Travel does broaden the mind, or so one would think. Two small incidents happened to me, each linked to the other, but thousands of miles apart in distance, but only a few months in time. I was in Tokyo, on business, and the hotel in which I stayed had recordings of bird calls in the […]
To carry on from Singapore 1963 and all that . . .Our next port was Hong Kong. We anchored in the harbour, just a week after entering Singapore harbour. Once again the smell of Asia fired my imagination of day’s gone bye. They do say that you can smell money in Hong Kong – everyone […]
London on a Spring day a few years ago. London Pride written by Noel Coward after a bombing raid in 1941. He was sitting in a damaged railway station and apparently he felt a wave of sentimental pride. Tulips Soldiers of the Queen On duty at Horse Guards Big Ben Tower Bridge ANZAC war memorial […]
As part of the cruise we were entitled to a complimentary visit to a specialist restaurant. Not being a great fan of Italian food or fish, I voted for the Crown Grill. In addition, we had a voucher for a bottle of wine not to exceed $70 (AUD). I’d never bought a bottle of anywhere […]
In my last posting I promised photographs of the public areas inside the Ruby Princess. This our cabin, on first impressions we thought it was smaller than similar Princess ships cabins. On a positive note it had plenty of storage space, a standard bathroom, which included the shower, which was one of the best that I’ve […]
I took the above picture of Diamond Princess at anchor off Nha Trang, which is in Vietnam. Maureen and I boarded Diamond Princess in Sydney, in mid-March, for a twenty-two-day cruise to Japan. The Diamond was positioning to Japan, to be based in Yokohama for the northern summer cruising season. Our ports of call would […]
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 […]
There comes a time that when you are offered something and it sounds great, you should be careful – but I wasn’t careful and agreed. As MV Juna reached Fremantle in Western Australia I agreed to supervise the loading of freezer and chiller cargo, on the understanding that once is had been completed I was […]
Next day we repacked the car and headed to Beechworth in Victoria. The drive was just over two hours, via the outskirts of Albury. It was an easy drive, and once off the freeway a very pleasant drive along quiet country roads. Finding our accommodation Rose Cottage was easy. Rose cottage from the front gate. View […]
I consider myself to be very fortunate to be living in Australia and in particular in a leafy suburb which is a forty minute train ride from the city of Sydney. For the past twenty odd years, I have walked every morning in my suburb around 6.00 To 6.30 am and I never get tired […]
I consider myself to be very fortunate to be living in Australia and in particular in a leafy suburb which is a forty minute train ride from the city of Sydney. For the past twenty odd years, I have walked every morning in my suburb around 6.00 To 6.30 am and I never get tired […]
I consider myself to be very fortunate to be living in Australia and in particular in a leafy suburb which is a forty minute train ride from the city of Sydney. For the past twenty odd years, I have walked every morning in my suburb around 6.00 To 6.30 am and I never get tired […]
I think that every bus in Cochin (Kochi) had been hired for our arrival. This time we didn’t take a ship’s tour because it is just as easy to DIY. Two of our friends had decided to join us for a tuk tuk tour of Cochin. Our other two friends where having no end of […]
In 1945 the Americans bombed the real bridge on the river Kwai. The centre parts of the bridge (the flat bits) are new, and the original part of the bridge has the curved sides. We could walk on the bridge; it is a rail bridge only, and not available for road transport. There was a […]
