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 […]
The Royal Palace in Nukuʻalofa, which is the capital of the Kingdom of Tonga. I took the photograph from our balcony as we slowly approached the wharf. The maps below will give you an idea of the location of Tonga. The pier as we came alongside. We could see the locals setting up stalls all […]
M/V Chilka The Bay of Biscay and Gibraltar behind us and Chilka heads for Almeria on the southern coats of Spain. From memory it was a small town with few attractions for the cadets, but we loaded over 2000 barrels of grapes in to our freezer chambers destined for Mombasa, in Kenya. Chilka was not a freezer […]
This was the second part of our ‘back to back’ cruising from Sydney in Diamond Princess. We spent a day in Yokohama before sailing to cruise the Japanese coast and a single foreign port in South Korea, Busan, which is across from Japan via the southern part of the Sea of Japan. We would stay […]
The media used to set a certain standard for the correct use of English – but not today. Have you noticed that people no longer utter the word ‘Yes’ for the affirmative, but will answer ‘absolutely’, and if you wish to emphasis ‘Yes’ it has to be ‘Absolutely Correct’, or ‘you are absolutely correct’ if […]
I’ve managed to trace my family back to John Woodland, who was born around 1610, near Newport Pagnell. His grandson, Richard, married Mary Exon, a girl from Ware in Herts , which is 50 miles (80 km) from Newport Pagnell. The distance today is less than an hours drive, so to marry someone so far away in […]
It’s Always You Bing Crosby sang it to Dorothy Lamour, in Zanzibar of course . . . Christmas Day 1964 – we arrived off Mombasa and berthed alongside the Chakla, another Company ship. Also, in port was a BI passenger ship named ‘Karanja’ and this name had a family link for me. My father was […]
Travel often pops up in various conversations and those who know me have suggested that I should put down some of my experiences. At first I was reluctant, because I didn’t think people would be interested in the travels of an unknown traveler. When my grandchildren started to ask questions I thought perhaps I should […]
I’ve always loved North & Mid Wales, perhaps because my mother was Welsh and only when the family moved from Caernarvon (Carnarfon to be PC) to Birkenhead, when she was thirteen, did she start to learn English. When my mother spoke of the move she would comment that she moved to England, which sounded strange to me as […]
Lifou Island is part of the Loyalty Islands, which is part of New Caledonia, and Noumea is the capital. We approached the island and anchored. The tender boats from Ruby Princess would take us ashore to the small piers. The island is 80 km (50 miles) long and 16 km (10 miles) wide, and is […]
I’ve known a number of Princesses – Island, Diamond, Dawn, Majestic and have booked future time with Golden (see above picture) & Diamond (again) – see picture below. My wife & I enjoyed our time so much with each Princess we thought it only right that we share our good fortune with our friends around […]
We arrived off Mystery Island and anchored. The island is uninhabited but local people from another island arrived by boat to set up vendor stalls. The local name for the island is Inyeug Island and is a few hundred meters wide and about a kilometer in length. For me it had the feel of pirates […]
It’s Always You Bing Crosby sang it to Dorothy Lamour, in Zanzibar of course . . . Christmas Day 1964 – we arrived off Mombasa and berthed alongside the Chakla, another Company ship. Also, in port was a BI passenger ship named ‘Karanja’ and this name had a family link for me. My father was […]
The Silver City Highway took us out of Mildura, and we headed north to the home of the largest mining company in the world. Charles Sturt, the explorer, in 1844 saw, and named, the Barrier Range, and commented in his diary that he had seen a ‘broken hill’, as part of the Range. Later silver […]
