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Longest Trips Air Sea

July 17, 2018 by David Herd

The Long & Winding Road

Longest Trips Air Sea 

Longest Trips Air Sea

Longest Trips Air Sea Road that I have ever taken over all my years of travelling the world. Starting with a six week cruise way back in the 60s from Sydney to Southampton. I’m boarding the Fairsea with my best friend Glenn Beasley.

The old shipboard romance

Longest Trips Air Sea Leanne Scot was from Adelaide, we spent a lot of time together during the 6 week cruise & later living in London. More photos on THIS LINK.

Longest Trips Air Sea Road

Longest Trips Air Sea RoadWe worked for a few months at the White Lion Hotel in Cobham, about 20 miles south east of London. We lived upstairs & had 1.5 days off each week. The pub closed around 2012.

7th engineer on the La Maria.

Longest Trips Air Sea I did two trips from Europe to Duluth in the Great Lakes in America, whilst not the longest voyage in distance it certainly was in time at sea, around 6 months.

My longest taxi ride, around 300 kilometers.

Longest Trips Air Sea Road We travelled from Natal to Recife around the coast of north east Brazil.

Praia de Pipa

Longest Trips Air Sea On the way we stayed in Pipa for a few days, it became one of my favourite places in Brail.

Porto de Galinhas

Longest Trips Air SeaIs an hour south of Recife, in English it means the port of the chickens.

My lovely travelling companion

Longest Trips Air SeaSimone & I met online 3 or 4 years ago & we always catch up when I’m in Brazil.

A very long road trip.

Longest Trips Air Sea

Three Japanese students, Yukako, Megumi & Noriko & I travelled from the Gold Coast in Queensland, through Broken Hill  NSW to Coober Pedy in South Australia, a fascinating opal mining town where most of the population live in underground houses, then on to Ayers Rock and back home to the Gold Coast via Hervey Bay where we went whale watching. On our marathon journey all through the Australian Outback we traveled 7,000 kilometers  which was around 82 hours behind the wheel. 

It was a wonderful trip

Longest Trips Air SeaThe girls were so excited seeing the Australian outback that it made the trip much more special for me.

It’s way out of focus but you get the picture.

Longest Trips Air SeaAt sunset the rock seems to glow.

Whale watching at Hervey Bay

Longest Trips Air Sea Road This was our last stop after the longest road trip I have ever taken.

Longest Trips Air Sea Road

Longest Trips Air Sea RoadSuch magnificent creatures.

My longest flight was from Rio de Janeiro to Brisbane.

Longest Trips Air SeaThirty five hours with a 8 hour stopover in Buenos Aires. It was the stopover from hell, I flew 3 hours to Buenos Aires from Rio, then an eight hour wait for my flight to Sydney at 2am with a stop in Auckland, then a 3 hour wait in Sydney before arriving on the Gold Coast at 3pm Friday. To say I’ll be stuffed when I get home could be the understatement of the year. Meanwhile I had a bottle of Argentine Malbec and a fillet steak to help pass the time. 🙂

I was a very tired boy when we arrived in Brisbane.

Longest Trips Air SeaI don’t ever want to attempt such a flight again. 🙂

My longest residence

Longest Trips Air Sea Road

Twenty one years I lived in the beautiful home I designed & built in Surfers Paradise, from 1990 until 2011.

My private jetty

Longest Trips Air SeaAt the front of my waterfront home.

My yellow canary

Longest Trips Air SeaI drove this wonderful Mercedes for 17 years until 2007.

My longest relationships

Longest Trips Air Sea RoadFirst there was Carol Luciano from Double Bay in Sydney, we were an item for 3 years or so in the 70s.

Karen Smith was also a 3 year term.

Longest Trips Air Sea Karen was from Melbourne & we lived together for 3 years in the 80s. 

Thanks for visiting my Longest Trips Air Sea photo blog, & they say nostalgia is a thing of the past. 🙂

   Life 2015                     Family history                   Life 1982

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  Adelaide 1972                 Iron Bar Freddy               Sydney 2006

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Thailand 2008                Gold Coast Babes               World trip 2003

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             Great hotel room rates anywhere in the world if you book
                  through these links below.  Book now & pay later.
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Surfers Paradise Party Animals
 
 
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A-One hotel on Beach Road

Seven deadly Songkran days

For a great room rate at the A-One hotel opposite the beach just book through THIS LINK.               

 

 Soi Cowboy                  Nana Plaza                    Patpong

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Hahndorf Adelaide South Australia

November 19, 2015 by David Herd

Hahndorf Adelaide Hills

Hahndorf Adelaide Hills South Australia

 Hahndorf Adelaide South Australia is a short trip from Adelaide, The town was originally settled by Lutheran migrants. German influence is very apparent in Hahndorf and is seen physically in the traditional fachwerk architecture of the original surviving buildings. There are also many restaurants in the town serving German cuisine.

