Paddy's flyin !

A clock driven by steam !
You'll be surprised at what we found in the Blue mountains.

Great Blue Mountains pics! They may struggle as "mountains", but the preservation of the natural surrounding landscape is impressive. Katoomba, Blackheath and other mountain towns get some snow in winter, I was once trapped in snow trying to drive further west one morning for work.
Did you try the Scenic Railway, a near vertical railcar on the site of a coal extraction railway cut into rock? I never tire of it.

Thanks Bruce, fortunately we chose the spring with no snow for our visit.
Scenic railway coming up !
We took the Blue mountain photo's overlooking the Katoomba valley, and here is the worlds steepest passenger railway operating which originally carried coal and travels up/down at an angle of 52 degrees !
Coal was discovered here in 1878 and there are nearly 100 kilometres of tunnels into the Cliffside, at its height of production it employed 56 men and produced 20,000 tons of coal.

Photo's,
1, Self explanatory.

2, All aboard.

3, That's 52 degrees steep.

4,The railway was built to service this mine.

5, Mine office mock up.

6, 7, Coal tippler.

8,9, Ventilation shaft tunnel & operatives.

10, Actual entrance to the mine.

Here we take a look around the mine entrance and some abandoned artefacts from that era.

Photo's,
1, View from the mine entrance across Katoomba valley.

2, Welsh miners were much prized immigrants to work in the mines because of their mining heritage.

3,Geologists sketch map.

4, Miners tools.

5, There are no atheists in foxholes, mines or in a storm at sea.
6,Rainforest plant life.

7,8, Inside of a miners home.

9, 10 Abandoned mine artefacts.

A wee look around the rainforest.

Photo's.
1, Rainforest path.

2, You can always find water in the mountains.

3, This is actually the top of a giant fern tree.

4, This Turpentine tree is approximately 150 years old, it's wood is very hard and it's much prized for building wharves, jetties and for piling.

5,Rainforest canopy.

6, Another abandoned artefact.

7,Left alone the rainforest vines will overcome.

8, This pretty little guy stopped by to say hello.

9,10, A termites nest and explanation.

There are 3 ways to get back up out of the Katoomba valley here in the Blue mountains, we can walk, catch the 52' railway or take a cable car, we opted for the cable car. Arguably the best cable car view in the world (depending on your likes/dislikes) it is the largest in Australia.
Built in Switzerland to cater for the boom in tourism it certainly beats the hell out of Shank's pony (walking).

Photo's.
1, Makers name plate, if you want to order one.

2,The business end of the cables.

3,4,5,6,7. The views alone are superb..

One things puzzles me though, we've seen from this visit and discovered from research that Australia has massive coil and gas reserves, so much so that it sells gas via a pipeline to Timor and millions of tons of coal to China every year.
China builds, not going to, it is actually commissioning a new coal fired electricity generating station EVERY DAY.
These are not regulated by anyone and use 'old' technology.
Meanwhile Australians electricity bills have gone up by 90% IN THE LAST 10 years.
As a stranger passing through it looks to me that the Australian people and its industries are getting a raw deal from their government's past and present.
Australia has access to the latest 'clean burn non polluting' coal fired electricity generation techniques and yet is 'looking at renewable energy.
Australia signed up to the 'Paris accord' on pollution.
A clear case of being two faced NIMBY's, Not In My Back Yard approach.
Personally I believe that many people make many unfounded cases of pollution without factual evidence to serve their own agenda's. Governments charging 'Carbon tax' for some greenie's thinking without one shred of FACTUAL evidence, .
Don't misunderstand me, we all should be searching for realistic ways to reduce pollution, BASED ON FACTS not fiction.

If you are still in the area a visit to Mt. Wilson, accessed from Bells Line of Road(that`s quaint when I type it), a scenic alternative to the Gt. Western Highway route to Sydney. Mt Wilson is a pretty village of expensive houses and extensive gardens of the landed gentry, in it`s own rain forest featuring some quite "tropical" looking trees etc. Quite often some gardens are open for inspection for modest charge,usually going to charity. There is a magnificent avenue of plane(? liquid amber) trees, which meet above the road to form a tunnel. Spectacular in autumn colour, and still good to see in Spring. Chestnuts are grown there too.
Great to see you out and exploring beyond the cities!

