Cruising with Jonathan

Here's some slideshows and videos of our recent trip on Dawn Princess.

The thing I enjoyed most about it was being able to share it with Jonathan, see him experience the magic of his first cruise.

Thanks for being a great travel companion, Jonno!

Pilot takes photo for me

Pilot takes photo for me

"Can I ask you a cheeky question?" I asked our pilot as he walked by me on our flight today.

"Sure", he replied.

"If I give you my mobile phone would you take some photos from the cockpit for me please?"

Here's one of the photos. More to follow later.

This is Flinders Island in Bass Straight as seen from the flight deck of an Airbus a320.

Holiday with friends

We've just come back from a great holiday with our friends and business partners (thankfully the same people).

Here's some photos of our time in Coolum last week.

I feel so fortunate to be able to work with people that I really like, doing something that I really enjoy.

Better than winning the lottery, I think.

Wellington Cable Car

Wellington Cable Car, originally uploaded by MagicTyger.

On the last morning of my journey, before I left for home, we went for a trip on the Wellington Cable Car.

Here's a video of the short trip. If you only have a brief time in town, this is a "must do", it's cheap, quick, and you get to see a lot of the city in one go.

Up the top there's a museum which describes the history of the cable car, plus the botanical gardens, planitarium and a cafe.

I only had an hour or two before my flight, so this was the best way to spend an hour.

Lake Taupo

Lake Taupo, originally uploaded by MagicTyger.

Taupo is a huge freshwater lake in the middle of the North Island. It's
surrounded by picturesque mountains, gravelly beaches, pine trees, and green
grass.

There's something about seeing so much freshwater in one place that
impresses a parched aussie like me.

There was an ironman competition here yesterday. The winning time was
almost nine hours. Can you imagine running, swimming and cycling for that
long?

Waiotapu Thermal Park

Waiotapu Thermal Park, originally uploaded by MagicTyger.

At the Waiotapu Thermal Park there's a large area of thermal pools all
colored by different chemicals that occur naturally in the water.

My specs fogged up from all the steam.

Boiling Mud

Boiling Mud, originally uploaded by MagicTyger.

We're off the ship and exploring New Zealand.

Here's some quick shots of some thermal mud pools at Waiotapu today. It
looks like something from another planet. And smells like it too :)

The ground is still rocking. We haven't quite got used to being off the
ship.

Auckland's Amazing Acrobatic Tugboat

We recently sailed from Auckland's beautiful harbour aboard P&O's Oriana which is currently on a world voyage.

The local tugboat captain skillfully helped the 65,000 tonne Ocean Liner gracefully reverse from her berth, and sent her on her way to Sydney.

But after he'd done the job, the Tug Boat captain showed us what he, and his powerful tug could really do.

To the Auckland Port Authority, and their Tug Operators, thanks for giving us a memory that will stick with us for years!

Please forgive the camera movement in the video. It's very hard to hold a mobile phone camera still while trying to celebrate at the same time.

"The sunset at River Kwai Bridge, Khanchanaburi"

A Postcrossing postcard from Jurga who lives in Vilnius, Lithuania.

Jurga spent a couple of weeks in Thailand last year, which is where this card comes from.

Thanks Jurga!

"M/S Funchal"

A Postcrossing post card from Vitoria in Portugal.

Funchal was originally built in 1961 to cruise between Lisbon, Madiera and the Azores. At 153m in length, she's much smaller than many of today's cruise ships, but she still has all of the essentials, including two restaurants, three bars, a theatre, a library and a casino.

She can accommodate over 400 passengers, and regularly cruises around the world during the Northern winter.

Thanks for the lovely postcard, Vitoria!

QE2 Postcard from Rob Lightbody

Postcard sent to me from Qe2
Originally uploaded by MagicTyger

A postcard I received Rob Lightbody while he was on his QE2 Mediterranean cruise in August 08.

I'll never get to cruise on QE2 myself, so someone sending a card to me while they were cruising on her is about as close as I'll get.

Thanks Rob, for letting me vicariously share a bit of history with you.

Migrant Ships

Here is a partial list of Ships that brought immigrants to Australia between 1950 and 1971.

This list is not complete. If you have any additions, or better links, please let me know.

Achille Lauro Akaroa Angelina Lauro Arcadia Asturias (2) Aurelia Australis Britanis Cameronia Canberra Castel Felice Cheshire Chitral Dorsetshire Ellinis (2) Fairsea Fairsky Fairstar Flavia Georgic

Himalaya Iberia Maloja Mooltan New Australia Northern Star Ormonde Otranto (2) Orcades Oriana Orion Oronsay Orontes Orsova Strathaird Stratheden Strathmore Strathnaver Southern Cross Ranchi

Clowning Around at Dinner Time

Clowning Around at Dinner Time
Originally uploaded by MagicTyger

Ellinis 1965.

Mum says it's no wonder some people are terrified of clowns these days!

Karen, sitting on Sylvia's (mum's) lap doesn't seem too impressed.

Acropolis 1965

Acropolis 1965
Originally uploaded by MagicTyger

Early April 1965. Sylvia (Mum), Bruce (Dad), Karen and Neil (me).

Ellinis stopped in Piraeus, Greece on her way from Southampton to Brisbane.

Dad took his young family to see the ancient Greek ruins.