Hahndorf Adelaide South Australia

Hahndorf Adelaide Hills South Australia

Hahndorf is a small town in the Adelaide Hills region of South Australia. Currently an important tourism spot, it has previously been a centre for farming and services.

German Arms Hotel

Hahndorf Adelaide Hills South Australia

Close to this pub is a hotel that rates very highly, use this link for a great room rate.

 Old sandstone homes

Hahndorf Adelaide Hills South Australia

This is a typical South Australian sandstone home. In 1973 my home in Adelaide was quite similar.

 Hahndorf Adelaide South Australia cafes & restaurants

Hahndorf Adelaide Hills South Australia

Hahndorf is on of Adelaide’s main tourist centres with lots of places to eat and drink. Famous of course for it’s wine making expertise as are other South Australian areas.

Beautiful old buildings

Hahndorf Adelaide Hills South Australia

Thanks for visiting my Hahndorf Adelaide post, make sure it is on your bucket list when visiting Adelaide.

It is now 2016 and I have lived in Thailand for 5 years, however if I had to move back to Australia I think I would choose Adelaide as my home. It would be a toss up between here or Port Macquarie in NSW, however Adelaide in my opinion is one of the most livable cities in Australia.

I have said it many times over the years but I still believe my two best years living in Australia was in Adelaide 1972 to 1974.                         

                             More posts for you to see

     Istanbul                                 Budapest                        London

Fascinating Istanbul Asia Meets Europe     Hungarian Parliament Building (2)       The Walkie Talkie (5)    

          Mostar                           Dubrobnik                            Split

43638e36-5da5-4162-98e3-635e2c149837        IMG_7425    Split Ancient Croatian Coastal city                     

                 Saigon                            Zagreb                          Vung tau

Ho Chi Minh City South Vietnam       Main Square (3)     Vung Tau statue (6)

Pattaya live webcam
 
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That’s all folks

1g Duck

Click here to see my post on the Great Ocean Road

Here is my trip to the Gold Coast November 2014

In 2003 I took 3 Japanese girls to the outback

 
Aoy visits
 

 

That’s all folks

1 (5)

 

Check out these great posts

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Four Fabulous Pattaya Trips 2008

June 19, 2015 by David Herd

Sirocco Bangkok

Four Fabulous Pattaya Trips 2008

Four Fabulous Pattaya Trips 2008

 

Four Fabulous Pattaya Trips 2008 as well as Bangkok and Krabi. Throw in Sydney, Singapore, Bali, New York, Rio de Janeiro for Carnival, Curitiba, Florianopolis and Balneario Camboriu. Certainly one of my greatest years for travel.

Please note, this is not part of my Travel Blog. It’s part of my personal history, check it out if you wish.

Sirocco Bangkok

Four Fabulous Pattaya Trips 2008

 

My brother Warren & Yvonne Collier at Sirocco.

Centrepoint Hotel

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A nice hotel in a great location, close to the sky train and the Chao Phraya river.


Phung aka Cleopatra at Nana Plaza.

Four Fabulous Pattaya Trips 2008

 

My favourite Bangkok girl since 2001.

Big Dog Bar at Nana Plaza

Four Fabulous Pattaya Trips 2008

  Nic, Sharon and Rod Perin, (RIP).    

Nana Plaza  

Four Fabulous Pattaya Trips 2008

John Sinclair getting up close and personal. 🙂  

Elephant at Dynasty Hotel Soi 4 Nana

Four Fabulous Pattaya Trips 2008

You really don’t see the elephants in the street anymore.

Honey Pot Pattaya with number 99

Four Fabulous Pattaya Trips 2008

 

Sadly the Honey Pot closed around 2012.

Cherry Bar Pattaya

Four Fabulous Pattaya Trips 2008

   Rod, Nick and I with our new watches. Sadly Ron on the left, passed away in 2011.  

Four Fabulous Pattaya Trips 2008

Four Fabulous Pattaya Trips 2008

 

One thing that has not changed are the boats waiting for the Chinese tourists.

Sabai Resort next to Big C in 2nd Rd.

Four Fabulous Pattaya Trips 2008

I stayed at the Sabai Resort for about 7 years until I moved to Pattaya in October 2011. It was and still is a great location.

On of my favourite girls visits me at the Sabai

Four Fabulous Pattaya Trips 2008

  Jan was absolutely gorgeous, she worked at the Cherry Bar from 2003 to around 2010.  

Here is Ice at the Sabai Resort  

Four Fabulous Pattaya Trips 2008

  I often wonder where she is now.

Notice the Holiday Inn being built in 2008.

Four Fabulous Pattaya Trips 2008

 

The Holiday Inn opened in 2009.

