Singapore - very hot!

Two days in Singapore






























a trio of beautiful bronzes depict the history of the province, most recently of the river children who swarmed in and out of the water until the 1980s when anti-pollution measures and health & safety, banished them from their playground.















Celebrities arriving at the famous Raffles Hotel, only to be refused entry for wearing 'empire-builder' shorts.
We did though, manage to get in by the courtyard door, to sip our Singapore Slings in the exotic garden bar.............















.......where we met up with Irene's thespian friends: they have all seen better days!
























Onwards and upwards to Sandakah in Sabah, North Borneo

Melbourne again....

Some sleepy little koalas with very hairy ears; they're so easy to photograph as they're so laid back, something to do with the amount of eucalyptus gum they devour, and its anaesthetic effect. Think five packs of Halls Mentholyptus per hour.















After two weeks we finally despaired of seeing 'roos in the wild and took our revenge by embarrassing them with this shot of their siesta time in the wildlife compound. You can see that even the tree is captive.

















Out in the bush you never know when you'll be caught short, so you can call this number to get fast delivery of a comfort stop spot.
( 'dunny is 'strine for privy )

















Back to the ethereal 12 Apostles as our normally reliable photo-editor had a sudden 'born-again' experience




























Always fascinating, the slow submersion by nature of man's transient fencing and signposting. Difficult to photograph effectively, but this one says, (ironically), please keep to the marked track!
















The Devil's Cauldron on the national park coast, an ex-blowhole, that blew itself up into a canyon.































Two tall tourists tottering tiredly towards tonight's tea-time toast.

Melbourne

Sheila looking alluring at Lovers Leap on the Great Ocean Road, which runs hundreds of spectacular miles along the coast between Melbourne and Adelaide.
She invited me to jump, but it became a tussle-tiff of 'after you darling..... no no, after you sweetie'















Two of the 12 Apostles on this beautiful scenic coast...
















...and then the fat one; could easily be Lulworth Cove, except you can see the sparkling sea here!














The vineyard and golf course estate of some friendly locals we met while out looking for 'roos.
The Gibsons, our hosts and tour guides on the peninsular, helped us to taste our way delicately through these cellars, aided by the owner who may just have been slightly squiffy even before we arrived.















Our faithful barn-owl from Les Vigeants, who followed us all the way to visit his emigre cousins.















Golden Eagle puzzling over an ostrich egg disguised as an avacado















Two shots of the amazing, Dartmoor Tor-like boulders on the beach at Wilson's Promontory National Park, again courtesy of Steve and Tracy, our solicitous hosts: they even introduced us to Japanese cuisine, including unforgettable soft-shell crab with yummy seaweed.































Thelma and Louise, aka Tracy & Irene just before they made a run for it. Wilson's Prom again... see you in the next chapter.......

Sydney again...

The aptly named Manly Beach north of Sydney Harbour, is the scene of running repairs on hard-working sandals to keep them going for another hemisphere.







The local parrots are watching as they are always very wary of silverbacks, however docile they seem to you and me.















Parakeets abound too, especially in the leafy suburbs; very squawky chaps!
















.....and high in the gum branches hang enormous, ginger, stinking bats, who only seem to right themselves in order to launch great globules of rich bat-poo onto the awestruck twitchers below






























The Eastern Blue Groper silverised by sculptor
















This is the scene at Darling Harbour, an amazing replica of Captain Cook's Endeavour...














...... with the modern Sydney skyline in the background.














On board a preserved WW2 Destroyer, Paget bellows another order down the tubes to the greasy engineers.......














....who obediently load another depth-charge into tube #3


Sydney really is defined by its harbourside lifestyle: we loved it, flitting from one ferry landing to the next and rarely disappointed by our discoveries.

Down Under - Sydney

In the bush outside Sydney, you can see why the Kookaburra gave its name to the controversial Aussie cricket ball: it's neither red nor hard nor round, but does come apart at the seams if whacked with willow. This was the nearest we came to seeing a kangaroo in the wild; they appear to be nearing extinction in these parts.















The Governor General's wife, Mrs MacQuarrie, used to wile away her early nineteenth century days watching her Prisoner of Mother England workforce construct the wharfs of Sydney harbour from this specially hewn stone seat. Irene knows just how she felt, and I know just how the cons felt!! Penal reform is overdue.















The last time I was here in about 1975, the Opera House was just being completed and my ship ss Oriana was asked to sound its loudest blast on leaving port, to test the sound insulation inside the auditorium.















The new generation of P&O cruise ships still park in the same berth in Circular Quay, but some of the fun-seekers going ashore have aged somewhat.















Locals call this iconic landmark 'The nuns' scrum' and we have photographed it from all angles as we shuttle endlessly on the harbour ferries to and from all parts of the fabulous city: Balmain, Manly Beach, Wolloomooloo, Darling Harbour, Luna Park, all beautiful places to visit and such a joy to reach them all by boat in sparkling sunshine. Sure beats the London Underground.

Rarotonga, Cook Islands 3

We are snorkelling at a multi-coloured, piscean picture show; unbelievable vivid creaures really make you keep your head down.















Flippering fantastic experience. We're so stunned that we have to keep each other at arms' length.

Circling the island, (all 30 kms around) proves the best way to keep cool in the sticky

40degree heat

I get disorientated in the garden of Eden.........

....but eventually find the bananas I'm looking for, suspended above their pregnant flower bud.

Stupendous sunset from our little beach balcony..

..where we barbecued fish several evenings - our favourite was Broadbill steaks; a type of swordfish caught locally and plentifully, sold in the tea-time markets after the boats sail in.

At the highland heritage centre, Irene croons to the conch and bongos.....

...and she gets to take one of them home after narrowly beating him in the Rarotonga all-comers shiny face competition.

Meanwhile a dusky maiden demonstrates fifty ways to stash your sarong....

plus how to wriggle out of it. The audience are all taking notes with different gender-emphases.

The most intriguing dances portrayed the changes of dress enforced by arriving missionaries in the late 19th century. Would you believe they had to suddenly adopt long black trousers beneath the grass skirts?!

Thankfully reverting to the original au-natur costumes for the new found tourism influx from the 1970s when QE II opened the airport runway to let us all start swarming in. Liberation or what?

There's that camera-shy intruder again.

The memorable but sweaty evening of Feb 14th.

Irene's birthday and valentine's evening spent in style ......