We called in at Cairns in Queensland Australia on our way back south and arrived in Sydney for our refit in July 1945. Sydney was full of sailors, American and British and I met an old workmate who had joined up with me, Frank Sherris had just come over with all the new ships and we had a good night out together. We had to wait about a fortnight for our turn to go into dry dock and we were thoroughly enjoying ourselves. During the first week we had visitors looking around the ship and some of them asked if we would like to spend a leave at their home. I put my name down for this and was given a fortnights leave- it turned out to be a wonderful experience of Australian Outback life.
I went on leave with Terry Cowell and Bill Glenton and we went to a place called Narrabri in New South Wales. We went by train - it was quite a journey from Sydney. The people Bill Glenton and I stayed with were called Burrell and the farm was called Spring Creek Farm and was about ten miles away from Narrabri. We went out to the farm from the station in an old Ford car, the road petered out after a couple of miles and we drove through woodland and sometimes growing crops before we reached the farm. We were made very welcome by the Burrells, besides Mr & Mrs Burrell there was a son about 20 and Mavis aged about 17 and a boy aged 11.
Our time at the farm was spent horse riding and shooting, I remember one long ride to see the neighbour who lived about 15 miles away. Bill Glenton and I started off with the young boy early in the morning and after a couple of hours riding we reached the neighbour and spent the day with them. After a good days shooting we set off for home, that's when the fun started, it was becoming darker as we rode and the lad said the horses would be OK as they could see better in the dark. As we galloped on, my horse took a dive and threw me in some bushes. I was sore and bruised and my saddle was broken but we limped home at a slow trot.
Comments
Post a Comment