 Bernard’s

Four Fabulous Pattaya Trips 2008

One of my favourite restaurants, for many years it was in Soi 3 before moving to Soi 1 opposite Markland. Sadly it closed in 2014.

Honey Pot in Soi 2

Four Fabulous Pattaya Trips 2008

Great times at the Honey Pot with Dennis and Nick, sadly in 2012 the club closed.

Beautiful Thai

Four Fabulous Pattaya Trips 2008

Did you pick it? The best looking ladyBoy I have ever seen, the guys just had to get a photo taken.

Pretty face in Pattaya

Four Fabulous Pattaya Trips 2008

 

There are not as many pretty faces now in 2016.

Seafood at the Mantra

Four Fabulous Pattaya Trips 2008

Located at the Amari hotel is my favourite restaurant, every Sunday they have a fantastic brunch.

Walking St in daylight

Four Fabulous Pattaya Trips 2008

 

Such a difference during the day.

A little different at night

Four Fabulous Pattaya Trips 2008

 

Lots of neon lights in Walking Street at night.

My favourite girl

Four Fabulous Pattaya Trips 2008

Jan has been my favourite Cherry Bar girl your quite a few years, what a beautiful face she has.

Four Fabulous Pattaya Trips 2008          Four Fabulous Pattaya Trips 2008

A year or so later Jan found a sponsor and is now the mother of three.

Pattaya street kitchen.

Four Fabulous Pattaya Trips 2008

 

Thai people have taken street food to an art form.

Cute Russian at Cosy Beach

Four Fabulous Pattaya Trips 2008

 

The water looks nice. Water, what water? I don’t see any water. 🙂

Nick & Sharon

Four Fabulous Pattaya Trips 2008

My friends from the Gold Coast who love Thailand.

Nook at U Too Bar

Four Fabulous Pattaya Trips 2008

 

The U Too bar moved up the road to Drinking Street. Thanks for visiting my Four Pattaya trips photo blog.

Zagreb Croatia                      Rio de Janeiro                  Brisbane River 

Zagreb Croatia bars restaurants        a7ff7566-9628-434d-a2b1-8c6e8b9a9021       IMG_0100

       

     Koh Samui                                   Korea                                  London

32780a6c-baf6-428a-bd71-68b1bed30b4c         Changdeokgung Palace (2)        IMG_7042

         Bangkok                                   Osaka                                     Pattaya

Soi Cowboy (25)          Osaka 1st night (17)       Walking St Pattaya is wild & sexy 

                                     

             Chiang Mai                      Pattaya                      Chao Phraya river

Chiang Mai with Tone        9a1fec74-4461-46cd-8663-97f5893c8f6e (1)   191de3bb-38fc-45cd-bce7-ef24081c554b

That’s all folks

1g Duck

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Two Thailand trips 2002

May 1, 2015 by David Herd

This it not part of my travel blog, just my personal photo & travel history from 2002.

Two Thailand trips

Two Thailand trips

Two Thailand trips in 2002, by my standards it was a very quiet year for travel. Shanghai & Beijing however gave me a great introduction to China. Digital cameras were in their early stages so the photo quality is very average indeed.

The photo above shows the team in Bangkok celebrating John Sinclair turning 60. From the left is John Martin aka Pothole, Michael Dowd, John Sinclair, Apple Pie, David Herd and Tony Murphy.

Happy birthday John

Two Thailand trips

Birthdays seem to roll around so fast the older you get.

Christy’s in Soi 33 Bangkok

Two Thailand trips

Soi 33 Sukhumvit in Bangkok.

Here was my choice.

Two Thailand trips

That is a super smile.


 

This really needs no caption.

  Two Thailand trips

You gotta love Thailand.

Hit the road Jack

Two Thailand trips

    John Sinclair and Bruce Donnachie outside the Office in Soi 33, it is a terrific sports bar with lots of TVs and good looking staff.

Phung, aka Cleopatra

Two Thailand trips

My favourite Nana Plaza girl, we met last year in 2001 and hooked up with each other for quite a few years until about 2009. I believe she found a sponsor and is living in Europe now.  

The Bus Stop in Soi 4 Nana

Two Thailand trips

Mike Dowd, David Herd, Pothole Martin and John Sinclair. Once again I’m so disappointed with the photo quality, early days of digital cameras. This was actually AFL grand final day 2002 when Brisbane Lions beat Collingwood.

The Office in Soi 33.

Two Thailand trips

Even now in 2015 the Office sports bar in Soi 33 is still open.

Pothole Bin Ladin and Apple Pie.

