Over fifty-five years of flying as a passenger, with comments on various airlines that I have used. In alphabetical order, not in historical order. I flew part way across the Pacific Ocean in the above aircraft, and years later I found her at a small aerodrome near where I live – no longer in service. […]
Chakdara We loaded tea in Trincomalee for five days before sailing to Madras. I stayed on board this time because I was not going to be accused of not being aware of our sailing time. Our next leg took us from Madras to Aden, which is across the harbour from Little Aden – at least we […]
SS Shieldhall, used to be a Clyde ‘sludge boat’. 1972 GT, built in 1954 and now saved as a piece of history and maintained by volunteers. In 2012 she was repainted in the colours of R.M.S Titanic to mark the centenary of the sinking. She operates over the weekend as a pleasure steamer taking tourists […]
Papua New Guinea’s flag. After my trip to Singapore and the other Asian offices I was asked to visit our next-door neighbour Papua New Guinea, because TNT had offices in this country and we planned to use these inter-company connections as our agent for courier traffic. This was the start of my Pacific Island-hopping time. […]
In September of 1967 I was a twenty three year old Third Officer on a cargo ship. She was ordered by the Ministry of War Transport in 1945, but was delivered to the company, for which I worked, due to the war ending. When I sailed in her she was twenty two years old (one […]
Around the corner from our accommodation was an old railway station called Sulphide Street Station. It is no longer in use, but is now the location of a small railway museum. Silver City Comet is now part of the museum. The above is the left side of the explanation of the train at the museum. Pictures of […]
In September of 1967 I was a twenty three year old Third Officer on a cargo ship. She was ordered by the Ministry of War Transport in 1945, but was delivered to the company, for which I worked, due to the war ending. When I sailed in her she was twenty two years old (one […]
I’d been out East for just over a year and the Company decided that I should start making my way home. I signed off the Chanda (black & white picture above) and made my way to a hotel in Karachi called the Beach Luxury Hotel. This hotel was much better than the Bristol Hotel in […]
We decided to visit Hahndorf, which is in the Adelaide hills, and a short drive from Adelaide in South Australia. The town was original settled by Prussians from Europe. They arrived in 1838 off the ship ‘ Zebra’ under the command of a Dane called Dirk Meinhertz Hahn. The voyage out was very unpleasant, but […]
Ceylon did not become Sri Lanka until 1972. The country has had a chequered history, from the Portuguese arriving in 1505, followed by the Dutch, when the king of Sri Lanka signed a treaty with the Dutch East India Company, in the hope that the Dutch would get rid of the Portuguese. It was during […]
BOAC I joined BOAC in 1969 and in 1971 an Act of Parliament merged BOAC with BEA to take affect from 31 March 1974, which would create British Airways. The UK had joined the Common Market, as it was called then, in January 1973, so the merger of the two government-controlled airlines made sense. BOAC […]
Ceylon did not become Sri Lanka until 1972. The country has had a chequered history, from the Portuguese arriving in 1505, followed by the Dutch, when the king of Sri Lanka signed a treaty with the Dutch East India Company, in the hope that the Dutch would get rid of the Portuguese. It was during […]
Waterfall & Potatoes We decided to visit Fitzroy Falls because the last time were visited the falls was in 2006 and at that time the falls were covered in mist. The above is the river that feeds the falls and as you see it is not very ‘active’ due to it being the end of […]
On our first day it had to be China Town. Still the same feeling as our visit in 2012, but the prices are higher. In 2012, AUD $0.80 bought one Singapore dollar, today AUD $1.03 buys one Singapore dollar, a huge difference in buying power. We found the same corner bar that we used last […]