Harmony Beach The summer has gone
Gordons Bay. Fifty kilometres south east of Cape Town and nestled into the a
At present, most of the Harmony Beach facilities are closed for renovation, a project
corner of False Bay, this small holiday town boasts almost white sandy beaches,
that seems to have little chance of completion before the next waves of holidaymakers
a magnificent seascape and abundant fishing, all set against the backdrop of the
arrive in December.
Kogelberg mountains. Next door, Hendon Park’s holiday chalet–style accommodation offers a break from life In the summer, Gordons Bay hums. Once the annual Christmas pilgrimage to the
on the Cape Flats and the drudge of daily toil.
coast is over and the few who venture here for Easter have gone back to their homes and farms on the highveldt, Gordons Bay hibernates until November.
To brighten holidays, the adjoining Fun Park offers Putt–Putt or Crazy Golf, a water slide, swimming and paddling pools, plus the inevitable sun shades and braais
Ten kilometres along the False Bay coastline is Strand, another highly seasonal
(barbequeues).
outpost. Between them, the inevitable coastal strip with countless cluster complexes and the odd public beach.
Today, it is just 140C, chilly and damp. It’s been raining solidly for three days and on the odd occasion the sun manages to best the clouds, it is hard to imagine this being
Harmony Beach is one such amenity. Amidst South Africa’s complex racially diverse
a place of fun at any time.
past, Harmony Beach was designated principally for coloured people; those of mixed origin, in the main part African, European and Malay. And so it remains today, but by choice, not legislation.
Paul Perton Rooi Els • June 2009
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Climbing frame
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The play area is neglected, deserted and overgrown. The grass is already calf–length and moles are digging an underground tunnel network that one day might house a metro transport system. The slides, frames and climbing apparatus are falling apart.
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Tractor tyres used in a playground apparatus
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Tractor tyre used in a playground apparatus
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Slide
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The Harmony Beach facilities served thousands of holidaymakers in the past. Today, it’s hard to work out whether the building material has been stolen for informal housing, or removed by the renovation contractors to prevent further theft.
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Roof and awning
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Roof beams open to the elements frame the floodlights that made Harmony Beach such an attraction at night
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An undercover seating area, now also open to the elements
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Graffiti
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Under some increasingly rare roofing, this area is now a home for vagrants
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Modern–day Golgotha; previously showers to remove salty water from skin and clothes
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If there’s nothing there, you can’t steal it
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It seems as though the owners have become increasingly determined to keep people out
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Mankind’s inevitable detritus (1)
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Fort Knox – as if
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Childrens’ roundabout
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Sea wall and pool
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Part facility, part sea wall and beyond it, the foreboding False Bay
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Beach meets mankind
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Childrens’ pool
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Eroded steps
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Mankind’s inevitable detritus (2)
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Pedestrian area
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Eroded paving between sea and sand
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No blerrie diving
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Pier, gull and rubbish
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Pool
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Mankind’s inevitable detritus (3)
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Even on a still day, the Atlantic washes ashore with some force
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Sea wall and pool
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Mankind’s inevitable detritus (4)
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Turnstile, but you can walk around it if you’d rather
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This city works for you
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Tarentaale (guinea fowl)
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Wind breaks and braais (barbequeues)
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Essential when you have kids and are near the ocean
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Car port
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Hendon Park
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Gordons Bay
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Directions
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Holiday homes
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Hendon Park
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Fun Park – open all year ‘round
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Putt–Putt
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This dry water slide frames a Port Jackson – a noxious weed in South Africa. In the background, the Kogelberg looms
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Water slide
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Halo Cocktail Bar
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“Leave it out. Who’s going to steal that?”
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Hopeful, but empty
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All but three of the photographs in this book were shot using a Canon PowerShot G10. They were selected from almost 500 images taken on Saturday 6 June 2009. The remaining photographs were taken with a Leica D–LUX 3, for it’s wider field of view. Both cameras performed flawlessly and if asked, I would recommend either without hesitation. All photographs were imported into Aperture running on a MacPro, where candidates were identified and the bulk of cropping, adjustment and correction work was done. A few images were imported into Photoshop for perspective correction. No other editing has been done to any of these images. I laid out the pages in Adobe’s excellent InDesign CS4, wrote all of the copy as well as the captions. Conversion to PDF format was similarly handled in InDesign. Paul Perton Rooi Els • June 2009
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