Hello from the Five Star Vagabond
August 25, 2016
by David Herd
Comments Off on Bangkok Thai flight Cancelled
Brisbane airport railway station Bangkok Thai flight Cancelled Bangkok Thai flight Cancelled, I have flown thousands of times throughout my life and this was the first time I ever experienced a cancelled flight. As Newton would say “For every action, … Continue reading
August 20, 2016 by David Herd
Surfers Paradise sentimental journey
Surfers Paradise sentimental journey took me back to where I lived for 25 years before moving to Thailand in October 2011. I stayed at Sorrento with my old friend Tony Murphy and his lovely wife Nikki, plus Sam the 3rd member of their family.
Morning coffee at The Island cafe is a tradition with this group of friends, and today August 11 2016 just happened to be Tony’s 74th birthday.
Don’t do it Tony, don’t do it. 🙂
I must say the coffee at the Island Cafe is absolutely fantastic. I couldn’t help noticing the price of the small quiche compared to a similar one in Thailand that I regularly buy. Here it is $15.90 and at Big C in Pattaya $1.85.
Close to Tony’s home in Sorrento is the Gold Coast race track, here is the view of downtown Surfers Paradise.
Fresh ocean prawns and avocado at Isle of Capri is a perfect meal for me. Sure you can get both items in Thailand but certainly not is the same class as Queensland.
A few good friends who can’t be replaced or forgotten. In fact catching up with them was my main reason for this trip. Above is my great mate Ross Kennedy leading me astray once again.
On the left is Bryan Dart, on the right Phil Thomson
Great to catch up with these guys.
Just crossed the Southport bridge and about to turn left to buy some fresh prawns from the trawlers.
For a discounted rate at the Q1 hotel or any others just book through THIS LINK.
In my opinion they offer the best, freshest, tastiest prawns in the world.
Freshly caught about 25 kms off the Queensland coast.
Terrific Lamb shank from Aldi, these were a regular treat for me when I lived on the gold Coast.
A Roman statue perhaps.
As you can clearly see this is one huge cock. 🙂
An interesting room at sunset.
Caught up with an old friend Donna Turner on Chevron Island.
Thanks for visiting my Surfers Paradise sentimental journey photo blog.
For a great hotel room rate (with free cancellation) just book through THIS LINK.
Checkout some more of my terrific blogs on the links below.
Fabulous views, excellent restaurants & a very good room rate if you book through THIS LINK.
The building in the middle is the Holiday Inn, on the left is the Amari Hotel which is another very good five star hotel. Use THIS LINK to book for a very good room rate.
Australian adventures
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August 18, 2016 by David Herd
Chevron Island Surfers Paradise
Chevron Island Surfers Paradise is located between Surfers Paradise and Bundall, a nice village with a very good choice of restaurants and coffee shops. My 2 nieces Laura & Elyssa pictured in the header of this blog is at probably my favourite eating spot, Frank’s seafood which is a traditional fish & chip shop.
Cafe Alfons is a nice cafe for coffee or breakfast.
Throw in a flat white or latte and cost comes to $21.
Have a haircut, buy a house then go upstairs for a soothing massage. 🙂
Excellent food and very good service, run by Brandon & Shannon Pollard.
Sadly this venue closed in 2019.
Three more restaurants including one of 4 Thai restaurants on the island.
This is the restaurant you see in the previous shot, It was 2011 & I’m with my brother Warren & a girl from Ray White who’s name I can’t recall. 🙂
Had lunch at this upmarket new two story restaurant, nice decor and good service but I have mixed feelings about the food.
The wontons on the left were not to my liking, fried does not suit me, however the chicken skewers on the right were quite good. Overall the dishes on the menu seem a little expensive, of course I only tried two so it is rather hard to give a reasonable opinion. The Spanish waitress was delightful. 🙂
A nice little cafe with very good coffee.
On Chevron for a promotion.
And terrific smiles. 🙂
My friend Frank operates this excellent fish and chip shop where I have been enjoying fresh seafood for years. Oysters, hamburgers and great prawns are also available. Grab a bottle of wine and a table on the footpath then enjoy the passing Chevron Island eye candy.
Say hello to Frank and Warren.
