Don't let the sun go down on me

Ah sunsets, those magnificent things you don't really get in London.
I haven't really turned my attention to photographing them, but it seems there's some nice ones in my collection all the same.
I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

Here I am once again in Salar De Uyuni, the world's largest salt pan. What a dashing pose, even if I say so myself.

I must confess I stole this photo from Graeme, whose photos are my inspiration for starting this blog. This is the church of the Virgin Mary of Copacabana. And no, thats not the beach in Rio. This is in Bolivia, on Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world. The beach in Rio is in fact named after this.

What a great photo - well done G!

More Salar De Uyuni, also by G.

Same photo, but this was taken with my cheap old camera at the time. Funny how it turned the sun black!

Sunset in the Cederberg.

Nearly sunset in the Cederberg

Taken from Sea Point

Here we have the Cederberg doing a very good impression of Arizona.

Plumstead, not your usual romantic sunset spot!

And those telephone wires seem to get in the way.

Ah, now this was not a sunset at all. I took the photo through my sunglasses in order to create that gold colour.

In Da Wales

Not only is Wales da fish with the biggest dick in the ocean, it is also a country in England! I took a trip to Wales, to see what it is all about.

Well, actually I went to visit my friend Charline in Cardiff for a weekend. She is staying in a fantastic flat in Cardiff Bay (like the Waterfront), as was keen for me to move in. It was great to see her, but I think I must give London a chance first though.
Did you know Cardiff Bay has the second highest tide fluctuation in the world (after some place in Nova Scotia), so they have an advanced barrage system to keep the tides regular.

Highlights of the trip were:

- The lovely view over the bay
- Caching in the rain
- A delightful visit to the quaint town of Cowbridge
- Trying to pump gas, and nearly driving away with the pump in the car
- Getting completely lost at night thanks to all the roundabouts
- Charline's crazy kitty
- Charline's crazy welsh friends down the pub
- Cardiff Castle (well, it was OK)

Cardiff Bay

Me on top of Cardiff Castle

Monster in the park

The Welsh Dragon attacks Cardiff Castle

The Cardiff Theatre

Me imitating the Chinese girl taking the photo

There are some interesting rocks on the Glamorgan coast, like this pinkish one. I beleive it's called a radyr stone.

This is the Norwegian church that Roald Dahl was born in.

Interesting art piece

Ex-church, now something to do with parliament

Moods of London

On 2 days out caching with Batsgonemad, and Rhino and Hedgehog (from Durban/Ireland), I managed to take some nice moody snaps, thanks to the mist!

Tower Bridge

Tower Bridge up close

Battersea Park

This photo is an attempt to recreate a masterpice taken by me mate, Dangerous Dave. I see now I stupidly chopped off a bit of St. Paul's!

Quoth the Raven, Nevermore!

Spooky lane!

Ghost ship.

On the wings of a dove - or is that a goose?

Battersea Bridge

You know you're in London when . . .

- Brussel sprouts are sold on the stalk.
- You consider it a warm day if you don't wear a beanie, gloves and a scarf when you go out.
- There is more than 1 show you want to see at the theatre (Lord of the Rings is currently sounding interesting!)
- You actually like reading about SA politics for a change.
- There are no rocks to hide geocaches under, only sticks.
- You smile at a girl on the bus, and it turns out she was on last years Orange River New Year trip.
- There are more Forwardslashers here than currently at Forwardslash.
- You are nervous of getting attacked by whites.
- In SA you can get 3 tubs of yoghurt for the cost of a movie. Here you can get 120 tubs for a movie ticket!
- The only SA TV you can get is bloody Isidingo.
- You feel like a useless idiot at pub quizzes.
- You stop bitching about the cost of petrol, and bitch about the cost of the Underground instead.
- In Cape Town, your friends love living there, but want to leave. Here your friends hate living here, but don't want to leave.
- It's cheaper to call SA from your cell than local calls.
- The Post Offices advertise that they sell Polish beer.
- It costs £1 to get a bus to Edinburgh, and £2 to get a bus to East Putney.
- Most pubs actually stock the cider you want.
- Only 2 teenagers are allowed into a shop at one time.
- Walking up to the viewing gallery at St Pauls is a 3 star terrain cache.
- You long to hear a rousing version of "mshini wam"
- You can get sushi made from tinned tuna.
- You go night caching at 5PM.
- Job interviews are more of a chat than a grilling.
- Salaries are quoted per hour or year, and not much in between.
- There are no postboxes outside flats, focing postie to walk up all the stairs. If no-one is home, he can't deliver the mail.
- The internet is actually fast enough to allow me to start this blog.