Thanks for the tip Bruce, unfortunately we handed back the 'wheels' and we're back on shank's pony.

Talking of wheels, if anyone decides to do something similar be very careful.

1, If you hire a camping car get one twice as large as you think you need, because the one we hired was fine for a double jointed aerobics instructor, not for persons of 'a certain age', it had no toilet and minimum cooking facilities.
2, Very few places welcome camping cars so you are obliged to go to a camping site which can cost between 50 and 70 $ per night, if you add that up into your camping car budget it becomes prohibitive, you'd be better hiring a cheap car and staying in a motel for a $100 per night with far more comfort.
3, The main highway from Cairns to Sydney has, for the most part a railway running alongside, large freight trains with up to 4 engines move at night (if your a light sleeper).
4, Large American built trucks also use the highway at night as people want their goods by the next morning, complete with stainless steel, chrome and a myriad of 'bling' they also have 'Straight Through' exhausts for the macho image, when they accelerate or use the 'Jake Brake' it means excessive noise, I feel sorry for the people living within a 5 kilometres radius of the highway as noise travels especially at night, this noise is both unnecessary and unwarranted noise pollution that can easily be rectified by fitting standard truck exhaust silencers. European built trucks don't have this problem as they are built to be less invasive.
I make these comments having spent 30 years in the family trucking business.


The drivers in Australia are courteous and friendly and it's a real pleasure to drive here after experiencing the Kamikaze French drivers.

Now we're in Sydney the admiral has said enough of your messing around boyo were going shopping. So that's that !
First I had a date with two ladies and snuck in a wee trip to the Australian Navy museum in Darling harbour.
Firstly to visit to an authentically built replica of my naval hero Capt James Cook's ship the HM Bark Endeavour.
There was already a warship called Endeavour so Capt Cook's was called Bark Endeavour.
Cook spent his early life in Whitby (a port in England) serving in colliers and learned his navigational skills amongst the sandbanks and shoals of the East coast of England transporting coal to London.
He joined the Royal Navy as an able seaman at 27 yrs old in 1755, his navigational skill were recognized and he quickly rose through the ranks.
As master of a 64 gun HMS Pembroke he was at the capture of Louisburg and Quebec, he stayed on and charted the Newfoundland coast.
On his return to England he was given HM Bark Endeavour and sent out to check an eclipse of the sun for scientific purposes in the West Indies and then out across the Pacific ocean to discover and chart new lands for Great Britain.
The ocean was named by Vasco Nunez Balboa who was the first European to see it, because it was flat calm he named it Pacific, however as we all know it can be anything but and play host occasionally to insane hurricane winds.

Photo's.
1, Archive photo of the replica HMB Endeavour.


2,3, Endeavour built here in Australia right down to the tiniest detail.
Beautiful.

1st photo. Credit card attack in broad daylight !
Photo taken by victim lying on the pavement after the attack, his wife was last seen going into shop ! Divorce may follow !


2nd photo. Wherever you've been in the world there's a Paddy bin before ya !

The Sugar Cane Harvester seen in posts #80 and 81 was built here in Thibodaux, Louisiana by John Deere, I worked there, selling these and other Ag machinery we built 1965-99. It is interesting to see one pop up in Trawler Forum.
Thanks!

Only joking !


Back to some serious stuff...


The other reason for visiting the Naval Museum was to visit a boat called 'Krait', 'Krait' meaning a dangerous species of snake, was originally built in Japan in 1934 as the 'Kofuku Maru' (meaning Happiness or Good Fortune) and was employed collecting fish from fishermen and from ports around the Rhio archipelago and supplying water and food in return.
Confined in port due to hostilities it was proposed the vessel be used for covert operations.
In an operation named 'Jaywick' in 1943 her finest hour came when, with a 14 strong company of British and Australian troops she set out on a daring raid on Singapore, getting to within 20 miles of Singapore she launched 3 folboats (folding canoes) each with 2 men on board. These folboats paddled into Singapore harbour and attached limpet mines to seven tankers and freighters totalling 37,000 tons and blew them up or severely damaged them before returning safely with no lives lost in the raiding party.
After the war she was sold to a British sawmill owner in Borneo, she was spotted some years later by some visiting Australians and fund was raised to bring her back to Sydney, she was brought back and then donated to the museum.

