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- | XXXXXXXXXXXXiCXXXXXX.XXXXXXXXXXXX**XXXX | + | =====The Sydney Bushwalker.===== |
- | XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX | + | |
- | THE SYDNEY BUSHWALKER | + | |
Established June 1931 | Established June 1931 | ||
- | XXXXXXXX4(kkX*X*XXX4XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX** | + | |
- | XX-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX***XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXUAXXXXXXXXXXXX | + | A monthly bulletin of matters of interest to The Sydney Bush Walkers, Box 4476 G.P.O., Sydney, 2001. Club meetings are held every Wednesday evening from 7.30 pm at the Wireless Institute Building, 14 Atchison Street, St.Leonards. Enquiries concerning the Club should be referred to Ann Ravn, Telephone 798,8607. |
- | A monthly bulletin of matters of interest to The Sydney Bush Walkers, Box 4476 G.P.O., Sydney, 2001. Club meetings are held every Wednesday evening from 7.30 pm at the Wireless Institute Building, 14 Atchison Street, St.Leonards. Enquiries concerning the Club should be referred | + | |
- | to Ann Ravn, Telephone 798,8607. | + | |Editor|Helen Gray, 209 Malton Road, Epping, 2121. Telephone 86,6263| |
- | * * * * * * * * * * * * | + | |Business Manager|Bill Burke, 3 Coral Tree Drive, Carlingford, |
- | EDITOR: Helen Gray, 209 Malton Road, Epping, 2121. | + | |Typist|Kath Brown| |
- | Telephone 86,6263. | + | |Duplicator Operator|Phil Butt| |
- | BUSINESS MANAGER: Bill Burke, 3 Coral Tree Drive, Carlingford, | + | |
- | TYPIST: Kath Brown. | + | ====August, 1981.==== |
- | DUPLICATOR OPERATOR: | + | |
- | AUGUST, 1981. | + | | | |Page| |
- | Page | + | |Cold and Wet|George Gray| 2| |
- | 2 | + | |The July General Meeting|Jim Brown| 4| |
- | 4 | + | |Eastwood Camping Centre Ad| | 6| |
- | 6 | + | |George Gray, the Pope and Calendar Reform|Owen Marks| 7| |
- | 7 | + | |Travelling with Children in India - Part 5|Marcia Shappert| 9| |
- | 9 | + | |"Have a Sardine and Jam Sandwich" |
- | 13 | + | |Bee Walking|David Cotton|14| |
- | 14 | + | |"The Hero of Waterloo" |
- | 15 | + | |Letter to the Editor|Frank Rigby|16| |
- | 16 | + | |Social Notes for September|Peter Miller|16| |
- | 16 | + | |
- | xxxxx | + | =====Cold And Wet.===== |
- | Gold and Wet | + | |
- | The July General Meeting | + | ====Notes For Your Guidance From George Gray.==== |
- | Eastwood Camping Centre Ad | + | |
- | George Gray, the Pope and Calendar Reform Travelling with Children in India - Part 5 "Have a Sardine and Jam Sandwich" | + | Protective clothing and sporting equipment have changed radically with the advent of synthetic polymers. |
- | "The, Hero of Waterloo" | + | |
- | Letter to the Editor Social Notes for September | + | Our mountains can be both wet and cold. This is an insidious |
- | by George Gray | + | |
- | Jim Brown | + | All woven fabrics are "macroporous" - their pores are 100 micrometres or larger. Climbers can waterproof such materials by treating them with either waxes or silicone aerosol sprays. Unfortunately, |
- | Owen Marks Marcia Shappert Peter Harris David Cotton | + | |
- | Dot Butler Frank Rigby Peter Miller | + | There is a practical microporous fabric, made by the British company, |
- | Page 2 THE SYDNEY BUSHWALKER August, | + | |
- | COLD AND WET. | + | The affluent walker can now purchase comfortable clothing in which he will not sweat. However, waterproofing still hinges upon how well the garment manufacturer has made the seams. In continuous immersion on bad days on the hills, water can get in by capillary action - " |
- | NOTES FOR YOTR, | + | |
- | Protective clothing and sporting equipment have changed radically | + | Throughout history two natural materials have dominated in insulation. Down (feather) and wool are both made up of molecules of the fibrous protein keratin. Down has a high tensile strength allowing it to resist repeated |
- | with the advent of synthetic polymers. | + | |
- | Our mountains can be both wet and cold. This is an insidious | + | Early contenders as synthetic insulators were polyester fillings for jackets and sleeping bags. Polyester is more efficient than down when wet, but needs much more weight |
- | ation because | + | |
- | and high insulation. Wind and rain can produce surprisingly low temperatures | + | And something to think about. How would you like to have a sleeping bag about half the weight of that which you now use, and still have the same warmth? The underside of your sleeping bag is nearly useless because down squashed flat by your weight has little insulating air left in it. If your closed cell foam mat could be attached to the top half of a sleeping bag in a way that excluded gaps around the edges, then the problem might well be solved. New developments in fibre pile could lead to even better substitutes for the " |
- | new. Their impermeability to moisture vapour and not just rain means. | + | |
- | that a person-making his way up a mountain on a wet day will still arrive at the summit drenched - with sweat. Aesthetics apart, the climber is in danger from exhaustion and the impaired insulation of his wet underclothes,. | + | (__Editor' |
