Cape Town hit by the 1st winter storm

Thats a chinese fishing boat ....the captain doesnt seem to be too bothered by the weather.

We are being battered by gale force winds and horizontal rain and there is wide spread flooding reported
But I am high and dry and love watching the weather from here
I saw a red ship venture out it went past the Stadium but had to return because of the rough seas The waves are growing higher by the hour

A view of Table Mountain Summit through the flowering trees

While I drove up to the top of Signal Hill to shoot the stadium I saw this tree along the road in full bloom and stood on my breaks :) this scenery was just begging me to shoot

The road up Signal Hill, Cape Town

I live on the Atlantic side of Signal Hill but the entrance to this road is from the city its only 10 minutes from my home then another 5 minutes to the top

I stopped along the way and turned back to take the Table Mountain with the cloud

few minutes later stopped again to take the road shot

Some people walk up but there are also hikers,cyclers and joggers some run with their dog

This is the top road I usually shoot from this bend in the road since you get the Green Point Common and stadium ,the Atlantic ocean with Robben island to the left then the whole city of Cape Town Devils Peak and Table Mountain on the right The scenery is so vast, there is no way one shot can take it all in I am used to it now but in the beginning I almost died with excitement The below shot is from April 2009

May 13 2009
They are working frantically on the roof as I am writing ...I see many more men then usually because there is severe weather forecast, its going to rain the whole weekend

Green Point Common in Cape Town is being prepared for the 2010 Soccer World Cup

How it was January 2007

Today you will get 2 posts for the price of 1 :)

I took this photo when I saw the Green Point Common for the first time in my life, which was Jan 2007 This was the old stadium on a very brown and uninteresting looking Green Point Common
At the time I knew they would build the new stadium on the same site and was very apprehensive... doubted very much that it wouldn't be an eyesore

Now I have to eat my words I really do love the look of it and cant imagine my view without this beautiful piece of art which is the new stadium You will really have to come and see it with your own eyes to understand this

This shot is from May 13 2009The Common will have an urban park, sports fields; rugby,tennis,soccer,athletics, bowls,
cricket and a beautiful golf course with lots of water features

This is part of the new golf course which is progressing at lightening speed

The biggest surprise was that after the mist there were suddenly greens and fairways which weren't there before The way they did this is by taking off the top layer of the grass of the old golf course and laying it down on the new one By leaving the roots in the old golf course they are able to repeat this process I saw that the grass is already re growing again on the old course

Click on photos to enlarge

The same scene in 2007 here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/40766703@N00/358309461/sizes/l/

Green Point 2010 soccer stadium May 13 2009

I live on the slope of Signal Hill ... there is a road up to the top of this hill and tomorrow I will show you the road I took, to take the above shot of the roof of the Green Point Stadium

Click to enlarge photo

Rain has been forecast for the next few days I hope that it is without the mist this time

A view of Green Point Soccer Stadium with Table Mountain in the background

Click on photos to enlarge

A boat trip around the harbour of Cape Town,South Africa

Click on photos to enlarge

The summer returned for the weekend and I decided to play the tourist for the afternoon sauntering around in the V&A Waterfront, taking a boat trip, nipping into an African art shop, licking an Haagen Dasz icecream while listening to a local band and paying tourist prices for a glass of wine and tapas with view toward the new stadium and the sunset over the Atlantic ocean Ah to be in Cape Town when summer is there !
A fishing boat is guided in to its berth
Arriving in Cape Town harbour
Cape Town set against the backdrop of Table Mountain
V&A Waterfront is a working harbour
Fishing boats at rest

A choice of charters :

AdventurerQuay 5Sea ChartersAtlantic AdventuresQuay 5Sea ChartersCondorQuay 5Sea ChartersDawnQuay 5Sea ChartersEsperance Sailing Charters Alfred Mall and PierheadSea ChartersFujicatQuay 5Sea ChartersJet BoatQuay 5Sea ChartersLa FamigliaQuay 5Sea ChartersLady JQuay 5Sea Charters

Retired in Cape Town,South Africa, originally uploaded by Joanne/CapeTownFIFAWORLDCUP2010.

Chartes from the Waterfront click on the name :

MaharaniQuay 5Sea ChartersOcean Sailing AcademyWest QuaySea ChartersPrincess EmmaQuay 5Sea ChartersRobben Island FerriesClock TowerSea ChartersSea PrincessQuay 5Sea ChartersShosholozaQuay 5Sea ChartersSouthern CrossQuay 5Sea ChartersSpirit of VictoriaQuay 5Sea ChartersThe Sea HorseQuay 5Sea ChartersTigger 2 ChartersQuay 5Sea ChartersTigresse CatamaranQuay 5Sea ChartersWild ThingQuay 5Sea Charters

Looks like they started to build the steel structure for the membrane facade of the Green Point 2010 Football World Cup Stadium

The façade (Contract was won by Hightex) totaling some 30,000 square metres provides one of the significant architectural features of the Green Point stadium

The façade a membrane which will allow natural light shine through,completely wraps the whole perimeter of the stadium and is supported from some sixty vertical trusses with a series of horizontal fins within the individual membrane fields.

The red safety netting must be almeighty strong

They seem to have faith in it

click photos to enlarge

I noticed the red crane inside the stadium was still working at one AM last night