The Royal Palace in Nukuʻalofa, which is the capital of the Kingdom of Tonga. I took the photograph from our balcony as we slowly approached the wharf. The maps below will give you an idea of the location of Tonga. The pier as we came alongside. We could see the locals setting up stalls all […]
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 […]
The first commercial wet dock in the world was opened in Liverpool in 1715. It was known originally by the engineer’s name Thomas Steer’s Dock, but later, as other docks were built it became known as the Old Dock. This Old Dock was infilled in 1826. When Liverpool One was being created they found the Old […]
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, […]
Flag of Wales The Eisteddfod can be traced back to Cardigan Castle in 1176, when the House of Dinefwr, which was a royal house of Wales, supported the eisteddfod. The House of Dinefwr can be traced back to King of Gwynedd in 844. The above is the flag of Dinefwr. The Eisteddfod had it ups […]
By late February we, in NSW, had over 35 days free of Covid-19 so I thought it was time for a short holiday. Not sure how clear the map is, but we decided to visit the Southern Highlands and we decided to stay in Mittagong (marked with the red line). We picked the Grand Country […]
This was the second part of our ‘back to back’ cruising from Sydney in Diamond Princess. We spent a day in Yokohama before sailing to cruise the Japanese coast and a single foreign port in South Korea, Busan, which is across from Japan via the southern part of the Sea of Japan. We would stay […]
In 1945 the Americans bombed the real bridge on the river Kwai. The centre parts of the bridge (the flat bits) are new, and the original part of the bridge has the curved sides. We could walk on the bridge; it is a rail bridge only, and not available for road transport. There was a […]
By late February we, in NSW, had over 35 days free of Covid-19 so I thought it was time for a short holiday. Not sure how clear the map is, but we decided to visit the Southern Highlands and we decided to stay in Mittagong (marked with the red line). We picked the Grand Country […]
While researching Prince of Wales Island (now called Penang) for the sequel to Ice King (aka Triangle Trade) I came across details of the German cruiser SMS Emden, which had links to Penang. Maureen often says that I am more interested in the research than the act of writing, which to an extent is correct. Little […]
Shigeru Mizuki is a Japanese Manga author who was born in 1922 and lived in Sakaminato. Shigeru Mizuki When he was a child he was a prodigy and during his time in primary school his skill with a pencil was so good that one of his teachers arranged an exhibition of his work. When he […]
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, […]
The first train arrived in Parramatta on the 26th September 1855. The first steam train in Australia ran in 1854 from Melbourne to Port Melbourne and by the time of federation in 1901 the network had grown to over 20,000 kms (12,500 miles). Today in Thirlmere, about a thirty-minute drive from Mittagong is the largest […]
The Silverton Pub. As soon as I saw the local pub I recognised it from various films. Mad Max 2 A town like Alice – Australian min-series from the book by Nevil Shute. Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, to name three that I’ve seen, and I couldn’t count the number of TV adverts. Outside […]
