Today is #MarketFriday, a project initiated by @dswigle, and this post is my contribution to this project for this week.
To learn more about this project and participate, visit this post by @dswigle.
A little more than two weeks ago, I wanted to visit Mini Town in Durban.
As I mentioned in my post two weeks ago, things didn't work out the way I had planned though. It was crowded and to top it all, on arrival I was informed that they only take cash when I wanted to pay our entrance fee.
Last weekend, I kept an eye on the weather and the weather app I have on my phone. We had rainy weather and when it wasn't raining, it was cloudy and windy...
Bad news?
No! Not at all. In this case, it was perfect for us. The beaches are getting busier by the day with the holiday season rapidly approaching. But by keeping an eye on weather conditions, it becomes possible to predict how busy it will be with relative accuracy.
With the weather conditions last weekend, we were convinced that the beaches would be relatively quiet. Mini Town is located on the Durban beachfront, so I checked my weather app and planned accordingly.
Everything worked out perfectly. Almost nobody was on the beach because everybody was heading indoors to be entertained.
This time around, I made sure to have cash on me well ahead of time knowing that I wouldn't be able to pay by card.
We were off to a good start as we were met at the ticket office by a much friendlier gentleman this time.
At the time of writing this post, the exchange rate for the USD/ZAR pair was R17.29 for $1.00.
The entry fee to Mini Town is R40.00 per person, so an entrance fee of R80.00 ($4.63) was payable.
As you enter, you are greeted by this friendly guy...
Inside Mini Town, they have this information board containing some really interesting information.
As you enter, you find some nice benches with tables, providing nice shelter from the sun, where you can sit down and relax and just enjoy the view from here if you want to.
But we wanted to get close...go for a walk in town...lol.
Railway Services
We walked down the ramp and as we were getting close to the miniature buildings, I heard something...and it was getting closer...
As I looked at where the sound was coming from, a little train was approaching at full speed...lol.
I got the camera up and was just in time to get this shot as the train passed through underneath the little bridge.
It is the same little bridge that we were about to cross to actually enter the "town" area.
I always thought it would be "nice", or "interesting" to visit Mini Town (if you know what I mean), and had it on our to-do list for quite some time... But hey...this was fun!
The train passed us and went around the last bend to the left, before approaching "Central Station".
Once it was inside the station, it came to a stop (giving imaginary passengers time to embark and disembark) before taking off again on its journey...
We walked towards the station and I took position on another little bridge over the railway line just before the station.
I waited for the train to approach again.
I didn't even have to wait long as there was another train running as well...
Waiting another few minutes, and another shot of the train approaching Central Station.
This is what Central Station looks like...
Taking a walk to the far end of Mini Town, we found some nice, neat houses, (supposedly for railway workers) along the railway line. I remember as a child, there were houses built along the railway lines for the staff working on the railways. It didn't really look exactly like these little houses, but the idea/concept was similar.
More of these houses...with a train approaching again...lol.
While taking the shot above, I was convinced that the train was approaching me quite slowly...until I was done taking my photos...and then it suddenly picked up speed...
At the back of Mini Town, there is another station where the train also makes a stop.
The station area at the far end of Mini town...
Again, while the train was stationary in this station, I took some photos and it remained stationary...until I was done...and then it took off again...lol.
Was I imagining things...lol?
No. As I looked up, the guy (controlling the trains) from the control room on the opposite side of the park was watching me and playing along to give me a chance to get some nice shots...lol!
Approaching the station at the back...again at a comfortable speed for me to get some nice shots..., coming across a beautiful little bridge, crossing a water channel in the "harbor area".
In my next photo, you can clearly see the bridge over the water in the harbor area while the train is crossing it again.
Here is the friendly guy in the control room who was so kind to help me to get some nice shots...
Other Forms of Transport!
Next to the harbor area, is Focus Air Flight School.
After the flight school, the first area of the harbor is where the private yachts are docked...
UNICORN SHIPPING is quite active with their ships in Mini Town Harbor...
On the opposite side of the harbor, ISLAND VIEW SHIPPING also had a ship docked in the Mini Town Harbor.
A harbor is not a harbor if it is not equipped to get vessels into the water...
The next destination after the harbor is the airport. The smaller aircraft that is visible in the photos below, is continuously moving around on the square area in front of the other airplanes.
And last, but not least, yes, there must be road transport too...as can be seen behind a SPAR retail store, where they are busy loading/offloading...
Architecture
In today's post, I'll just share a few buildings with some nice architecture.
I think one of the most beautiful buildings in Durban, is the Durban Town Hall.
I was fascinated with the detail of this model of the Durban Town hall.
A front view of the Durban Town Hall. I had to take these shots at an angle, as there wasn't enough space to get far enough to get the whole building in the photo while facing it head-on...
A side view...
Ironically, I had more space to get enough distance for the side view...
The Durban City Hall model was built by Brian Deonarian in 1982.
A well-known landmark in Durban was the Jesus Dome, of the Durban Christian Centre.
But sadly, this building went up in flames in 2016. As far as I know, the fire was caused by an electrical fault, but I stand to be corrected.
We were in the area the night it happened. Seeing this great building going up in flames was truly a sad sight to see...
I will end this post with my last three photos of two random church buildings. They obviously exist in real life, but I am not familiar with them and I didn't see any information on them.
But I loved the architecture of these buildings...
Interesting Information
Some interesting information about Mini Town as it is displayed on their information board:
- Mini Town is not a model of the City of Durban, but the buildings are built on a scale of 1:24 of the real buildings.
- The harbor in Mini Town contains 212'000 liters of water which has to be replaced every time it is drained for maintenance.
- The power system for the railway is 32-volt dc and the mechanics are controlled in a control room by trained staff.
- many of the models in Mini City are sponsored by companies.
And that's it for today folks.
Thank you for reading my post. I do appreciate it!
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