Welcome from David and Lyn.

The format of our site is in three parts:

1. Blog server - our day-to-day travel blogs (this website)
2. Photo server - some of our key photos
3. YouTube channel - our videos (many linked directly from our blogs)

The site includes hundreds of searchable travel blogs. Some of our longer trips are listed below. 

General travel

• Bridge cams - Princess
• Bridge cams - P&O
• Unofficial Travel Awards
• Equator Crossings
• International Date Line

About

• David
• The thalassophile (lover of the sea)
• The presenter
• The photographer
• The vexillophile (flags)
• The musician - Uke resources
• Lyn
• Countries visited: #1 to #25 | #26 to #50 | #51 to #75 | #76 to #100 | #101+
• Summary of cruises - Pre COVID-19 / Post COVID-19 

Thank you for visiting our website.

Best regards

David and Lyn
e-mail: brizzy@outlook.com.au

Cruise countdown

2025 World Cruise Blog Starting Page

2024 World Cruise Blog Starting Page

Links to major adventures
2020 – Indian Ocean & South Africa Odyssey + Southern Australia Explorer Blog - Jan 2020 to Mar 2020 Photos
2019 - Hawaii, Tahiti and South Pacific cruise on the Sea Princess
Blog - Aug 2019 to Oct 2019 Photos
2018 - World Cruise on the Sea Princess
Blog - Jun 2018 to Sept 2018
Photos Segment #1: Brisbane to Dubai - 19 Days Segment #2: Dubai to London - 30 Days Segment #3: London to New York - 20 Days Segment #4: New York to Brisbane - 37 Days
2017 - Cherry Blossom cruise (a.k.a. China - Japan cruise)
Blog - March 2017 to April 2017 Photos
2016 - World Cruise on the Sea Princess
Blog - May 2016 to Aug 2016
Photos Segment #1: Sydney to Dubai – 20 Days Segment #2: Dubai to London – 35 Days Segment #3: London to New York – 11 Days Segment #4: New York to Sydney – 38 Days Home Leg: Sydney to Brisbane – 2 Days
2015 - Hawaii, Tahiti and South Pacific cruise on the Sun Princess
Blog - Jul. 2015 to Aug. 2015 Photos
2014 - South East Asia on the MV Voyager
Blog - Feb. 2014 to Mar. 2014
Photos Leg #1 Treasures of Asia Leg #2 Colours of the Indian Ocean
2012 - Caribbean cruise on the MV Voyager
Blog (by Lyn) - Nov 2012 to Jan 2013
Photos (by David and Lyn) Leg #1 Voyage to the Caribbean Leg #2 Caribbean Gems Leg #3 A Tapestry of Central America
2011 – Far East cruise on the MV Discovery
Blog (by David) - Dec 2011 to Feb 2012
Photos (by David) Leg #1 Treasures of the Orient and Vietnam Leg #2 Empires of the Sun Leg #3 South East Asia and Australia
2010 - Caribbean cruise on the MV Discovery
Blog (by David) - Nov 2010 to Jan 2011
Photos (by David)  Leg #1 Discovery of the New World Leg #2 Colonial Trails of the Caribbean Leg #3 Tales of the Old Spanish Main
2009 - Grand Voyage of Discovery from Mumbai (India) to London on the MV Discovery
Blog (by David) - Mar 2009 to May 2009
Photos (by David) Leg #1 India and The Persian Gulf Leg #2 Red Sea and Eastern Mediterranean Leg #3 Black Sea, Turkey and Greek Isles Leg #4 European - mainly the Mediterranean

Day 18 - Charters Towers to Townsville
Friday, 08 September 2023

A few of us ventured into the Charter Towers centre to get pies (the pie truck out front still didn’t have any). The breakfast pie of egg, ham and tomato hit the spot.

The final ride was a short 130 km from Charters Towers to Lavarack Barracks in Townsville. The first leg was 93km stopping at Donnington Airpark in Woodstock (population 239) for morning tea. The Airpark is a Townsville satellite airfield for sport, recreational and general aviation. 

