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Mt Pilatus Train Climb in the Swiss Alps
TRAIN YOURSELF TO CLIMB THIS MOUNTAIN David Ellis WHEN Swiss engineer Eduard Locher revealed he’d got the government’s OK to build a railway from the shores of Lake Lucerne to the summit of the 2200m high Mount Pilatus in the centre of the craggy Swiss Alps, folks decided that either the government was mad, […]
Back to Africa for Golden Anniversary
WILD IDEAS AFTER 50 YEARS MARRIED David Ellis AWAY back in the 1960s when my proposal of marriage to a young blonde and beautiful Gwenda Ross was, happily accepted, our wedding became more than an event, it evolved into a marvellous 50 year adventure. And it began in then somewhat wild and […]
Guy Fawkes gunpowder plot foiled thanks to tip-off
TIP-OFF A BLOW TO GUNPOWDER PLOTTERS David Ellis EVEN though its over 400 years since Guy (Guido) Fawkes and his mates tried to blow up England’s Parliament House in 1605, the Brits still celebrate what’s become known as Guy Fawkes Day (or Bonfire Night) every November 5 with great bonfires and letting off […]
Tasmania has the spirit
David Ellis WE’VE all heard rollicking yarns of illegal whisky makers and smugglers in Scotland’s days of yore, and of the government’s Excisemen, or “gaugers” as they were also known, who tracked down and closed these miscreant booze-makers before wide-spread distilling was finally legalised in the UK in 1823. And later of the […]
LIKED A DRINK – REED ALL ABOUT IT
David Ellis THERE are a couple of blokes gone down in history in Malta for enjoying a cold drink on a warm day – with its mostly warm days, Malta having every reason for a cold drink. And many a visitor to its capital Valletta, pays homage to both these men – to one in […]
The Cursed Hotel the never opened
David Ellis WITCH-DOCTORS and sorcerers have long cast their magic and spells over the islands of the South Pacific, but none with more devastating affect than Metua More in the Cook Islands in 1913, and her grandson More Rua 77 years on in 1990… Because many firmly believe their spells have been responsible […]
FITTING END FOR PACIFIC’S INFAMOUS ‘BULLY’ HAYES
David Ellis IT’S a mere 110 square k’s in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, has just six hotels and fewer restaurants, but it’s a scuba-divers and snorkelers Utopia, an unexpected goldmine for archaeology buffs – and has connections to the Pacific’s worst-ever rogue, buccaneer, swindler, confidence man and bigamist, the infamous ‘blackbirder’ William Henry […]
Tolmer’s Tale: Saving Adelaide from ruin
ALEXANDER TOLMER’s BOTTLER OF A TALE David Ellis STRANGE as it may sound, Adelaide as we know it today may well have never come about had it not been for the achievements in the 1850s of a resourceful Police Commissioner who not only saved the city from bankruptcy, but also the potential abandonment […]
Walk with the Lions of Africa
TAKING PRIDE IN A WALK WITH THE LIONS David Ellis TAKING the dog for a walk isn’t quite what it used to be: she’s had her hackles up ever since springing us showing friends a video of a walk we had with a cat. But try explaining to a highly-sensitive miniature poodle […]
Wild Bill Hickock, a Deadwood Calamity
DEATH OF WILD BILL, DEADWOOD’S CALAMITY David Ellis ONCE one of the shootin’est places in America’s West, Deadwood in the famed Black Hills of South Dakota has a population today of just 1,280, yet over 80 gambling casinos. And it’s got a cemetery whose 3,600 graves draw 100,000-something aficionados of the Wild West every year, […]
