Dining on Seafood at Seagulls Beach Hotel, Wild Coast

The Seafood on Saturday nights at Seagulls Beach Hotel on the Wild Coast is just divine!  When we spent one night at Seagulls Beach Hotel in January 2009, we made sure it was a Saturday night so that we could enjoy dining on their famous seafood dishes - and did we eat a lot of seafood and enjoy it?  Of course!  We feasted on delicious and beautifully presented oysters, cockles, prawns, calamari, mussels and fish.  All the seafood eaten in the Seagulls Beach Hotel dining room is refreshingly fresh, and just simply delicious!

Old telephone booth at Naturel in Kei Mouth, Eastern Cape

This old post office telephone booth is pretty antique and can be seen at Naturel in Kei Mouth, about an hour's drive out of East London.  Stooping beneath the tree that shaded the telephone booth, we were hoping to see an antique phone inside, but there was nothing.  We were still impressed with the telephone booth itself though.  A nice glimpse back into history, when one used to have to use coins for dialing, before modern mobile cellphones started to become "normal" everywhere.

Large rose quartz crystal at Naturel in Kei Mouth

Well, we thought this rose quartz crystal was quite large anyway.  There are smaller crystals for sale inside the Naturel deli and restaurant.  Naturel in Kei Mouth, Eastern Cape, sells all kinds of arts and crafts, and a variety of colourful crystals too.  This rose quartz crystal is right at the entrance to the little Naturel shop, and many more little treasures await visitors inside.

Areena giraffe eating Eastern Cape thorn trees for breakfast

This giraffe at Areena Riverside Resort is still young, but already so tall, and is enjoying lovely dark green leaves for breakfast.  The green leaves are amongst the thorns of the sweet thorn acacia thorn tree which grow all over the Eastern Cape.  Acacia sweet thorn trees also make for wonderful bonsai trees. Imagine your own collection of little thorn tree bonsai trees in your own garden, whether you live in the countryside or not. These thorn trees blossom with beautiful puffy yellow blossoms once a year.  It's a wonderful sight to view yellow (thorn tree blossoms), green (thorn trees), and blue (lovely blue skies) all over the countryside at certain times of the year - then, just add a giraffe or two, and you have the perfect countryside.  This giraffe at Areena is fairly tame and you can go right up to it and pet it.  One only really gets the full idea of how tall a giraffe really is when one is standing right next to a giraffe, stroking its head.

Giraffe at Areena Riverside Resort, East London

Tony and this tall but still young giraffe get to know each other at Areena Resort, East London.  Areena Riverside Resort is on the East Coast Resorts Road just outside East London, on the Jikeleza route, and is a super riverside resort for the whole family.  Spend a day - or a few days - at Areena, on the Kwelera River, canoeing, fishing, bird watching, swimming in the river or pool, braaing, or jumping on the trampoline!  This giraffe is not the only wildlife at Areena, so why not get on a quad bike to go exploring and visit the other wildlife at Areena too?  Areena is also a great spot for conferences, corporate team building events, or tasty meals at the delightful restaurant overlooking the Kwelera river.

Terry and Tony at Mermaid's Pool, Nahoon, East London, South Africa

Samantha took this photo of us during her first ever visit to East London in March 2010.  We enjoyed taking photographs at Mermaind's Pool, near Nahoon beach and Nahoon Reef.  Mermaid's Pool is not far from Footprints Cafe, which has a cute little museum that highlights the history of the Nahoon beach coastal area.

50 year old slides down fireman's pole at East London zoo

The East London zoo has a lovely playground for children of all ages.  In this zoo playground photo, Tony shows that he can still slide down a fireman's pole too.  Later, he even showed the boys how to climb up a fireman's pole.  The playground at the East London zoo is a great place for parents to relax with a snack or cooldrink from the zoo kiosk (if they're not also trying out the playground equipment) while the children get rid of a little more energy after having already seen all the animals.  The zoo is also a great venue for children's birthday parties.
(post by Terry)

East London zoo free birds and birds in cages

Zooty enjoyed feeding the birds at the East London zoo - he fed the birds peanuts.  He fed many animals at the zoo the peanuts that are available for purchase at the zoo kiosk, but he particularly enjoyed feeding the birds, the quite tame doves, that hang around the zoo - although he did feed the birds that were in cages too.  I wonder if the birds in the cages feel sad when they see those free birds so close to them, in the same zoo, yet free?
(post by Terry)

East London Queens Park Zoo bears

These two bears at the East London zoo enjoyed the peanuts people were throwing down to them.  The bears seem cute, lazy, and relaxed, but I still wouldn't like myself or anybody really, falling into the bears' enclosure - the bears may suddenly become very active indeed!  The East London zoo is a super place for both adults and children to enjoy looking at and watching the behaviour of animals - still wish all the animals had much larger enclosures though.
(post by Terry)

East London Friesland milkshakes on a hot day

During Tony's daughter's recent visit to East London, we took her to the Friesland for a milkshake.  Friesland milkshakes go down well at any time, but especially on a hot day - wish I knew how to make Friesland milkshakes at home - Friesland milkshakes have been famous in East London for many years now, and I'll never grow tired of them, they're so yummy.  We could always make some other kinds of homemade milkshakes at home, but nothing will come close to a good old East London Friesland milkshake!
In this photo, the boys cool down near the fridges in Friesland in the Quigney, as it was a really hot day.  We had each ordered a different flavour milkshake and couldn't wait for them to be made - chocolate, fiesta fruit, butterscotch, strawberry and lime - deciding on which flavour milkshake to get is never easy as there are many other flavours to choose from too, and of course all the milkshakes we ordered were large and double thick.  Yummy!
(post by Terry)

Walking along the beach near Nahoon beach, East London

Father and daughter get their feet wet, and their toes sandy, at Mermaid's Pool, Nahoon, in East London.  Mermaid's Pool in Nahoon is a super spot for taking photographs too.  Tony's daughter was visiting East London for the first time, and stayed in East London for 3 nights and 2 days - we took her to Mermaid's Pool on the first day, soon after she arrived.
(post by Terry)

Mermaid's Pool, Nahoon, East London sepia photograph

Here, Tony celebrates his daughter's visit to East London, down at Mermaid's Pool, Nahoon - or is he showing how big the tidal wave is that's approaching Nahoon beach?  Father was happy to show his daughter the ocean as she had not seen the ocean or touched the ocean or even gotten her feet wet in the ocean in about 7 years.
(post by Terry)

East London karate training lesson at Nahoon beach photos

Karate lessons in East London are fun, and even more so when karate lessons are sometimes held at the beach. These karate photos were taken during a karate training session at Nahoon beach in East London recently.

Self-defence martial arts training like karate is not only done and used for self-defence, learning self-control, respect and discipline, but also for keeping fit, strong, and supple.

Find out more about karate lessons in East London for your children, or for yourself - some adults may even be keen to learn a little about cage fighting, a little extreme at times, but if that kind of fighting appeals to you, pop on over to our other blog post about karate to find out more about who you can contact about cage fighting lessons - and also find out more about karate lessons in East London - if you're a parent who worries a great deal about your children and you are not keen that they get involved in cage fighting, not to worry, the karate lessons are very different and held at a different time!