Close to the bow of the Cape Town Stadium

Ocean liner Queen Mary 2 leaving Cape Town. Get the best view here !

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The Queen Mary 2 who was only one night in town caused quite a stir in Cape Town,  she was mentioned on the news.... I even got calls from friends to alert me :) and  people were grinding to a halt and parking on the streets where-ever they happened to get sight of  her !

The QM2 is on a 108-day world cruise after leaving Cape Town she sails for St Helana Island, Rio de Janeiro and Miami before heading back across the Atlantic to Southampton.

Frankly I was like a jack in the box myself :)  I was on my shoot from 4.30 till 7.30, drove  between top of Signal hill and  top road of Signal Hill to the  Radisson Hotel then the pier near the Table Bay Hotel, also nipped over close to the stadium to shoot the workers closing the Western side gap in the facade, then when she was leaving at 6 PM I walked around the base of Signal Hill, away from the mass of other people and started shooting till after dark

I saw the original Queen Mary, which is now a floating hotel in Long Beach, California and have been on many an ocean liner as a child, cruising from the Caribbean, where I grew up, to Europe, so I am fascinated and always interested to see them
Here is an interesting review with photos ofrom someone who took a cruise on her

                              The massive Queen Mary 2 attempts one of the more tricky manoeuvres
                               a three-point turn in Cape Town harbour

She is one of the biggest ocean liners

if not the biggest ..

Captain ! Not much room left aft !

Finally ready to go !

Bon voyage !

Really special to witness this :)

                                                                     What a sight to behold !

and she sailed right between Green Point and Robben island

and this is where I suddenly got distracted by the beauty of our own  Queen

and forgot all about QM 2 who rapidly disappeared into the sunset

when I arrived home minutes later all I could see were her lights fading away

 in to the night

It's a hazy afternoon A far pink cloud hangs over the hill, unfolding like a rose

If you hold my hand and sit real still

you can hear the pitch grass, as it grows...

Its no joke though :(

Everyday of this past week I have been wanting to go out for a shoot to a place I have in mind

and  each afternoon that darn sea mist creeps in

and makes it all look grey and lifeless :(

Cape Town Stadium at night, close and personal from the top of Signal Hill

Tickets for the World Cup semi-finals and final,

 as well as two of England's first round matches in South Africa, have sold out, FIFA said on Friday Febr 5 2010

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Extra large

Canon EOS 450D close up night images of the Cape Town Stadium

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Januari 2 2010

See storm damage to several strips of ripped facade of new World Cup Green Point Stadium up close

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The strip on the left is obviously damaged but I have reason to believe that the empty hole on the right also used to have a strip which is now gone The evidence is the piece still hanging on and ....

....here at the top you can see where it was attached Click image to see upclose it is where I put the X

To compare ..

As you can see the stadium is now heavily guarded but dressed in  my camouflage suit ( similar to Colonel Muammar Qaddafi ) and armed with my new Canon telephoto lens, he was easy to tackle.

  Yes dear reader/voyeur, I hope you realise I go to great length to bring you "uptodate" photo news, of our already much loved but battered new 2010 World Cup stadium in Cape Town 

I had actually already been up Signal Hill at 4.30 PM but the mist was closing in and it started to rain while I drove up, so I shot a couple for the hell of it, then went home and had an early dinner.

 I saw the sky clearing up again and decided to drive to the Stadium to check the damage of last night
  After I shot the above pix I drove up Signal Hill again :) but by the time I arrived it was dark

I just saw them now, raw from the camera and I think there will be some you will like

but  I will show those tomorrow, still need to edit them, for now I will try and get a decent night sleep tonight

It was weird weather today it kept changing
 You can actually see the damp misty air rising up

New World Cup Green Point Stadium in Cape Town is being patched up

Nice patch work ...or is it ?

Took this while I was flying by :)

My amazing new camera ...

I was on my way shopping but decided to get a few quick shots too see what the patchwork looks like up close and I was actually standing behind "Wakame" Restaurant for these shots, which is the building right next to the ocean, on the left hand side of  THIS photo

This was just before I left the house when I noticed they were closing the gap

Images : Canon 20SX IS Superzoom