Sadly, when we asked to see here we we're told she's in dry-dock for another 9 months getting her planking and upper works brought back up to standard.
Unfortunately all I could find for you is an archive photo kindly supplied by the museum.

Just on the outskirts of Sydney is the famous Bondi beach, well known to surfers and sun worshippers.


What we, from the Northern hemisphere, found a bit strange is that the Australians are preparing to have Christmas in summer, we always associate Christmas with snow and dark winter days. Many Aussies have their Christmas celebrations on this beach, I envy them.
Today we visited a Phillipino Christmas festival with songs, dance and lots of happy families enjoying themselves in the sunshine.
It sure beats our cold dark winters.

As we come to the end of our Australian visit we thank Bruce K for the 'heads up' and give you some pho's of Sydney.

Sydney was first named Port Jackson by Captain James Cook and its first settlers arrived in 1788.

Photo's.
1, Sydney university building.

2,Signal box levers for the old railway goods line out of the old docks before it was all knocked down and refurbished.

3,Part of the old docks warehousing complex still remaining.

4, Wherever you go in Sydney you are never far from a building site as the city grows.

5, Chinatown is a good place for a meal.

6,7, Chinese Garden of Friendship, an oasis of calm in bustling Sydney.

8,Indigenous Didgeridoo player tapping tourists.

9,Much photographed Sydney harbour bridge.

10, Cruise liner 'Carnival Spirit moored for the day while it disgorges its passengers to visit Sydney. These ships arrive in port usually in the silent hours between 0200/0500 hrs and leave before 2300 hrs in the evening to keep harbour dues within the 24 hr charges to reduce cost, when cruising they cruise at maximum economical speed while the passengers are sleeping to reduce fuel costs.

Just a wee bit more for you to see.

Photo's,
1, 'Norwegian jewel' cruise ship, in for the day.

2, Crocodile 'Mick Dundee' 'living statue' tapping the tourists.

3,This flower boy was taking a ciggy break.

4, World famous Sydney opera house.
The design by Danish architect Jorn Utzon was the winner in a worldwide competition for the new opera house.

5, Manley beach has a protective net against sharks and jellyfish.

6, Self explanatory.

7,8, You just can't keep the Celts away ! This Scottish pipe band who wear the Military Gordon tartan kilt are playing to the public trying to raise money to fly the band and dancers over to Scotland to take part in the Edinburgh Military Tattoo in 2018.
If you would like to contribute/donate towards the costs of their visit contact info@mwpb.com.au. they will be very grateful for your help.

9, On the 11th hour of the 11th day in the 11th month was when the armistice was signed in the 1st world war and is enshrined as Remembrance day.
Lest we forget.

Our personal impressions of Australia ?
We're not fans of excessively noisy American trucks, neither do we like to see over regulation, the road haulage industry should try and present itself in a better light to the public by toning it down, we know that without trucks Australia stops but it can be done just as efficiently but quieter simply by retro-fitting silencers the truck were originally supplied with.

Its hard to understand why the Australian industry and family homes have to pay so much for electricity when they're sitting on the Southern hemisphere's largest coal and gas deposits.
To cover the countryside with (alternative energy)wind generators would destroy the natural beauty of Australia.

Artesian wells can cope with the needs of agri/horticulture.
However living on-board we're very aware that drinking (potable) water is a precious commodity.
With approximately 80% of Australia's population living around its coastline why are there water shortages when Solar powered desalination plants could easily solve the problem.

That said we absolutely love Australia, it's peoples humour and friendly helpfulness.
The Aussie 'Can Do' attitude has built, and continues to build, an amazing country and if you don't visit and see for yourself your missing out.
We like the fact that 'Globalisation' has only partly invaded Aussie life. Aussie businesses employ local people and put money back into the Australian local and national economy, not some obscure faceless group of shareholders in another part of the world.
You only have to look at KFC to see how Pepsi Cola's globalised corporate management can ruin a good product, always seeking to cut corners until they lose their speciality identity, and profits. Australian Red Rooster outlets sell better products, and cheaper.