More seafood from Frank’s.
Here are my friends enjoying one of Franks feasts, phone 5592 0027 to reserve a table. From left to right is Steve Bates, Nikki Murphy, Tony Murphy, Nick Partridge, Sharon Delmundo and Anne Lacy.
Sadly in March 2017 Anne lost her long battle with cancer & passed away, RIP.
Here is my friend Donna at Chevron Island Seafood.
For a great hotel room rate (with free cancellation) just book through THIS LINK.
The Surfers skyline is rather spectacular.
Chevron Island a few years ago was all low rise, a couple of multi story buildings have popped up recently, this shot however was taken around 2003.
Farewell from Chevron Island Surfers Paradise , here I am with my old friend Bryan Dart who totally upset me when he told me he had lost 8 kilo since I saw him 18 months ago. The problem is I think that’s how much I have put on. 🙂
An article I wrote in the Gold Coast Bulletin.
Checkout some more of my terrific blogs on the links below.
Fabulous views, excellent restaurants & a very good room rate if you book through THIS LINK.
The building in the middle is the Holiday Inn, on the left is the Amari Hotel which is another very good five star hotel. Use THIS LINK to book for a very good room rate.
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August 17, 2016 by David Herd
Tall buildings Surfers Paradise
Tall buildings Surfers Paradise where I lived for 25 years before moving to Thailand in October 2011. Personally I preferred the city in the 70s & 80s before the explosion of modern high rise hotels and apartments. Having said all that, it is quite a spectacular part of Australia.
I’m surprised this prime property adjacent to the Chevron Island bridge was not developed years ago.
One of three towers offering apartments and hotel rooms.
Quite a spectacular skyline in the heart of Surfers Paradise. Book HERE for a discount.
Two more well known Surfers Paradise buildings.
The beach stretches for miles, this view is looking south.
These lifeguards do a great job protecting the public.
Apartments occupy two of the 3 towers with the 3rd a hotel.
The Hilton offers great views overlooking the beach, book HERE for a good discount.
Here are three popular night clubs in the heart of Surfers Paradise.
Q1 is an 80 story tower with an observation deck on the top floor. For a great discount book through THIS LINK.
Featuring Soul tower with Peppers Hotel. Book through THIS LINK for a terrific room rate.
A magnificent 77 level tower with views of the beautiful Surfers paradise beach.
Orchard Avenue is Surfer Paradise’s main late night entertainment street. Be careful after midnight. 🙂
Transport has greatly improved since the introduction of the light rail system.
Current and future routes, stage 2 will link up with the heavy rail system at Helensvale to make travelling to Brisbane much easier.
Probably the most iconic Gold Coast building.
My home for 25 glorious years, this city provides me with so many wonderful memories.
Finally drinks with good friends Phil Thomson and Greg Craig at Melbas. Thanks for visiting my Blue Sky tall buildings Surfers Paradise photo blog, before you go check out my Isle Of Capri and Bundall blogs.
Fabulous views, excellent restaurants & a very good room rate if you book through THIS LINK.
Here are some of my most popular posts.
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Sexy Cherry Bar babes Pattaya Thailand
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August 15, 2016 by David Herd
Bundall Shops Brothels Racecourse
Bundall Shops Brothels Racecourse, it has it all. This was where I lived for 21 years until October 2011. The north end of Upton Street was residential with some luxurious waterfront homes including mine, while the southern end is full of shops, offices & factories.
90% of anything and everything I needed to purchase over the years I could find in Upton St.
Around the corner in Bundall Road is the iconic Corporate Centre.
A couple of the Bundall Road prestige office buildings.
A financial planning company at 80-82 Upton St, Bundall, I knew Alex many years ago in the late 8os when his office was in Southport. I remember him as a keen golfer who enjoyed a beer.
Another huge Queensland discount electrical store.
Here is where you can buy all those adult toys & accessories to put some buzz back into your sex life.
For those lonely guys here is Silks one of the local brothels, as I said earlier Upton Street Bundall has everything you could possibly need. 🙂
For all you need to know about the local hookers just follow THIS LINK.
So you guys won’t get lost. 🙂
This is one of about 3 major lighting stores on Upton Street Bundall.
