AUSTRALIA, 1975: 4 Melbourne, Brisbane and Mackay

In Sydney I’d stayed with Hampo, who was an old schoolfriend of my aunt (‘Hampo’ being her school nickname). She’d helped my mother look after me and my four siblings one summer when we were young and we’d all fallen for her. She’d emigrated to Australia and lived there with her husband Charles and their three young children.

    I’d rung them from the airport in the middle of the night without any warning. I had intended to meet a cousin in Melbourne but, after what felt like days sitting in an aeroplane and in Bangkok airport while the plane refuelled, I couldn’t face any more travel. They came straight out to fetch me, showing no signs of surprise at my sudden appearance.

    Hampo, the children and I spent the day at a beach. A city with a beach! How wonderful.

    ‘The beaches are netted’, said Hampo, ‘to keep out the sharks.’

    A city with sharks!

 

Sydney, a city with beaches (and sharks)

On their verandah Hampo and Charles had a whole fridge devoted to wine. We drank Australian wine from a box with a tap on it, not something I'd ever seen before, but how practical. 
    That evening after supper, Charles unrolled a map of Australia on the dining-room table and tapped the top right-hand corner with his finger.
    ‘The Great Barrier Reef,’ he said. ‘That’s where you want to go.’
    He was encouraging me. He acted as if the urge to explore was perfectly normal. I wasn’t mad after all, in spite of what everyone had said back home.
    I loved this country already.
 
I sounded Helen out and to my astonishment she agreed to come with me. I’d often asked her to come out walking but she’d always groaned and turned away. Perhaps she was recovering too.
    We caught a train that was to travel anti-clockwise round the coast of the continent for several days all the way to Queensland, a place that was spoken of in hushed tones. I wasn’t quite sure why. All that  people would say was, ‘It’s different.’ How could things be any more different? I couldn’t wait.
 
First stop Melbourne, where we stayed with a friend of Darryll’s who was a chef. He cooked us a vat of crispy mixed vegetables drizzled with a strong black sauce. I’d never tasted anything so delicious. Back home we boiled our vegetables till they’d lost most of their colour, texture and taste. This dish was of course stir-fried vegetables with soya sauce, the result of Australia’s proximity to Asia, but something that would take several more decades to reach mainstream UK.
    He shared his flat with a Japanese man who said that I reminded him of Japanese women. He reminded me of English men – polite, reserved – except that he taught me that silence with other people was a compliment not an embarrassment as it was to the English.
    I didn’t like Melbourne. It was too cold, too European, too city-like.
 
We travelled on, spending our nights on the floor of the carriage, rolling into other people as the train went round corners and, after a brief stop in Sydney with some other friends of friends, arrived in Brisbane where we were to drop in on an aunt of Helen’s.
    We climbed broad wooden steps to her little wooden house painted white, hidden in streets of similar little wooden houses. Inside was an exact replica of a suburban British house. Neat and spotless, Lace mats and dainty china.
 
At last we reached Mackay, gateway to the Whitsunday Islands, themselves gateway to the Reef.
     A beautiful soft heat hit me as soon as we left the train and, as we lugged our suitcases along dirt paths between more wooden houses in a beautiful soft sparkling light, I felt as if I was in a dream. I was where I was supposed to be. I had arrived.
    We checked in at the YWCA, a large white clapboard house with lush green grounds, and spent several days washing ourselves and our clothes – arguing over the correct way to use a spin dryer. (Helen was right, I know now.)
    Then we presented ourselves at the office of the Whitsunday hotels, where they weren’t at all excited to see us, even though I had a glowing reference from Darryll. Many people wanted to work for them. We just had to wait and hope.

My reference from Darryll. I was proud of it then and I'm proud of it now.

I’d heard of the Great Barrier Reef but I didn’t know anything about it. It was mythical, like Queensland. But now I’d got this far I was determined to make it further.