Pablo's Amazingly Landscaped World

1,2,3

testing testing

Day Three - Cape Point

Day Three: Cape Point Tour

Third day of us in Cape Town and we decided to go on a guided coach tour of the Cape Peninsula. It was less of a coach and more of a minibus with about 12 of us squeezed on board. It had little supsension and although im usually a good traveller I was feeling the need to throw up as we went across the bumpy wilderness of the Cape.

First stop was about 15 minutes drive from our hotel at a place called Clifton and Camps Bay(pictured below), which is known for being the most expensive and desirable part of the city to live in with its long white sand beach and the Lion's Head and Table Mountain framing it, as well as a part of Table Mountain known as The Twelve Apostles.

After our little "Kodak Moment" we trundled off on our way through the city suburbs to Houts Bay passing residential homes that have armed response in case they get burgled and by small townships. Traffic light road junctions had black men waiting by the street corners for companies to come along employ them and pay them a days wage. This is common in South Africa, as they do not have a welfare system like in the United Kingdom. When we got to Hout Bay (another desirable area of cape Town) we were greeted by a long strip of arts and crafts with a marina behind it. For an hour you had the chance to either go and visit Duiker Island or to stroll around the seafront. I decided to go on the trip to visit Duiker Island with my mum, which is a seal colony. It takes not very long to get there and you can see the seals going about their daily business and the pups playing in the sea with their parents amongst the seaweed and kelp. When we came back we were greeted by a band who sing about your trip and expect money in turn :-)

From Hout Bay we went back on ourselves and travelled over to Muizenberg on the Cape Flats, as Chapmans Peak Drive was closed due to a recent landslide. From the coastal town of Muizenberg we drove along the east coast of the Cape Peninsula up to Fish Hoek, which a good viewing point for seeing across the Cape Flats. We then hopped back into our bus and down to our next major stop at a beach known as "The Boulders", which has a penguiiiiiin colony!!!! Along the Cape South Africa has it's own colony of nesting Jackas Penguins. You are not allowed to walk along the beach, but instead you walk along raised wooden platforms that allow the penguins to walk underneath you from the plants to the sand and sea. Aaah i love how penguins waddle and huddle together. If i am to be re incarnated i choose to come back as a penguin :-)

Leaving the lovely penguins behind we left for our main destination the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve and to visit the most southerly point of the African continent Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope, which are both different places. Clear warm skies greeted us at Cape Point and with a walk up to the lighthouse are brilliant views looking into False Bay and back up the Cape. With the short drive to the Cape of Good Hope however, we were joined by stormy seas, mist and rain! As the Cape is at the point of the Atlantic and Indian Ocean's weather conditions can change dramatically throughout the day.

After a small drenching we got back on the bus and raced the incoming clouds to see if we could get to Kirstenbosch before the rain decided to set in. Kirstenbosch is the National Botanical Gardens of South Africa and contains only plants that are native to the country, inlcuding flowers such as the Bird of Paradise with which Nelson Mandela has a variety in his name. The Gardens contains wild Guinea Foul and many sculptures amongst the ancient trees, shrubs and tropical flowers.

So after a long days tour we came winding from over the mountain's back into Cape Town with the sunsetting and our stomach's rumbling so it was time for us to have a nice dinner by the Victoria & Albert Seafront and watch the sun go down and the night begin.

Day Two - Table Mountain

Day Two - Table Mountain:

Today we decided to go to the main attraction and focal point that makes Cape Town unique, which is Table Mountain! Luckily for us this happened to be the only day where there were perfect skies at the top of the Table, which is very rare if your a tourist.

To get near to the sumit you first need to get a taxi to the Lower Station, which is about a quarter of the way up Table Mountain. To get to the top you have to go by cable car. This cable car however rotates round 360 degrees, as well as going diagonally up the side of the mountain giving you fantastic views of the city.

Once up at the top it is suprising hot, considering we are at the highest point in the Cape region. There are wildlife trails to follow and numerous flora growing in the rocks. From the Table Cloth you can see right to Cape Point and beyond, as well as a clear view of the top of Signal Hill and the Lion's Head and the cities suburbs. Steve my kerrr-ray-zee taxi driver said that is where paragliders take off from and drift over the city with their plastic wings. He also asked if we had been held up at gun point or something relating to guns, but he was only JOKING.

