Wednesday 19 August 2009

Way back and wordful Whensday - woman's day at Cullinan.


Playing along on a Wednesday (as per usual) with Cheryl at Twinfatuation and Angie at 7 Clown Circus:

Ok, so this is not so way back, but I have a lot of catching up to do. The 9th of August is National Woman's day in South Africa. Historically it commemorates 9 August 1956 when women of all races participated in a national march to petition against pass laws (legislation that required African persons to carry a document on them to ‘prove’ that they were allowed to enter a ‘white area’). In practice it has become a day when woman are honored by the men in their lives. We didn't have fixed plans for the day, but as Monday was a public holiday (if a public holiday falls on a Sunday, the Monday becomes one) we decided to go for a nice drive out and have lunch wherever we happen to end up.

We ended up in Cullinan, a historical mining town about an hour away from Pretoria. The Premier diamond mine is still a working mine and you can tour it (we will do that when the kids are a bit older). The mine is famous for producing the biggest uncut diamond ever mined in the world on June 25 1905 (3108 carats!) the Cullinan diamond, now cut into 9 diamonds of which the biggest is the feature in the British crown. It still produces 25% of the world's gem quality diamonds.

Not the greatest picture of my princess but check out the size of that stone - off course a copy!

The historical area is a delightful street filled with restaurants and antique shops.


This huge chicken is made from wood.

We chose the restaurant next to the children's play park- filled with jungle gyms and old mining equipment to play on. The kids had fun, we all relaxed and had lunch and took a walk through the town afterwards.


One of the most interesting places is Jan Harmsgat se Agterplaas ( Jan Harmsgat's backyard translated). It is a theatre in a very creative surrounding as the photos will show.
Entrance to the house facing the street.




Signpost for the theatre in the backyard.


Entrance to the theatre

Theatre inside.

We all had a great time, and to boot, Hunter sent me off to the movies for the 5 o'clock show and bathed and put the kids to bed. I went to see "My life in ruins" just because I'd love to see Greece again, but ended up enjoying the movie tremendously.

On the pest side of things - feeling slightly better but still down and out.

17 comments:

  1. What a beautiful place. I like all the pictures.

    Stopping from Twinfatuation.

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  2. That does look like a great time!!

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  3. wow! great pictures...just stopping by for Way Back When-esday

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  4. Looks like a fun place to visit!!!

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  5. Thanks for the comment, no wonder you can't wait for summer, you are are the other side of the world from us! I love the Internet! I really enjoyed your post, and the idea of celebrating women day- I wish that idea would catch on over here! Happy WW!

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  6. Wow! What a cool place! I love doing that - getting in the car and just going to a place!

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  7. That sounds like a great trip. Beautiful place that you live in. Amazing that diamond size! Stopping in from WWW!

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  8. I think that that diamond that she is holding would look perfect on my finger or all my fingers. ;)

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  9. That place looks like so much fun. I love it!

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  10. Looks like a lot of fun, its great to read about it and see all the pictures. Never been to South Africa, but I would love to visit one day. . .

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  11. That looks so whimsical!

    Hope you're getting lots of rest!

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  12. How I love the glimpses of all the wondrous places you see...and OH Little Miss is photogenic. :)

    Thanks so much for playing along, Cat!

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  13. Looks like you had a great time...Sorry to hear that you have the oink flu...I have said a prayer for you. Get well!

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  14. What a fun day!!! I think I have seen that theatre on one of the gardening shows that used to be on TV here.

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  15. Thanks for sharing all these pictures. I love to see snapshots from other parts of the world I'd love to visit.

    Sounds like you had a great day!

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  16. JUST FABULOUS! I love when you do posts like this and show off Africa. Fascinating!

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So what's on your mind?