I do enjoy watching a professional at work whether he/she is a brick layer, carpenter, jet pilot or chef. Having been interested in food since a child I like professional cooking shows on the TV, such as Nigella Lawson, Luke Nguyen, Rick Stein etc and find them to be entertaining and informative, so when Maureen and I […]
Sunrise as we approached the island. Dravuni Island is part of the Kadavu Group of islands, which are part of Fiji. It is a small island of about 0.8 sq km (0.3 sq miles) and the population is about 200 living in one village. It is one of the smallest populated islands in the Fijian […]
Arrived in Colombo to be greeted, just below our cabin balcony, by an elephant. Not sure that I was happy with the use of the elephant as a photo prop. The elephant, in my opinion, seemed to be stressed as he or she shook its head to make a large bell that was tied around its […]
In mid November of 1964 I received a telegram that ‘my services were required’ in London, because I was to join the Chilka – she was launched 1950 so she wasn’t too old. I enjoyed my time in Chilka, because she was a very happy ship, and when I joined she was loading cargo for the […]
I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky In October 2022 it will be sixty years since I first went to sea. I had eight days to pack and join my first ship, did I have everything . . . I had only been to Woodside station once […]
1960 reconstruction of HMS Bounty Being in charge of the our Pacific agent network, I had to visit Tahiti of course . . well, someone had to do this difficult task! Tahiti was originally called Otaheite, and once again it is thought the Portuguese were the first Europeans to visit the islands in 1606, but […]
Even though Calcutta is a 170 km (100 miles) from the sea the river Hooghly is large and deep enough for deep sea ships to sail to Calcutta to load and discharge. The Company that I worked for began life in Calcutta in 1856 so it was not a surprise to see other BISNC (British […]
Abu Dhabi 2017 – the Emirates Palace Hotel – I didn’t have any friends in Abu Dhabi so I was unable to fix a visit, but I did check the rates – on special the cheapest room is AUD $365 / night (USD $290) but couldn’t find out if this included a ‘free’ breakfast. The most […]
After leaving Tarawa it was a short 805 mile flight to Funafuti, Tuvalu, but it still took about three hours in the HS 148. The aircraft carried more freight than it did passengers, because not many people visited Funafuti, other than returning residents, and the occasional businessman, i.e your truly. As we made our approach to […]
This blog is aimed mainly at Australian readers, so I apologise to my other readers. I am tired of the multi-coloured banner across the top of my blog, even though I’ve tried to have it removed, and investigated how to remove it myself, but I don’t have the computer knowledge. It is obviously a banner […]
Unlike Christmas in the northern hemisphere, Christmas for us is the height of summer. It is the time to have our meals outside as often as possible, time for warm evenings to stretch an evening meal in to darkness, before switching on the garden lights.. The BBQ on the right near the fence – Table […]
Fjords, drama & cold This blog will be mainly pictures, with a limited amount of description. After leaving Puerto Chacabuco it was Chilean fjords all the way. I’ve tried to capture the grandeur of the scenery. The mist added, rather than distracted from the scenery. Flat calm and loneliness . . . While cruising through […]
The British celebrating ten years of service for Concorde’s trans-Atlantic service, accompanied by the Royal Air Force’s Red Arrows, and Queen Elizabeth 2 cruise ship, which also carried passengers trans-Atlantic but much slower. On arrival at JFK (New York’s major airport) we taxied to terminal 7 There wasn’t any mistake as to our location because […]
In mid November of 1964 I received a telegram that ‘my services were required’ in London, because I was to join the Chilka – she was launched 1950 so she wasn’t too old. I enjoyed my time in Chilka, because she was a very happy ship, and when I joined she was loading cargo for the […]