Day One - the flight

Cape Town Day One:-

Me, mama, papa and brother smurf went off on our quest to discover what Cape Town and Mauritius have to offer! Being picked up by our chauffer at 3 o'clock in the afternoon (for we are most posh). As we were running pretty early the guy asked if we wanted go the normal or the scenic way, so like the adventurous people that we are we decided to go scenic. Alas the man decided to take a wrong turn and then decided to realiy heavily on his Sat Nav to get us to Heathrow. He took us through such delights, as Crystal Palace, Anerly, Gypsey Hill, Streatham Common, Tooting Common and all other commons that are known for their high crime rates. Eventually passing my mums "place of birth" Chiswick we got to Heathrow and i had all the usual check-in stuff. Security was still tight due to the proposed plane bombings a week before so we were ordered to remove our shoes and put everything through the X-Ray machines. Once through we were feeling a bit peckish so we decided to p-p-p-pick up a Giraffe! Well that was the name of the restaurant and they do worldly foods and have smoothies with silly names that makes the adults sound stupid whenever they order them. You also get a little giraffe to stir your smoothie with! Anyway enough of talking about food (which i am a great fan of). We boarded the plane at 9 and i had to spend 10 hours sitting next to my brother *siiigh*.

South Africa Airlines were pretty good, they kept giving you drinks and had lots of movies to watch from American to English and African too! However this was my first long haul flight and trying to sleep in a plane seat is not the most comfortable of things in the world. Also when you are trying to watch a movie and your brother ends up sleeping with his face in front of yours, it is a bit distracting.

So to cut my waffling short we landed in Cape Town airport at about 10 in the morning and it was a sunny day with a bit of cloud. When coming to stay in Cape Town they like you to fill out a great deal of forms and stare at your passport photo and then look at you, which always makes me laugh as i have such an appauling photo with a bowl shaped hair-do (i don't have that now mind).

Once through customs we got on a mini bus and were driven to our hotel in the new financial district of Cape Town, where a new international convention centre has been built and various other developments are being made in time for the World Cup. However, next to the roadside that connects the airport to the city are many townships where farmers have settled in search of a better life.

Update!

Update:

From the critically un acclaimed author that is me.... Here are my rather late running accounts of my visits to Cape Town and Mauritius!

Sissinghurst Photos

Sissinghurst Photos:

Sissinghurst Castle Gardens

Sissinghurst:

Last Sunday I went with my family out on a treks for lavender for our newly re designed front garden. Supposedly the place we were going to was highly recommended in the tourist guide book for Kent. This place was most perculiar... It was hidden away behind a converted mansion and the main building was a 1940s prefab and it looked like nothing had changed probably since that time. We were expecting to see fields of lavende,r but all there were were a few withered plants that looked like they hadn't been watered for a week and some old poly tunnels. To view "the lavender gardens" cost £4, but we did not take them up on that offer. Instead we found the only good plants there really and we bought them all so that we didn't feel so bad for driving all that way! Whilst we were so far into Kent we decided to visit this castle nearby, which belongs to The National Trust called Sissinghurst Castle Gardens. Over the centuries Sissinghurst Castle has been built up, knocked down, re-positioned, built back up again and once more been reduced in size. With the grand 3 sided mansion being demolished to leave just an entrance, central arched tower, barns, a granary and some tiled cottages. The rest of the land has formal english gardens that all link together with orchards and a herb garden and set within the rolling Kentish countryside.

A Day So Far

A Day So Far...

