Monthly Archives: April 2025

Gold Coast

I love the Gold Coast. The weather, the vibe, the ocean and especially the beach. Just before we left Edmonton, Gold Coast got hit by the edge of Cyclone Alfred. Our son, M, kept in touch and was preparing the … Continue reading

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Melbourne, One Person’s Perspective

The last time I was in Melbourne was in 1998. At the time I thought it had more of a ‘British’ influence than the other big cities in Australia. My impression now is it is a lot more, say, cosmopolitan. … Continue reading

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Art and More Art

Today is the day we go to the art show that was the underlying reason for us to hop on a plane and head to Melbourne. Yayoi Kusama has a retrospective show of her works at the National Gallery of … Continue reading

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Melbourne

Our first stop on today’s walking tour of Melbourne is the Queen Victoria Market. The market is quite similar to markets in SE Asia. The big difference is the first world orderly layout, presentation and sanitary standards. There are so … Continue reading

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Off to Melbourne

A few months ago, I happened on an ad for an art exhibit at the National Gallery of Victoria and I said to Murray that we should go see this. (More about the exhibit in a future post.) He said … Continue reading

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Papua New Guinea Olio

We didn’t get to see too much of Papua New Guinea. The expats that work there all had warnings about how dangerous it can be. Port Moresby was a definite no go. “Don’t leave the hotel compound.” Normally Debbie and … Continue reading

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A Stroll in Alotau

The Masurina Hotel, where we are staying, is uphill from the town center, so we ask the hotel if the van would give us a ride down to town and then pick us up again. It is extremely hot today … Continue reading

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The MV Oceania

Awaiting at the Driftwood Hotel in Alotau to be picked up by our ride for the next ten days we meet up with our fellow divers. They drift in in ones and twos. There doesn’t seem to be a crowd … Continue reading

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Air Niugini Wins Fans

We arrive in Port Moresby and are prepared for the possibility of itinerary changes with Air Niugini. (I wrote about all the changes to our flights before we left home.) When I check my emails, we have one from the … Continue reading

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Scuba Diving in Papua New Guinea

If I have to describe, with one word, the diving here in Papua New Guinea, I would pick currents. We deal with currents on almost all the dives. It’s a double edged sword as currents are hard on air consumption … Continue reading

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