This volcanic island is 5.5 km long by 4.0 km wide, elevation is 704 mtrs (2309 ft). The crater is about 400 mtrs across. The volcano discharges about 1300 tons a day of sulphur dioxide, and over a year it is 474,500 tons, and global warming is supposed to be our fault. From Hong Kong […]
The normal high standard of Princess cruising has, in my opinion, slipped somewhat, but for us it started last year when we sailed in the Majestic Princess from Rome to Singapore. We have completed a total of nine cruises, seven of which were with Princess, so I think we can judge when standards are falling. […]
MV Pundua – ordered by the M.O.W.T (Ministry of War for Transport) in 1945, but was delivered to British India Steam Navigation Co. when launched. The Company had 105 ships at the outbreak of WW2, and during the war they lost 51 vessels due to enemy action. They also managed 72 other vessels, and of […]
Orchard Road Singapore – nothing but shops & more shops. There is a different kind of Singapore, the Botanical Gardens. A beautiful peaceful park area, which concentrates on orchids. My knowledge of gardening and plants is very limited, so I’ll just post the pictures . . . Getting to the Botanical Gardens from the city […]
A beautiful piece of history in Penang, which was created by four Armenian brothers in 1884. Originally named the Eastern Hotel, which soon became known as ‘The Premier Hotel East of Suez.’ Hotel de l’Europe, also in Penang, was run by one of the brothers who changed the name to The Oriental Hotel in 1885, […]
Puerto Montt is a town in southern Chile known as the gateway to the Andes. It began life quite late, not until 1853. For a ship’s tour of nearly eight hours the cost would be USD $169 per person, so it was research time to cut the cost. It wasn’t long before I found GV […]
Considering the current pandemic I thought I would throw in a comment or two about a visit to Fremantle to load cargo for the Middle East, but before we could leave port a number of us had to have our vaccinations updated. This happened periodically to protect us from ‘catching’ something dangerous from yellow fever […]
During WW2 the US Navy created a classification of ship as ‘Attack Transport’, which consisted of a specially built ship that would carry troops in to battle, but as normal troop ships were usually converted merchant ships, and relied on either docking or tenders to deliver the troops ashore an ‘attack transport’ carried her own […]
Three guesses for our next destination. I was eighteen when I first visited Japan and have always wanted to take Maureen, so when a positioning cruise came up, at the right price, – I booked Diamond Princess. We sailed in the Diamond Princess from Sydney to Singapore in 2016 so hopefully it’ll be like coming […]
About an hour and a half from Cowra is Parkes, so name after Henry Parkes in 1873 later Sir Henry Parkes. Sir Henry in the town centre of Parkes. Parkes is now famous for the radio telescope that is located just outside of the town. It was built in 1961, but only the basic structure […]
Flying to Europe from Australia is not as simple as getting on a plane for 24 cramped hours in economy. As one grows older economy class becomes less and less attractive, even though one might not be able to fly business class all the way, perhaps a combination can be arranged. In the past ten […]
With a capacity of 800 you had to be seated at least 30 minutes before the show began. The Princess ships have their own dancers and singers, and their own musical backing – in addition, various outside entertainers are engaged for one or two nights. They would fly in – entertain the passengers and fly […]
American Samoa is the only area south of the Equator controlled by the USA, not counting the Antarctic. The above is the flag of American Samoa and Pag Pago (pro Pango Pango) is the capital, which is located on the island of Tutuila. The US had been interested in this part of Samoa from as […]
Our third and final promo was with Aer Lingus – the above shows Aer Lingus B 707 at Manchester Airport.We picked New York again, but this time we didn’t fly direct, but via Dublin and Shannon. The memorable thing about this flight for me was at Dublin Airport while we were in transit. I visited […]
