After a lovely prawn and chicken salad, celebrating Jules’ safe return from India, along with conversations on match fixing and bonsai donkeys, the moon shadow through the pine trees called us to Signal Hill. Though not a picture perfect picture, one can clearly see Venus and Jupiter, not too far from the moon. In Australia however, the picture is slightly different with the moon below Venus and Jupiter, leaving a shining smiley face in the sky.

What caught my attention, and brought back a thought on stupidity was the fire extinguisher mounted to a pine tree next to the parking lot. I was involved with the Cape Town Volunteer Fire Fighters at one stage, and therefore hope I’ll be excused for putting my thoughts out here. The idea is to create awareness for wildfires by mounting fake, wooden fire extinguishers at strategic places, along popular footpaths. My issue is the craftsmanship of the extinguisher. As one strolls along the footpath, one doesn’t necessarily pay that much attention to the extinguisher. But should a fire do break out further down the path, I for one won’t blame anyone for rushing back to the extinguisher, expecting it to be the real McCoy.

Please support the The Volunteer Wildfire Services at http://www.capefires.com

written by ScooterSchalk

It took me less than a thought to except an invitation to an unforgettable adventure along the most beautiful coastline of South Africa. The Otter trail’s scenery is endless and no camera can capture the true experience and beauty. We spend our pre-otter night at the Wild Tongue Backpackers, a lovely spot in the woods, only a few kilometres from the finish and a safe place to leave your car. We were blessed with good weather, which does not rule out the rain we also enjoyed. By the end of the walk, we could make a tick next to numerous sightings; dolphins, whales, otters, bokkies, miskeljaatkat, snake, you name it.
A great deal of the experience, is actually experiencing it, whilst not knowing what to expect. I think therefore one should not leave too much advice to the next otter adventurer. One point that should not cause any harm: Though we had to carry heavy backpacks, we ate like kings with steak on the menu, not less than three times, along with fresh roosterkoeke en boererwors, black mussels fresh from the ocean, Port from Beaumont, Whiskey from Johnny, and so we walked on.

Photo’s of the walk under Gallery!

written by ScooterSchalk