Drivers in Australia are courteous. the trains in Sydney are clean, efficient and on-time as are the buses, again its the 'Can Do' attitude, everyone's helpful, all pulling on the one team.

The food is fantastic, superb seafood, beautiful meat and crisp fresh veggies.
The beer brilliant ! my favourite is Toohey's xxxx and James Squire's 150 lashes. most people out of Australia associate Australian beer with Fosters, I never saw anyone drinking it in Australia.
Wine, my favourite everyday tipple s McGuigans Black Label or Penfold.


A truly memorable visit and as Arnie says 'I'll be back !)

So glad you enjoyed your visit.
Your pic of Carnival Spirit was likely taken 5 November, when we disembarked after a short Pacific cruise for my partners birthday.
You have pics taken at Manly,and pics from the ferry terminal at Circular Quay,so I`m thinking you took the "slow" traditional ferry to Manly which gives a great view of the Harbour and crosses "The Heads" where the Harbour opens to the sea. Older Manly ferries(the current ones were built here) came from the UK, literally under their own steam. You might have seen the South Steyne at Darling Harbour, the finest of all Manly Ferries, built by Harland and Wolff.
Sydney has a desal plant, it was built about 8 years ago when the "experts" said the dams would never fill again. The dams have been full or near full ever since,the desal plant has never been required to contribute any water, it sits idle mothballed at a cost of $300M+ a year. It is "theoretically" renewable powered by convoluted political rationalizations.
We sell gas overseas at lower prices than we sell it to locals. Burning coal is regarded as antisocial. We have more energy sources, uranium included, than almost any country, yet pay heavily for electricity, so much that it is driving even more manufacturing offshore. For some, renewable non fossil fuel generation is the only way, but the sun don`t shine at night, the wind doesn`t always blow,and Tesla`s world`s biggest battery coming soon to one state, provides much less stored power than is needed, even for a small town.We have made a complete mess of our electricity supply system.

G'day Bruce,
Yes we were in Sydney on the 5th and took the slow Manly ferry. We'd been tramping round Sydney on shanks pony for a few days and wanted an easy day. I know the ferries were built in Harland and Wolff which is why I wanted to ride on one, our family company is based just outside Belfast and we transported all the oils, chemicals etc. in tankers for them.
Oh I know very well about the stupidity of the 'green' alternative energy.
Germany wants to close 10 coal fired power stations and replace them with ?
Desal plants are fine but they need to be sited where the shortages are, not thought to be.
I'm still working out how the FACTUALLY measure carbon, guesstimates don't impress me one iota.
On a happy note I'm sure you enjoyed the Norwegian Jewel, she's a fine ship.

Our trip to Australia comes to a close and we take to the air once more.
We've picked up a few tips on this flying malarkey, you know those horse shoe shaped neck pillows filled with foam, they look great with the velour covering, we're not keen on them plus they take up too much storage space in your luggage and if you carry them outside they are a PIA so we dumped ours in Singapore.
Why doesn't someone invent an inflatable type that can be stowed easily in your luggage ?
Did you know that once you've bought your flight and it's confirmed by the airline you can reserve your seat online with the airline, I didn't and spent two long haul flights near the baby bassinette !


Who's your favourite airline ?
Our LEAST favourite is Jetstar with poor food/service, it was like flying in a fridge.
Thanks for the cold guys, I won't be back.

Aloha and Welcome to Hawaii the 50th state of the USA.
Actually Hawaii is made up of 8 main islands with Hawaii being the largest one. We arrived in Oahu, which means 'The gathering place' at Honolulu airport for a special reason as you'll see later.
We're staying in Waikiki beach area, home to Sun, Sand, Surf & Shops.

Waikiki beach area is rated as one of the highest cost of living places in the US because everything has to be imported, our milk comes from Texas @6 dollars a pint.
Once you move out of Waikiki beach area the prices drop marginally. Because the island was caused by a volcanic eruption there's very little agricultural land and the only small fertile plain in the mountains is farmed by Dole, the company who produce tinned pineapples from this island as it's only export.


