Capt Kong's cruise down under and the meet up

[happy daze john in oz]

Brian mate you can buy a lot of blood pressure tablets with the tax refund, and a lot of Viagra, might get it sorted.
Now I need a bit of advice, am going to be in Singapore for one night in June nad require a decent hotel that will not cost an arm and a leg, any suggestions??? About the hotel that is!!!!

[Captain Kong]

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Hi John
The hotel I have just stayed in was the Swissotel Merchant Court on Clark Quay, a bit expansive and a long walk from most of the town.
The only other one I have stayed in, several times, good Staff, good food, and nice rooms, is the
Grand Park City Hall 10 Coleman Street, Riverside, near to St Andrews Cathedral, the price of a room there is around £100 a night. = to around $140 AUD. It is in walking distance of most of the town. I usually book through one of the sites, such as HOTEL BOOKING .COM and sometimes get a better price.
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The Blood pressure is OK, now I am back in the land of the BURKHA and NIQUAB, they are as sexy looking as a bag of tripe.
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Cheers John
Brian.

[Captain Kong]

OBSERVATION Number Three..
I have just written this in WORD and then it just vanished as I was going to copy and paste. The second time round is never as good as the first time.
I will try again……………
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A round up of the trip and the men I met on the trip and other observations…
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First the old Queen Mary, a wonderful ship with many memories of the ships some of us sailed on many years ago. She is well worth the airfare to stay on her for a few days.
I had the pleasure to meet a fellow member, John Adamson, who lives over there and has business calls on the Queen Mary.
We spent three hours in the Observation Bar with a few beers and a good conversation. Thanks for taking time out John.

Another friend and his wife drove over from Scottsdale, Arizona to stay for a couple of days, good to see them and that saved me a trip over to Arizona.
We had a good trip over to Honolulu and then to Pago Pago, pronounced Pango Pango in American Samoa. We were there on Valentines Day, 14 February, and I was greeted three times by lovely Samoan girls who shouted , `Happy Valentines Day` and then gave me a hug and a kiss. Lovely.
Then I discovered the first of three famous Ladies in the famous lady`s Hotel, `Sadie Thompsons Inn`,
Sadie was a Lady from Hawaii and of easy virtue who loved to entertain the US Marine Corps and became a Legend. She became quite famous when Somerset Maughan wrote about her in a play, `RAIN` then three movies were made of her life. The last one with Rita Hayworth as Sadie. I had a few beers in there but Sadie had died a few years ago.
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Then on we sailed to Fiji, lovely place and on to New Zealand.
Saw a friends daughter in Auckland then carried on to Wellington, it never stopped raining all day.
Then we went to Dunedin, one of the Highlights of the trip. I met our Lou Barron and he took me home to his family, Later we went to his local and had a few pints, Lou was with a family friend, 17 years old Joe Farnworth, who was killed in the attack on the Gloucester Castle in July 1942. It was good to get the real story off Lou. Thanks for the gifts Lou, Cheers.
Then to Melbourne, I first went into Young and Jacksons facing Flinders Street Station and went upstairs to Chloe`s Room to take her photo. She was the second of the famous ladies.
Later I met up with Happy Daze John and Neil in Port Melbourne and had a few beers and a yarn with them, thanks lads for travelling to see me. Cheers.
Then into Sydney for four days. There I met up with Vernon, Roger and Joe in Monties in Pyrmont. A good pub I used to drink in as a lad in the 50s.
A few yarns were spun and quite a bit of ale was downed, we had a good laugh, just like old times. Cheers lads.
I then stayed with my niece in Wollongong for three days and then flew to the Gold Coast by Surfers Paradise, to stay with a mate for another three days,
A lovely place to be.
We flew over to Perth and I met an old ship mate, Joe Finnegan, ex Liverpool AB. We sailed together on the Empress of Scotland in 1955 and again on the old Franconia in 1956, had a few beers with him and his family,. Joe is coming to Liverpool next week for a holiday and so there will be a meet up in the Eldonian Club with some of the Cunard Yanks.
I then Hired a car and drove down to Albany, a small quiet place with a whaling museum, Very interesting to visit, been twice before, then to the Gapand the Bridge, where Gondwana Land split in half and became Antarctica and Australia 25,000,000 years ago.
Next we went to Esperence another lovely town with its beautiful white beaches. This is where Barbara who was driving got caught speeding
Cost her two points on her licence and a $150 fine. Tough. She wanted to drive.
Next stop was Norseman, a gold town that had run out of gold, it is at the end of the Nullabar track. My brother was run out of town there by the Police in 1964 after his mate, an Irish man battered the Cop. There is not a lot there, since the gold ran out a lot of the people moved on.
We drove up to Kalgoorly a big Gold town with good pubs, a street of Brothels on Hay Street, two of them have Brothel Tours, The Long Haired One would not let me go on one.
One must see visit, is the PIT, a mine that is three Kms long , two Kms wide and over one Km deep with 250 ton dumper trucks hauling out the gold ore.
Fascinating.
We then drove the long distance back to Perth for night then flew to Singapore.
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My Observation of Australia…..
I have always felt at home in Australia, I feel as if I belong there instead of in this once great nation that is now fast turning into a Cess Pit.
The Country has a lot going for it, there are loads of jobs in mining, oil and gas, they are advertising for workers from Labourers to High Tec jobs.
But Australia is slowly being taken over by the Asians, I was amazed by the number I saw since my last visit four years ago. The Chinese are flooding in buying up land and property, keep an eye on the numbers. Then there are the Somalis, Sudanese and Lebanese who are also flooding in unchecked, getting loads of money from the Fed Government and are trying to change the place into an Islamic State and bringing in a load of crime.
I fear for Australia`s future as a nation we grew up with, It is changing fast.
Will it still be the `Lucky Country` in a few years???
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Singapore never ceases to amaze me, its high tec way of life is fantastic, super buildings appearing all the time, too much to describe here. A wonderful City, with very little crime and that has been brought in by the immigrant workers from Bangladesh, I was told.
I went into Raffles Hotel and had a Famous gin sling and throwing the peanut shells on the floor which is the custom. Over the bar is the famous painting of Lily Langtry, `Jersey Lil` lying naked on a Tiger skin, she was the lover of
King Edward the 7th. The third lady in my collection.
Then it was all over, a good eight week trip meeting friends around the world.
Cheers
Brian.