- | All woven fabrics are "macroporaus" - their pores are 100 micrometres or larger. Climbers can waterproof such materials by treating them with either waxes or silicone aerosol sprays. Unfortunately, | + | |
- | a limited life and even when new does not keep out driving rain indefinitely. If, however, the walker could make his outer shell clothing | + | ---- |
- | There is a practical microporous fabric, made by the British company, | + | |
- | L. Gore and Associates. Called Goretex, this material is a laminated | + | ====F.B.W. |
- | fabric with protective outer layers of macroporous nylon sandliching | + | |
- | membrane of expanded polytetrafluro ethylene (PTE). The PTFE layer is highly hydrophobic, | + | |
- | 11000 g/sq.m/day compared with the 74 g/sq.m/day of water vapour that nylon treated with polyurethane passes. | + | |
- | The affluent walker can now purchase comfortable clothing in which | + | |
- | he will not sweat. However, waterproofing still hinges upon how well the | + | |
- | garment manufacturer has made the seams. In continuous immersion on bad days on the hills, water can get in by capillary action - " | + | |
- | with reinforcing and Neoprene tape inside the garment to keep the wearer dry. | + | |
- | Throughout history two natural materials have dominated in insulation. Down (feather) and wool are both madeup | + | |
- | known as " | + | |
- | are highly resilient and are microscopically toothed, slowing the speed that air can move in or out of the material. Both down and wool rapidly | + | |
- | . ; | + | |
- | Page 3 THE SYDNEY BUSHWALICEIR August, | + | |
- | iorate | + | |
- | properties of down and the progressive loss of the oils which cover both | + | |
- | wool and feather in their natural setting means that water is increasingly adsorbed by the hydrophillic proteins. Down " | + | |
- | Larly contenders as synthetic insulators were polyester fillings for . jackets and sleeping bags. Polyester is more efficient than down when wet, but needs much more weakght | + | |
- | because it is stiff and uncomfortable - it transmits no water vapour. But | + | |
- | the way to stop convection currents is to baffle them. This can be done best by drastically reducing the diameter of the conventional fibre fillings. Finer fibres will pack to form smaller air spaces and minimise the convection within a filled garment. | + | |
- | and synthetic insulators. | + | |
- | And something to think about. How would you like to have a sleeping bag about half the weight of that which you now use, and still have the same Warmth? The underside of your sleeping bag is nearly useless because down squashed flat by your weight has little insulating air left in it. | + | |
- | If your closed cell foam mat could be attached to the top half of a sleeping bag in a way that excluded gaps around the edges, then the problem might well be solved. New developments in fibre pile could lead to even better | + | |
- | substitutes for the " | + | |
- | (Editor' | + | |
- | 25,g1 of the body's heat loss occurs through the head, a fact that the no-hat generations of Australia don't realise | + | |
- | * * * * * * * * * * * * | + | |
- | F.B.W. | + | |
Ashfield Town Hall - Friday, 9th October. | Ashfield Town Hall - Friday, 9th October. | ||
- | ' | + | |
- | B.O.G. | + | $6 Single - 7.30 pm to I am. |
- | Ladies bring plate - men bring drinks. | + | |
- | Barbara Bruce - Phone 669,0411 Ex.550 or 546,6570 (H). | + | B.O.G. Ladies bring plate - men bring drinks. |
- | Page 4 THE SYDNEY BUSHWALKER August, | + | |
- | THE JULY GENERAL MEETING. | + | __S.B.W. contact__: Barbara Bruce - Phone 669,0411 Ex.550 or 546,6570 (H). |
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | =====The July General Meeting.===== | ||
by Jim Brown. | by Jim Brown. | ||
- | Although quite a lot of the best people were away (probably blizzard- | + | |
- | . | + | Although quite a lot of the best people were away (probably blizzard-bound), |
- | bound), including the normal political roundsman, | + | |
- | Two new members were greeted - Ralph Penglis and Fred Kelly - and it may be noted that the slow hand-clapping, | + | Two new members were greeted - Ralph Penglis and Fred Kelly - and it may be noted that the slow hand-clapping, |
- | After that, things went along at a heady pace, while Minutes were. | + | |
- | . read and confirmed, and in Correspondence we had an acknowledgement from | + | After that, things went along at a heady pace, while Minutes were read and confirmed, and in Correspondence we had an acknowledgement from the Parks & Wildlife Service of our representative |
- | the Parks & Wildlife Service of.auirrepresentative | + | |
- | In matters fiscal we heard that the $1000 investment approved in May had been undertaken and the resultant balance at the end of June was $1916 in the Club's general working account. Coolana funds were unchanged at | + | In matters fiscal we heard that the $1000 investment approved in May had been undertaken and the resultant balance at the end of June was $1916 in the Club's general working account. Coolana funds were unchanged at $50. |
- | 050. | + | |
