Wednesday, January 10, 2007
A reminder of times past – part 4
Meanwhile back at the travel reminiscing…
The period from March to July 1971 was spent in Johannesburg, working to refill the financial coffers in preparation for the next leg of the trip around Australia
It was shortly after arriving at a campsite in Joburg that we met a group of lads from Surrey in England who had driven a Land rover, from England, across the Sahara, and down to South Africa. Graham was to buy their Land rover, for use on the trip around Oz, and two of the members of the group, Peter Ide and Lou Winwood were to join the trip.
For our stay in Joburg we rented a couple of flats in the suburb of Hillbrow. We all found some sort of employment. I managed to get a job working on the construction of the Hillbrow Microwave Tower, which was just ten minutes walk from our flat.
Our stay in Joburg was greatly assisted by Bernie Fisher, a local resident and friend of Graham’s, who, besides providing accommodation when we first arrived, lead us around all the best (and some fairly average) drinking establishments of Hillbrow. I wonder.....has the Chelsea Hotel survived the past 35 years?
Following Peter and Carole’s engagement and departure for Australia, while in Joburg, another member of the group, Noel, became engaged to Malcolm, a friend of Bernie’s.
On July 10, 1971 John, Sandy, Jean, Marg and myself, together with luggage and camping equipment, squeezed into a rented Ford Escort and headed out of Joburg to Lourenzo Marques (now known as Maputo) in Mozambique. After the claustrophobia of living in a big city for three months, it was exhilarating to be back on the road.
After a few days in Mozambique we headed for Swaziland, and then took a slow drive down the coast, intending to meet up with the rest of the group, who had gone in various directions, in Durban. Well…everyone turned up….except the ship, which was to take us to Australia. It was running 9 days late.
We were accommodated in Durban by Bernie’s brother Red, and sister-in-law Kay, as well as their neighbours Don and Lill (a couple of ex-poms) for a few days before deciding to fill in the time until the ship arrived by driving down to the the small coastal town of Port St John. Here we spent the best part of a week, propping up the local bar between periods of “drowning worms” in the sea.
The Lloyd Triestino ship “Guglielmo Marconi” eventually docked in Durban some ten days late and on July 30 we farewelled Africa and, looked forward to arriving at our next destination – Fremantle, Western Australia.
The period from March to July 1971 was spent in Johannesburg, working to refill the financial coffers in preparation for the next leg of the trip around Australia
It was shortly after arriving at a campsite in Joburg that we met a group of lads from Surrey in England who had driven a Land rover, from England, across the Sahara, and down to South Africa. Graham was to buy their Land rover, for use on the trip around Oz, and two of the members of the group, Peter Ide and Lou Winwood were to join the trip.
For our stay in Joburg we rented a couple of flats in the suburb of Hillbrow. We all found some sort of employment. I managed to get a job working on the construction of the Hillbrow Microwave Tower, which was just ten minutes walk from our flat.
Our stay in Joburg was greatly assisted by Bernie Fisher, a local resident and friend of Graham’s, who, besides providing accommodation when we first arrived, lead us around all the best (and some fairly average) drinking establishments of Hillbrow. I wonder.....has the Chelsea Hotel survived the past 35 years?
Following Peter and Carole’s engagement and departure for Australia, while in Joburg, another member of the group, Noel, became engaged to Malcolm, a friend of Bernie’s.
On July 10, 1971 John, Sandy, Jean, Marg and myself, together with luggage and camping equipment, squeezed into a rented Ford Escort and headed out of Joburg to Lourenzo Marques (now known as Maputo) in Mozambique. After the claustrophobia of living in a big city for three months, it was exhilarating to be back on the road.
After a few days in Mozambique we headed for Swaziland, and then took a slow drive down the coast, intending to meet up with the rest of the group, who had gone in various directions, in Durban. Well…everyone turned up….except the ship, which was to take us to Australia. It was running 9 days late.
We were accommodated in Durban by Bernie’s brother Red, and sister-in-law Kay, as well as their neighbours Don and Lill (a couple of ex-poms) for a few days before deciding to fill in the time until the ship arrived by driving down to the the small coastal town of Port St John. Here we spent the best part of a week, propping up the local bar between periods of “drowning worms” in the sea.
The Lloyd Triestino ship “Guglielmo Marconi” eventually docked in Durban some ten days late and on July 30 we farewelled Africa and, looked forward to arriving at our next destination – Fremantle, Western Australia.
# posted by Brutus : 11:58 AM
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How technology has advanced! You say you worked in that huge construction called the Hillbrow Microwave Tower, now a microwave can fit on a small shelf in a household domestic kitchen!!!
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# posted by 
: 9:21 PM
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