23rd October 1968
Mr. & Mrs. P Schultz Mrs.
G Wrightson
11 Viking Av C/O
Bank of New South Wales
Hillsborough Sackville
Street
Auckland NZ London
W1 UK
Dear Sandy and Pete
Do hope you didn’t think we were dead. I
can’t remember whether or not I wrote before we left and I couldn’t send
postcards while we away it was so expensive.
Well we now back in Britain after 8 weeks
& 4 days of European lightning touring and it was marvelous . As you know
we are not the best of sightseers so most of our holiday was spent lying on
beaches & driving from place to place.
We covered about 4,500 miles altogether in a little mini packed to the roof with a large tent you know the frame kind with and inner tent and clothes & provisions for 2 months.
Poor little car but it went like a bomb even got 80 out of it which is not bad as it is 5 years old.
We covered about 4,500 miles altogether in a little mini packed to the roof with a large tent you know the frame kind with and inner tent and clothes & provisions for 2 months.
Poor little car but it went like a bomb even got 80 out of it which is not bad as it is 5 years old.
We had some fabulous experiences and met
some great people, We arranged a meeting with some friends in Munich they were
on the end of their holiday.
They had gone down to Yugoslavia, Greece etc and we had just started.
They had gone down to Yugoslavia, Greece etc and we had just started.
Boy what a time we had. We only intended staying for a couple of days
but we were there for a week. Pete would have loved it.
Actually they were all nearly Auckland
blokes and girls.
German beer is great stuff, served in the Beer house in 1 litre steins. I even downed 3 of these one night.
We seemed to spend all our time drinking or
recovering.
The only place we sight saw was the Deustch
Museum which was fabulous,
Science and Technology, that’s all we saw of the city, except when we drove to the beer houses.
Science and Technology, that’s all we saw of the city, except when we drove to the beer houses.
We had in tow with us a real United
Nations, South Africa, Italian English, NZ American French.
Other places of interest quickly were,
Austria, beautiful for scenery, Italy for sun, food and cars, pottery and
leather also met some Americans Roy and Jeanne Nunn, (here in their house in the USA) who kindly put us up in Paris.
We lived like Kings with them there, also
or with them camping as he works at the US Embassy and they can shop at the PX…
need I say more. American cans everything, and they had it all in the boot of
their car. Chili Con Carne. Cobs of Corn vacuum packed Well!!
Rome was fabulous The Vatican was so beautiful it made me want to throw up.
We went and saw Michael Angelo’s Sistine Chapel.
What a masterpiece.
Rome was fabulous The Vatican was so beautiful it made me want to throw up.
We went and saw Michael Angelo’s Sistine Chapel.
What a masterpiece.
The leaning tower of Pisa really leans and
it is the most peculiar feeling walking up it. First you are going uphill and
the downhill.
What I neglected to mention, is the other beautiful buildings surrounding The Leaning Tower
South of France & Italian Riviera were not as good as they are made out to be, the beaches aren’t even sandy and you have to pay to go on them in Nice, Cannes, Monte Carlo etc.,
so we whizzed through them and stayed at a small place south of St Tropez (Brigitte Bardot’s haunt) called St Aygulf. Arrived in the middle of Le Mistral the famous French wind. Christ Wellington is calm compared to that hurricane.
South of France & Italian Riviera were not as good as they are made out to be, the beaches aren’t even sandy and you have to pay to go on them in Nice, Cannes, Monte Carlo etc.,
so we whizzed through them and stayed at a small place south of St Tropez (Brigitte Bardot’s haunt) called St Aygulf. Arrived in the middle of Le Mistral the famous French wind. Christ Wellington is calm compared to that hurricane.
On to Spain. Fabulous time there but will
tell you more when we see you.
We received our slides today which was fun
as we could see where we had been.
Well fellows, we will be leaving London
shortly with much regrets, but also excitement for coming home because now we
have decided to come, we feel we want to pack our bags and get the hell out of
here, or so they say.
So, come rain or shine we will be in
Auckland in December, so write me soon with your phone numbers so I can ring
you.
As far as I know, we are going to Glenys and
Pete’s and hope to stay in Auckland for a couple of weeks. Best to write to the
bank, we should be here for at least 3 weeks.
We have to drive down to Devon and Wales so we think we will do that next week.