The 4 stringed instrument the Ukulele is thought to be from here but in fact is an adaptation of an early Portuguese instrument the machete brought here by immigrants around 1880. There are several thoughts on its naming but the Hawaiians like to tell you that it means UKU meaning flea or louse, and Lele as being jumping or leaping as the hands move so fast it looked like jumping fleas.

Further North on the main island of Hawaii Capt. Cook was killed on February the 14th in 1779 at Kealakua bay.
He was clubbed to death by the islanders and his body cut up in small pieces and shared amongst the warriors, his large bones given to the warrior chiefs and smaller to the warriors in the thought that they could inherit his strength and greatness.


Photo's.
1, 2, Self explanatory.


3, Monument in Kealakua bay on the main island of Hawaii.

Photo's.

1, 2, Waikiki beach, arguably the most famous beach in the World, even cruise ships visit.

3, Trolley buses cater for tourists.

4,You can see the volcanic mountainous background.

5, Much of the inland is like this.

6, Remember Jack Lord in Hawaii 5 0 ? it was filmed here in this building, and around Oahu.
Richard Chamberlain of 'Dr Kildare' fame is a resident of the island.

7, This tree has been preserved and a shopping centre built around it, these shops are way above my paygrade.
Versace, Gucci, Jimmy Choo, Sephora, Dolce & Gabbana etc., I do confess to own a Rolex as the epitome of engineering excellence.

8, We hired a car and toured the island to discover its lesser known side, there were wonderful beaches there also, apparently the planners wish to build more skyscraper hotels out there and the locals are naturally opposed to it.

9, Sunset over Waikiki beach.

10, The Hawaiian flag, when it's flown at half mast it means the Hawaiian state disagrees with the federal government in Washington.

We came here to see Pearl harbour to pay our respects.
To actually get on the memorial you would normally see a short archive film and then be ferried out on a small Navy ship. Sadly on the day we visited the wind was strong and it was considered too rough to transfer from the ship to the monument ramp.


However here are the photo's.

1, Pearl Harbour plan.

2, Japanese mission.

3,Archive film of US Warship.

4,The Pearl Harbour Memorial.

5, USN Submarine Bowfin, launched on the day of the Pearl harbour attack she went on to be the most successful submarine with a record of 44 'Japanese ships sunk'.

6,This is a one man Kamikaze submarine, captured in Pearl Harbour.

7,8. Self explanatory description of exhibits.

9, American military cemetery.

10,USS Missouri, She was damaged and repaired at Pearl Harbour and accepted the Japanese surrender on her decks.
The Japanese made a mistake during the attack of not destroying the dry docks, 4 other battleships were sunk and refloated, repaired in the dry docks and went on to serve with distinction until hostilities ended.

There are a lot of young Japanese holiday makers who come to Oahu, many young couples get married in Japan and then come to Hawaii for a Christian church wedding.
They have a tradition that after the wedding both bride and groom parade around the town all day in their full bridal costumes and although its not our tradition its lovely to see.

The Japanese young ladies do not normally expose their skin to sunbathe or swim, preferring to stay fully covered when bathing to keep their skin white. There is no religious connotations its simply that the Japanese girls tradition is to be lily white as it's considered attractive, (remember the Geisha girls).


And so from Oahu we say 'Mahalo' for joining us.

Irish Rambler said:

Our trip to Australia comes to a close and we take to the air once more.

Why doesn't someone invent an inflatable type that can be stowed easily in your luggage ?
Did you know that once you've bought your flight and it's confirmed by the airline you can reserve your seat online with the airline..
Who's your favourite airline ?
Our LEAST favourite is Jetstar with poor food/service, it was like flying in a fridge.
Thanks for the cold guys, I won't be back.

Click to expand...

Jetstar is the Qantas budget airline.Runs on entirely different cost structures, the pilots don`t get the big wage rates of Qantas. Irish overseen by MD Alan Joyce, who turned the whole enterprise from near closure to big profits, after once grounding the entire airline, wherever the planes were. I`m surprised Jetstar serves any food, without charge anyway. They fly to Hawaii so I guess that`s where you met up, probably using the early 787s which all went to Jetstar not Qantas. Pretty sure cabin temp depends on the cabin crew. The only other airline to Hawaii is Aloha, not great either.
There are inflatable neck supports, try airport stores. Some airlines charge for an allocated seat,more for extra legroom. Ah,the joys of longhaul air travel.

