Full Moon and Sunsets

I did a flight at sunset to Pietermaritzburg then a night flight back to Durban, keeping my night rating current

Fri 13th was also full moon and Kate took this shot over the harbour bridge in Busan, Korea

I took this photo from Durban the same night. Unfortunately my iphone cannot do justice to the crisp clear yellow moon we saw rising up out of the Indian Ocean. It was truly spectacular.

RNYC do

My mom and us kids spent many a weekend of our youth waiting at the Royal Natal Yacht Club for Gordon to arrive back from sailing. The Commodore of the Yacht Club treated the lady members to a hats and gloves do which saw my mom digging into the mothballs to find a suitable hat. She was joined by Bernice for the ladies' function and then Arthur and I were allowed to join in. Gordon was the Commodore of the Yacht Club for a number of years in 60s and 70s.

My mom and I at the RNYC earlier this evening

Mom, brother Arthur and his wife (my aunt) Bernice Galway looking smart!

The yacht club overlooks the Durban harbour 

Beautiful view of the club and harbour

Kate wow!

I had to interrupt my blog posts to repost this stunning photo of my daughter Kate-Lynn I just lifted off her Facebook page. Gorgeous!

Kate poses with what looks like poppies in South Korea.

Catching up with Mark in Stellies

A weekend trip to Cape Town was an opportunity to catch up with my son who is doing his Master's in Engineering at Stellenbosch University. Dinner out with Mark and Lisa was a treat and on Friday I took delivery of our Sling aircraft for the Flight  School which I will fly back today and Sunday to Durban. So not much time in the Cape but a productive quick trip.

My son Mark and Lisa - aren't they a gorgeous couple!

Dinner out in Stellies

Breakfast

Sling owner Jandre' congratulates Dave on the handover of FYA for Durban Skyye Flight School

The rolling hills off the coast to Stellenbosch and Somerset West

Sling FYA at Stellenbosch ready for the trip to Durban

More flying pics and the Sling on my aviation blog here.

Bringing back some voting memories

We voted on Wednesday on our return from our trip to the States and the votes are all but counted, bringing the DA for the first time to nearly 25% of the vote with the ANC Govermnent having dipped a few percentage points. The ANC's vote diminished shedding voters to the DA and the new Economic Freedom Fighters. This unfortunately gives the buffoon Malema a significant voice in Parliament despite his poor record already.

Dave chooses from a long list of political parties registered for both the National Parliament and the Provincial Parliament.

Candidate for Parliament

I have some precious memories of elections, having stood as the youngest candidate for parliament at 22 in 1981, my first election. I contested the Port Natal Constituency for the New Republic Party, a forerunner of the present DA and my opponent was Pierre Cronje, a Deputy Cabinet Minister for the governing National Party. That election whet my appetite for politics as it was one of the closest election results of the time, the NP Deputy Minister beating me by only 600 votes of the thousands cast that day. I went on to become the National Youth President of the Party and stood for Parliament again in 1983, 1985 and 1994 - the 85 election as an Independent after my Party's fiasco in the Referendum and the last election 3rd on the party list for the African Democratic Movement - the political party of Brigadier Quoza of the Ciskie as South African went to the polls for the tri-cameral parliament on the newly created party list system. Needless to say my quest for a seat in Parliament was never realised as party politics had taken a hold on South Africa and I was essentially an independent at heart.

City Councillor

After the 1985 poll I turned my attention to local city politics and on the 26th April 1988, a day I will always remember, I was elected as the City Councillor for the Fynnland Ward on the Bluff. The strong group of incredible friends who banded together to help me that day was very moving and we were a sight to remember decked out in our yellow and green shirts on voting day. This was a Durban Bluff ward which was part of the Port Natal constituency I had originally contested for Parliament. The Bluff was now in my veins and I had moved there, integrated with a number of community organisations and new friends and I moved my office there in 1984. I was later elected Deputy Mayor of the City and served in that capacity during 1993/1994 until the City Council was disbanded with the change of government and I served as a Metropolitan Transitional Councillor until the 1996 elections when I bowed out of politics.

Law Office 

My legal firm I opened in 1984 after completing my articles, Mc Naught and Company Attorneys was the first legal office to move to and open on the Bluff later during 1984 and I think I can count about 6 other firms who over the years followed my lead.

What interesting times and so many great people I have met through my involvement in politics, including the Queen of England and Prince Philip who attended a tea party at the Durban City Hall at the invitation of the Mayor and us City Councillors.

Dave accompanies his mom to the voting station on the Bluff where she is registered in this week's elections

Dave's 1996 Election Manifesto - do the political parties and candidates these days even bother to let you know who they are before you vote for their "unseen" list of polukas and even criminals?