Love to you both.Don’t write to anyone in Wellington that we are coming home in they tell Mum because we are going to surprise them
We have to drive down to Devon and Wales so we think we will do that next week.
Love to you both.Don’t write to anyone in Wellington that we are coming home in they tell Mum because we are going to surprise them
Gillian and Dale
This was the last letter that I wrote to Sandy but as luck would have it, I have also discovered some postcards that we wrote to Dale's Parents.
The Travelogue continues:
So after we left Munich we traveled to Saltzburg
This was the last letter that I wrote to Sandy but as luck would have it, I have also discovered some postcards that we wrote to Dale's Parents.
The Travelogue continues:
So after we left Munich we traveled to Saltzburg
Saltzburg Sept 3rd
Dear Mum, Dad, Craig and Louise,
We visited this Fortress. Dates back to about 1070AD. Underneath are Catacombs, which date from 200AD. Quite interesting but terribly commercialized, you can get in for free but you pay to see all the exhibitions, nevertheless we didn’t. The weather was good that day but we have had a lot of rain. Looking forward to Italy and sun.
Naturally we are behind schedule as we spent too long in Munich which we don’t regret and way ahead in our spending, which also stems from Munich
And we have mixed feelings about that. We had a fabulous time there Mother hope you are well, we are thinking of you
Love G & D
Dear Mum, Dad, Craig and Louise,
We visited this Fortress. Dates back to about 1070AD. Underneath are Catacombs, which date from 200AD. Quite interesting but terribly commercialized, you can get in for free but you pay to see all the exhibitions, nevertheless we didn’t. The weather was good that day but we have had a lot of rain. Looking forward to Italy and sun.
Naturally we are behind schedule as we spent too long in Munich which we don’t regret and way ahead in our spending, which also stems from Munich
And we have mixed feelings about that. We had a fabulous time there Mother hope you are well, we are thinking of you
Love G & D
The Catacombs
Wow. Then they put us on little train and we traveled around the huge Salt lake, then chuffed us back to the top.
Visp was a very unfriendly town and we got a free night's camping there. In fact we escaped very early in the morning, without paying. I actually don't think the manager was even on site. They didn't come near us. That little bit of dishonesty, helped to pay for our trip up the mountain.
So off to Italy. We left Switzerland, grey and uninviting, and as soon as we had traversed the alps and reached the Italian border...we looked back, the cloud had lifted and there was the
Matterhorn Summit, in all of its glory. Sunny and beautiful. Goodbye Switzerland, Ciao Italy.
Next stop Venice. We camped on the Lido.
The Lilo got an outing in the water
From Venice, we went south to Florence
A Bonus, one night there was a concert somewhere in Florence and the sound drifted across to the Camping Ground. The Moody Blues, 'Nights in White Satin'. Magic.
It was here we met Roy and Jeanne and they traveled with us to Rome
Florence
Dear Mum, Dad, Craig and Louise,
Florence was great, weather was good. In fact, since we have been in Italy, which is a week, it has been hot everyday. Actually, we haven’t done much sightseeing as we prefer to lie on the beach and get our suntans. I’m afraid we are not good tourists. We should reach Merle and Bill’s about 13th September. We keep staying in places too long and muck up our schedule, but who cares. We’ve sampled Italian Food and It’s good.
Hope you are all well.
Love Gillian and Dale
Next Rome
Dear Mum, Dad, Craig and Louise,
We are leaving Rome tomorrow morning to go to La Spezia, where we are meeting Bill and Merle - we have been camping about18 miles out of Rome city on a beach. Fabulous weather so far - hot and sunny ever since we arrived in Italy 2 weeks ago, both very tanned - should be black by the time we get to Spain - we spent a few mornings “sightseeing, St Peters (cover) Colosseum etc- back to the beach by 12.pm- lovely city, both well, so is the Mini
Love to you all Dale and Gilli
Well thank Goodness for Roy Nunn. Jeanne, Dale and I would have spent all day on the beach, but he insisted that we went everywhere. The compromise was, that we left early in the morning, so we could be home in time for lunch and the afternoon on the beach.
That is Roy, at Bottom right of the shot. Loved the Traffic Police, immaculately dressed in white.
Bill Hoffmeister, Dale's Fathers best friend and his lady Merle had been living in Italy for the summer. They were in a camping ground close to La Spezia.
