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LATEST:Travel picture of the week - Hout Bay in Cape Town |
Travel Diary
The random musings of a friendly little travel company looking to provide incredible experience and maybe change the world along the way. Subscribe to our random ramblings and general travel insights by clicking here:
Cycling from John O'Groats to Land's End!
Wednesday 8 September 2010
A friend of mine, Jules Bird, has just had a mid-life crisis and embarked on a 954 mile solo cycle from John o' Groats to Land's End in 12 days. He is raising money for the Children’s Chronic Arthritis Association. The record is 44 hours but he has done no training and is also doing it the wrong way round (heading straight into the prevailing wind!) so he has opted for the leisurely 12 days! I have also stupidly been persuaded into joining him for three days this coming weekend. He has assured me this will be a chilled few days through beautiful scenery, staying in pretty B&Bs in the countryside - since booking my train I have discovered that we are spending the first night in the middle of Carlisle, which doesn't leave much to the imagination, and we are doing 300 miles with the most challenging uphill climb in the UK.......thanks so much Jules I can't wait.
Check out his travel blog.....it is actually seriously amusing, http://juliusbird.posterous.com/.
Johnny
Some pretty incredible images
Tuesday 7 September 2010
Red Bull recently ran a competition to find the best action and adventure sports images from around the world. We reckon they uncovered some pretty special gems in categories ranging from 'energy' to 'wings' and 'experimental' to 'spirit'!
Have a quick look to see which one was voted the overall winner, and skim through the other 22,000 or so contenders, if you've got a lot of time on your hands!
The Braai - a South African Institution
Monday 6 September 2010
The art of the barbeque. While to some of us, throwing a few bangers on an open flame and leaving them to burn to a charcoal crisp sounds like a good time on a rare sunny weekend in blighty, the same could not be said of the dedicated man at work image of a South African male and his tongs around a braai.
A scary amount of pride and territorial dominance goes into the process that is the braai but it is a sight to behold and while the below dramatisation of a group of mates' efforts to stereotype this commonly seen scene is amusing, it doesn't alter the fact that on arriving in SA and being immediately invited to share in this tasty ritual is not only a great quality of the guys, it's also an invitation you cannot and absolutely should not pass on.
Have a look here for some entertaining anecdotes about all things braai
aKING - Against All Odds
Tuesday 31 August 2010
Here's the latest music video by production company The African Attachment. It's for Against All Odds, the latest single by top South African band aKING. The African Attachment is an independent creative house based in Cape Town and as well as work on feature films and music videos like this one below they also run our Film and Photography internship programme. This seven week internship includes theory on camera and video camera techniques, training in production and editing coupled with continuous practical hands-on work. This is all then put into practice as each student works on a final project which is created and produced from start to finish with the guidance of the guys at The African Attachment, see here for more detail on the Film and Photography internship.
The demolition of Cape Town's Athlone cooling towers
Wednesday 25 August 2010
Just before midday last Saturday two guys pressed a little red button and two 80 metre tall cooling towers that had been a landmark in Cape Town for 50 years came crashing down and were reduced to a big cloud of dust in less than ten seconds. But, don't panic, it was all planned and had taken a demolition team 3,500 man hours to get the explosion just right.
Despite seeming to be an eye-sore and a blip on Cape Town's beautiful skyline and surrounding mountains, many locals said they felt a sadness at seeing the "two old ladies" go. Whilst the "salt and pepper pots" as they also affectionately known are no longer there, talk is of regenerating the area and building an African Cultural Museum in its place. Councillor Brian Watkyns who has been campaigning for 30 years for the towers to be demolished must be stoked!
The detonator tried to catch latecomers out by pressing the big bad button four minutes ahead of time but some onlookers weren't to be caught out - check out the video below to see the moment of destruction...