And an advert from my first election campaign..

Exploring the globe

One thing I love about travelling is the ability to find out a little more about the geography of the world we live in.

Today we flew over the Horn of Africa after crossing the Gulf of Aden from Yemen to Africa.

Have a look at the island type flange of land we saw from our window, and you can see it on the map of the Horn of Africa as the protruding piece on the east coast of Somalia.

This is the Horn of Africa - Somalia with it's east coast on the Indian Ocean and it's northern shores being the Gulf of Aden

The east coast of Somalia after flying over the Horn of Africa

Last week we were in Las Vegas and Lake Havasu where I did my seaplane rating and earned my USA Pilot's Licence SEL -single engine seaplane.

The week before that we flew to LA from Durban via Dubai and the North Pole.

Instead of flying East to West from Dubai to Los Angeles the plane flew straight up North over the North Pole, then dropped South again as the earth turned and we landed in LA.

Our view of the North Pole.. is Father Christmas hiding here somewhere?

Bird's eye view of the North Pole.. quite a big bird actually. We were lucky to fly in the Airbus A380, a first time experience and a great way to view the North Pole.

You can see more pics of our trip to Los Angeles, Lake Havasu and back via Dubai on Emirates Airline on my Facebook photo page here.

Lanterns and No Surprises in Korea

Kate-Lynn remembers one of my favourite songs - No Surprises - by Radiohead as she comes across a street busker in Seoul, South Korea on her visit there this weekend for the Lantern Festival before returning today to Busan. Here is the YouTube video clip of the song she recorded for me with her message. I love and miss you so much too my precious. xx Dad. And here is the original recording of the song by the artists that I enjoy so much. 

Visiting California

We are having an great adventure in the States where I have come to tick things off my bucket list - getting my American pilot's licence and flying a seaplane. It was also a chance to see where Llew's dad has settled in Cypress California with Karen, who have a beautiful home in Avenida Carmel, close to Long Beach and Los Angeles where we landed.

A South African welcome on our arrival and Karen and Llew's dad's house in Avenida Carmel, Cypress, near Long Beach, California

Here's a link to the Facebook video clip I took of the street showing the neat verges, proudly flying American flags and the lifestyle.

Karen, Dad, Llew on a sightseeing tour around Long Beach

The Queen Mary is docked in Long Beach harbour

Personalised Californian number plate

We visited The Airplane Factory USA meeting Matt and Ryan, incredible guys who have set up an assembly plant and MGL Avionics distributorship of these fine South African aviation products in the States

Matt took me up in his Eagle bi-plane, a 200hp aerobatic mean machine and we did some loops, rolls and hammerhead manouvres in the sky over Long Beach

Here's the link to a Facebook video clip I took of my flight in the bi-plane as we came up alongside The Airplane Factory USA's Sling then rolled around them in a scary manouvre. And here's the link to more photos in the set of my visit to their factory.

That's me enjoying my first ever airplane tail-dragger, bi-plane and aerobatic experience

Long Beach harbour through the wires of the bi-plane wings while I was strapped in tight with a parachute in the front seat.

Going for a cycle along the dykes of Long Beach

You've seen these canals/dykes in the movies

Mad Easter week

It's been a mad week over Easter with our Flight School opening and our first flights over the long weekend. My kids are scattered and each seemed to have had an amazing Easter period in their different parts of the world. Kate has just published her update to her blog on her adventures in Korea.. see the side blog to the right which links to hers, and Mark has been spending time with Lisa's family in Cape Town.

Work is also pressing as I am off to the States on Wednesday so only have one and a half days to tie things up there before I go to California for my seaplane rating. Woo Hoo!! Excitement.

Mark (right) with Lisa and her dad Dave and sister Shelley

Mark being the tour guide doing the Hout Bay thing

Kate with one of her 22 classes in Busan, Korea

The beautiful city of Busan, South Korea's "Cape Town"

Busan, second largest city in South Korea

Incredible pics from aviation photographer Brian Spurr who helped us get some great publicity for our opening weekend this Easter at Virginia Airport.. http://DurbanSkyye.co.za 

Our Skyye microlight over the Umhlanga beachfront and the Lighthouse

Durban's Moses Mabhida World Cup Football Stadium was the backdrop to this rad photo of our plane with Instructor Kyle taking Llewellyn's son Calvin for the ride of his life.

No Skyye fall...

With my new awning up at my office to shade my new "Skyye" car, I was worried that the Skyye might fall, hence the caution warning signs.. ha ha. No really, the shadeport juts out into our building driveway and we need to caution drivers to look out for the reduced height if they are in delivery vans and also mind my car as they come around the bend. My car registration promotes our new Flight School which opened at Virginia Airport last week - Durban Skyye Flight School.