Eventually I was back at Funafuti airport waiting for the plane to Suva, which is the capital of Fiji. Large international airlines use Nadi, but as my aircraft would be a propeller aircraft our destination would be Suva. The airline that was supposed to fly us (fourteen passengers) failed to arrive, so a substitute had […]

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 […]

On receiving the contract, I read it quickly and then read it again more slowly and then one more time, after which I decided that I needed help to make the correct decision. I bounced the idea off members of Goodreads , which is a book readers web site, and I was very pleasantly surprised to […]

This is a model of the Swedish vessel Vasa, which was brought back from the dead in 1961. Once it was raised from the seabed it floated and was towed to the location set aside for its restoration. I first saw the Vasa in 1965 during a visit to Stockholm during my time as a […]

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 […]

Thanks to Covid Maureen and I were unable to spend our Emirates frequent flyer points, which we had saved for a trip from Singapore to Sydney after cruising to Singapore.We were keen to spend the points before they were cancelled by the airline. After considering several options we finally decided to spend them on accommodation, […]

Hythe located between the New Forest and Southampton waters. A very pleasant short ferry ride to visit the village and experience the world’s oldest pier train – the price of the train is included in the ferry ticket, which was inexpensive. As you see the weather was very kind to us – AIDAperla (entered service […]

While in South Australia we visited Victor Harbor, which is about eighty kilometres south of Adelaide. Note the missing ‘u’ in Harbor due to a spelling error by an earlier Surveyor General (he was not an American). Oddly enough the current railway station at Victor Harbor is spelled Victor Harbour. The town has a history […]

Nev’s Big Yellow bus – much cheaper than the cruise ship tours and only about eight passengers – easy to get on & off. We were picked up by Nev’s driver / guide and ferried the thirty minutes from Port Chalmers, where we docked, to the centre of Dunedin. The cruise company charged $15 for the […]

On receiving the contract I read it quickly and then read it again more slowly and then one more time, after which I decided that I needed help to make the correct decision. I bounced the idea off Goodread, which is a book readers web site, and I was very pleasantly surprised to hear from  Stephen […]

As we entered the harbour we passed the Chinese fishing nets, and some of the old buildings that I first saw in 1963. ‘Babu’ was our driver – his tuk tuk on the left. sometimes another tuk tuk wanted our little bit of the road, but Babu always managed to miss them . . . Near […]

Today it is the cherry capital of Australia. In 1847 Edward Taylor planted the first cherry tree in the Lambing Flat area. James White was the first European to lay claim to land in the area in 1826. He had been convicted of horse stealing in Buckinghamshire in the UK in 1812 and transported to […]

Many of us have a book inside that we would like to write if we just knew how – I am not talking about putting pen to paper, but to construct a story that others would wish to read. For years I wanted to write and would throw away my attempts, because I was not […]

Perth mint, which until 1970 was part or the Royal Mint of Britain. In 1970 ownership passed to western Australia. On our recent visit to Perth we took a tour of the old mint. The ‘Mint’ in the city of Perth is now mainly a museum with the ability to sell and market coins etc. […]