Category: Egypt

Australian families and towns will be forever connected to a dusty, sunburnt place far away on the other side of the world.

The wind was gusting over 20 knots, and the dive boat lurched in the choppy seas. Geared-up and ready, I have to admit I was feeling nervous. It didn’t seem all that long ago that I had done my first scuba dive, and now I was waiting to descend to the bottom of the Gulf…

Merchant seaman are arguably the forgotten heroes of World War II. Sailing the unarmed, or lightly armed, cargo ships that delivered troops and vital supplies was a dangerous game.

Somewhere along the railway line, west of El Alamein, Egypt, stands an unremarkable, low concrete building. It was the scene of an extraordinary occurrence in 1942, when compassion and humanity prevailed over war’s chaos and carnage.

I had spent an enjoyable, but ultimately disappointing, couple of days searching the area west of El Alamein for the Blockhouse. I was still keen to find this surviving landmark from the final battle at El Alamein, but I was running out of ideas.