01-01 The Gals 1954
“You are introduced to 18 gals your own age who want to party, and you show them a photo of your girlfriend. You’ve got to be crazy.” These were the words of my 17-year old brother speaking with disgust to me in Amsterdam, 1954 after meeting all the people who were on our two-week Cook’s…
01-02 Melbourne 1980
Can you imagine sitting on the knees of the Ministry of Industry from Manitoba for half an hour and then the two of us reversing positions. One of two buses had broken down as delegates to the 7th International Symposium on Small Business held in Melbourne in 1980 were off to see the Fairy Penguins…
01-03 Wellington 1994
“The nation’s finances were in such disorder that we instructed our diplomatic posts abroad to pay government expenses using their personal credit cards.” These were the comments of the former Prime Minister of New Zealand, David Lange, during an interview in October 1994 in Wellington.I was headed to the capital city after the 21st International…
01-04 Tasmania 2008
“Welcome to Tassie, our name for Tasmania. Most of you will not know much about our State, but most of you will remember the famous actor from Tasmania, Errol Flynn.”It was a clever introduction from our guide as we prepared for a full day tour of the island state of Australia. Our cruise had stopped…
02-01 Climate Change
When you see steam and hot water spouting out of the earth, you know there is a partial solution to climate change deep underground. The photo is from an area near Roturua, in Northern New Zealand. It was a stop during a tour in 2008.It is called geothermal energy and is one of the many…
02-02 Economics
Who is your best buddy? China or the US. Sound childish? Of course. But in simple terms the short and long-term relationship between the US and China is the hot issue for both New Zealand and Australia. They do not want to have to choose.The problem is that China, as a quasi dictatorship, does not…
02-03 Populations
A New Zealand First Party that wants to stop the “Asian invasion”? Sounds like Donald Trump’s “America First” Republican Party worrying about the “Mexican invasion”. Those of us living in Canada can learn much about population issues by studying the US, Australia and New Zealand. We all have white European-based populations that are not having…
02-04 Geopolitics
Love Aussie movies, and Gallipoli is one of my favourites. It came out in 1981 and is about Australian armed forces fighting in Gallipoli, Turkey in WW1. But the strategic question is why young men from Australia had to give their lives to fight in a foreign war. Do they really love Brits that much…