Somehow I can't find any photos of our time there, but I do have a shot of Lerici, the city close by
Through Bill and Merle we became friendly with the family that ran the Camping Ground. They even invited us for dinner.
Would you believe they served us bread, which we were to dip into Olive Oil.
I was flabbergasted. Not oil...Butter please. They were equally flabbergasted.
Who would have thought, 40 years later there we are, dipping our bread with gusto, into New Zealand grown Virgin Olive Oil.
We nearly bought an Alpha Romeo Spider convertible, to bring back to New Zealand, from the sons of the owners. We were so excited, they wanted to swap it with our Mini.
Thank God sensibility prevailed. We did sell them our petrol vouchers though.
For some reason that I can't remember why, we needed vouchers to buy gas in Italy
We spent a week there and were loathe to leave but South of France and Spain called.
So we took off for the Italian/French Border town of Ventimiglia.
En route we called into Portovenere. Bill told us, that not only is this place beautiful but also made famous by Lord Byron, who spent a lot of time there.
Some legend about him swimming across this stretch of water apparently.
The Orange dress gets another outing
Ciao Italy, we loved you.
As I wrote in the letter to Sandy, we weren't over impressed with the French Riviera.
I do remember enjoying our time camping and lying on the beach in St AyGulf/ Frejus area though.
Here the beaches were beautiful. Loved the French Bread. But we still ate our way through our canned food. Did I mention we had also taken dried pasta with us!!!
We also discovered French Red Wine. Took to that, like a duck to water.
As much as we liked it there Spain called.
Once again a day trip to Bel Air Camping at Vilassar del Mar, north of Barcelona on The Costa Del Sol.
The reason we picked this Camping Ground, was that Dale had spent over 2 weeks there, on his first trip to Europe as a Teenager, with his parents. His father Bon, was seconded to the UK to study at the Joint Services Staff College in Latimer, Cheshaw, Bucks. They went on to live in England till 1963. We have discovered his travel diary from that time.
Here is his account of that time in Spain
Beautiful handwriting for a 15 year old.
10/8/59 Monday
France-Spain
Left Cayriech 9.40am. Went through Montaban, Toulouse. Pamiers, Foix, Taraseon (where, we stopped for lunch) Ax-le-thermes, and then up the French side of the Pyrenees to the frontier of Purgerda.
The customs were not that hard, and we had a mix up over a dog, that was thought to belong to us.
It took us a long time to descend the Spanish side of the Pyrenees, due to the twisting a poorly sealed road.
Our first big town was Ripoll
All down the mountains, the people were very friendly to travelers, by waving out as though to make them feel welcome.We decided not to try to make Barcelona due to time, so we spent the night at a Spanish hotel in Vich. It was quite a nice hotel and the rooms had been recently done up. The food was good and the beds comfortable
We noticed that people stay up after midnight talking in the street. They probably able to do this as they have a Siesta (sleep) in the afternoon. The Hotel was the Hotel Colon.
11/8/59
Vilassar del Mar
Stayed in the grounds of a big Spanish Hacienda up on the slopes that overlooks the Mediterranean. The grounds included a swimming pool, surrounded by lawn and trees, we stayed at Bel Air for 2 ½ weeks.We went into Barcelona on a Sunday night to do a bullfight.
6 cerridas, couple of good ‘uns’, sadistic but quite entertaining, not as good as throwing Christians to the Lions.We ate Spanish Restaurant and night club after. Seven Doors with Flamenco Dancers and drinks at 12/6 a time
So we arrived there August 1968, nearly 10 years later.
Dale's Postcard to his parents
Spain
Sept 30th
Dear Mum, Dad, Craig and Louise,
We we have managed to make it to Spain. OK so far - we are staying at Bel Air Camping ground in Vilasaar de Mari where we camped in 1959. Has not changed much - Bar is bigger & Rosemarie (the Spanish Señorita) is no longer here - fortunately we are at the end of the Season and here are only a few people here - the two Spanish Chaps that run the Camp & Bar are now having a rest after the busy summer and are most generous with their Coffee, Cognac - making the stay here very pleasant - we are all going to a Football match with one of them tonight & probably a bullfight later in the week
Fabulous weather about 76-80F
Both well Hope you are also
Love Dale and Gilli
The Bullfight
The owners Damian, Jose and their wives made us most welcome. invited us for dinner
They also introduced us to their German Friends, Gerhard and Adele, who ran the local Water Ski School. The Germans could both speak English really well and the Spaniards weren't bad as well
Made us feel a bit inferior
We had a day at the beach with them and Gerhard taught us to Water Ski
Here's Dale, up first go. Gerhard was a great teacher, he even got me up first go as well
They took us out eating all sorts of strange food.
