Making waves and chasing trains

We are early risers, and with good cause: at this time of the year the weather is cooler and a bit windy, but there are still days which are perfect for beach walks and fishing. On those days we get down to the beach as early as possible to enjoy the outdoors before the wind starts picking up speed, usually around 11 am. Closing office for those few hours presents no problems, as there are also those really dismal days (usually over weekends!) when we prefer to stay indoors and play catch up.

We experienced one such perfect day last week and immediately decided to walk the stretch of beach between Ifafa and Elysium, which we haven’t done in a while. These photos of lazily breaking waves were taken along the way.

Halfway between Ifafa and Elysium we paused to take a few pictures of the Mvusi River estuary. This river originates a few kilometers higher up in the hills and during the rainy season the water accumulates in a wetland, which is just visible from the road above the railway lines.

A freight train passes by every now and then.  In the eighteen months that we have been living here, we have never been in the correct position at the right time to snap a picture of the train (except once, when we didn’t have a camera with us). It does not run according to any schedule that we can discern and we usually cross the lines after making a cursory check that the train is not in sight, hoping that we will hear the warning whistle in good time. Thus, we were delighted when the heard the whistle and were standing on the beach right below the bridge when we heard the train coming.