Our next stop was Tallinn, which is the capital of Estonia. Estonia’s flag is blue, black & white as you see in the photograph. The blue, black and white flag was consecrated by the members of the Estonian Students’ Society on the 4 June 1884. Apparently there are a number of reason why they have such […]
In 1926 Aggie married Charles Grey When one reads the history of Samoa, particularly through the 1800s to the mid-1900s the list of characters that flowed in and around Apia, the capital of Samoa, would keep a Hollywood producer in work for years. Aggie grew up across the road from the International Hotel and one […]
During WW2 the US Navy created a classification of ship as ‘Attack Transport’, which consisted of a specially built ship that would carry troops in to battle, but as normal troop ships were usually converted merchant ships, and relied on either docking or tenders to deliver the troops ashore an ‘attack transport’ carried her own […]
Australian Wooden Boat Festival. This boat festival is held every two years (except during Covid) in Hobart, Tasmania and this year it was held from the 10th to the 13th February. Our cruise ship arrived in Hobart of the morning of the 14th February and I was hoping to see various older sailing vessels leaving […]
Sunrise over New Caledonia For a time I was in a business partnership with a Frenchman, who lived in Tahiti and later moved to New Caledonia before finally moving to Sydney. I can remember him saying that for a Frenchman working for the French government and being posted to one of the French colonies in […]
Never mind clocks & watches and all that accurate stuff, when in Fiji one must get used to Fiji time . . . Just after sunrise we approached our berth at Suva, Fiji. Abel Tasman was the first European to sight Fiji in 1643, and this was followed by Captain Cook in 1770. It was […]
I knew that I had made an impression with this fellow – as soon as he saw me, he turned his back . . . We were visiting the Koala Hospital in Port Macquarie, which is free to enter and all they ask is a donation to the work of looking after sick or injured […]
Having been a fan of the cinema since I was a child & I can’t help but visit the cinema when I travel. In the 1964 I was in Moji , in southern Japan, when I found that I had time on my hands so decided to visit the local cinema to see Charlton Heston […]
HMT Dunera (B.1937) She is shown as a troop ship when visiting Malta, I think the photo was taken in the 1950’s. A couple of years ago Maureen and I completed a road trip around NSW, South Australia and Victoria. During the trip I planned to drive from Beechworth to Mildura; both towns are in […]
Sunrise over New Caledonia For a time I was in a business partnership with a Frenchman, who lived in Tahiti and later moved to New Caledonia before finally moving to Sydney. I can remember him saying that for a Frenchman working for the French government and being posted to one of the French colonies in […]
During the night of the cruise from the Bay of Islands to Tauranga I was woken around 2.00 am to the sound of the ship’s foghorn, which was set to sound every two minutes.In the ‘old days’ of the 1960’s when sailing in a cargo ship the officer of the watch would haul on a […]
The sunlight filters through the panes of book-shop windows, pockmarked grey By years of grimy city rains, And falls in mild, dust-laden ray Across the stock, in shelf and stack, Of this old bookshop-man who brought, To a shabby shop in a cul-de-sac, Three hundred years of print and thought. Like a cloak hangs the […]
I knew that I had made an impression with this fellow – as soon as he saw me, he turned his back . . . We were visiting the Koala Hospital in Port Macquarie, which is free to enter and all they ask is a donation to the work of looking after sick or injured […]
During the night of the cruise from the Bay of Islands to Tauranga I was woken around 2.00 am to the sound of the ship’s foghorn, which was set to sound every two minutes.In the ‘old days’ of the 1960’s when sailing in a cargo ship the officer of the watch would haul on a […]