    Two Thailand trips

Our regular village idiot with his new girl. When things became serious we were not allowed to call her Apple anymore, Champen was her name. 🙂   I really have to relay this funny story, Pothole took Apple to Australia a couple of times and they planned to marry. At that time in 2003 little did he realize she was actively managing 4 or 5 other suitors from Europe and America. He only discovered the truth much later after cracking into her Hotmail account.

  Anyhow Pothole actually used some common sense (most unusual for him) and presented Apple with a pre nuptial agreement for her signature. Her assets were about $16,000 worth of jewellery that he had given her, his were way in excess of $1,000,000. This all happened on a Thursday night, then Friday he came home early from work to discover her jewellery laid out on the bed alongside a suicide note.   I think I already mentioned that he was known as the village idiot, and in keeping with this image he raced up to North Sydney police station distraught and weeping, and pleaded with the local cops to help him find her. They came to his apartment, took photographs and asked many questions.  

He called me during the day totally distressed and I gave him the following advice, I said “pack all her clothes etc in her suitcase, leave it outside the door and get your locks changed. Naturally my advice didn’t go down all that well. Much later that evening who should turn up all bright and bubbly, you guessed it, Apple Pie, aka Champen. 🙂   He of course forgave her and took her back, even after finding out she was in fact having a long lunch (and who knows what else?) with a friend of his.  

Two things about Apple however, she was the best Thai cook I have ever seen, secondly she finally moved to England, married an ex cop and had a lovely daughter. The husband was awarded an MBE or similar around 2013 and Apple rolled up at the Palace with him when he received his award. Not a bad ending for a chick from Nana Plaza. 🙂  

As I said previously, Pothole is known by many as “the village idiot”, but he is our village idiot and he has provided us with a huge amount of entertainment over the years. His final piece of stupidity in the above “Apple Pie” saga was showing her my texts and relaying the advice I gave him to her, consequently I had abusive phone calls from Apple indicating I was the villain in the whole fiasco. That’s our Pothole for you. 🙂

 Master chef 2003

Two Thailand trips

  This girl could really cook Thai food. What a difference in photo quality in just one year.  

From 2003

David Herd unforgettable year

Sue on the right was one of my girlfriends from Shanghai, I took her to Sydney for a weekend. The other girl is Apple.  

Bee from Bangkok on her 21st birthday.

Two Thailand trips

Another funny story, I was drinking in the Big Dog bar in Nana plaza when this gorgeous little girl rolled up about 8pm to the hamburger stand in her pyjamas and slippers. She looked so cute I went and spoke to her, well to cut a long story short the next night we got together for her 21st birthday, you gotta love Thailand.

You saw Bee, well here is Beer. 🙂

  Two Thailand trips

Beer was a dancer at Rainbow 3 in Nana Plaza and a girl with a terrific personality.  

Na was one of my favourite girls.

Two Thailand trips

Another funny story, as you can see I met Na in a beauty salon in Soi 22 when she was giving me a pedicure. For a couple of years every time I came to Bangkok we would get together. Mostly she would arrive at my hotel around midnight after she finished work.

Lovely Na

    Two Thailand trips

Things were fine for a long time until one day she said to me “I can’t see you any more David”. I was very surprised and asked her “why not, have you found another boyfriend”? She said “no, I have found a girlfriend”. Looking back I guess this was a “George Costanza” moment, I had driven a girl to lesbianism. 🙂  

John settles Murphy’s debt

Two Thailand trips

Luk closed her shop for 10 days to look after one of our friends. When he left to go back to Australia he completely forgot to leave her any money (on purpose I might add). John Sinclair being the gentleman he is made sure she had enough to cover her expenses.

The result

Two Thailand trips

Luk is a lot happier now.  

Two Thailand trips 2006.

Two Thailand trips

As I am so disappointed in the photo quality I have jumped forward to 2006 to show better shots of my favourite Bangkok girl Cleo.

Thanks for visiting my Two Thailand trips photo blog.                       

 Here are some more posts to check out

         Life 2015                     Family history                   Life 1982

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  Adelaide 1972                 Iron Bar Freddy               Sydney 2006

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Thailand 2008                Gold Coast Babes               World trip 2003

Fun in Pattaya-116         92bfa275-a122-4078-9970-1e24188a5917        CopacabanabeachNov2003-124

             Great hotel room rates anywhere in the world if you book
                  through these links below.  Book now & pay later.
Free Cancellation. 
                              Bangkok Hotels                    Pattaya Hotels
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 That’s all folks
Surfers Paradise Party Animals
 
A-One hotel on Beach Road

Seven deadly Songkran days

For a great room rate at the A-One hotel opposite the beach just book through THIS LINK.               

 

 Soi Cowboy                  Nana Plaza                    Patpong

 Soi Cowboy (5)           e1274c0c-cf4d-4406-b5dc-d9e8071e382e            8993ef02-ccf3-46a7-8b6d-fc11af9d93ad

 
 

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