You have to get out of your comfort zone to experience magnificence. And that’s exactly what happened yesterday morning.

A few weeks ago on Twitter, a local photographer asked where he could get a good view of the sun rising over Johannesburg.  I’d been to the top of the Melville Koppies on a photowalk a few months ago, and guessed that would be a good spot. Well, to cut a long story short, 4 of us met yesterday morning before dawn to climb up the hill and watch the sun rise.  It didn’t rise in exactly the right spot, but it was magnificent anyway!

And yes, I voluntarily woke up at 4:15am to get to Henti’s house by 5am in order to get to the meeting place by 5:40am.

It was a good outing for my soul

I think I’m going to sell these as prints and canvases actually, that’s how much I like them.  There are also a few more photos in a Facebook album

The best part about this flat that we’re staying in, in Ballito, is the fact that we are right at the sea.  All I have to do in the morning is lift my head and I can see the ocean and the sun rising.  It’s just so magnificent. And to me, the sun rising over the ocean is too beautiful for words… mostly because it’s “clean”, there’s nothing to clutter the view.

Now it’s been downright miserable here for the last 2 days, and we haven’t actually seen the sun, but I took the first 2 photos 2 days ago… and I just LOVE the colours.  In fact, I’m going to have the first one printed onto a LARGE canvas for our lounge

And today, the view was so very different… this was taken this afternoon looking in the same direction.

We travelled to Ballito today, and for a change I actually struggled to get my DSLR out… normally when we travel I have my camera on my lap.  This time it was just easier to use my iPhone and Instagram photos immediately to everyone… rather than taking the DSLR out, and using it.

But, there’s nothing that beats the quality of my camera… and I’m so glad that for part of the journey I made the effort, because I’ve got some awesome art images as a result.

The first 3 were taken as the sun came up while we were driving through the Free State.

and the last 2 were taken in Ballito as the sun set…

I also thought I’d show you the iPhone images I took today…

Hopefully the weather plays along with our plans tomorrow, and we can spend the day at the beach

Nicole and I had a plan for today… to explore the city.  I wanted to find new photoshoot locations and she wanted me to help her with her camera.  Our limitations at the time of making the plans were that our kids would be with us.  We didn’t think that the weather would turn as cold as it has.  Seriously, we could NOT have picked a colder day for this adventure.

We had planned to go to at least 3 lookout points over Johannesburg city, we made it to one.  We had planned to get to Newtown and possibly the old bank district, we only managed 10 minutes in Newtown.  We had planned to find the Westcliff steps and Hope Road and the forest in Bryanston on the way home… none of that happened at all.  LOL, so it may not have been as successful as we’d hoped, but it was worth it… Nicole got to see parts of Johannesburg she’d never seen before, and I found a new spot for photos, and we had the most awesome coffee and chocolate croissants at 44 Stanley.

It was just far too cold.  When we stopped at Melville Koppies at 10am my car’s thermometer was reading 3.5 deg C.  But I cannot describe how cold the wind was at the top of that hill.  It was just too freezing for words.  Then in Newtown my car told me it was 2 deg!! But it actually didn’t feel as cold as the hill.  But that was the end of the road for Nicole’s little Damian, he’d just cried and cried… we think because his hands were so cold… mine were like ice blocks and were actually hurting me!!  So we aborted our mission, and headed for a heater and some coffee instead

But here are some of the photos that I did manage to get…

I really need to do more things like this.  It’s good for my soul.

OK, last post from our trip   I’m sure you’re glad to get to the end of them by now

We stayed with my aunt and uncle in Hermanus for the last night, and one of things we have to do in Hermanus is take a walk along the cliff paths.

On Tuesday morning we were also lucky enough to see a whale in the bay!! It’s a pity the 200mm on my lens wasn’t quite long enough to get a good shot. Yes, that small speck in the middle is the whale … LOL!

And that’s it… we flew home after that.  We really need to get to the Cape more often.  I love visiting the place.

I’ve put all these photos, and more from our trip into a set on Flickr too