Upton St also butts onto the Southport race track which used to be the only track in Australia to host a meeting every Saturday.
Watching the the ladies slowly deteriorate as the day draws to a close. 🙂
Some of them really jump into the booze. 🙂
This huge store is quite amazing, sadly however they are currently in the hands of receivers.
Dr Paul Ferguson is an excellent skin cancer doctor who has been treating me for many years. He is very busy so you need to book a fair way ahead.
The adjacent suburb is Isle of Capri, to find out more just follow THIS LINK.
This was my home for 21 fabulous years, I designed and had it built in 1990, added a 2nd story in 2004, which turned out to be a mistake as it made it much harder to sell. However sell it did in October 2011 and one week later I moved to Thailand.
Being built 4 doors from my old home in July 2018.
My house was just out of the photo to the right.
For a great hotel room rate (with free cancellation) just book through THIS LINK.
Fabulous views, excellent restaurants & a very good room rate if you book through THIS LINK.
The building in the middle is the Holiday Inn, on the left is the Amari Hotel which is another very good five star hotel. Use THIS LINK to book for a very good room rate.
Check out these great photo blogs.
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July 11, 2016 by David Herd
Gorgeous girls Sydney 1980
Gorgeous girls Sydney 1980 and 81 living on the waterfront in Drummoyne with the view you see in the header on this post. I drove a white Mercedes Sports, had my Bertram 25 moored in front of my apartment, and a liquor store in Sydenham, quite a few good friends and a long line of beautiful girlfriends, life was very close to perfect. The Watsons Bay hotel shown above was one of my regular haunts as was Doyles restaurant. It’s a great place to stay when in Sydney, for an excellent room rate just book through THIS LINK.
This is not part of my Travel Blog. It’s part of my personal history, check it out if you wish.
I had an absolute perfect mooring right outside my apartment, it was so much fun on Sydney harbour visiting all the great beaches & restaurants. They really were Great years Sydney 1980 to January 1987 when I pulled up stakes and moved to the Gold Coast.
It seemed the parties and drinks never stopped at my Drummoyne apartment, life was very good indeed.
Gorgeous Debbie & party animal Jeff, another smooth operator.
Looking back to my 6 years at Drummoyne I feel I made a serious mistake getting engaged and moving to Newport. My decision was based on a particular mindset we grew up with, eventually we all should settle down, marry & have children. In hindsight I now know that’s OK for the majority of people, but not everybody, & I’m certainly in the category of “not everybody”. 🙂 🙂 🙂
Karen Smith and Dirk Kammerling were an item for several years until her and I started going out in 1984 which led to our engagement.
Who would have thought in 3 years we would be engaged and living together at Newport?
Two of the girls here were sisters, Carmen & Antionette Sherry, plus my good friend Rob Symonds and Peter H.
Decorating my XJ 6 in 1980.
What a beautiful redhead. 🙂
John Malouf, Peter Singleton and Dennis Moran at another one of my Drummoyne gatherings.
What a beautiful face, is it any wonder she was 3rd in the Miss Universe?
Some people who have seen this photo have been cruel enough to suggest that I looked like a Miami drug dealer, and here was I thinking I was just a very cool dude. 🙂
Rob & I had a great trip to Manilla, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Pattaya and Singapore. This was when I first got hooked on Thailand, little did I realise 31 years later I would move there permanently. Take a look at my photo blog, just follow THIS LINK.
That’s Teresa on the left sitting at my bar, and I can’t believe that I have forgotten the name of the other beautiful creature. 🙂
Now is that a fantastic face or what?
Right about now I would say, in fact I clearly remember a ménage à trois with two of these gorgeous babes. 🙂
Her name was Louise and we had a brief fling, Antoinette & I are checking her prowess on the BBQ. She knew how to handle a sausage. 🙂
An absolute knockout.
Two of my favourite Gorgeous girls Sydney 1980.
Shirley was an air hostess for TAA which does not exist anymore. She & Debbie Don were flatmates who lived around the corner in Drummoyne ave and came to most of my parties. Compare us in the following photo. 🙂
At the end of the day decorum would go out the window. 🙂
This Shirley worked for Stripper-gram, we used to go out together occasionally. A very funny thing happened at my Dad’s retirement party, he had worked for Berger paints for 46 years. We were celebrating at what was then the Silverwater Businessman’s Club, in came a gorgeous girl in a bikini, draped in feathers, and proceeded with her well-practised routine.