The Myburghian Leap

The Myburghian Leap was invented by my crazy friend Mr Myburgh (also known as G-force, Swaer, Graeme, G, and in a certain incident involving a pool and a rake, "you fucking arsehole!")
The object of said jump is to take pictures of yourself doing spectacular and artistically posed jumps in exotic settings.

Although the origins of this growing art form are shrouded in mystery, The Myburghian Leap probably started in Salar De Uyuni, the world's biggest salt pan, in Bolivia. Congrats to Ally for taking this fantastic pic below, which started it all!

Although not technically a Myburghian Leap, this photo of the sexy Corrine deserves inclusion for her bold leap at Crystal Pools, one of my favourite places in the world - baboon attacks excluded!

Here I am at the top of the Waterfall at Crystal Pools.

The Myburghian Leap does not need to be reserved for scenic spots - its very useful to while away the time waiting outside the church before weddings! This is known as the Formal Myburghian Leap.

Here we have the mighty Steven Clegg, pulling of a super Myburghian Leap by sheer coincidence. He was at the time merely trying to jump over the river, but what fantastic height!

Ah, this must be vying for the top spot of best leap photo. Here we see Mr Myburgh himself, leaping at the top of none other than Myburgh's Waterfall Ravine!

Ah, now this is me leaping on another of my all time favourite hikes on Table Mountain, immortalised in my geocache, Frodo's Journey. This leap was actually done in the Eye of Sauron!

In Myburgh's Waterfall Ravine - tricky landing.

Yet another of my favourite places in Cape Town, and also the location of the longest surviving geocache in South Africa, Sentinel View.

Man, watch out for that drop! At the top of Sani Pass, Lesotho. Spectacular views! Highest pub in Africa just down the road.

Did you know that Lesotho is the only country in the world that is entirely more than 1000m above sea level. Big up to the Lesotho posse!

Here I am looking a bit like an orangutan at the highest road pass in Southern Africa.

Chickenman leaps in the snow - wicked!

A new technique!

Graeme gets superb height in the office. Did he use the desk?

Flying high above the Betties Bay dunes.

Myburgh jumps to appease the flooded volcano gods.

No wonder ET wants to go home with people jumping on his head!

Myburgh convinces Boet, Lucy, Ally and Kerry to join in the fun down under. Winning height from the Boet!

And lastly, I had to include this, as this was almost the end of my leaping days. A failed attempt at a leap on this trig beacon almost resulted in my untimely demise, but luckily I escaped with just a twisted ankle.

Pity the photographer missed it - it would have been a corker!

I'm a movie star!!

In Feb I spent 2 weeks filming a great french fantasy comedy movie, called Les Deux Mondes (2 Worlds). It's out in france at last, and looks pretty good - I sure hope the DVD has subtitles!

Check out the trailer here

The movie is basically about a French guy who gets sucked through his kitchen floor into another world, full of simple peasant farmers, and vicious cannibal types. The french chap fulfills a legend to become our saviour, and help us defeat the cannibals.

It was great fun filming, particularly as I wasn't a cannibal. Those actors had to wear very hot uncomfortable outfits in the scorching heat! The highlight was the day I got to be a stuntman in a fight scene. Wicked!

Here I am in the trailer.


Check out my many fantastic hairdos in the film.