day that is a testi­mony to the hard battles that work­ers in this coun­try and in other parts of the World have waged for work­ers' rights and social justice over many dec­ades. The focus is on work­ing together to cre­ate jobs and fight poverty.

Check out some of the fab­ulous sug­ges­tions of annual events and fest­ivals tak­ing place all over South Africa. Bring your fam­ily and friends together to enjoy some these mem­or­able activ­it­ies. Whatever you might be look­ing for we are here to help you with sug­ges­tions of what you can do to keep yourselves enter­tained this week ...

Continued

I ♥ Fresnaye Because ...

I ♥ Fresnaye

Hi, I’m Melanie from The Walden Suites in Fresnaye on the Atlantic Seaboard in Cape Town.

Fresnaye IS BEST KNOWN FOR its tran­quil­lity and awe­some views. Best of both worlds as you have the moun­tains and the ocean on your door­step. It is also mostly a wind-free area when the well known Cape Doctor wind is blow­ing in the rest of Cape Town. The best part of Fresnaye, is that it is ideally loc­ated to reach Camps Bay, Lundudno & Hout Bay to the one side and Sea Point, Waterfront and City Centre con­veni­ently on the other side.

GET YOUR PICTURE TAKEN AT Signal Hill, it is the per­fect place for a beau­ti­ful Sundowner as well as being sur­roun­ded by Table Mountain and Lions Head Mountain. Continued

I ♥ Mooi River ...

I ♥ Mooi River

Hi, I’m Arlene Arnold from Wild Berry Guest Farm in Mooi River.

Originally called Lawrenceville, the town of Mooi River nestles in a val­ley some 1401m above sea level.  The Zulus called the river “Mpofana” or “place of the eland”, while the Dutch named it “Mooi” mean­ing “pretty”.  The coun­tryside var­ies from moun­tain­ous in the west of the dis­trict towards Giants Castle, through rolling hills and grass­land to the thorn­veld around Middelrus in the north­w­est.  It is a well-watered land­scape, most of it ideally suited to agriculture.

In 1884 the rail­way reached Alexander Lawrence’s farm Grantleigh and the town was estab­lished and grew around the rail­way sta­tion.  Mooi River became a Town Board in 1921 and steady pro­gress, based on agri­cul­ture, tour­ism and industry, enabled it to obtain Borough status in 1959.  It is today rightly regarded at the gate­way to the Midlands, Kamberg and Giants Castle and to the dra­mat­ic­ally scenic areas of Rietvlei and Middelrus. Continued

World of Birds – A Wonderful Day's Family Outing in Hout Bay

World of Birds

Walter Mangold has an unusual name. He also had an unusual vis­ion, well over 30 years ago. That vis­ion was to fill four hec­tares of land already over­run with port jack­son with birds, trees and aviaries.

Perhaps it is the asso­ci­ation of his name with a highly desir­able min­eral that has sus­tained his ven­ture, des­pite hav­ing no offi­cial fund­ing, for so long or pos­sibly it is the fierce integ­rity with which he runs what has become the largest bird park in Africa, and one of few large bird parks in the World.

And it's right on our door­step in Hout Bay, Cape Town. Continued

The Victorian Café in Howick – A Review

The Victorian Café

The small town of Howick in the pic­tur­esque KwaZulu-Natal Midlands is home to a num­ber of eat­er­ies and res­taur­ants. One of those estab­lish­ments is The Victorian Café, a small res­taur­ant situ­ated in Main Street just oppos­ite the beau­ti­fully restored Agricultural Hall, one of the town’s main attractions.

Despite its rather posh name, The Victorian Café is not a fancy res­taur­ant by any stretch of the ima­gin­a­tion, and nor does it claim or aim to be. Owners Peter and Christina Brown, who have over 20 years’ exper­i­ence in the hos­pit­al­ity industry, have devised a menu that offers simple and afford­able, value-for-money meals which can be enjoyed by people of all ages. Continued

I ♥ Cape Town Central Because ...

I ♥ Cape Town Central

Hi, I’m Jason Rodwell from the Daddy Long Legs Art Hotel in Cape Town Central.

Cape Town Central IS BEST KNOWN FOR Long Street and the night­life sur­round­ing it.