The shocked look on my mother’s face had nothing to do with the girl sitting on Dad’s knee, it was when she walked over to our table and said to me, “hi David, nice to see you, when are we going out on your boat again”? Yes, it was Shirley, somebody had hired a stripper-gram for him. 🙂
The long line of Gorgeous girls Sydney 1980 continues, it seemed there were so many babes and such little time. 🙂
Even though Carol was the mother of four young children she was the ultimate party girl. Part of a wealthy eastern suburbs family, her father was the managing director of Century batteries & in his eyes she could do no wrong.
We really had some great times together over a four year period, although it was one of those on & off relationships that ran into quite a few road blocks along the way.
This is Roger “Ramjet” Williams who could always be relied upon to put on a show. Two of his party tricks were drinking a Bloody Mary containing 1/2 a bottle of Tabasco sauce. If a normal person had one sip it would set your mouth on fire. His 2nd trick was to take a raw onion and eat it like an apple, this man obviously had no taste buds. 🙂
One of the Adelaide guys I knocked around with when I lived there in 72 to 74, Chris wound up in Sydney then I lost track of him. I have always had a knack of giving people nicknames that seemed to stick with them, in Chris’s case his name was “The Mouth”. 🙂
A gorgeous little girl from the eastern suburbs who had a wealthy father and lived at Darling Point.
Ron was a close friend for many years, he owned the Retravision store in Broken Hill and would find any excuse to visit me when I lived in Adelaide, we had some wonderful fun times together.
Debbie a cool Aussie chick who worked at the Manilla Playboy Club for a few years before turning up at one of my famous parties.
Di was one of the most beautiful ladies I ever knew, also one of the craziest. No woman has caused me more problems in my life than this one. Apart from all that we had many great times together during the last 10 years.
One of the great nights of my life, and one of the best NYEs of my life, we overloaded my boat with 16 people and headed off to a seafood restaurant at “the Spit” for dinner before heading to the Opera House for the incredible fireworks. My girlfriend for the night was the gorgeous one in the middle, very unusual that I can’t remember her name.
Follow this link for the full story on New Year’s Eve 1981, the Great Escape.
I considered Wolf Wottke my best friend since we met in Adelaide in 1973, that friendship continued until I moved to Newport in 1984, sadly after that it was never the same.
In the 4 years I owned my liquor store I never really made too much money, 3 of those years the road was was closed for 3 or 4 months which effected my turnover rather badly. Luckily I had purchased the property and made a killing when I sold.
She is certainly worth a look don’t you think?
Thanks for visiting my Gorgeous girls Sydney 1980 photo blog, what an era that was. No doubt at all 80, 81 & 82 were amazing years for living large & gorgeous ladies.
It’s now 2017 and here is Glenn Frey to tell you exactly how I feel today.
Great hotel rates here, just book through THIS LINK.
Here are some more posts on my wild wicked ways. 
Life 2015 Family history Life 1982
Adelaide 1972 Iron Bar Freddy Sydney 2006
Thailand 2008 Gold Coast Babes World trip 2003
For a great room rate at the A-One hotel opposite the beach just book through THIS LINK.
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July 3, 2016 by David Herd
Sydney landmarks harbour bridge
Sydney landmarks harbour bridge were on my agenda when I spent a couple of days in Sydney in 2005. This was my first stop on an exciting around the world trip to San Francisco, Miami, Rio de Janeiro for Carnival, north East coast of Brazil, Paris, Bangkok and Pattaya.
The magnificent Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge are two of the most recognisable structures in the world.
“Check out these top 28 Sydney Hotels With Perfect Harbour Views by HotelsCombined for great views of these iconic sights.”
Looking down from Centrepoint Tower at the Anzac memorial, lest we forget.
Located in Hyde Park it was opened on 24 November 1934 to commemorate world war one Australian military personnel who lost their lives.
The photo looking down on the Anzac Memorial building was taken from the restaurant in Centrepoint Tower.
