Trains and Boats and Planes! (Not really Planes though!)

Well, here I am, better late than never! Home again after a wonderful few days lazing on the banks of the Berg River. We arrived on Thursday morning after a journey of 45 minutes, and were unpacked, tent up and relaxing, an hour later! Alfie stayed in the car until everything was in place and then came out to inspect, and find a convenient tree!

All set up and ready to do nothing!

What a beautiful spot. We identified 54 bird species without moving away from the campsite! The list contains 180, so we didn't do too badly! From the large flamingos to the tiny mossies and everything in between, they can be seen here.

Iron ore heading to Saldanha Bay.

Wind, and then some!

We have been having some very hot days lately. Far too hot for me.

It happened very quickly though as a few weeks ago we had several days of the most unbelievable wind, gusting up to 65kph at times, causing tremendous damage both on land and sea. Ships were stranded in Cape Town harbour, unable to leave. One of them was the cruise ship 'MSC Sinfonia' and the passengers spent two days of their cruise, tied up! (Not the passengers, the ship!) Roofs were blown off, trees blown down and at one stage we heard on the radio that the SPCA had warned owners of small dogs not to let them out in case they blew away! Seriously! One lady phoned in to the radio station to say that her large Labrador had been blown sideways into a tree!
Fortunately we were fine here, we walked a little bent into the wind, but Alfie remained firmly on the ground, although his ears flapped a lot! Our roof did a fair amount of creaking and we did wonder if we would wake up to see the stars where the roof once was, but fortunately it held.

The Dry Dock at Saldanha harbour.

We went for a drive to Saldanha harbour, another favourite place of ours, to see what was happening in the dry dock. We were glad to see that two fishing boats were being repaired and painted, they look so different out of the water. Then we had a wander along the wall.

Poor boat.

Sadly we saw that one of the boats had sunk at her moorings, we don't know the story, but it's such a sad ending for a boat somehow. Like a fire engine burning, or a tractor being buried!

Sail on, 'Maggie-May'

I love this photograph of our boat 'MAGGIE-MAY'. Ever since we moved here I have been looking for a boat. Let me stress that I did not want a seaworthy vessel, I have no thoughts of braving the waves and getting wet and cold, no, I wanted an old boat that could end her days happily squatting amongst the greenery of the garden.

Our 'Maggie-May'