Today i woke up and even managed to get the early early train...i thought my day was going rather well and attempted to make contact with the Ben...but could i get through of course i couldn't so i was left sitting at three bridges station for half an hour waiting for him to come along. Whilst waiting and using my mobilus phonus i felt a sudden scratch on my arm, i thought maybe that i had caught my watch on my skin. I turned my arm and what did i see staring at me but two beady eyes. It was Mr Wasp, but was Mr Wasp happy? NO he was not and proceeded to bite me and sting me and create a huuuge swelling on the underside of my arm. Well one was not best pleased at the wasp just satyed on my arm even as i tried to shoe it away. Eventually it left, probably to catch some commuter train to the worldly workplace of a wasp. Without it's company i was left to deal with the throbbing pain whilst waiting for Ben to pick me up. By this time the bite was growing and my arm was feeling the pain.

Then suddenly Ben decided to finally turn up :-p and he came up with the 'amazing' idea of using his strange naming orange Zimbabwean fruit on me. In doing so i managed to squirt the juice of it all over me before work. But at least i managed to get to work early even though i have to stay here a hour and a half later than usual, but ooooooooh well.

Have a nice day people :) NOt that i know if anyone reads my blog? If they do please comment! Adios.

Update

Update:

I havn't really had the time to put any blogs up at the moment and when i have tried to put my photos up the internet decides to implode...how very selfish of it.

Anywho since the last blog i have been to Jersey for my cousins wedding, architecture week, seen The Producers musical (which is very good) and i have started work at a practice for the summer! It is only a small practice (in Worthing so lonnnnng travel for me) but i have lots to do and i have been involved in creating a proposal for a competition... hopefully we will win the contract! And it is the same firm as the one Ben is working at (see links) so maybe he has more info on what we are doing.

I'll try and put up photos of my visits soon not that anyone is remotely bothered. :-P

A spot of tennis anyone?

Wimbledon:

Being a disorganised bunch of people, myself and my friends Tom and Katherine decided to leave at 10 ish in the morning to get to Wimbledon. This people is a bad idea, as although you get more sleep you end up having to que. So after getting the tram to Wimbledon and walking there on a nice summers day we had to sit on the pavement and que for four hours until we got into Wimbledon itself to see the tennis. Then once inside we saw a few matches including a match on Number 1 Court (which was designed by BDP) with Lleyton Hewitt playing Hyung-Taik Lee which ended at 2 sets all at the end of the day. We also saw Sebastien Grosjean play Jamie Delgardo and Dinara Safina play Mashona Washington.

West Peckham

Old Village-ness:

For father's day (which was a while ago now) my dad got a pub walk book thingy. Now this is useful for two things...One: It gets my mum and dad out of the house and gives them some exercise. Two: The pub means that after loosing calories they shall put them back on again after having a big pub lunch and some drinks. What a great idea 'ay?

So anyway we decided to go on one of the walks in Kent, as although being from Kent we havn't seen too many of the places in the county. The walk we chose was one in a small wee lil village called West Peckham, near Sevenoaks.

For anyone who does not know what a typical English village may look like then this is it. At the centre of the village is a green surrounded by trees where cricket is played. Then next to the green is an ancient churh and the traditional pub :)

After lunch we kind of gave up on the whole walk thing, as there was a village fate with classic cars, birds of prey, brass band, the traditional womens insitute of homemade cakes and the compulsory throw a wet object at tony blair or gerge bush stand.

Then on our way home we bought some cheeries from a tiny little hut at the side of the road which were yummy...i dont think you can get much more Kentish than that!

Yesterdays News

Yesterdays News:

Yesterday I went to Londonium with my parents and saw many a thing. Part of London's Architecture Week someone thought it would be a great idea to attempt to heard sheep from Southwark Cathedral all the way via Tate Modern and across the wobbly bridge to Smithfield Market.
When I got to Southwark Cathedral there was a great crowd of people from the posh ponce to the tourist, as well as a small group of animal rights protestors saying that it was "Medieval Slaughter". However, some of these protestors were wearing leather shoes and they were next to food market that was actually selling meats, dairy produce as well as many other foods so why wern't they causing a fuss in there?

The sheep really did need a good shearing though and it was too hot to heard them really, but i dont think they were going to be slaughtered at the market, as they looked far too old and looked like they had been rented from a farm.

Above: Little Farmers and Farmer Sharp with sheep next to Southwark Cathedral.

