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Going Down Into Egypt

It has been a while but since it is stay inside tonight for #exTCDebbie, I thought I might put up another one of Effie’s articles. Reading this really makes me want to go and visit Egypt!

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Going Down Into Egypt
By Euphemia Tory
Published in Volume 50 (1928-1929) of the Girl’s Own Annual, pages 223-225

THE first question of the would-be visitor, how to reach Egypt, admits so many answers that I can only suggest asking one of the well-known agents for a complete list of sailings and prices. Mail steamers from London, Marseilles or Naples; Italian lines from Genoa, Naples and the Adriatic ports (some of these provide slow, inexpensive boats with much interest at different ports of call) ; M.M. boats from Marseilles , there are ships of every nationality and varying degrees of luxury, but I do not think that any providing reasonable comfort and cleanliness cost less than about £25 each way from London, and of course more luxury can be had at higher fares.

The height of the tourist season is from January 15th to April 1st, but before and after this period the weather is glorious without being overpoweringly hot, and those who wish to economise will find prices lower and accommodation easier to obtain out of the regular season.

From October 1st to January 15th, and again from April 1st to May 31st, the Egyptian State Railways quote favourable combined hotel and railway rates for visits to steamship lines serving Egypt also give reduced out-of- season fares.

Please, click here to continue reading 🙂 “Going Down Into Egypt”

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Why Not Visit Greece? By Euphemia Torry

Whilst I was in London on my way home from Iceland in January this year, I dedicated some time to family history. Not the family history I plan on committing some time to in the next couple of years, by spending a good month or two in England researching the Lawrence Stephenson line of our family. It is the one arm of our family which I can’t trace back past my great-great-great grandfather Lawrence Stephenson DD with any reliability. That is a story for another time.

The person I spent time researching in London was Cousin Effie. Cousin Effie will be the subject of a series of blog posts as I chronicle her adventures and tales.  She is one person in our family, that I would have dearly loved to have met, however since she was born on the 9th of July 1889 and died on the 12th of September 1976 that was never going to happen was it? Please, click here to continue reading 🙂 “Why Not Visit Greece? By Euphemia Torry”

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Hawaii Day 2

Day 2 was all about the Flamingo 🙂

Lots of them and some other animal encounters at the Honolulu Zoo 🙂

Komodo Dragon
Komodo Dragon

Black Rhinoceros
Black Rhinoceros
Look a Fujifilm disposable camera!
Look a Fujifilm disposable camera!
Oh sweet gum
Oh sweet gum
Peach Faced Lovebirds
Peach Faced Lovebirds
Peach Faced Lovebirds
Peach Faced Lovebirds
Superb Starling (Lamprotornis superbus)
Superb Starling (Lamprotornis superbus)
Hooded Vulture (Necrosyrtes monachus)
Hooded Vulture (Necrosyrtes monachus)
Mosaic Flamingos
Mosaic Flamingos
Slender-tailed Meerkat
Slender-tailed Meerkat
Klipspringer
Klipspringer
Some form of antelope, isn’t that striping on the flank gorgeous?
Some form of antelope
Oh Zeeeeebra!
Oh Zeeeeebra!
Zeebra!
Zeebra!
Hello Giraffe
Hello Girafe
Lesser flamingo (Phoeniconaias minor)
lesser flamingo (Phoeniconaias minor) lesser flamingo (Phoeniconaias minor)lesser flamingo (Phoeniconaias minor)

Beach Umbrella … also works an umbrella when an impromptu tropical rain shower appears
Beach Umbrella ...
Indian Elephant and Diamond Head
Indian Elephant and Diamond Head
American flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber)
American flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber)

American flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber)
How far to other zoos?
How far to other zoos?
American flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber)
American flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber)


American flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber)
American flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber)
American flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber)
American flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber)
Me and another great mosaic at the zoo
Me and another great mosaic at the zoo

After getting a bit rained out of the Zoo, I headed back to my classy looking hotel for a nap before heading off to Ward Village to have a browse through the shops and area.

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After Ward Village, I headed through Ala Moana where I stumbled across this most wonderful reproduction dress on display in Bloomingdales. This dress is part of the Alii Gown Reproduction Project which is been run by the Friends of Iolani Palace. This dress is a reproduction of Queen Kapiolani’s lei hulu (feather lei) gown which she wore to Queen Victoria’s jubilee in 1887. I have lightened the darks a bit in the below photo to try to show the exquisite detail in the bodice. The dress is the most beautiful black velvet with yellow feather embellishments. I would love a dress like this, the detail, the fabric, the cut, the train, the drape, everything! I spent a good time walking round the dress soaking it all up. Refer to this article for more detail.

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On the walk back to my hotel, I went past this the Tradewinds Hotel and was totally in love with their breezeblock entry way 😀
The Tradewinds Hotel
And well you can’t have a visit to the USA with out some blueberry pancakes from IHOP 😀
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And with a very full stomach, it was back to the hotel and that was Day 2 of Hawaii 😀

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Hawaii Day 1

The Easter long weekend normally means a trip somewhere, or kind of somewhere

last year it was a trip to the spare room as I prepped for a CA Capstone workshop the following weekend.

the year before it was ?????????

the year before that it was Penang

This year it was Hawaii with two of my friends from uni days Sam and Justin. We flew with Hawaiian Airlines because well 2 x 32kg bags ….vs 1 x 23kg with Jetstar.  Ok so that last bit was more something I was excited about than the others and that may only be because well I brought home some groceries … ok really I bought home a whole bunch of pop tarts, like a lot.

Hawaiian does a cracker of a flight out of Brisbane to Honolulu, a perfect flight for an after work escape on a plane to the middle of the Pacific. Why is it a cracker? Well because the departure time is 9:45pm. Thank you very much HA444. That not too late but not too early flight which means you can leave work at 5pm, go home finish packing, grab a bite to eat and make it to the airport in time.  Ok so that dinner might only be a jaffle but still … and anyway you will get some sort of snack on the plane once it takes off. The flight takes about 9hrs so again a pretty perfect after work flight because you know that halfway through the first movie you will be fast asleep albeit not in pyjamas and not curled up in your own bed but still you know that when you wake up, you will be a whole lot closer to those islands in the middle of the Pacific, HAWAII! Please, click here to continue reading 🙂 “Hawaii Day 1”

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A cold, cold walk on Christmas Day

It has become somewhat of a tradition in our family to go for a walk or a stroll after lunch on Christmas Day.

This year, Karl and I took Stella for a walk round town. Christmas Day was mighty cold for Reykjavik, the weather bureau recorded -9.7°C at noon on Christmas Day! A vast difference to the 25.4°C or so that was observed in Brisbane at noon on the 25th.

We went down to the harbour and then strolled back through the “west side” home to get ready for Christmas Day dinner with Kata’s paternal family.

As it was Christmas Day we wore Santa Hats for the walk, sadly the Santa Hats were not wool or super fleecy so did not really provide optimum warmth :/
Karl and I on the jetty
Karl and I on the jetty Please, click here to continue reading 🙂 “A cold, cold walk on Christmas Day”