New Page : Things to do (and beers to try) in South Africa

Posted on June 30, 2011

I have added a new page to the blog, Things to do (and beers to try).

From time to time (and not enough) I have posted about cool things to see and do, from riding Segway at Spier to driving the awesome Blokarts on the beach. So last night I added the page to start. Hopefully in time it acts as a useful resource to those looking for cool stuff to do, and as a reminder to me of the things I have done and wish to do. Got cool stuff to do, share it. Have a different view on something written, share that too.

Onto Beer

Over the years whenever I have been in the UK I have really enjoyed their beer.  Not the bottled stuff available in the franchised bars, but the hand pumped “Real Ale” in the privately owned public house – Bitter beer. Thank’s to my mate Steve for the introduction.

The closest I have come to finding it in South Africa is “Kilkenny” available at most pubs that serve Guinness. It is a poor second cousin to some of the better English bitters but I still drink and enjoy it. I even had the privilege of drinking the “real” Kilkenny at a pub near the brewery in Ireland.

So now let us begin the quest to document “real” beer in South Africa. To visit, taste and enjoy as many of these local beers from the small guys as we can.

The page is always on the menu at the top of the page, so click through there, or here : Things to do (and beers to try)

 

Traffic twitterers and pig spotters

Posted on May 07, 2011

There are quite a number of different twitter accounts which can help you keep up to speed with what is happening on the roads around the country. Following a collection of these accounts really can make your life a whole lot more comfortable and relieve a lot of frustrations.

I have created a page listing my favourites. Since I am based in KZN most of the ones listed are from that region. Please feel free to leave more in the comments and I will add them to the list to keep it up to date regularly. For your convenience you can find a combined twitter list here : http://twitter.com/#!/jjza/traffic

The full list is here : www.j-j.co.za/pigspotters

 

Fun with Segway at Spier wine estate

Posted on April 19, 2011

A while back there was a special on at the group buying site Wicount* (signup code Justin-5h) for Segway tours of the Spier wine estate in Stellenbosch. For those who don’t know, the Segway was the gyroscopic based two wheeled personal transporter invented by Dean Karmen and introduced back in 2001. There was a huge amount of hype around the device and it was touted as being able to change the world. A huge expectation was built up around it and when the launch came it was a bit of damp squib. Read more on the history etc at Wikipedia.

I have seen the transporters around in South Africa, mainly used by security guards in shopping complexes and the like, and while it has always looked intriguing there hasn’t really been the opportunity to test one out.

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