GET YOUR PICTURE TAKEN AT Table Mountain which is, in my opin­ion, one of the best things Cape Town has to offer and such an amaz­ing nat­ural wonder.

THE BEST "artsy" PICTURES CAN BE TAKEN AT the Two Oceans Aquarium at the V&A Waterfront.
OTHER HAPPY SNAPS AT Green Market Square. Continued

Weekly Events Round Up (23–29 Apr 2012)

Freedom Day Celebrations

The provinces through­out South Africa are a hive of activ­ity this week mostly due to the up-coming pub­lic hol­i­day thus long week­end and are treat­ing us to some won­der­ful events of all vari­et­ies. It is now time to bring out your cal­en­dar and take note of these excit­ing things hap­pen­ing all around you! Don't for­get to share all of this with your friends and family.

We will be acknow­ledging Freedom Day cel­eb­rated on 27 April in South Africa which ori­gin­ally com­mem­or­ated the day on which our first post-apartheid elec­tions were held in 1994, but from that day onwards it has grown to have much deeper mean­ing to all of us. Now, Freedom Day also cel­eb­rates the free­dom of choice, the free­dom of reli­gion, sexu­al­ity and speech.

Enjoy your long week­end by check­ing out some of the won­der­ful sug­ges­tions of annual events and fest­ivals tak­ing place all over the coun­try. If you are look­ing for some­thing you can just indulge on your­self or if you are look­ing for fam­ily events for every­one to enjoy then carry on reading ...

Continued

I ♥ Hoedspruit Because ...

I ♥ Hoedspruit

Hi, I’m Gerrie Molle and Anita de Laat from BushGlam Luxury Holiday Home in Hoedspruit in Limpopo.

Hoedspruit IS BEST KNOWN FOR its per­fect loc­a­tion sur­roun­ded by Private Game Reserves and only 40 minutes’ drive to world fam­ous Kruger National Park.

GET YOUR PICTURE TAKEN AT sit­ting in your open safari vehicle when a herd of ele­phants’ passes by. Or what about a pic­ture with a rhino, buf­falo, leo­pard or lion?!.
THE BEST animal PICTURES CAN BE TAKEN AT the Kruger National Park.

WHEN THE WEATHER'S GOOD, I LIKE TO go on a safari drive, driv­ing the Panorama Route or enjoy­ing a boat cruise on the Blyde River. Continued

Sightseeing In My Own City — the Hop-on, Hop-off Experience of CT

Open-top Bus Tour

We're stand­ing just out­side the Two Oceans Aquarium on a Monday that is also a pub­lic hol­i­day. It's early, and the weather is typ­ic­ally autum­nal in it's insist­ence on con­fus­ing our ther­mo­stats with dev­ast­at­ingly blue skies accom­pan­ied by winds that could eas­ily have blown in off the tun­dra. Particularly if you're wear­ing slops, like the young girl next to me, whose legs are now a del­ic­ate shade of purple.

Our three boys are hop­ping from foot to foot in their eager­ness to be first on, so as to secure the seats at the top in the front, and we're main­tain­ing a slightly more non­chal­ant eye out for the bus, just man­aging to restrain ourselves from mak­ing a disheveled dash for the red route as it sweeps in to pick up the little knot of people wait­ing oppos­ite us (we're on the blue). Continued

I ♥ Morningside Because ...

I ♥ Morningside

Hi, I’m Caroline from Lindsay Loft in Morningside, Durban in KwaZulu Natal.

Morningside IS BEST KNOWN FOR being a trendy upmar­ket sub­urb with many res­taur­ants, pubs and clubs. Its parks and gar­dens and beau­ti­ful res­id­en­tial homes includ­ing Kings House, the State President’s res­id­ence when he vis­its Durban, just add an extra dimension.

WHEN THE WEATHER'S GOOD, I LIKE TO walk around Mitchell and Jameson Park.
WHEN THE WEATHER'S BAD, I LIKE TO curl up with a good book.

I THINK THE BEST TIME OF YEAR TO VISIT IS Spring, Autumn or Winter, BECAUSE some people find it a bit hot in Summer. Continued

Gardens With a Difference – Alternative Gardens to Visit

An Orange Pincushion

More and more there are gar­dens grown and main­tained not only for the joy of those who estab­lish them, but also for the pub­lic to whom the gar­dens are made avail­able, simply for the joy of it.