Lavarack Barracks is currently home to the Army's 3rd Brigade and 11th Brigade. The barracks are named after Lieutenant General Sir John Lavarack, an Australian Army officer during both World Wars and Governor of Queensland from 1946 to 1957.

After unpacking at Lavarack Barracks, four of us rode into Townsville to have a look at The Strand, have a swim at The Rockpool and look at the views from Castle Hill. Dinner was at the Townsville RSL.

Townsville (population 180,820) is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland. It is the largest settlement in North Queensland and is unofficially considered its capital. The city lies approximately 1,350 km north of Brisbane, and 350 km south of Cairns. It lies on the shores of Cleveland Bay, protected to some degree from the predominantly south-east weather. 

Day 19 - Townsville
Saturday, 09 September 2023

A small group of six rode into the Townsville centre for another visit to The Strand and stopping for morning tea, a look at Kissing Point Fort and lunch. A very relaxed day after a few very busy weeks.

For something different, having an Indian curry for dinner was a wonderful change. I’m not sure I could face any more sausages!

Day 20 - Townsville
Sunday, 10 September 2023

This morning we delivered the scooters to NQ Freighters who are transporting the bikes back to Brisbane for free. The scooter I rode today had travelled 2,969km since leaving Brisbane almost three weeks ago. I would say I have travelled at least half of that.

The RAAF Association put on a sausage sizzle (of course - more sausages - funny) for lunch at the public parks of Jezzine Barracks for the few who were left. Our final reception; I guess that means it’s officially over!

Dinner at the Officer’s Mess was a little swanky.

The final figure raised for Legacy was $30,204. As amazing effort for just our second year.

It has been an amazing three weeks, riding very small (110cc) scooters around some very remote areas of Queensland. It's been special meeting old friends and making many news ones. I'm sure there will be get-togethers in the near future. Of course, talk of Scootaville 2024 has begun...

Day 21 & 22 - Townsville to Rockhampton to Brisbane
11-12 September 2023

Just a slow two days on the bus back to Brisbane stopping at The Criterion in Rockhampton for the night… 

On the way to Rocky we stopped in Ayr for morning tea at Patti’s sisters home - a surprise organised by Patti. Hospitality plus, with tea, coffee and homemade nibbles. 

Patti has been our bus driver for most of the trip and drove us back to Brisbane. Alan has also been helping with the driving. A big thank you for their efforts and safe driving.

Photos from past five days / Slideshow:

Reference:

• Townsville blog from Scootaville 2022: 16-18 September 2022

Day 17 | 2023 Scootaville | The End

Day 16 - Hughenden to Charters Towers
Wednesday, 06 September 2023

I grabbed a pastie during our first stop at the Hughenden Bakery - very nice.

A much longer day planned travelling east for 249 km from Hughenden to Charters Towers (pop. 8,120). Our stops along the way included Torrens Creek (pop. 70) for smoko, Pentland (pop. 306) for a BBQ lunch at the 28 student State School, then it was my turn to ride the scooter for the final leg to Charters Towers.

We are spending two nights in Charters Towers at the Goldfields Sporting Complex. A ghost tour of the city organised by Ken (who was on last year’s Scootaville) followed by dinner at the local pub.

Charters Towers (pop. 8,120) is located 136 km by road south-west from Townsville on the Flinders Highway. During the last quarter of the 19th century the town boomed as the rich gold deposits under the city were developed. After becoming uneconomic in the 20th century, profitable mining operations have commenced once again.

The Charters Towers gold field produced over 200 tonnes of gold from 1871 to 1917. The gold is concentrated into veins and was Australia's richest major field with an average grade of 34 grams per tonne. The grade was almost double that of Victorian mines and almost 75% higher than the grades of Western Australian (Kalgoorlie) gold fields of that time.

During World War II, Charters Towers was the location of RAAF No.9 Inland Aircraft Fuel Depot (IAFD), completed in 1942 and closed on 29 August 1944.