- | the Walks Secretary was amongst those missing, it appeared at first that we should not have a report. Presently, however, Don Cornell, who produced a copy of the Walks Programme was persuaded to cite date, leader and trip, while any information available was given by leaders or parti4:1 pipants. After a false start an a week-end presented at the_last | + | The Walks Secretary was amongst those missing, it appeared at first that we should not have a report. Presently, however, Don Cornell, who produced a copy of the Walks Programme was persuaded to cite date, leader and trip, while any information available was given by leaders or participants. After a false start an a week-end presented at the last meeting, we heard that the abseiling practice at Kanangra, logged for June 12-14th failed for lack of customers, while Brian Hart's exploratory walk in Watagan State Forest had only two starters. Some interesting country was covered; but the trip was slightly curtailed when the other member suffered sore feet. Three day walks were listed for 14th June, Roy Braithwaite conducting 16 along the coast trail from Lilyvale to Bundeena, where they were outdistanced by some whales (the whales were on a parallel route at sea, of course). Jo Van Sommers had a party of over 20 into the Dharug National Park. No information was available about the West Head walk. |
- | feet. Three day walks were listed for 14th June, Roy Braithwaite conducting 16 along the coast trail from Lilyvale to Bundeena, where they were outdistanced by some whales (the whales were on a parallel route at sea, of oaurse). Jo Van Sommers had a party of avet.20'into the Dharug National Park. No information was available about the West Head walk. | + | |
- | For the ensuing week-end Gordon Lee inherited the cross-country skiing instructional | + | For the ensuing week-end Gordon Lee inherited the cross-country skiing instructional |
- | age 5 THE SYDNEY BUSHWAIKER August, | + | |
Meryl Watman in the Heathcote National Park had five people up to lunch time and seven thereafter. The scrub was damp, but no fresh rain fell during the trip. | Meryl Watman in the Heathcote National Park had five people up to lunch time and seven thereafter. The scrub was damp, but no fresh rain fell during the trip. | ||
- | On the 26-28th June week-end, there was Bob Younger' | + | |
- | practice at Wahroonga and wasflinundated" with 12 novices on Saturdayland | + | On the 26-28th June week-end, there was Bob Younger' |
- | 14 on Sunday. However two of the Sunday group were able to take part in the instruction. Gordon expressed deep appreciation of the climbing gear Made available for such exercises by member Ric King. Both day walks were well-supported, | + | |
- | The final week-end | + | The final week-end to consider had another cross-country ski instructional |
- | n better | + | |
- | Spiro had' | + | Spiro had presented |
- | unfinancial some time previously. The only contentious issue was the questionof | + | |
- | Having got out of the habit, your deputy reporter failed to note the finishing time of the meeting, but it was quite early. | + | Having got out of the habit, your deputy reporter failed to note the finishing time of the meeting, but it was quite early. |
- | * * * * * * * * * * * * | + | |
- | CONGRATULATIONS TO - Helen Rowan and Brian Goldstraw who were married on 15th August. | + | ---- |
- | BUSHWALKERS | + | |
- | ILightweight Tents Sleeping Bags Rucksacks | + | ====Congratulations To -==== |
- | Food. | + | |
- | CAMPING EQUIPMENT Large Tents Stoves | + | Helen Rowan and Brian Goldstraw who were married on 15th August. |
- | DISTRIBUTORS OF: | + | |
- | Paddymade | + | ---- |
- | Proprietors: | + | |
- | EASTWOOD CANVAS GOODS & CAMPING SUPPLIES 3 Tr vlawney St Eastwood NSW 2122 Phone. 858 2775 | + | =====George Gray, The Pope And Calendar Reform.===== |
- | Rutledge Street | + | |
- | Rowe Street | + | by Owen Marks. |
- | Page. THE SYMEY BUSHWILICER August, 1981. | + | |
- | GEORGE GRAY THE POPE AND CALENDAR RETORM. . by Owen Marks. | + | Recently in last April' |
- | Recently in last April' | + | |
- | "Why bother. make a new calendar at all?" you may ask. At the present time a simple thing like your own birthday falls on a different day oach year, but a new calendar would be perpetual. The movable feast of Easter is obviously in need of reform. If Jesus was born on a fixed day, Why didn't he die on one too? I wish someone would explain it to me. But fixing a permanent date for Easter is not really bound up with a national concept for calendar reform. | + | "Why bother |
- | When Napoleon changed the order in France his metrical calendar reform failed because people couldn' | + | |
+ | When Napoleon changed the order in France his metrical calendar reform failed because people couldn' | ||
Below is how the NEW WORLD CALENDAR would look and how it would work:. | Below is how the NEW WORLD CALENDAR would look and how it would work:. | ||
- | JAN APR' | ||
- | 1. , | ||
- | T TIC: | ||
- | ' ..)1, | ||
- | ri 12 - 1 .._ | ||
- | ' | ||
- | 15 3 11 ell i 1 1 5 | ||
- | El 23E1 !G111111?' | ||
- | 1 11111B 15 , | ||
- | ic-1111 | ||
- | 3 14 i5A, | ||
- | 1 )12.1i 2 11: | ||
- | ---- as 2.6 a0 2' | ||
- | 2.C-i Li 22123 74 ?" | ||
- | 2_2 rii 48- Z913.0 31 | ||
- | , | ||
