Introduction

This Website is a personal, and mainly pictorial, record of a round the world trip by air, land & sea made by the author in late 1975 and early 1976. Departing from London Gatwick in late November and arriving back at London Heathrow in mid February, some 84 days later.

The first leg of the journey was by air with British Caledonian Airways on a Boeing 707 flying from London to Singapore with a refuelling stop at Karachi in Pakistan. After a brief ovenight stop the next leg was by sea on a Russian Cruise Liner (MV Kharborovsk) from Singapore to Fremantle, Western Australia, crossing the Equator in the process. This voyage took six days and fortunately the weather remained fairly good during that time.

Following a few days of rest & relaxation in Perth the third leg commenced, by Greyhound bus

heading East over the Nulabor Plain to finally reach Adelaide in South Australia after three days. Having booked into a backpackers hostel the opportunity was taken to explore the Garden City of Adelaide with visits being made to Glenelg ( a local seaside town), Mile End Railway Museum and Penfolds Winery as well as taking a boat trip on the Torrent River and making a visit to Adelaid Zoo.

The next leg of the journey was again by Greyhound Bus from Adelaide in South Australia to Melbourne in Victoria. Melbourne was a much bigger City than Adelaide and had an extensive

Tram System which made exploring very simple. Visits were made to  the Old Mining Towns of Balarrat and Bendigo, and to the seaside at  St. Kilda making use of Victorian Railways. The Railway Museum at North Wiilamstown was also visited plus a visit to the world famous Puffing Billy Railway at Menzies Creek.

The final Greyhound Bus journey was from Melbourne, Victoria to Sydney in New South Wales

with a brief stop in the Capital City of Australia, Canberra. Sydney proved to be an eye opener

with many attractions to visit including the famous Opera House, Circular Quay and of course the Harbour Bridge. There was an intensive ferry service to many points of interest including Taronga Zoo and Manly Beach (both visited).

Whilst in Sydney a return journey to Auckland, New Zealand was undertaken (via Air New Zealand DC10) to visit family relations who had emigrated some twenty years earlier and settled in Titirangi, a suberb of Auckland. This journey occured just before Chrismas 1975 and after the festive celebrations a visit was made to Western Springs Transport Museum (just South of Auckland City) followed by a return trip to Wellington, Capital City of New Zealand this time by family car. On the return leg Napier. Lake Taupo & Rotorua (with its Mouri Village, thermal springs, gysers & mud pools) were visited.

In early January the return journey to Sydney was made followed by a visit to the newly established Railway Museum at Thirlmere some distance inland from Sydney. Next came another trip 500 miles up the coast to Brisbane, Capital City of Queensland. After booking into another Backpackers Hostel for a few days visits were made to both Surfers Paradise and to the Sunshine Coast. A trip was also made to the Railway Museum at Redbank, a few miles inland from Brisbane. On the return journey from Brisbane to Sydney visits were made to the

Coal Mining Railway Systems at Hexham & Maitland, both in New South Wales and then still operating with steam locomotives.

In late January the next leg the world Tour started with a Quantas Airways flight (B747) from Sydney to Honolulu in Hawaii, USA with a refuelling stop in Fiji. Upon arrival, a hotel was booked at Waikiki Beach for a brief stopover followed by a quick visit to the famous beach and Honolulu Zoo. A day later the journey was resumed with a Pan Am flight (B747) from Honolulu to Los Angeles. Following a short journey on the airport shuttle bus and then taxi an overnight stay was arranged in a downtown Motel.

The following day saw the start of twenty one days of travel by train around America using an Amtrack Travel Pass which hade been purchased in advance. The first journey was from Los Angeles to San Francisco and then, after spending the day seeing the many sights, the journey continued up the coast as far as Portland, Oregon before returning to Oakland, California and turning inland to Denver, Colorado crossing the Rocky Mountains in the process. 

The next journey continued  in an Easterly diection as far as Chicago, Illinois before heading South to Jacksonville, Florida via Richmond, Virginia. From Jacksonville the journey contimued in a Northerley direction back to Chicargo with a return trip to Milwaukee, Wisconsin before heading South again to New Orleans,  Louisiana. A rapid change of trains here enabled the journey to continue West again on the 'Sunset Limited' bound for Los Angeles via El Paso, Texas. Upon arrival, a short return trip to San Diego on the border with Mexico was undertaken.

The final major journey in the USA was from Los Angeles to New York via Flagstaff, Arizona and Kansas City, Kansas. Upon arrival at New York visits to both Boston, Massechusets and Washington, D. C. were undertaken before boarding a British Airways B747 bound for London.

Link to Section 1 - London to Singapore