The Manly ferry can certainly also be regarded as a Sydney landmark, South Steyne is now a Floating Restaurant and Function Centre.
Great views of the Sydney skyline from the Novotel, for an excellent room rate just book through THIS LINK.
Once again great views of the city, use THIS LINK for good Sydney hotel rates.
Another building considered to be in Sydney Landmarks.
As you can see a popular meeting place especially on Fridays.
Circular Quay is a focal point for many Sydney celebrations throughout the year.
Designed by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, the facility formally opened on 20 October 1973 after a gestation beginning with Utzon’s 1957 selection as winner of an international design competition. The NSW Government, led by Premier Joseph Cahill, authorised work to begin in 1958, with Utzon directing construction. The government’s decision to build Utzon’s design is often overshadowed by circumstances that followed, including cost and scheduling overruns as well as the architect’s ultimate resignation.
Though its name suggests a single venue, the project comprises multiple performance venues which together are among the busiest performing arts centres in the world — hosting over 1,500 performances each year attended by some 1.2 million people.
The oldest part of Sydney was founded in 1788 as a penal colony.
My friend Bill jumped out of planes 100s of times when he was in the Paras so climbing the bridge was a piece of cake for him. 🙂
For a very good discount on Sydney hotel rooms just book through THIS LINK.
Certainly one of Sydney’s well known landmarks, world famous for the fish & chips.
This was Doyles 32 years ago in 1981. On this original site, Doyles opened Australia’s first seafood restaurant in 1885. The restaurant has been family owned and operated for over five generations. With both indoor and outdoor dining, Doyles is located right on the foreshore of Watsons Bay overlooking the magnificent panorama of Sydney Harbour.
Here I am at Doyles with Helen Burke, my girlfriend at the time, enjoying one of our countless lunches on beautiful Sydney Harbour. Who said nostalgia was a thing of the past?
Here is a lovely building most Sydney people would not know existed. It’s a fine example of a single story Gothic Revival style suburban schools designed by the Architect to the Council of Education: George Allen Mansfield. An important public building of the former suburb of Darlington, the smallest municipality in Sydney.
Opened in December 1995, costing $170 million to build, it’s a link between Sydney City and the western suburbs.
Nice to see lots of trees.
Thanks for visiting my Sydney landmarks harbour bridge photo blog.
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July 2, 2016 by David Herd
Champagne weekend Sydney
Champagne weekend Sydney in 2008 was on the menu when I spent a weekend at a friends home in Point Piper. He worries about being seen on the internet, so to protect his privacy we will just call him Stingy. I imagine a whistle-blower will tip him off about this post and he will complain as usual. I would like to stress nothing in this personal photo blog of mine is intended to cause him any discomfort. It is in fact a salute to a very successful businessman.
I would like to emphasise my policy regarding my photo & travel blogs, should any person be offended or concerned by material I have posted, please contact me direct and I will immediately remove it.
I was very lucky when Stingy lent me one of his cars to use, extremely lucky when it turned out to be a Lexus. 🙂
I took advantage of my flash transport and did a little tour around the eastern suburbs.
A deserted Coogee beach, I have many memories of the local pubs where I often visited in my 20s.
Peter Hobbs and Peter H on the right. Peter H is another guy who is paranoid about his name on the internet. We are at the SCG to see the Sydney Swans play the Richmond Tigers.
This wonderful sports arena with this beautiful members stand, which was built in 1886, holds countless memories for myself and millions of sports fans all over Australia.
John Martin aka Pothole with his Chinese girlfriend and Lee O’mara are here with Stingy at the Woolahra hotel. Pothole lives in the same condo as I do in Pattaya 2 hours south of Bangkok, in fact he accompanied me on a quick trip to Koh Samui only last week on June 20 2016.
Sadly Pothole lost his best friend John Griffin just a few months after this photo was taken after he lost a long battle with cancer.
For a great hotel rate in Sydney just book through THIS LINK.
Friday lunch at Bar Reggio is a long term tradition for Stingy and his friends, located in Crown St Darlinghurst, it is a lively Italian restaurant that serves good food and allows you to bring your own wine.
Every wall upstairs and down is cluttered with paintings.
