Category: Postcards

Images from my travels

home thoughts from abroad

Home thoughts from abroad is a new series on Travel Words featuring a single photograph that reminds me of a country visited and showing something that uniquely identifies it as being ‘abroad’.

Visiting the African penguins at Boulder’s Beach in Cape Town in 2008 we came across this young guy sleeping in his wheelbarrow. Obviously exhausted from his efforts to keep the dunes tidy. Whenever I see this photo it makes me smile and brings back memories of those delightful and comical creatures who have colonised what was once considered to be a prime beach on the peninsula.

I can still recall the long row of parked cars along the roadside in the summer months making it impossible to visit the beach back in the 1970s.

Mmm… now where does that remind me of?

Ocean Drive

SoBe (South Beach) in Miami, Florida is famous for not only its white sandy beach and turquoise water, but also the well-preserved Art Deco buildings, the relaxed life style, the restaurants and beach cafés.

Some people commented on my Miami photo that they would love to see some photos of the South Beach architecture.

On Ocean Drive outdoor cafés give you a ringside view of all the action.

I had a lot of difficulty actually photographing the buildings as there are a lot of obstacles in the way. There are a lot of parked cars, moving cars, pedestrians and restaurants along this road.

Not to mention palm trees! I had to stand on the pavement / sidewalk opposite to try to get the buildings in frame, but it wasn’t easy and the perspective is easily distorted.

Art Deco decoration
Curved window grills
Flamingo outside the Tropical Café

But I hope this photo essay gives you a feel of the place. With the sugared almond colours, the cubic shapes, the curves, the barley twist columns and the decorative patterned features. And the fabulous windows, especially those corner ones on the Congress Hotel. And opposite all this busyness is this…

leading you to the sea.

~wander.essence~ photography

home thoughts from abroad

Home thoughts from abroad is a new series on Travel Words featuring a single photograph that reminds me of a country visited and showing something that uniquely identifies it as being ‘abroad’.

This picture takes me back to the 26 day camping trip I took travelling around southern Africa. Although I lived in South Africa for many years I never had the time, money or opportunity to visit neighbouring countries other than a brief trip to Mozambique and Swaziland in my pre children days. In 2000 I went on this journey of a lifetime recorded as a diary on this blog. If you haven’t read about it then please click on the links below. The picture is of  a Sociable Weaver nest. In the Namib Desert these nests can become so large and heavy that they bring the tree down. They are the largest nest built by any bird and may house over 100 pairs of birds. They sometimes build them on electricity poles causing short circuits in the rainy season and fire in the dry season. One look at it and I remember the dryness and the heat of that region. When the hairs in your nostrils smell as though they are being singed, you know it is hot.

  1. Week One – Cape Town to the Orange River
  2. Week Two – Namibia
  3. Week Three – Christmas in the wet
  4. Week Four – Finding Rhino