July 2016 – Page 2 – silverfox175

A few days away from Sydney in an effort keep warm – Perth is the transit stop to Broome, which is a two hour flight north of Perth. I can’t blame Perth for its coolness of weather nor could I complain about our hotel – Novotel. Using Accor points we secured a large corner room on the third floor.

As we moved along the corridor to our room I had concerns that it would not be what I’d hoped. We passed two blank service doors before we reached our room and entered – what a pleasant surprise!

A large bedroom containing two armchairs around a coffee table, a work desk, large TV and the normal fridge. In the corner was a walk in wardrobe area. The bathroom contained a Jacuzzi!

     Two sets of windows gave us some great views across the Swan river  

Couldn’t have asked for better,

and they had an Irish Bar

For those readers in the UK, when the lady behind the bar (not shown) spoke to us, I asked if she was from Merseyside, because she had a definite ‘twang’. It turned out that she was from Chester and was on a working holiday. Talk about a small world.

The other odd thing was that one of the assistant managers spoke to us with a strong Irish accent. Only later did I find out that he was French, the hotel being in the Accor group, which is a French company. First time I heard the blarney from a Frenchman. :-o)

I know that we are supposed to plan for the future, and that the only sure thing is death and taxes.

During our Australian road trip last year I came across a grave . . . .

The ‘problem’ with this grave is that fortunately it is empty – at the moment!

It appears that the grave owner has started to carve his own epitaph on the head stone because (so I was told) he doesn’t trust his relatives to spend the money to mark his grave properly.

Over the years he has saved his cash and added a little every so often to his head stone.

As you see it is still unfinished.

Currently empty, so I have been told.

 I am not sure I would like to invest in the future in the same way as Mr Gray.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Tuol Svay Prey High School or is it  . . . .

Look closer and you might see barbed wire . .

  The above picture was taken in side the ‘school’ grounds.

 Cells for the prisoners.

How small is each cell

From an exercise pole to a pole of torture.

There are many photographs of those who were killed on display, but I didn’t think it was right to post them on a blog, particularly after read the regulations below.

The happiest moment of our visit came about as we were leaving. Near the exit gate I met one of the survivors of this horrible place.

Bou Meng had written about his time as a prisoner.

I felt honoured that he was happy to sign his book for me.

This ‘school’ is located in the capital city, it is not hidden away.

It was only a short drive and we were happy to see how life had changed for the locals.

The drive from Adelaide was fine until we came to a stretch of road that had salt bush trees and bushes on both sides.The trees hung over the road, which gave the impression that we were driving down a tunnel, similar to Alice falling down the rabbit hole in Alice in Wonderland. The road was straight and driving became monotonous and I had to make sure I didn’t lose my concentration.

As we came out of the ‘tunnel’ area we entered Kingston only to be met by the largest lobster that I’d seen.

 I believe his name is Larry – well why not Larry?
Better than Claws.

Seeing one of the Australian ‘bigs’ I began to think of the other ‘bigs’ that we have seen on our Australian travels during the last few years.

Remember the Big Seat in Broken Hill?

I also mentioned that Pro Hart (the artist) had an affinity with ants and that he used to add ants to some of his paintings.

 This is the Big Ant, which is also in Broken Hill, and it was designed by Pro Hart

The Big Moreno near Goulburn (NSW) – it used to be very close to the town centre, but since the freeway was built, which caused 40 coaches a day to miss visiting the Big Moreno, they moved Rambo closer to the freeway interchange and a rest stop. Locally the ram is called ‘Rambo’ – why not?

It has a tourist shop on the ground floor and an exhibition of wool on the second floor. People can also climb higher inside the statue and view the surrounding area through the eyes of Rambo.