A great example of how to make a terrific home look less attractive. 🙂
They could be twins. 🙂
I’m not generally a champagne drinker however I will make an exception for Dom Perignon. 🙂
This is certainly one of the nicest homes I have ever stayed in.
There is no shortage of booze in Stingy’s house, as you can clearly see Jim Beam is his preferred poison.
Ten years have flown by & now in 2018 aged 70 Stingy has given up the booze. So many years of heavy drinking have finally caught up with him. The doctors advice was crystal clear, stop drinking or die.
Geriatrics R Us.
That’s Stingy (2nd from the left) in December 2017, he has lost an incredible amount of weight being off the booze.
Captain Stingy conducting business on the high seas. 🙂
Of course the ladies are attracted by his good looks and animal magnetism, boats, booze & a $6 million dollar house have nothing to do with it.
Three stories and looking over Sydney harbour.
Stingy’s great looking boat.
On the right is my cousin Debbie with her South African friend Phyllis, great food at the Sea Treasure.
Fantastic crab at the Sea Treasure, this reminds me of Boat Quay in Singapore. 🙂
Thanks for visiting my Champagne weekend Sydney photo blog.
Here are some more posts to check out
Life 2015 Family history Life 1982
Adelaide 1972 Iron Bar Freddy Sydney 2006
Thailand 2008 Gold Coast Babes World trip 2003
For a great room rate at the A-One hotel opposite the beach just book through THIS LINK.
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June 30, 2016 by David Herd
Newport peninsular Sydney
Newport peninsular Sydney was my home for three years from 1984 to 1987. After becoming engaged to a beautiful Melbourne lady Karen Smith, I purchased a timber home perched on a hill above the Royal Motor Yacht Club. The cost was $128k, and I sold it after our engagement fizzled out 4 years later for $360K. I guess it would be worth nearly 2 million dollars today.
As you can see Karen was a beautiful lady, it took me anther 10 years before I realised I was just not cut out for marriage or long term relationships. There is probably a multitude of reasons why, fear of commitment, too independent etc etc.
We were very happy at Newport 80% of the time, I tried hard to settle down and enjoy life as a couple, every now and then however the “call of the wild” would interrupt our utopia.
Wolf Wottke (with the beard) had been my best friend for a number of years, I left him renting my Drummoyne apartment for a year or so until I got fed up chasing the rent. Consequently I sold it which in hindsight was probably a mistake.
These beautiful Rainbow Lorikeets would visit every day for their snack on the balcony.
I had all the toys, a beautiful Mercedes Sports, a cabin cruiser moored at the yacht club, a liquor store in Sydenham which I was in the process of selling and a good sales job with Canon Australia.
This great photo (excuse the quality) was taken on Lion Island in the Hawksbury River, from left to right we have Graham La Roche aka “Biff”, his girlfriend at the time Mona, Ross Ansell from Melbourne and Karen Smith & I.
Ross doing his Tarzan impersonation on Lion Island.
About 25 years later around 2012 I paid a visit to Herbert Avenue to see if things had changed. Apart from the colour scheme and far less vegetation nothing much had changed.
My good friend Tony Murphy and his beautiful wife Inge join Karen & I on my 26 foot cabin cruiser. After 29 years I caught up with Inge in Melbourne in 2014.
Here is my good friend Paul Slaughter with two gorgeous girls, on the left is Trish and on the right an old girlfriend of mine Shirley.
Tim Bristow was a friend of mine dating back from the time we met in 1971 when he was on my tail to give me a hiding, but that’s another story just follow THIS LINK. In the 70s just the name Tim Bristow struck fear into the heart of all those who knew him, an enforcer with a reputation of being one of the most brutal street fighters in Australia. Put simply he was legend, a bouncer at the Newport Arms hotel, would be contenders for his crown would travel from all over Sydney to try their luck, many came and all of them were sent packing battered and bruised.
I sold my liquor store in late 1984 which took the pressure off me. I had been working with Canon for a few months and travelling to Sydenham (a one hour drive each way) at weekends to work in the liquor store. Meanwhile I dug a wine cellar underneath my Newport home and stored a huge amount of wine that I took home from the shop.