Calamari?
We had no idea what that was. "Ink fish", said Adele.
It was delicious. Sardines grilled and whole on the plate.
Every morning, they poured us a Cafe and Cognac to get us going
We had such a good time with these lovely people, the plan to go to Morocco went bye the bye.
It was time to go
Paris was calling.
Adios Espana, we loved you, always planned to go back.
We even went to Spanish classes in preparation, when we returned to Wellington.
But jobs and Babies intervened. One day, we will return.
So we had to stay in Lyon, en route to Paris. Too far to drive to Paris in one go.
Our first night sleeping in a bed, after over 2 months on a Lilo.
Quite uncomfortable, if I remember rightly.
Roy and Jeanne welcomed us to their apartment in Paris. We were planning to camp originally but as it turns out we were very glad to be indoors. It was October and cold.
They pointed us in all the right directions and we had a wonderful time in this fair city
As I wrote in the letter to Sandy, we weren't over impressed with the French Riviera.
I do remember enjoying our time camping and lying on the beach in St AyGulf/ Frejus area though.
Here the beaches were beautiful. Loved the French Bread. But we still ate our way through our canned food. Did I mention we had also taken dried pasta with us!!!
We also discovered French Red Wine. Took to that, like a duck to water.
As much as we liked it there Spain called.
Once again a day trip to Bel Air Camping at Vilassar del Mar, north of Barcelona on The Costa Del Sol.
Here is his account of that time in Spain
Beautiful handwriting for a 15 year old.
10/8/59 Monday
France-Spain
Left Cayriech 9.40am. Went through Montaban, Toulouse. Pamiers, Foix, Taraseon (where, we stopped for lunch) Ax-le-thermes, and then up the French side of the Pyrenees to the frontier of Purgerda.
The customs were not that hard, and we had a mix up over a dog, that was thought to belong to us.
It took us a long time to descend the Spanish side of the Pyrenees, due to the twisting a poorly sealed road.
Our first big town was Ripoll
All down the mountains, the people were very friendly to travelers, by waving out as though to make them feel welcome.We decided not to try to make Barcelona due to time, so we spent the night at a Spanish hotel in Vich. It was quite a nice hotel and the rooms had been recently done up. The food was good and the beds comfortable
We noticed that people stay up after midnight talking in the street. They probably able to do this as they have a Siesta (sleep) in the afternoon. The Hotel was the Hotel Colon.
11/8/59
Vilassar del Mar
Stayed in the grounds of a big Spanish Hacienda up on the slopes that overlooks the Mediterranean. The grounds included a swimming pool, surrounded by lawn and trees, we stayed at Bel Air for 2 ½ weeks.We went into Barcelona on a Sunday night to do a bullfight.
6 cerridas, couple of good ‘uns’, sadistic but quite entertaining, not as good as throwing Christians to the Lions.We ate Spanish Restaurant and night club after. Seven Doors with Flamenco Dancers and drinks at 12/6 a time
So we arrived there August 1968, nearly 10 years later.
Dale's Postcard to his parents
Spain
Sept 30th
Dear Mum, Dad, Craig and Louise,
We we have managed to make it to Spain. OK so far - we are staying at Bel Air Camping ground in Vilasaar de Mari where we camped in 1959. Has not changed much - Bar is bigger & Rosemarie (the Spanish Señorita) is no longer here - fortunately we are at the end of the Season and here are only a few people here - the two Spanish Chaps that run the Camp & Bar are now having a rest after the busy summer and are most generous with their Coffee, Cognac - making the stay here very pleasant - we are all going to a Football match with one of them tonight & probably a bullfight later in the week
Fabulous weather about 76-80F
Both well Hope you are also
Love Dale and Gilli
The Bullfight
Made us feel a bit inferior
We had a day at the beach with them and Gerhard taught us to Water Ski
Calamari?