- | Each quarter would have the same number of days, the same for each half year and there would be 364 days in the year. The additional day would be' squeezed in between the 30th December and the 1st January and be a 7 (WORLD) day.: very four years an L (LEAP) day would be placed after June 30. | ||
- | Obviously the W day would be a world day to celebrate the new year and the 4day/which has to be placed somewhere, either after W day or after June30 would also be a world-wide national holiday. Or sane-such. | ||
- | FEB | ||
- | Can you see anything wrong with such a scheme? Of course there is, but it is not insurmountable. At the end of every year there would be an 8-day week and the same for the leap year day every four years, and the | ||
- | Page 8 THE SYDNEY , | ||
- | Sabbath would fall behind. The only organizations that would be against it in a laud voice, would, | ||
- | The Muslim calendar in use at present is solely lunar, and that means that a particular event wanders through the seasons.... 12 months of 28 days, lunation equals 336 days. In offices and consalates you can see two calendars hanging up, but the Friday is always on the seventh day. | ||
- | The Jewish calendar has 12 lunar months and every so often an extra month is added. When you go-to Israel, you can see their lunar.calendar and the' Gregorian' | ||
- | _What would the Christian churches do? There are so many of them that it is extremely unlikely that they could, or would want to, agree with any- - thing that their rivals would suggest. You may remember the cry "Give us back our. eleven days" when England suddenly adopted the Gregorian calendar. ItF was only because of catholic Europe that Englandaut of spite refused to adopt it earlier, and don't let us forget the fact that it was not until the middle of the 18th century that England adopted January 1st as New Year's Day instead of March 25th. | ||
- | ,luckily | + | January, April, July. October |
- | of the.Te./.1 PgmMandments,.and,quite fortunately, | + | |M|T|W|T|F|S|S| |
- | The rest of the world would naturally follow the New Calendar. Billions of Chinese, Japanese and Indians have no Sabbath concept, | + | |1|2|3|4|5|6|7| |
- | There have been many books written on the subject which you can find in your local library,Hdescribing | + | |8|9|10|11|12|13|14| |
- | Page 9 THE SYDNEY BUSHWALKM August, | + | |15|16|17|18|19|20|21| |
- | agpinst. I hope that there are not too many errors in the figures or dates, etc, as this article has been done at one sitting, at work and without any | + | |22|23|24|25|26|27|28| |
- | reference books. It is purely an exercise in filling in time. | + | |29|30| | | | | | |
- | Incidentally, | + | |
- | that some time this year one second is to be added or substracted at midnight to balance the calendar with modern technology. Imagine, the Earth is out' | + | February, May, August, November |
- | (Owen Marks - President of the Hastings Parade | + | |M|T|W|T|F|S|S| |
- | Bondi Beach Branch of the Calendar Reform Society, Australian Section. Southern Hemisphere Division.) | + | | | |1|2|3|4|5| |
- | * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *'* * * * * | + | |6|7|8|9|10|11|12| |
- | TRAVELLING WITH CHILDREN IN INDIA - PART 5. | + | |13|14|15|16|17|18|19| |
+ | |21|22|22|23|24|25|26| | ||
+ | |27|28|29|30|31| | | | ||
+ | |||
+ | March, June, September, December | ||
+ | |M|T|W|T|F|S|S| | ||
+ | | | | | | |1|2| | ||
+ | |3|4|5|6|7|8|9| | ||
+ | |10|11|12|13|14|15|16| | ||
+ | |17|18|19|20|21|22|23| | ||
+ | |24|25|26|27|28|29|30|W|L| | ||
+ | |||
+ | Each quarter would have the same number of days, the same for each half year and there would be 364 days in the year. The additional day would be squeezed in between the 30th December and the 1st January and be a W (WORLD) day. Every four years an L (LEAP) day would be placed after June 30. Obviously the W day would be a world day to celebrate the new year and the L day, which has to be placed somewhere, either after W day or after June 30, would also be a world-wide national holiday. Or some-such. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Can you see anything wrong with such a scheme? Of course there is, but it is not insurmountable. At the end of every year there would be an 8-day week and the same for the leap year day every four years, and the Sabbath would fall behind. The only organizations that would be against it in a loud voice, would be those religions that have a Sabbath day to keep holy or to be more accurate, those that have a holy day every 7 days, i.e. only the Jews, Muslims and Christians. Don't laugh or be fazed by numbers. Read on... | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Muslim calendar in use at present is solely lunar, and that means that a particular event wanders through the seasons.... 12 months of 28 days, lunation equals 336 days. In offices and consulates you can see two calendars hanging up, but the Friday is always on the seventh day. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Jewish calendar has 12 lunar months and every so often an extra month is added. When you go to Israel, you can see their lunar calendar and the Gregorian calendar as well on the walls. Last month the Israeli Government wouldn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | What would the Christian churches do? There are so many of them that it is extremely unlikely that they could, or would want to, agree with anything that their rivals would suggest. You may remember the cry "Give us back our eleven days" when England suddenly adopted the Gregorian calendar. It was only because of catholic Europe that England out of spite refused to adopt it earlier, and don't let us forget the fact that it was not until the middle of the 18th century that England adopted January 1st as New Year's Day instead of March 25th. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Luckily | ||