I know Bruce, Alan Joyce set out to do a 'Ryanair' overhaul but even Ryanair serve hot tea !
I don't mind paying good money for good service, cabin crew politely refused to raise the temps (they were in a warm galley scoffing pot noodles).
Yes we had a 787b which was a fine plane, except it was bloody freezing.
Couldn't find inflatable neck rests in any shop and we won't bother as we'll soon be back on the water, no future flying plans !

As we left from Honolulu we caught some pics you may like.


1,This is Honolulu port, along the seafront to the right of the photo is Waikiki beach resort.


2,This is the North Western shore showing mountainous interior.


3, Usual headrest info.

Do you remember Scott Mc Kenzie singing 'When you're going to San Francisco, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair' that was back when the hippie's held their chemically enhanced concerts here in San Francisco ?
There is still a very liberal approach here by the authorities to that enhancement today and in the poor areas of San Fran the human detritus of that enhancement can be see huddled in doorways, it's a sad fact and it's definitely not an area for tourists to visit at any time.
I was in the military practicing amphibious tank assaults across the river Weser in Germany at the time (see Windmills and Wine post, or buy the book on Amazon) and we soldiers all found that attitude really kinda weird, we enjoyed his music though.

From that you'll have gathered that the next stop for us is San Francisco.
The whole world must have seen photo's of the bridge but just in case there's a dummy at the back of the class.

Photo's.
1, The Golden Gate bridge should need no introduction.

2,In San Francisco bay lies the island of Alcatraz and to prevent any escapees during transit everything and everyone was transported to the island in locked train carriages. The train carriages were put onto the ferry down this very ramp. Some famous inmates of Alcatraz were 'Machine gun Kelly', Robert 'The Birdman of Alcatraz' and of course Al 'Scarface' Capone who apparently was an avid banjo player, just imagine 25 years locked up in a cell with a banjo player who you daren't tell shut the ..... up with your ..... banjo !


Now the visitors have to pay to get IN !

3,San Fran's famous cable cars. The cable car was introduced because originally they used trams which were pulled by 6 horses up and down the streets of San Fran's 49 hills.
On one occasion one of the horses tripped and the heavily laden tram car began to slide back down the hill dragging the unfortunate horses behind it, when it finally stopped the horses were so badly hurt they had to be put down.
A man called Allardyce was so horrified on hearing about this catastrophe he'd heard of cable cars being used in the silver mines further up country and was determined to seek an alternative solution.
Armed with the knowledge he gained from the mine's he set about designing a system and introducing it to the city streets that you can still see today. It costs 7 dollars each way on the cable car.
The cable runs continuously beneath the road in a special track, when the cable car wishes to move forward the brakeman man pulls a lever and the device below the cable car grips the cable which travels at 9 and a half mph. At each intersection there's a flat area in the centre, the cable car releases its grip on the cable and the car halts to take on passengers, to move off again the brakeman pushes the lever to grip the cable. Going downhill is the same and the cable cars own weight acts as a counter balance on the whole system.

San Francisco is like a coat of many colours as we look at it from a strangers point of view.
There's 'old' money from the railroad kings.
There is a strata of money from the builders and developers.
Of course where's there's money there's bankers.
Now there's 'new' money from the IT industry with Twitter, Google, Microsoft etc.
There's also money from the film industry and films like 'Dirty Harry', Sister Act, even parts of Titanic were all shot around the city.


Sorry guys, I've 'turned' them, 'locked' them still the photo's come out sideways.
Please bear with me on this.


Photo's.
1, Francis Ford Coppola's building, downstairs in the bar they serve wine from his nearby Napa valley estate. We didn't go to visit Napa valley as we live in Languedoc Roussillon, one of France's wine growing regions and it would be like taking snow to the Eskimo's.

2, I uploaded a photo of Alcatraz which didn't arrive, in the meantime you can pick out your suit !

