Fortieth Anniversary. >> Back to Australia Aug 4th 1971

CHAPTER 47

Back to Australia

After much preparation, our house sold for more than we expected. We

said our good-byes to our relatives and hoped all would be well. On

Independence Day, 1971, we sailed from Southampton on .Brittannis,. a

22,000 tonne Greek liner. We had the option to fly out, but a thirty-one

day cruise seemed the best idea, especially since it would be a new

experience for the family.

The journey to Australia was great . good accommodation, food, and

entertainment. Rosemary.s 37Th birthday was on 5 July. Even after delivering

five healthy sons, she was still beautiful (and still is the love of my life.)

Our boys were well behaved on the ship. We met an ex-Navy man and

his wife and family with whom we are still in contact to this day. When

the ship called into the Canary Isles, we all went ashore and nearly lost

Christopher, who decided to go sightseeing on his own. The next stop

was in Dakar, West Africa, where a very sick person was taken ashore by

the ship.s crew.

The ship arrived in Capetown on a Saturday night. It was late, so we

decided that the following morning we would go to Table Mountain. We

were off the ship by seven o.clock am. At nine o.clock, we had arrived by

cable car at the top of Table Mountain . 3,549 ft or about 1,100 metres

high. Getting on the cable car at the bottom was okay, but when getting

off, that gap which was moving at the top was scary. After our descent,

we fed the pigeons in the park and walked back to the ship. My family

walked on the .white. side of the sidewalk while I walked on the

.coloured. side of the sidewalk. On passing a white springbok copper, I

called out .jambo bwana. (happy meeting you) in Swahili. He replied

with a two-finger salute. We arrived back at the ship for lunch and were

off to Australia with the ship in a stern sea most of the way.

On 16 July 1971, I turned 45.

Australia

Our arrival in Fremantle, Western Australia on 23 July 1971, was

uneventful, apart from quietly going through customs and smelling our

way to the local fish and chip shop surrounded by homesick Poms. We

Back to Australia

208 . Waving Goodbye to a Thousand Flies

were in the serving line when a person approached me and said, .Lend

me ten bob, sport.. I turned to Rosemary and the boys and said, .We have


arrived , and to my new Australian acquaintance " Go and get Stuffed".

 My family informed me that I was a very rude daddy.

Our next port of call, Port Adelaide, was not at all awe-inspiring; we

stayed only a few hours. The ship then called into Melbourne and

unloaded a large number of Greek and Maltese immigrants. We travelled

to the city on a dilapidated dockside tram that had been delightfully

adorned with many rude four-letter words and other startling

pornographic pictorial statements. We then trudged the streets. It was

different from what I remembered. After finding the fairground at Luna

Park closed for the winter, we went back to the ship for Timothy.s fourth

birthday party.

Sydney, To be Continued soon. ....Vest.