A NEW LIFE

 

One morning in February 1981 something snapped in my mind and I realised I could remember very little of the previous 3½ years.     I gradually recalled the events of September 1977.     On another visit from the Managing Director in September he received a strange phone call which he didn’t relay to me but said he had to return to Sydney immediately.   I was to contact the other State Managers and tell them to be in his office in two days time.    The news we received was that the owner had sold the business and we would become redundant in a few weeks time.     This had resulted in my going into a deep depression including a loss of memory.    I am sure the reason was the shock of finding the Managing Director had secured a position with the Owner as his financial Manager but had made no attempt to help his Management staff.     Coupled with that was a lack of understanding by my wife.  I found she had continued to live at the same standard despite no income coming in.    It meant savings had been spent and we were now relying on the dole as I had been incapable of working.

 

Irma had left home so there was now no reason for me to stay.    I put the property up for sale which was not completed until late 1982.     We went our separate ways and I bought a unit in Mornington on the Peninsular.    I had a feeling I was not going to live very long and was desperate to see my home town.    I left on the SS Canberra in late Feb 1983 and returned in June.   Apart from seeing relatives in Liverpool a meeting with a lady on board led to an interesting time in Europe and the South of England.

 

    A PHOTO SLIDE OF THE TRIP IS ON THIS SITE   http://s197.photobucket.com/albums/aa304/autobio/?action=view&current=Europe1983.flv

 

I switched my flight back from Melbourne to Brisbane so I could escort the lady to her home.    Her married daughter met us at the Airport and invited me to stay which I did for 3 months after which I made frequent trips from Melbourne for the next 18 months.      We then planned a trip to Hong Kong by air returning on the SS Oriana via Manila and Rabaul.   Whilst in Hong Kong we took a trip into China via Macau which was interesting.

   

                  CLICK ON PHOTOS TO ENLARGE

The next 18 months were rather depressing.    My wife had taken all the furniture so I had the expense of completely furnishing my unit.     The cost of extensive travel had been heavy and in between I had done a lot of renovating.    I was living comfortably enough but funds were low making further travel impossible.    In mid 1985 I was idly looking at a yachting magazine whilst buying a newspaper.   The thought struck me that living on a yacht would give me accommodation and enable me to travel.    Never having been on one I took a few hours instruction at Western Port Bay then hired one on the Gippsland Lakes for a week.    Followed that crewing on a yacht as far as Coffs Harbour.    The skipper taught me nothing but I learnt quite a bit by observation.   I was convinced it was the life for me.      It was not until December 1986 that I was able to sell the unit and just about everything except my clothes.      After visiting my daughter in Port Augusta I set off for the Gold Coast.     I had investigated prices and found Queensland was the best place to buy.

 

I arrived in Southport January 1987 with a good idea of the type of yacht that would suit me from reading magazines but it took me until March before I found the ideal one.   I actually signed a cheque on my 66^th birthday.     I was ready to cruise in May after fitting the yacht out with items I deemed necessary and alterations made to suit sailing single handed.           

My ambition was to sail to the Whitsundays which, from my reading, appeared to be the Mecca for cruising Yachtsmen.      A 750 nautical mile trip would test me.    The one thing I was confident of was my ability to navigate.      I had learnt much during the brief period I was on a pilots course in the RAF and I had taught map reading when I was an Intructor in the Grenadier Guards.     Handling the yacht out at sea was something I had to learn.

 Something of my sailing years can be

           seen on the next page 

 

          Another change of Lifestyle

 Late 1997 I left Southport to head to the Whitsundays once more.    Near Peel Island in Morton Bay I had a strange dizzy spell that worried me enough to decide to stop at Wynnum Manly to have a medical check.    After berthing in a Marina I found it extremely difficult to walk.    A doctor informed me that I needed a scan to diagnose the problem.   The result meant a visit to a specialist who told me I needed a parathyroid operation.

 

It was obvious that I could no longer continue to sail and I reluctantly sold the yacht.     Some friends who had been touring Australia by campervan had told me they considered the lifestyle was not unlike cruising by boat.      As a result I bought a campervan.   My memory is vague about the sequence of events up to the end of 1999 but I gave up the idea of touring Australia in the campervan.     I decided to settle in Bowen where I hoped to rent a cottage from the RSL.    

 I made a 10,000 Km trip seeing my daughter in Port Augusta, attended a Brigade of Guards reunion on the Murray Princess travelling on the River Murray visiting Melbourne and  a number of friends on the  East Coast.       The thyroid operation took place in Brisbane with the surgeon taking out the whole thyroid because he couldn’t find the faulty parathyroid.   I was discharged from the hospital on the 23^rd Dec and spent 5 days in the van unable to speak and living on what canned food I had in the van.    I had been told to take it easy for a month but after a week I drove the 1200 km to Bowen.   

The RSL cottage hadn’t eventuated but I rented a cottage in the Rotary Club village.   It was comfortable enough and I bought a computer.   I could find nobody to teach me so taught myself.   A visit to Melbourne the day my great grandson was born was part of a period that is somewhat vague in my mind.