More Sheep:

The Worshipful Butchers (The ones dressed oddly):

The Humans become the sheep, as they follow the real sheep in large numbers:

Anywho the sheep looked a bit bored with me taking photos of them so we went to Borough Market, which in my opinion is one of the best London markets especially if you are like me and are obsessed with eating food :-D It has food produce bought from all over europe and Britain and you can sample most foods for free.

Borough Market Pictures:

Hastings Plaza area

Hastings:

The Plaza-

An area that would link the Ideas Centre to the beach and in turn to the sea. My choice of materials came from my city visits to Barclona and Lisbon. The layout of the area is influenced from natural objects washed up on the Stade. And yes that is my brother skipping in the middle of the picture and yes that man really was asleep in the wheelbarrow!

Model From The Sea

Hastings:

A View From the Sea (if you happen to be floating by)-

The Speakeasy

Hastings:

The Speakeasy-

An area of tranquility for the visitors to the ideas centre to discuss about exisitng works to the curator and just an area to relax in shade and partial light.

Hastings From Plaza to Beach

Hastings:

From Plaza to Beach-

These photos show the changes in levels from the predestrian area to the shingle beach of Rock-a-Nore in Hastings. Areas can be used for seating, access and viewing.

Hastings Project 4b

Hastings:

Project 4b-

This was the second part to my final project for the 1st year. In it we were to take certain areas further and transform it so that it was more landscape focused and doing so preparing us for our second year.

Lisboa Photos

Lisbon:

During the Easter Holidays i went on a trip to the city of Lisboa in Portugal and saw many different places including Sintra, Belem, Cascais as well as the city of Lisboa itself.

Traditional tile fronted Lisboa building:

Photos of Belem-

Photos of Lisbon-

Parque das Nacoes (Expo '98)-

Cascais And Sintra-

Hastings Looking Out to Sea

Hastings:

Looking Out Towards the Sea-

This photoshop looks from the land out to the English Channel with people sitting in the wating area, as well as the main exhibition space.

Hastings Lower Gallery Space

Hastings:

Lower Gallery Space-

This is used for further exhibits or to display student work etc... It can also be used as an additional space for extra large exhibitions or shows.

Main Exhibition Space

Hastings:

The Main Exhibition Space-

The panda is merely an attraction, imagine a huge robotic panda sculpture and you shall be somewhere near to realising what it is like to be in this fantastic copper clad gallery and exhibition area. Also other things that could be displayed here are paintings, photos, performance art, small musical performances and plays and sculptural works from local people.

Hastings Bar

Hastings:

The Bar-

The Ideas Centre Bar would be semi public allowing non visitors to also be able to have a drink or some food, whilst enjoying the surrounding scenery.

Hastings 2nd Design Model

Hastings:

2nd Design Model-

I used copper sheeting and pins to create a similar structure to the paper model. But i wanted to create something that would be realistically strong yet would be easy to shape and would still deomonstrate the same light qualities as before.

Hastings 1st Design Model

Hastings:

1st Design Model-

This is my first basic model and was to test the form and how it would possibly work as a structure. It is based upon a wave and internally will contain an exhibtion area, bar, waiting room, speak easy and a micro flat for the curator.

Pablo's Amazingly Landscaped World

Friday, November 17, 2006

1,2,3

Sunday, September 24, 2006

Day Three - Cape Point

Day Two - Table Mountain

Monday, September 11, 2006

Day One - the flight

Sunday, September 10, 2006

Update!

Thursday, September 07, 2006

Sissinghurst Photos

Sissinghurst Castle Gardens

Friday, August 04, 2006

A Day So Far

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Update

Monday, July 03, 2006

A spot of tennis anyone?

Sunday, July 02, 2006

West Peckham

Sunday, June 18, 2006

Yesterdays News

Friday, June 16, 2006

Hastings Plaza area

Model From The Sea

The Speakeasy

Hastings From Plaza to Beach

Hastings Project 4b

Friday, June 09, 2006

Lisboa Photos

Hastings Looking Out to Sea

Hastings Lower Gallery Space

Main Exhibition Space

Hastings Bar

Hastings 2nd Design Model

Hastings 1st Design Model

About Me

Links

Previous Posts

Archives