+ | |||
+ | The rest of the world would naturally follow the New Calendar. Billions of Chinese, Japanese and Indians have no Sabbath concept, although in present times they have Sundays off from work, and this must be just a day of rest introduced from our cultures. | ||
+ | |||
+ | There have been many books written on the subject which you can find in your local library, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Incidentally, | ||
+ | |||
+ | (Owen Marks - President of the Hastings Parade Bondi Beach Branch of the Calendar Reform Society, Australian Section. Southern Hemisphere Division.) | ||
+ | |||
+ | =====Travelling With Children In India - Part 5.===== | ||
by Marcia Shappert. | by Marcia Shappert. | ||
- | .11 | ||
- | We somehow survived customs in Trivandrum. We arrived back in India an the day of New Year's Eve. We checked into the Hotel Armitha, where we had stayed before we went to Sri Lanka. | ||
- | We had been promising the children we would take them to an Indian movie, and finally the chance arrived. The movie was billed as " | ||
- | story and enjoyed it too. I had told the kids that if they didn't like it | ||
- | we would leave at the half, but they wanted to see the whole thing. Movies are not rated there as they are here for parental guidance, and all ages attend, but the violence didn't seem to bother anyone. | ||
- | We want back to our room and celebrated New Year's Eve with a cool drink and were in bed by 10 pm. | ||
- | Walking to the movie from our hotel we passed by an elevated bridge, | ||
- | under which at least 60 people were living - existing is more the word for it. It was obvious that it wasn't a temporary thing. I heard the cry of what sounded like a very young baby and I thought how lucky we were to have our children here in Australia, with some sort of future open to them. I, | ||
- | 6uppose that if you lived under a bridge all your life, you might hope your children could improve themselves enough to at least get a roof over their heads. Very depressing. | ||
- | The next morning we caught a bus to Kovalam Beach for the day. Living | ||
- | so close to the beach in Sydney, we said we w)uldn' | ||
- | were the Qicy-cold coconuts (12c each) We had when we arrived. They must have had a huge fridge to keep them all in. | ||
- | Page 10 THE SYDNEY BUSHWALKKR August, | ||
- | We had a late lunch at the Kovalam Hotel for $19.001! We didn't feel any more full than we did at our favorite Braham restaurant where we had had lca' | ||
- | We were up at 6 the next morning to catch a 7 apvtour to Cape Comorin, the most southerly point in India. The bus stopped at a restaurant for breakfast. Of the gix things we ordered they got five wrong, so we ended up with coffee and tea only. The tour took us back to Kovalam where we watched the fishermen hauling in huge U-shaped nets for about 40 minutes before we had to return to the bus. (That' | ||
- | the same place, so we :were really looking forward to the sunset. The Cape | ||
- | is a ' | ||
- | and cheap souvenirs was the name of the game. There is a memorial to Ghandi there which could be described as architectural hodge-podge. I've never - | ||
- | seen such an ugly building in my life. I even had to take a picture of it to prove how ugly it was. | ||
- | We walked along the beach, sat and watched the fisherman (their boats were just logs tied together, really primitive). We took a ferry boat out tO the rock shrine and got back about 5 pm. Had a quick cuppa and settled down to watch the sunset. Hawkers trying to sell all sorts of junk. One girl about 14 years old really got my goat. When I said I didn't want to buy what she was selling, she said "10 Rs, that's only $1. What's that to you?" It mattered not to her that had she been giving it to me I would have refused it - it was such junk. We sat and waited for the sunset, but. unfortunately it was so cloudy we never got to see it. So we had spent the wliole day on a lousy bus tour and didn't even see the sunset. The tour cost $2.50 each for a 12-hour tour. The day was redeemed by having dinner at our favorite Braham restaurant. We had become familiar in the restaurant by this time and people smiled at us as we came in. What a wonderful place. | ||
- | We spent our last morning in .Trivandrum at the zoo. Quite a nice one. There were signs all over saying " | ||