Unwins Bridge Road
That’s Madison my beautiful 4 year old German Shepherd who used to diligently guard the store overnight.
Brian was a boat broker at Newport and a regular drinker at the Newport Arms hotel. He lived just up the road at Bungan Beach before moving to Noosa where I believe he still resides.
Two very nice guys who were customers of mine when I was with Canon. Their office was opposites the Oaks Hotel in Neutral Bay so more often than not we would meet in the pub. 🙂
Amazing seeing these old photos, all of these cute kids now have children of their own.
A lovely couple who lived in the next street from us, John also worked at Canon in the computer division.
John & Sue, Karen & I went on a Canon conference to Penang, here we are driving from Penang to Singapore via Kuala Lumpur.
Here we are in Singapore, notice the cigarette. I smoke on and off for most of my life until 2003. Usually 2 or 3 years then I would quit for a similar time before returning to the grip of the nicotine.
Phil has lived most of his life on the Newport peninsular Sydney and I believe still does in 2016. He is the brother of my ex girlfriend Di Parkinson.
Karen & I at the cup with friends including another ex girlfriend Helen Burke who is on the left of the photo. Helen has a vineyard at Dromana on the Mornington Peninsular, I spent a few day there in October 2014 drinking wine with her and her partner Jack.
I can’t remember the name of the beautiful dark haired princess, she was the girlfriend of my crazy chiropractor from North Sydney.
Prior to buying my cabin cruiser I had this little run-about, it was a lot of fun, do you like the name? 🙂
Danny Rose one of Adelaide’s true characters, we had a day of the water, you can see “Stamped Urgent” in the background.
Certainly my life on the Newport peninsular Sydney revolved around lots of good friends and my beautiful fiancée Karen. My thanks to her for being the most important part of my life for those great years.
Thanks also to you for visiting my Newport peninsular Sydney photo blog.
Here are some more posts to check out
Life 2015 Family history Life 1982
Adelaide 1972 Iron Bar Freddy Sydney 2006
Thailand 2008 Gold Coast Babes World trip 2003
For a great room rate at the A-One hotel opposite the beach just book through THIS LINK.
More great photo blogs here;
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June 16, 2016 by David Herd
English Channel Ferry Dover Calais
Channel Ferry Dover Calais from England to France was our starting point for our road trip to Brugge and Versailles, which finished in Brighton on the south coast of England. I was travelling with two English friends Bill Austin & Dave Catchpole, & the reason our trip started in Uttoxeter was to visit my good friend Alan Austin (Bill’s brother) who was a guest of Her Majesty for a rather major indiscretion involving transportation of a certain white powder from Spain to England.
We stayed in the Townhouse Hotel in Maidstone which was excellent and left early for Dover, little did I realise at the time that quite a bit of tension would build up between the 3 of us over the coming days. Bill & I had been on successful road trips in the past which went as smooth as silk, however adding Dave to this trip seemed to effect the dynamics resulting in an unfortunate parting of the ways in Brighton.
We really didn’t explore Dover, instead we went straight to the ferry terminal.
There were certainly a lot of vehicles making the crossing.
The trucks go on the ferry first then the private vehicles.
Which is comforting given the weather conditions can be rather rough in the channel.
Bill and I looking forward to leaving Dover.
They seem to be rather frequent travelling both ways.
I guess any time old guys like me talk about the white cliffs of Dover a particular song comes to mind.
The cliffs look quite fantastic, only 22 miles to Calais.
For an excellent hotel room rate in Dover just use THIS LINK.
Where are all the people?
With nobody to meet us but the seagulls, many thanks for visiting my English Channel Ferry Dover Calais photo blog.
More than 6,000 trucks are stuck in Dover due to Brexit negotiations, those French officials don’t care about the drama that’s being caused.
Checkout some more of my terrific blogs on the links below.
Fabulous views, excellent restaurants & a very good room rate if you book through THIS LINK.
The building in the middle is the Holiday Inn, on the left is the Amari Hotel which is another very good five star hotel. Use THIS LINK to book for a very good room rate.
The best Pattaya budget hotel, 3 pools & opposite Central Marina shopping mall. For a great room rate just book through THIS LINK.
Europe before Covid-19 & mass immigration.
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