Exploring Mpumalanga (the region we are in)

Ok I need to fess up - I have been seriously creeped out by this place. William's room is off the front porch so I'm the only one staying actually inside the house, with 'the ladies'.
I don't know what it is, but this place is unsettling. I actually slept with the light on last night. I know... what a big sissy!
This morning we drove over to Pilgrim's Rest, an old gold mining town nearby. While the light was difficult for photos (too many shadows) I have made a few for the record.  We had breakfast at the Royal Hotel & it was fabulous quite possibly the best breakfast we've had on the whole trip. They even had fresh scones with cream & jam - for breakfast. I couldn't waste an opportunity like that & they were delicious!  So I had a 3 course brekkie for NZD10.  We've been eating very big breakfasts and just having fresh oranges and some chocolate or an ice cream for lunch. The oranges were bought at the roadside about 2.5 kilos and cost NZD1.50.
Then we drove up to Bourke's Pot Holes. William spotted something on the way and we left the car on the roadside and walked down to the river to discover an amazing place full of huge, deep swimming holes and tons of waterfalls. I would have loved to have had a swim but didn't dare & we couldn't leave the car unattended for too long.  On the way we saw a burn off; the bush is being cleared for planting pine trees, shame!  The size of the fire was pretty large and the smoke cast an orange glow, blurring the sun slightly which helped soften the contrast. You need to shoot approx mid day as the pot holes are so deep they create dark shadows which causes all sort of exposure problems, so it's the first tine I've  grateful for the burn off. Up until now we've been moaning about the dirty brown smudge on the horizon.
Finally we moved on to the 3 Rondavels and the Blyde River Canyon which are famous in these parts.  By the time we got back to Graskop we'd been out 10.5 hours.  So a quiet catch up night and a long long, hot shower is called for.
Tomorrow we have allowed time to reshoot the pot holes (if the light is as good) & also the canyon, a bit earlier to avoid encroaching shadows.

Buildings in Pilgrim's Rest

The unidentified swimming spot

Most of the blog pix are unedited jpgs but even so, you can see how soft the light is

That shadow is just spoiling the bottom of the hole.

Had to stop for the cow on the building site

The 3 Rondavels

The Blyde River Canyon