British merchant navy flag, with poppy – Ruby Princess flew the Red Duster. We anchored off the island of Lifou (New Caledonia) at 9.00 am on the 11th November, and many of us went ashore via tender. Maureen & I and our friends were walking to a lookout point when we heard the sound of […]
Where ever we went in Southampton we came a cross history, whether from a few years ago to over a thousand years ago. He still guards Bargate, and watches over the peace of the town. The town has been in existences from the Stone age, through the Bronze and the Iron age. It was called […]
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 […]
Just a few pics of ground level in Perth. I told you that kangaroos roamed the streets of Perth! A touch of the old country – London Court Bell Tower over looking the Swan River – a gift from the UK. Twelve of the bells are from St Martin’s – in- the- Fields London, and a further five bells, […]
Blackman’s Swamp in 1870 We had five nights in Cowra and planned to have three nights at Blackman’s Swamp. We left Cowra on Friday, but after we received a phone call that Maureen was booked into hospital on Tuesday we decided to cut our visit to Blackman’s Swamp to just two nights. Just to make […]
What do people think of when they hear of a mutiny? Perhaps cinema’s effort to re-enact a mutiny helps us to think of – the mutiny on HMS Bounty, in April 1789 might come to mind. . or would it be the Indian Mutiny of 1857. . or a later mutiny aboard the Russian battleship […]
Blackman’s Swamp in 1870 We had five nights in Cowra and planned to have three nights at Blackman’s Swamp. We left Cowra on Friday, but after we received a phone call that Maureen was booked into hospital on Tuesday we decided to cut our visit to Blackman’s Swamp to just two nights. Just to make […]
Life can get crowded as the Arcadia arrives just behind us. Of course our old favourite had to join us Sapphire Princess A short time later Queen Victoria arrived and to top it all Marco Polo slips in . . . Fortunately we were the first to arrive, so had clearance quickly. But to be […]
Over the sea We put the house with a Real Estate agent this time and on the 20th March 1980 we sold it again, but this time to another family. The problem was that they would not sign the contract until they had sold their house – which was understandable when mortgage rates were at […]
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 […]
Blackman’s Swamp in 1870 We had five nights in Cowra and planned to have three nights at Blackman’s Swamp. We left Cowra on Friday, but after we received a phone call that Maureen was booked into hospital on Tuesday we decided to cut our visit to Blackman’s Swamp to just two nights. Just to make […]
I think that the background of Skypak makes quite an interesting story. The seeds of the Company started in Japan, by two Australians. One had arrived in Japan as a member of the Australian occupying forces after the defeat of Japan and had remained after the formal end of the occupation in 1952. His command […]
Where ever we went in Southampton we came a cross history, whether from a few years ago to over a thousand years ago. He still guards Bargate, and watches over the peace of the town. The town has been in existences from the Stone age, through the Bronze and the Iron age. It was called […]
All ready for a wedding. The flight from London to Melbourne was particularly good considering the last time Maureen & I flew to Australia, which was not long after we were married in 1970, we were also travelling ‘staff travel’, and we were ‘off-loaded’ in Hong Kong and we were stuck there for about four […]