- | We got back to the hotel about 12.45 to pick up our packs and decided to have lunch at the hotel restaurant to save time. We ordered at 1 pm and were told it would take about half an hour before it was served. By 1..45 (our bus left at 2.30) we asked again. Finally Craig and I got our meals, but PJ and Jenny didn't get theirs until after 2 pm. They literally gulped. it down so we could catch a taxi to the bus station - we made it with | ||
- | 10 minutes to spare. The bus conductor tried charging us fall fare for PJ | ||
- | even though when we bought the ticket the day before we were told he was half fare. We didn't pay the extra fare, but it was a hassle. | ||
- | We were taking the bus from Trivandrum to Madurai, our longest bus | ||
- | ride, about 6 hours. We had tried booking a room from Trivandrum for | ||
- | Page 11 THE SYDNEY BUSHWALKER August, | ||
- | Madurai, as it was the first day of a 'World Tamil Conference' | ||
- | 3 hours with nothing to eat or drink. At one stage a man pedalled out from somewhere with icecream for sale. . His stock quickly sold out. Finally - about 9.30 we got going again, but the driver wouldn' | ||
- | We had been talking with a young English fellow and when we reached Madurai we decided to all stay together. Kevin said he faund some fellows who knew where rooms were available, so went with them in two trishaws. Craig and Kevin were going to share one room and the kids and I the other. When we got to the hotel, there were no rooms available. They said to try another place and so we went on until about 4.30 am, when we decided just =44D spread out our rain capes on the street and sit and rest. I was amazed | ||
- | at the number of people on the streets at that time of night. We had stopped at one stall for some coffee and it was packed. I guess if you don't have | ||
- | 4 place to sleep/live, the streets are where you spend your time. Of course, we attracted a lot of attention. They just couldn' | ||
- | Kevin and PJ said they would continue looking for rooms. They came back about 5.30 am to say they had asked at a hospital if we could stay there. They were told we could sleep on the floor in the out-patients | ||
- | department. We settled down on the floor there about 6 am. (The worst toilet we found on the entire trip was at this hospital. It was beyond belief). At 6.45 they woke us up to say we had to move because the Patients were starting to come, but we could sleep in another spot - which we did until 7.30 when they said we would have to go - the space was required. When we got up we noticed that we had been sleeping at the bottom of a spiral stair- Case. Now it was lined to the top with curious Indian faces, all watching Us. The guards (armed) had watched us and our things to make sure no one disturbed us. We really appreciated them letting us sleep there. | ||
- | We all took a taxi to a big hotel and had a lovely breakfast - we felt We deserved it after no dinner the-night before and very little sleep. Toast and jam never tasted so good. | ||
- | Even this hotel (the most expensive in Madurai) was full, so we enquired about a flight back to Madras - it was obvious we weren' | ||
- | viewing for here and now I was going to miss out. | ||
- | We bid farewell to Kevin (he was meeting his brother in Madurai) and | ||
- | Page 12 THE SYDNEY BUSHWLLKER. August, | ||
- | headed for the airport. We arrived in Madras half an hour later and fell into bed at the hotel. I had come down with a terrible cold and was feeling | ||
- | really crook. The hotel we were staying in was very noisy, so the next morning we transferred to the Hotel Savera - very Western and plush, but | ||
- | just what we needed at that point. The kids enjoyed the swimming ppol and I' | ||
- | We took a tour to Kanchipurw | + | We somehow survived customs in Trivandrum. We arrived back in India on the day of New Year's Eve. We checked into the Hotel Armitha, where we had stayed before we went to Sri Lanka. |
- | It is one of the group of seven holy places which an ardent Indian pilgrim will try to cover on his crusade around India. Most of the temples date back to the 8th century. | + | |
- | Mahabalipuram is famous for its Shore Temple and enormous carved | + | We had been promising the children we would take them to an Indian movie, and finally the chance arrived. The movie was billed as " |
- | monuments called rathas. Each ratha is carved, decorated,saulptured | + | |
- | hollowed out. so that it seems more like a decorated building than a work of art carved from solid stone. | + | We went back to our room and celebrated New Year's Eve with a cool drink and were in bed by 10 pm. |
- | We sent a message to the family we met in Madras the first time, and the husband came to see us at the hotel. We gave him the calculator as we had promised-and he was overjoyed. He told us that we had brought him luck when we visited them at their house and he had just been hired for a job in Lybia and would be getting about 000.a month there. A truly phenomenal sum to him. He invited us back to his house, but we declined as he had told us his son had typhoid fever. He brought his wife to visit us the next morning.- She is such a lovely person and I really enjoyed seeing her again. She said, "We have walked past the Savera Hotel all our lives. | + | |