[Tony Morcom]

Sounds like you had a very busy 8 weeks Capt..Probably nice to come home for rest. One thing that has always intrigued me is how sociable these ships are or are they totally impersonal?

[Captain Kong]

Hi Tony,
I think it all depends on the individual, It can be as sociable as you want it to be.
Some people are very sociable and others do seem to enjoy their own company and sit in a corner reading a stack of books and not joining in with any kind of conversation. We were on the Minerva and the steward lead us to a table for lunch, there was one lady sat there. She seemed a bit put out that we were going to sit with her, She said, "Dont expect me to talk to you". so we declined the offer. But over the years we have made a lot of friends all over the world who we still keep in touch with. So it is really up to the the individual.
Cheers .Brian.

[happy daze john in oz]

Brian mate thanks for the info. Yes you are right we will not be the lucky country for much longer. Was in Moslemmeadows the other day (real name is Broadmeadows but you would never know) and I thought I may need a passport to go into the shopping centre. It is spreading around the world, no country is safe any more.

[Captain Kong]

Too True John.
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EPILOGUE.............One thing I learned on this trip was `Never take the wife`s friend with you on a tour, specially a long one. I thought it would be great, just leave them both together to do what women do best. natter and shop and I will do my own thing. It does not work out that way. You end up with two women nagging.
I wanted to drive around the southern part of W.A. to a place called Norseman, for example. been there before.
Barbara, now starting to look like a pink Shrek, "What is there in Norseman," Me "Nothing"
Her "If there is nothing there then why are we going all that way"
Me " Because that is the beauty of the place, it is part of the real Australia, it is in the desert and mostly abandoned when the Gold ran out, There is one Pub, one Police Station and one Cafe. and a few shacks".
Shrek, "I dont want to go, I want to go to a beach"
Me , "There is a lovely beach there, "
Shrek , "Is there",
Me "Yes it is about two thousand Kilometres long , it is called the Nullabar".
Shrek "I want to stay here"
Me "Good, it is only 700 Ks back to Perth, get walking"
The Long Haired One, "Dont Talk to my friend like that"
Me " I am off to Norseman, are you two walking or coming?."
They came, then Shrek, "Why are we going to Kalgoorly "
Me , "Because there are Brothels there and I want to do a Brothel Tour, I didnt get chance to go last time I was there. "
Shrek, "I dont want to do a tour of a Brothel"
Me, "Your Luck may change, they may offer you a job........ as a cleaner."
The Long Haired One. "I told you to leave my friend alone" as she beat me around the head as I was driving.
And so on ad fin...............for two months.
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. and so there you have it, go on your own next time, you may meet a better class of women.

Cheers
Brian.