Travel

I had been looking forward to having a bit of a look around Cherbourg, especially once I was aware of its connection with the Titanic. It was not to be.Because we were so late arriving we went straight from the train station to the boarding terminal at Cherbourg. As it turned out we could have taken time to have a look around the town as we had been told the final loading was at 8.30pm. It turns out that is for the vehicles. Ours loading did not start till then.  Not to worry, we managed to find a bar and have a Jamieson’s while we waited. We had also been approached by a Polish man in the check-in area and asked to ‘keep an eye on” the middle aged woman who was with him. As she had booked independently from him she could not board with him in their vehicle but she spoke no French or...

We flew into Brussels from Singapore via Dubai.  We were late into Dubai due to bad weather. It got worse and we ended up being there about an extra 4 hours. It does not often rain in or around Dubai, but when it does, let me assure you, the entire worlds airlines are inconvenienced. It was utter chaos with flights being diverted left, right and centre and then, when the weather cleared they all had to come on to Dubai.  Then when we did board, we sat on the ground, at the docking bay, nearly another hour before we were pushed back and could commence the flight. We took off and it was longer than usual before the crew were given the okay to commence cabin service. However they had barely got up when they were told to sit down again. This happened a few times, so in the end we were in...

For many decades there was a large wooden cross on the wall at the back of the St Johns Anglican Church in Lake St Cairns. Beside it, a framed paper explained that is was identical to the crosses used for the 350 (odd) members of the 51st Battalion (our local Battalion) who were killed in the liberation of Villers-Bretonneux in France. This one was dedicated to the memory of one of those young men and presented by his family. I don’t remember the name, but I remember the cross.  I also remember how, when I was growing up, there were so many people still talked about, who had not come home from WW1, or come home badly scarred by their experiences, although WW2 was more recent. I resolved at quite a young age that I would go to the cemetery at Villers-Bretonneaux  to honour those there...

I am told Titanic Belfast  has been voted the Number 1 Tourist Attraction in the World and when you see it you understand why. The attention to detail in this “state -of –the- art visitor experience” is impressive. They really want to convey to you what it was like for people in the times, before and during the building of the ship, the fitting out, the voyage and the aftermath.

There is a lot of explanation given for how the centre was designed. Essentially they have combined the concepts of the outline of a ship and the shape of an ice crystal.  Inside on the ground floor is a compass and the route the ship was meant to take is highlighted in several places.  There are 9 interactive galleries on 4 levels and from several places on levels 1, 2 and 3 you can look down to the...

In August of 2009, I travelled to Koln (or Cologne) in Germany in company with my friend of many years Gail Hobdell (aka “Stormy”) We had met in the Gulf fishing port of Karumba in 1970 and we went to visit another Karumba friend Helene Weinlechner who had returned to live in Koln in 1977.  This is the story of our visit to Brugge, and the tour we did of the World War 1 battle fields in the area and over to Ypes – now called Iper. I though you might enjoy to read about it, as I have referred to events then in my story of my day there in 2017. Also, I note that at the time the Aussie Dollar was worth around 50 cents in the Euro’s but now in 2017 it is more like 74 cents. I will add photo's also when the signal is better.

August 2009.

On Tuesday of this week we were up...

I am having trouble getting internet strong enough to load the photo's so I am posting the words and will add the photo's (as in short for photographs for anyone concerned at my use of the apostrophe) when I get better coverage. 

After a long day of travel the previous day (it was 24.5 hours from when we left the Hotel in Singapore to when we arrived at the one in Brussels after a long delay in Dubai due to rain) we slept late in Brussels. We had needed to put our watches back 2 hours when we got to Dubai, and a further 3 hours when we got to Brussels, and then overnight Daylight Saving started in Europe so we needed to put them forward one hour.

We decided we would leave the hotel, catch the train and have ‘brunch’ in Ghent.  Being Sunday, there was...

Next day started well with me downloading all the photo’s from the day before and being pleased with how many had turned out so well. I also needed to deal with some emails and my last one to my sister Judy in Australia was that my first day had been wonderful and a great way to start my “6 month adventure”. (I have to differentiate the Judys here as my travel companion for the first 5 weeks is also Judy – a school friend – who I might add is telling everyone we are doing the trip “to celebrate us both having turned 70”.)

A few minutes later, our plans of doing the third of the "Hop on Hop Off" bus tours in the morning and the Botanical Gardens in the afternoon hit a snag when I slipped getting into the shower. I have always hated a shower over a bath and had a fear of slipping...

Singapore wants to be known as the “City in the Garden” rather than the “Garden City” and it seems to me they are well on their way to achieving that. This impression starts from the first moment you step into the Airport Terminal as there are large containers of fresh flowering orchids in the centre of the walkways as you access the Luggage collection and Customs and Immigration areas.

Some quick snippets of general interest.

The locals were so friendly, obliging and helpful it was a delight to be among them. (Of course we met a couple of snags – they are everywhere - but maybe we just struck them on a bad day, or maybe they have just moved there themselves and are not into the swing of being nice to everyone all the time yet.)

I was fascinated to find a bunch of bananas hanging at a couple of places in the main street for people to help themselves.

One of the tours we did had a “wedding group” on it. Seems it is quite common for people to come to the Island to be married.

They have their own radio station, which broadcasts locally some hours and takes some New Zealand programs at other times. I loved waking up to hear the NZ news...

I have already mentioned the Cyclorama, but in addition there are several other resident artists on the Island, also some potters, weavers, wood workers, soap makers and others with various artistic skills.  Several art galleries exhibit and sell their art, and souvenir shops sell their other wares. I am not surprised that people with an artistic flair flourish here, as the natural beauty is just all around you at every turn.   You can buy examples of their work to bring home as framed prints, or postcards, note pads, or as printed patterns on materials, plus the usual T shirts, coasters, bowls, key rings, vases, coffee mugs etc. I brought a couple of locally designed place mats home for my sister Sue who had a birthday the day after I returned. She just loved them – as I knew she...