- | The kids wanted to see another Indian Movie, but this time an '' | + | Walking to the movie from our hotel we passed by an elevated bridge, under which at least 60 people were living - existing is more the word for it. It was obvious that it wasn't a temporary thing. I heard the cry of what sounded like a very young baby and I thought how lucky we were to have our children here in Australia, with some sort of future open to them. I suppose that if you lived under a bridge all your life, you might hope your children could improve themselves enough to at least get a roof over their heads. Very depressing. |
- | of car chases, fights, etc. but also lots of singing and the eternal triangle. | + | |
- | spoken at all. In 'Qmbane' all the swear words were in English. Interesting. | + | The next morning we caught a bus to Kovalam Beach for the day. Living so close to the beach in Sydney, we said we wouldn' |
- | Our flight back to Bombay was late (as usual) so we didn't reach there | + | |
- | uatil 2.30 am. I had developed a boil under my arm and was in real pain, | + | We had a late lunch at the Kovalam Hotel for $19.00!! We didn't feel any more full than we did at our favourite Braham restaurant where we had had breakfast for the four of us for $1.65. That's what you get for going to Western places. |
- | so we spent the next day just resting around the pool. The hotel was right on the beach with a high wall around it. The children had pony rides on the beach and watched all the acts put on. After one act, a little girl | + | |
- | was attached to a long pole and lifted up to the wall so she could ask for money. | + | We were up at 6 the next morning to catch a 7 am tour to Cape Comorin, the most southerly point in India. The bus stopped at a restaurant for breakfast. Of the six things we ordered they got five wrong, so we ended up with coffee and tea only. The tour took us back to Kovalam where we watched the fishermen hauling in huge U-shaped nets for about 40 minutes before we had to return to the bus. (That' |
+ | |||
+ | We walked along the beach, sat and watched the fisherman (their boats were just logs tied together, really primitive). We took a ferry boat out to the rock shrine and got back about 5 pm. Had a quick cuppa and settled down to watch the sunset. Hawkers trying to sell all sorts of junk. One girl about 14 years old really got my goat. When I said I didn't want to buy what she was selling, she said "10 Rs, that's only $1. What's that to you?" It mattered not to her that had she been giving it to me I would have refused it - it was such junk. We sat and waited for the sunset, but unfortunately it was so cloudy we never got to see it. So we had spent the whole day on a lousy bus tour and didn't even see the sunset. The tour cost $2.50 each for a 12-hour tour. The day was redeemed by having dinner at our favourite Braham restaurant. We had become familiar in the restaurant by this time and people smiled at us as we came in. What a wonderful place. | ||
+ | |||
+ | We spent our last morning in Trivandrum at the zoo. Quite a nice one. There were signs all over saying " | ||
+ | |||
+ | We got back to the hotel about 12.45 to pick up our packs and decided to have lunch at the hotel restaurant to save time. We ordered at 1 pm and were told it would take about half an hour before it was served. By 1..45 (our bus left at 2.30) we asked again. Finally Craig and I got our meals, but PJ and Jenny didn't get theirs until after 2 pm. They literally gulped it down so we could catch a taxi to the bus station - we made it with 10 minutes to spare. The bus conductor tried charging us fall fare for PJ even though when we bought the ticket the day before we were told he was half fare. We didn't pay the extra fare, but it was a hassle. | ||
+ | |||
+ | We were taking the bus from Trivandrum to Madurai, our longest bus ride, about 6 hours. We had tried booking a room from Trivandrum for Madurai, as it was the first day of a 'World Tamil Conference' | ||
+ | |||
+ | We had been talking with a young English fellow and when we reached Madurai we decided to all stay together. Kevin said he found some fellows who knew where rooms were available, so went with them in two trishaws. Craig and Kevin were going to share one room and the kids and I the other. When we got to the hotel, there were no rooms available. They said to try another place and so we went on until about 4.30 am, when we decided just to spread out our rain capes on the street and sit and rest. I was amazed at the number of people on the streets at that time of night. We had stopped at one stall for some coffee and it was packed. I guess if you don't have a place to sleep/live, the streets are where you spend your time. Of course, we attracted a lot of attention. They just couldn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Kevin and PJ said they would continue looking for rooms. They came back about 5.30 am to say they had asked at a hospital if we could stay there. They were told we could sleep on the floor in the out-patients department. We settled down on the floor there about 6 am. (The worst toilet we found on the entire trip was at this hospital. It was beyond belief). At 6.45 they woke us up to say we had to move because the patients were starting to come, but we could sleep in another spot - which we did until 7.30 when they said we would have to go - the space was required. When we got up we noticed that we had been sleeping at the bottom of a spiral staircase. Now it was lined to the top with curious Indian faces, all watching us. The guards (armed) had watched us and our things to make sure no one disturbed us. We really appreciated them letting us sleep there. | ||
