How things have changed since my first trip to Hong Kong in 1963. Note the clock tower to the left of the picture, right on the waterfront, more about it later. I found this old advert, which also shows Hong Kong of the 60’s. We entered Hong Kong harbour via the Tathong Channel on the […]

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 […]

Sun coming up behind us as we cross the Great Australia Bight. Above sunrise as we approach Fremantle. Above a day out of Fremantle in the Indian Ocean heading for Bali. As the sun came up it seemed to produce an outline image of Australia. Another sunrise as we approached Bali – as the sun […]

We arrived in Colombo on the 8th June at 2.pm for fuel and water, because our next port of call would be Muscat in Oman and it was already getting hot and summer months in or near the Persian Gulf is an experience I can do without. There was little for me to do so […]

On board we have a choice of a number of restaurants – Any time dining, a time for dinner which we choose – the restaurants to which we could visit were Santa Fe, Pacific Moon or Savoy Dining. Santa Fe Restaurant All had the same menu, but a different ambiance from light and airy to […]

An unusual memorial to those who died in the Christchurch earthquake. 185 chairs all shapes and sizes painted white to remember the victims of the 2011. They stand on the ground where once stood a church – the church was destroyed by the earthquake. Across the road the cardboard cathedral was pointed out to us. […]

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 […]

Our first port of call on the way to Japan was Darwin, which is the capital of Northern Australia, with a population of about 150,000. Charles Darwin 1809 – 1882 In 1839 Lieutenant John Lort Stokes of HMS Beagle, was the first British person to spot the harbour of what was to become Darwin.  Commander […]

The light rail from Port Melbourne to the city takes about fifteen minutes, and costs $7.50 return, if you are a pensioner or $15.00 full fare. After the Golden Princess docked in Melbourne, we caught the light rail to the city centre. The cost includes a reusable card that can be ‘topped up’ over the […]

We sailed from Puerto Montt at 5.00 pm for our next port of call, which was Puerto Chacabuco. We passed a number of islands off the Patagonian coast, and experienced the majestic fjords that made one think of Norway. The area known as Patagonia is split between Chile & Argentina, but I must admit I […]

Asia has a number of major hubs to Europe – Singapore, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, and recently with the growth of the Chinese airlines, various Chinese cities such as Shanghai & Guangzhou (old name being Canton). When checking which transit hub to use to buy your business class ticket consider the economy of the […]

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 […]

Food & Beverage always helps to make a holiday. Dining in the Symphony Dining room – breakfast, lunch or dinner. Maureen and I started having our breakfast in the restaurant, but ended up on deck sixteen at World Fresh Marketplace – the choice was larger, but each evening we had our dinner in the Symphony restaurant. Breakfast in […]

With such a long time at anchor off Doha, Qatar, there was not any excuse not to write home – at least we didn’t pay for the postage. We handed our letters to the purser or chief steward, which was then handed over to our agent, along with any Company communication. The Company mail was […]