We had no idea what that was. "Ink fish", said Adele.
It was delicious. Sardines grilled and whole on the plate.
Every morning, they poured us a Cafe and Cognac to get us going
We had such a good time with these lovely people, the plan to go to Morocco went bye the bye.
It was time to go
Paris was calling.
Adios Espana, we loved you, always planned to go back.
We even went to Spanish classes in preparation, when we returned to Wellington.
But jobs and Babies intervened. One day, we will return.
So we had to stay in Lyon, en route to Paris. Too far to drive to Paris in one go.
Our first night sleeping in a bed, after over 2 months on a Lilo.
Quite uncomfortable, if I remember rightly.
Roy and Jeanne welcomed us to their apartment in Paris. We were planning to camp originally but as it turns out we were very glad to be indoors. It was October and cold.
They pointed us in all the right directions and we had a wonderful time in this fair city
On our last night, Roy and Jeanne took us to the Monmartre district for dinner.
Jeanne's parents were in town and also joining us was Roy's friend who was a Marine, and his wife, also working at the US Embassy. We had a delightful dinner
Due to a misunderstanding a French fellow jumped Dale. Roy's friend went to his rescue, the French guy pulled a screwdriver out. You don't mess with Marines. Next minute, Cops were there. It was a fiasco. Roy's friend ended up down at the Cop Station. It was finally sorted, but in the confusion. Dale was pick pocketed and we lost our last bit of cash. Oh no, we needed that to get back to London.
Roy kindly lent us $US20.
They wished us Bon Voyage and we were off to Calais, to catch the ferry then the drive back to London.
'Au'voir ' Europe, we had a wonderful time. You treated us well
Few days visiting Devon and Wales, stayed our last days with Phil and Chris Webster, who had kindly put us up on our arrival, then it was time to work our way home.
The crew put on a farewell party for us.
Off to Heathrow, no Ocean Liner trip this time
Our First Port of Call was Miami
On Dale's trip home in September 1962 they traveled by Ocean Liner, in fact The Good Ship Oranje,
They called into Fort Lauderdale. Dales Parents during the trip across the Atlantic, got friendly with an American Woman, Tina Meadows. Tina was originally British and went to US as a war bride. The boat was on an overnighter at this Port, so Tina invited Dale and Craig to come and visit with her boys.
Here is Dale's account of that time.
'Au'voir ' Europe, we had a wonderful time. You treated us well
Few days visiting Devon and Wales, stayed our last days with Phil and Chris Webster, who had kindly put us up on our arrival, then it was time to work our way home.
The crew put on a farewell party for us.
Our First Port of Call was Miami
On Dale's trip home in September 1962 they traveled by Ocean Liner, in fact The Good Ship Oranje,
Here is Dale's account of that time.
Miami Sat/ Sun September
"Stayed the weekend with the Meadows family. Paul elder (18) took us to his high school dance in the evening, after which we went to Joyce’s house at about 12.10am to a party. Went swimming at 12.30 am to 2.30 am and with Joyce’s daughter, Beverly, in their backyard boomerang pool. It was fabulous. Then on the Sunday, Craig, Paul, Roy and I went shopping in the morning, (bought an L.P. for 14/- brand new) and swimming on Hollywood beach in the afternoon. The ship left at 6pm that day and everyone was very sad to be leaving such a marvelous place, so soon after arriving. The people were very friendly and helpful and really made the visit a pleasure".
Dales Mother Faye continued the friendship with Tina and when she knew we were coming their way, she invited us to visit. By this time, Tina was divorced and remarried.
They were so good to us. They lent us her studio apartment. It was my first visit to the US of A. Very impressed.
Hollywood beach 1968 with Tina, her new husband and Paul the eldest son
Looks like this was at a game of something. I can't remember, actually, it may have been an aquarium with jumping Dolphins or something
So farewell Miami
Onto Mexico City
It was an interesting time to visit Mexico. The 1968 Olympics had been staged there.
So the city had been really tarted up for the occasion.
We spent a couple of days there. One of the highlights was The Pyramids
We got a dodgy Taxi driver to take us there. He stopped at a Cantina, obviously got a free lunch from the owner, if he brought El Touristas in for lunch....he didn't realise we were poor tourists, with no such money or inclination.
He ate his lunch anyway and we stayed in the car.
