This post is for the #wednesdaywalk challenge and the #makemesmile challenge collaboration. This collaboration initially took place once a month, but due to its popularity, @tattoodjay (of the #wednesdaywalk) and @elizacheng (of #makemesmile) decided to make it a weekly thing.
If you want to know more about the rules, visit this post by @tattoodjay where you will find all the rules at the bottom of his post after you've enjoyed his beautiful photos from his walk.
Today's post is still a result of the same outing that I wrote about in last week's 2 posts.
The original plan was to take my wife for a hair appointment at a new hairstylist. The plan was to leave early enough to allow me to find the address as my wife has never been there before.
After that, I wanted to take photos of the Camelot Golf Estate from a distance, as seen from the top of a hill...Botha's Hill to be exact.
I would then drop my wife at the hairstylist, who operates his salon from his home, while I would go to Camelot to take photos "on sight".
But, after we found the address of the hair salon, we ended up in a sugar cane field.
It was a fun experience and we got out just in time to make it for my wife's hair appointment...lol.
But, as we arrived for my wife's appointment, Pat (the hairstylist), came out and met with us outside. When he heard that I am about to leave with the idea of taking photos elsewhere, he invited me to go for a walk on their property and take as many photos as I want while waiting for my wife.
They live on a 3-acre property and he took me on a quick expedition so that I can know my way around.
It came out that he is also passionate about horses and apparently he competed in many horse riding events when he was younger.
He then left me alone and I had about an hour to myself.
I first went to the paddocks where I remembered seeing the horses. The paddocks are at the bottom of the property.
Just before getting to the stables and the paddocks, I looked back, and this is the view of the house from here.
I then got down to the first paddock. At this stage, the horses were relaxed and they were casually grazing in the upper paddock.
Clearly, the horses must have paid this fence a visit or two over time...lol.
Just above the paddocks, are the stables...
But back to the horses...
Look at this beautiful animal.
While this guy was still grazing where I found them in the beginning...
This one was slowly moving toward another paddock that became visible a little further down on the property.
In the next photo, you can see the paddock at a lower level in the background.
A clear view over the paddock at the bottom.
Walking further, I looked up and I liked the view of some houses on the opposite side of the valley.
I started walking back up the hill and found a route leading back up to the main residence.
About halfway up, I was where the garden area starts around the house, with the final set of stairs leading up to the house.
I still had some time and I didn't feel like going back to the house yet.
So I went back down and that is when I found this view as I was approaching the paddock area again. Take note of the spray lights. Obviously, the main function of these lights would be for security purposes, but can you also imagine the view even at night time...?
Another view looking out over the forest area with a part of a paddock in the foreground.
In the next two photos, I played around with the view over the paddock at the bottom, using some trees in the foreground.
And this was when the fun started... The highlight of my walk on the property.
The horses came back into sight and they became playful!
In the next photo, I was still attempting to get my focus right, when the horses decided to start running. While my focus was still more on the foreground, the horses came running up the hill in the background. I took the shot though...
I guess I was lucky because, for the next shot, I was able to get more focused on the horses...
I took some more shots, but I still need to get some practice for nice action photos such as this...lol.
Two of the three horses went up to have some water, but this guy decided he just wanted to chill in the shade for a while.
I followed the other two to where they enjoyed the coolness of some water where I found them the first time.
And while we have some water here, why not have some fun...?
Wow! This is fun! Let's go for a big splash!
All this time, I have to say that I also had a very loyal and friendly companion, who made sure that I didn't feel too lonely...lol.
I started my walk back up toward the house again, following the route along the side of the property.
I reached the area where you find the outskirts of the garden closer to the house.
This gave me the opportunity to capture more color on my walk as well.
The red was standing out prominently against the green.
The last stretch before I got to the big farm gate, passing another colorful scene.
I then turned to the left when I found the big farm gate, where I had to enter in order to go back to the house again.
But as I reached the gate, it was time to smile again...
Some "pedestrians" were crossing the driveway on the other side of the gate...lol.
I was able to take a shot through the gate before opening it.
A few steps behind them, "Mr. Important" himself was proudly following them to the other side of the driveway...
I waited for about 5 more minutes for my wife and then we were off to Camelot for taking more photos. You can see the Camelot photos here if you haven't seen them yet.
And that's all for today, folks.
Thank you for reading my post! I do appreciate it!