Mum writes:

We stopped at a few Ports. Piraeus, we visited the Acropolis which was amazing. It was the first time I had tasted Calamari. We then travelled through the Suez Canal, it was so hot. Some small boats came along side the ship, Bruce said they were called “bum boats”. The men that paddled these boats were Egyptians who were trying to sell their wares to the passengers. They would call up “hey Mactavish” they called everyone by Scottish names. The next stop was Port Said where we walked around the docks for a short while; Bruce was asked if he wanted to buy a wife! Of course he declined, showing me in all my glory along with two children! We made a quick retreat and returned to the ship. The next port was Aden, we stopped there for a few hours. This was very interesting; we visited the markets and also bought a camera. Most of the time travelling to these different places we were just amazed at all the different sights.

When we left Aden we were at sea for about 1 week, it was at the end of this week that Neil & I saw the dolphins! He was very excited but wasn’t too sure what they were.

Incidentally, once of my earliest childhood memories is looking over the side of the ship, seeing people coming alongside in small boats to sell things. Someone would pass a container down on a rope, the people in the boats would put merchandise in it, and the passengers would take what they wanted and leave money in the container.

When mum mentions Port Said above, I think it was actually Suez. Port Said is at the start of the Suez canal when you're heading south, and Suez is at the southern end. That bit of knowledge might come in handy if anyone is in the market for buying an Egyptian wife :)

Aboard Ellinis, 1965

Aboard Ellinis, 1965
Originally uploaded by MagicTyger

Neil (me) and Karen (in the pram).

I don't know who that is pushing the pram.

Mum tells me that most days aboard Ellinis, she didn't have much to do except walk Karen and me around the decks. She was 6 months pregnant.

Mum writes:

We arrived at Southampton docks after a long journey by train from London. After what seemed an eternity we finally boarded the Ellinis. I had never been on a ship before. We were shown to our cabin, which infact was old crew’s quarters.

Those weeks at sea were a strange experience for me. We did have some fun times, but mostly it was hard work looking after two small children whilst being pregnant with a third. Also I suffered from seasickness. And was feeling very home sick.

Departure Day

Departure Day
Originally uploaded by MagicTyger

58 Mount Road, Bexleyheath, on 29 March 1965.

The day we left the UK for Australia.

Left to right:
Bruce Ennis (Dad), Sylvia (Mum), Karen and Neil (me). Harold and Anna (Grandpa and Gran) in the background.

Mum's pregnant with Kevin.

One can only imagine what was going through Grandpa and Gran's minds as their eldest son, only 22 years old left for the other side of the world with his young wife and kids

The house is next door to a pub called the "Polly Clean Stairs".

Liz and I visited here in 1997. Unfortunately no one was home. But at least I can vouch that the place exists!

As a matter of interest, it was spring the day we left - as you can see from the buds on the trees. When we arrived in Australia in early May it was late Autumn. So we experienced summer in England mid 1964, and didn't have summer again till the end of 1965 in Brisbane. That's a long time between summers.

Mum writes:

On his travels in the merchant navy Bruce had been to many countries one of which was Australia. He had really only seen it through the eyes of a traveller. He was sure it would be a great place to live. At the time we were living in Bexleyheath in Kent in a small house the rent was 8.00 pounds. That was a lot of money in those days; he only earned 16.00 pounds working at a dairy delivering milk.

We decided to apply to immigrate to Australia, our application was successful. We left for Australia on the 29thMarch 1965. Having said that, in sounds so simple. Looking back to that time it was heart wrenching. I had never been anywhere before, Scotland was the only other place I had ever travelled to. Leaving all our families was very frightening; also I was already 5 months pregnant with our third child. This was a chance to start a new life and we would never know if we didn’t give it a go. So off we went not really knowing what was in store for us. Ten pound Poms!

"Federal Pioneer" (aka "Brazillian Prince", "Outremont Park")

"Federal Pioneer" (aka "Brazillian Prince", "Outremont Park")

In the late 1950's, my Dad (Bruce) got a job working on merchant ships. Once of the first ships he worked on was the "Federal Pioneer" which was operating out of Montreal at the time.

She was built in Montreal in 1944 by United Shipyards Ltd, was owned by the Canadian Governments's Park Steamship Company. She was originally named "Outremont Park" and was chartered to the Ministry of War Transport for about 12 months.

After the war, Furness Canada Ltd bought her and renamed her "Brazillian Prince".

In 1954 she was transferred to Furness (Montreal) Ltd and renamed "Federal Pioneer" in 1958.

She was eventually broken up in China in 1971.

Length: 441' 6"
Beam: 57' 2"
Service Speed: 10kt
Tonnage: 7,158grt

Oriana

Here's some photos from our recent cruise on Oriana.

Mum & Dad's photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/magictyger/sets/72157604094394019/
Kevin's photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/magictyger/sets/72157604011072449/
My photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/magictyger/sets/72157604011236961/

She's a lovely ship, a little bit older than but very similar to Aurora. The design improvements between Oriana and Aurora are noticeable, but they're both very classy ships.

A couple of fun photos:

King's beach Caloundra (at night) as seen from Oriana:



Queen Victoria (at night) as seen from Oriana, off the Sunshine Coast, Qld.



Sydney Opera House (at dawn) as seen from Oriana just before we disembarked.



The mascot on the bridge. "Evan the Ever Watchful"

On the other side of the webcam

Kevin and me on Oriana.

More Aurora Photos

Here's some links to some more photos of our Aurora trip.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/magictyger/sets/72157603903495862/