That modern building at the rear was built for the Olympics, meanwhile nearby these wonderful ruins.
Off to Kingston, Jamaica.
Dale had a relative who lived there and we thought we could stay for a while with him.
At the airport we tried to ring him, unfortunately, he was in his holiday home in Montego Bay.
Bugger, we should have written, and the worst thing was, we touched down at Montego Bay, en route to Kingston. He was quite well off we imagined ourselves having this luxurious holiday.
Oh well, we found ourselves a cheap motel.
Bonus time, we were befriended by some New York business men, who were on a weekend away from their wives. They did it once a year.
Every morning they mixed up a large bowl of Rum Punch. with a big bag of ice and slowly worked their way through it. They asked us to join them.
We were very grateful, the money was tight.
Full English Breakfast came with the room. We ate that, as late as possible, then went into dinner at around 5 and ordered a toasted sandwich between us which came with chips. They soon realized we were as poor as church mice and kindly doubled up on the chips. We ate every bit of garnish as well.
Couldn't really afford to go sightseeing but why would you do that when you had plenty of entertainment around the pool? After all we had been to Trinidad, surely one Caribbean Island is much the same as another. We did go into Kingston Town once. It was quite poverty stricken, I think we made the right choice to stay at the Motel.
From there we went to Los Angeles, naively thinking we would just a bus from the airport into town.
How wrong could we be?
When we went back to LA in 1976, we had a wonderful time, we had more money then, so just as well we made that choice.
So we managed to get an earlier flight out to Hawaii, next port of call.
We found a Hotel couple of streets back from the beach called The Princess Something.
$12 a night.
Our friend Ray had a cousin there, he told us to call her. Poor woman I think she was sick of young New Zealanders, expecting to be looked after, but look after us she did. She took us around the Island. I think that is a famous Lovers Leap. very kind of her.
Our beach was lovely and we spent a lot of our time. Dale's shot of the beach
A postcard, the same yacht, I guess it took tourists out for a ride.
We loved Hawaii, but time to move on.
Next Stop Fiji.
Once again we thought we would just pop off the plane onto the beach and spend the day possibly buy a hamburger for lunch...Hang about till the plane took off, at around 8pm
Wrong again. But luckily Qantas our airline put us up in a new Motel, which had a pool. They also shouted us lunch. We ate everything. We did manage to get into Nadi and bought some Duty Free.
Finally we got on the plane to Auckland. Arrived with just $US1.
Stayed with our friends Pete and Glenys Burt. It was so exciting to be at home. Gosh the NZ accent really hit us for a short time. Didn't take long and the ear adjusted.
Pete and Glen were hosting a dinner for some of his work mates, so our mutual mate Marty came and picked us up. Bit of a shame for the guests. We were so over excited. Dale had a couple of great new jokes that he picked up in London. They included some 'choice' four letter words. Well that killed the party. The only people roaring with laughter were Glen, Pete, Marty Dale and I.
Not long after the place emptied out. They were shocked. New Zealand still a bit provincial in 1968.
Of course we were so Cosmopolitan...(wankers more like it I think)
Pete with Dale
Glenys at Christmas at their house in the 80's
Marty on the right, celebrating another occasion that we missed while we were away, the engagement of dear Friends George and Sharon
One more leg of journey home, Auckland to Wellington, just in time for Christmas. Since we had left, Craig and Louise had got married and there was a new Wrightson, Shannon. Wonderful news. Cop my orange shoes peeking out right hand corner...very trendy.
Christmas Lunch with my parents Tom and Nora
Christmas Dinner with Bon, Faye, Craig and Louise
What a great journey. Thanks to Sandy for keeping my letters, Bon and Faye for keeping our Postcards, Dale for taking great shots and putting them all into albums in order of the travel,
plus his great Travel Diary, for the extra info.
I have loved bringing this part of our life to back to life.
"Stayed the weekend with the Meadows family. Paul elder (18) took us to his high school dance in the evening, after which we went to Joyce’s house at about 12.10am to a party. Went swimming at 12.30 am to 2.30 am and with Joyce’s daughter, Beverly, in their backyard boomerang pool. It was fabulous. Then on the Sunday, Craig, Paul, Roy and I went shopping in the morning, (bought an L.P. for 14/- brand new) and swimming on Hollywood beach in the afternoon. The ship left at 6pm that day and everyone was very sad to be leaving such a marvelous place, so soon after arriving. The people were very friendly and helpful and really made the visit a pleasure".