These are unof­fi­cial gar­dens that indi­vidu­als have planted them­selves. They are not botan­ical, although gar­dens like the Stellenbosch University Botanic Garden could eas­ily belong here (small, not that well known, really worth a visit).

Which is not to say that the botan­ical gar­dens are not worth a visit. They are. And each is beau­ti­ful in its own way. But these gar­dens are idio­syn­cratic with a dis­tinct­ive sig­na­ture left by the people who grow them. There is some­thing almost voyeur­istic about vis­it­ing, and one can't help but leave inspired. Continued

The Terrace Tea Garden and Animal Farm in Illovo Beach – A Review

Terrace Tea Garden

The Terrace Tea Garden in Illovo Beach on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast is a delight­ful eat­ery that caters for a wide vari­ety of age groups, tastes, and pref­er­ences. Situated within the lush green­ery of the Illovo Nursery in Elizabeth Avenue just oppos­ite the pop­u­lar ATKV Natalia hol­i­day resort, the Terrace Tea Garden has become pop­u­lar with both loc­als and hol­i­day makers alike.

Owners Yvonne Swift and Lesley Austin have cre­ated a win­ning menu that has everything you’d expect a good tea garden to have. A selec­tion of cooked break­fasts ran­ging from the simple Mini Me to the massive Mega (R60), a ‘man-sized meal’ com­pris­ing two eggs, three rash­ers of bacon, a hash brown, two pork saus­ages, mush­rooms, grilled tomato, chips and toast, are avail­able till 11am after which lunch is served. Continued

I ♥ Underberg Because ...

I ♥ Underberg

Hi, I’m Caryn Walker from Bergview in Underberg.

Underberg IS BEST KNOWN FOR fly fish­ing, bird watch­ing and hiking.

GET YOUR PICTURE TAKEN AT the view­point as you enter Underberg, as you get a lovely view of the mountain.

THE BEST Underberg PICTURES CAN BE TAKEN AT the top of the Hlongoma Mountain dir­ectly behind Bergview.

OTHER HAPPY SNAPS AT the many reserves around the area.

WHEN THE WEATHER'S GOOD, I LIKE TO go tubing down the river.

WHEN THE WEATHER'S BAD, I LIKE TO sit in front of a fire and watch the scenery from inside. Continued

Weekly Events Round Up (16–22 Apr 2012)

Starry Starry Night

We are already mid way through April and with Easter a not too dis­tant memory we have a breather before the next lot of pub­lic hol­i­days to look for­ward too. Even though you might want to rest up and relax after a hec­tic Easter break, event organ­isers from around South Africa have been busy arran­ging a vari­ety of events to keep you all revelling.

Choose from a selec­tion of sport­ing events to take part in, includ­ing trail run­ning, the ulti­mate triath­lon, MTB races and the con­tinu­ing Marathon sea­son and if you are keen why not try out bar­rel rolling! Those of you busy plan­ning your spe­cial Wedding day, check out the vari­ous Wedding events on offer.

So gather your fam­ily and friends together, whether it is with a pic­nic, blanket and bottle of wine for star gaz­ing at the mag­ni­fi­cent Southern African night skies or vis­it­ing some of the vari­ous wine shows around the coun­try, we have activ­it­ies for all to get out and about to make the most of autumn this week ...

Continued

I ♥ Llandudno Because ...

I ♥ Llandudno

Hi, I’m Janet Hoffman from Cape Sabata in Llandudno.

Llandudno IS BEST KNOWN FOR for its beau­ti­ful beach.

GET YOUR PICTURE TAKEN AT the boulders on the beach; it's very picturesque.

THE BEST sun­set PICTURES CAN BE TAKEN AT the beach in Llandudno.

OTHER HAPPY SNAPS AT ... pretty much any­where in Cape Town.

WHEN THE WEATHER'S GOOD, I LIKE TO sun­bathe, walk along the beach or surf.

WHEN THE WEATHER'S BAD, I LIKE TO visit the V & A Waterfront.

I THINK THE BEST TIME OF YEAR TO VISIT IS November and March BECAUSE it is not crowded and not too hot. Continued