+ | |||
+ | We all took a taxi to a big hotel and had a lovely breakfast - we felt we deserved it after no dinner the night before and very little sleep. Toast and jam never tasted so good. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Even this hotel (the most expensive in Madurai) was full, so we enquired about a flight back to Madras - it was obvious we weren' | ||
+ | |||
+ | We bid farewell to Kevin (he was meeting his brother in Madurai) and headed for the airport. We arrived in Madras half an hour later and fell into bed at the hotel. I had come down with a terrible cold and was feeling really crook. The hotel we were staying in was very noisy, so the next morning we transferred to the Hotel Savera - very Western and plush, but just what we needed at that point. The kids enjoyed the swimming pool and I enjoyed the hot shower and room service. | ||
+ | |||
+ | We took a tour to Kanchipuram | ||
+ | |||
+ | Mahabalipuram is famous for its Shore Temple and enormous carved monuments called rathas. Each ratha is carved, decorated,sculptured | ||
+ | |||
+ | We sent a message to the family we met in Madras the first time, and the husband came to see us at the hotel. We gave him the calculator as we had promised and he was overjoyed. He told us that we had brought him luck when we visited them at their house and he had just been hired for a job in Lybia and would be getting about $000 a month there. A truly phenomenal sum to him. He invited us back to his house, but we declined as he had told us his son had typhoid fever. He brought his wife to visit us the next morning. She is such a lovely person and I really enjoyed seeing her again. She said, "We have walked past the Savera Hotel all our lives. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The kids wanted to see another Indian Movie, but this time an ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Our flight back to Bombay was late (as usual) so we didn't reach there until 2.30 am. I had developed a boil under my arm and was in real pain, so we spent the next day just resting around the pool. The hotel was right on the beach with a high wall around it. The children had pony rides on the beach and watched all the acts put on. After one act, a little girl was attached to a long pole and lifted up to the wall so she could ask for money. | ||
Our flight back to Australia was long and crowded. When we reached Perth Craig bought us all a glass of cold milk, something we really missed in India. | Our flight back to Australia was long and crowded. When we reached Perth Craig bought us all a glass of cold milk, something we really missed in India. | ||
+ | |||
The trip was a good chance for the children to get to see how other people live. They found that even though they couldn' | The trip was a good chance for the children to get to see how other people live. They found that even though they couldn' | ||
- | Page 13 THE SYDNEY BUSHWAIKER August, | + | |
- | Our fifth week ,das a bit of a.disaster. If we had left after Sri Lanka and the fourth week, we would have had a perfect trip. The fifth week was an ' | + | Our fifth week was a bit of a disaster. If we had left after Sri Lanka and the fourth week, we would have had a perfect trip. The fifth week was an ' |
- | The trip cost us $1800 plus air fares. Most of the money went on | + | |
- | taxis. When I had travelled there before I could split the taxi fares | + | The trip cost us $1800 plus air fares. Most of the money went on taxis. When I had travelled there before I could split the taxi fares with other people. This time we had to pay the whole slug. Petrol is very expensive there, and getting from the airport to the city was always very expensive. Also, the children didn't walk as much as I had on past trips. We had always walked everywhere, now we were taking taxis or motorized trishaws. We didn't buy many souvenirs. The trip was well worth every penny, though. Now, when I ask PJ if he'd like to go back to India, he says, "Yes, sometime. But I'd rather go to Disneyland" |
- | with other people. This time we had to pay the whole slag. Petrol is very expensive there, and getting from the airport to the city was always very expensive. Also, the children didn't walk as much as I had on past trips. We had always walked everywhere, now we were taking taxis or motorized trishaws. We didn't buy many souvenirs. The trip was well worth every penny, though. Now, when I ask PJ if he'd like to go back to India, he says, "Yes, sometime. But I'd rather go to Disneyland" | + | |
- | pack again sometime and I'm sure the kids will come along. | + | |
- | * * * * * * * * * * | + | |
"HOB A SARDINE AND JAM SANDUICH' | "HOB A SARDINE AND JAM SANDUICH' | ||
by Peter Harris. . | by Peter Harris. . |
198108.txt · Last modified: 2016/03/27 08:59 by tyreless