Day 17 - Charters Towers
Thursday, 07 September 2023

A popular local pie van was parked out the front of the complex. It got Trev excited, but unfortunately they have no pies today ... maybe tomorrow!

A daytime tour of Charters Towers included:

1. Goldtower Central / Poppet Head Plaza and Park - various fine mosaics on the walls. Each mural has over 700,000 meticulously handmade 10mm square tiles inspired by the gold rush era.
2. US Army Air Corps Sight Ranger - used in WWII to align aeroplane gun sights.
3. Weir Water Park - the weir is where the Charters Towers water comes from. The 1991 flood was over 12m.
4. A walk down Gill Street - the main street in Charters Towers with all its beautiful architecture from the gold rush era.

Dinner and reception at the Charters Towers Civic Club where we even had a visit from the real Elvis (aka Mark) for our amusement.

Photos from past two days / Slideshow:

Reference:

• Charters Towers blog from Scootaville 2022: 14-15 September 2022

Day 15 | 2023 Scootaville | Day 18

Day 15 - Richmond to Hughenden
Tuesday, 05 September 2023

We decided to visit the fossicking site 13km north of Richmond. Four of us were riding around the site and a couple of emus ran between us - it gets the heart racing.

People only need a simple permit to look for these 100 million year old (plus/minus 1%) fossils. Big finds have to be reported and if they are lucky, it might be named after them. They can keep the smaller fossils - like the small vertebrae I was given last night. The Canadian couple who spoke to us last night showed us one of the big finds (see photo).

Then back into Richmond. We had to make sure the road to Hughenden was open after two major incidents the day before. The first was a fire on a road-train near Richmond; other was a fatality near Hughenden. The road-train was still blocking the road and we had to take the couple of kilometre detour they created (the grader has been very busy).

It is our shortest day for the trip as we only traveled 115km from Richmond to Hughenden. The only town being Marathon (maybe one house) where we had a break and swapped riders.

Tonight's accomodation was the Hughenden Showground. We stayed here on Scootaville 2022.

Hughenden (population 1,136) is a rural town situated on the banks of the Flinders River and located in the Flinders Shire of Queensland. It is located on the Flinders Highway, 376 km west of Townsville and 1,497 km north-west of Brisbane.

A visit to he Hughenden Discovery Centre to see a replica of the Muttaburrasaurus, a dinosaur, whose bones were discovered in 1963 near Muttaburra (220 km by road from Hughenden). Some teeth and other bones were also discovered around Hughenden.

A short nap before we head to the pub for a lovely roast beef dinner.

Photos from today / Slideshow:

Reference:

• Hughenden blog from Scootaville 2022: 13 September 2022

Day 14 | 2023 Scootaville | Day 16

Day 14 - Cloncurry to Richmond
Monday, 04 September 2023

Today we traveled from Cloncurry to Richmond, a distance of 285km. Not much to see out here with only a couple of towns / localities, Julia Creek (pop. 511) and Maxwelton (pop. 22). 

We stopped at the Julia Creek State School to visit the children, hand out bags of goodies, and share the Legacy story.

The next major stop was Maxwelton for a light drink before the final leg to Richmond.

We spent the night in the Richmond Council Hall. With only toilets and no showers, a few of us decided to go for a swim in the local council pool. It was on the fresh side which made the cool shower feel warm. The lady running the pool introduced us to Marley the talking cockatoo.

The council invited us to the Kronosaurus Korner (fossil museum) for a lovely dinner and tour of the facility. It is very impressive display and I would highly recommend a visit if passing through the town.

Richmond is a rural town 498km west of Townsville and 406km east of Mount Isa. Traditionally, the two biggest industries in Richmond are sheep- and cattle-farming, however tourism is an increasingly important aspect of the local economy. In addition to being a major transit stop on the Flinders Highway, recent paleontological discoveries have unearthed the fossils of prehistoric marine creatures, some of which are on display in Richmond.

Photos from today / Slideshow:

Day 13 | 2023 Scootaville | Day 15