Dales Mother Faye continued the friendship with Tina and when she knew we were coming their way, she invited us to visit. By this time, Tina was divorced and remarried.
They were so good to us. They lent us her studio apartment. It was my first visit to the US of A. Very impressed.
Hollywood beach 1968 with Tina, her new husband and Paul the eldest son
Onto Mexico City
It was an interesting time to visit Mexico. The 1968 Olympics had been staged there.
So the city had been really tarted up for the occasion.
We spent a couple of days there. One of the highlights was The Pyramids
We got a dodgy Taxi driver to take us there. He stopped at a Cantina, obviously got a free lunch from the owner, if he brought El Touristas in for lunch....he didn't realise we were poor tourists, with no such money or inclination.
He ate his lunch anyway and we stayed in the car.
Off to Kingston, Jamaica.
Dale had a relative who lived there and we thought we could stay for a while with him.
At the airport we tried to ring him, unfortunately, he was in his holiday home in Montego Bay.
Bugger, we should have written, and the worst thing was, we touched down at Montego Bay, en route to Kingston. He was quite well off we imagined ourselves having this luxurious holiday.
Oh well, we found ourselves a cheap motel.
Bonus time, we were befriended by some New York business men, who were on a weekend away from their wives. They did it once a year.
Every morning they mixed up a large bowl of Rum Punch. with a big bag of ice and slowly worked their way through it. They asked us to join them.
We were very grateful, the money was tight.
Full English Breakfast came with the room. We ate that, as late as possible, then went into dinner at around 5 and ordered a toasted sandwich between us which came with chips. They soon realized we were as poor as church mice and kindly doubled up on the chips. We ate every bit of garnish as well.
Couldn't really afford to go sightseeing but why would you do that when you had plenty of entertainment around the pool? After all we had been to Trinidad, surely one Caribbean Island is much the same as another. We did go into Kingston Town once. It was quite poverty stricken, I think we made the right choice to stay at the Motel.
From there we went to Los Angeles, naively thinking we would just a bus from the airport into town.
How wrong could we be?
When we went back to LA in 1976, we had a wonderful time, we had more money then, so just as well we made that choice.
So we managed to get an earlier flight out to Hawaii, next port of call.
We found a Hotel couple of streets back from the beach called The Princess Something.
$12 a night.
Our friend Ray had a cousin there, he told us to call her. Poor woman I think she was sick of young New Zealanders, expecting to be looked after, but look after us she did. She took us around the Island. I think that is a famous Lovers Leap. very kind of her.
Next Stop Fiji.
Once again we thought we would just pop off the plane onto the beach and spend the day possibly buy a hamburger for lunch...Hang about till the plane took off, at around 8pm
Wrong again. But luckily Qantas our airline put us up in a new Motel, which had a pool. They also shouted us lunch. We ate everything. We did manage to get into Nadi and bought some Duty Free.
Finally we got on the plane to Auckland. Arrived with just $US1.
Stayed with our friends Pete and Glenys Burt. It was so exciting to be at home. Gosh the NZ accent really hit us for a short time. Didn't take long and the ear adjusted.
Pete and Glen were hosting a dinner for some of his work mates, so our mutual mate Marty came and picked us up. Bit of a shame for the guests. We were so over excited. Dale had a couple of great new jokes that he picked up in London. They included some 'choice' four letter words. Well that killed the party. The only people roaring with laughter were Glen, Pete, Marty Dale and I.
Not long after the place emptied out. They were shocked. New Zealand still a bit provincial in 1968.
Of course we were so Cosmopolitan...(wankers more like it I think)
Pete with Dale
One more leg of journey home, Auckland to Wellington, just in time for Christmas. Since we had left, Craig and Louise had got married and there was a new Wrightson, Shannon. Wonderful news. Cop my orange shoes peeking out right hand corner...very trendy.
Christmas Dinner with Bon, Faye, Craig and Louise
What a great journey. Thanks to Sandy for keeping my letters, Bon and Faye for keeping our Postcards, Dale for taking great shots and putting them all into albums in order of the travel,
plus his great Travel Diary, for the extra info.
I have loved bringing this part of our life to back to life.