3, This is a famous/infamous restaurant that's been going for years. It's actually very good but you won't be making love to your wife after an evening meal here, whew ! it's really strong, give it a go...I double dare you ! Garlics good for the heart, it'd better be because don't expect mouth to mouth if you have a heart attack after visiting here.

4,For us Europeans the ubiquitous yellow taxi's are cute.

5,From a technical logistics point of view Europe leads America in waste handling equipment. This truck takes far to large a footprint for it's effectiveness.

6, These dinky little things are cute but on the main highway I don't think they are the safest way to travel.

7, This is San Francisco's fine city hall. Rubber cushions were installed below all the piles at great expense to prevent collapse in case of an earthquake.
San Francisco lies besides the San Andreas fault where the eutectic plates can rub and cause earthquakes, one in about 1906/8 destroyed nearly half of the city.

8, Watch out, Mason's everywhere !

9,One of San Frans biggest industries is tourism, everybody eats and drinks but there are very few public toilets. A sad lacking in the city. Cafe's and restaurants don't encourage you to visit if your caught short in the street.

We spent a day in nearby Sausalito having pleasurable lunch in this seaside town while we had a break from San Francisco.
In times gone by this was also a very busy shipyard site with the cacophony of hammering rivets, now of course it's just the cry of the seagull and the genteel clattering of knives and forks on china. Clint Eastwood was a regular customer in the restaurants here as was Cher apparently.
Enough name dropping and back to the hustle and bustle of San Francisco in particular to the seaside wharf region, here visited the naval museum and saw the ship Jeremiah O'Brien.
The Jeremiah O'Brien is what is known as a 'Liberty' ship, built to a British design and used to transport goods to Britain during it's darkest hours of WW2, altogether 2,710 of these ships were built in the record time of 60 days per ship. The idea being that America would build them faster than the Germans 'U' boats could sink them.
If you read 'The Wolf's Lair' on Amazon by the author for details of Atlantic 'U' boat operations, it will give you an insight of how devastating their operations were.
The Jeremy O'Brien was named in tribute to an American a war correspondent, most of the people who worked on her were women who came from all walks of life to answer America's call for the war effort.
These ships were designed to last 70 years, Jeremy O'Brien is the last surviving ship and made the long haul to attend the 50th anniversary of the 'D' landings in Normandy.
These ships were built under the lease/lend programme for Great Britain and Great Britain has only recently finished paying for America's support during WW2.

Photo's.
1, Fisherman's Wharf, according to a respected source of information one man has been busking her for over 30 years and has been able to buy a 50' sailing boat and put his two sons through university from his earnings entertaining tourists.

2,Coastguard cutters over in Sausalito.

3,The 'Liberty' ship Jeremy O' Brien.

4,Destination Normandy !

5, The contra rotating propeller was invented by a foreman at the Royal Armaments factory in Enfield, great Britain.

Alcatraz, forgive the overkill but the weather was not co-operating for our attempt to take a photo.
To be truthful after the time we spent in Singapore, Australia and Honolulu near the equator the weather here was a shock to our system and were glad we brought along 'T' shirts, pullovers and warm coats.

Photo's.
1, Alcatraz in the mist.

2, And on a much clearer day.

3,The heavy movement of goods has been moved from the 39 piers in San Francisco and moved to nearby Oakland as you can see from the dockside container cranes.

4, Lying just behind Alcatraz is Angel Island, this was once the central immigration centre for the East coast of America.

5, The second largest group of migrants here in San Fran are the Chinese, this is the entrance gate to Chinatown, the large centre gate was originally built in the Chinese tradition for dignitaries to pass through, the two smaller ones either side for ordinary folk.

6, There is a French bakery here on Fishermen's wharf called Boudin which has been making sourdough bread since the late 1800's, it's close, but not quite the same as French bread, I had a feed of it and it gave me the skitter.

7.Heavily built ladies legs ! this photo was taken in the quarter of the city which is predominantly LGBT, I know all about intercoolers, common rail and TAMD but I'm just a simple W.A.S.P and find all this carry on a bit weird so I'll comment no more in case I get thrown off TF.

8, Street entertainer on Fisherman's wharf, he's really superb with his act with the metal hoops and kept the crowd enthralled, and a fellow sailor too.

9. For anyone dealing with the taxman man remember these three monkeys.