Perth Western Australia

AUSTRALIA at last. A new decade, a new country! It's Sunday 4th January 1970. The plane had to be fumigated with two aerosols on landing! What a joke. After that the health, customs and immigration formalities were quite quickly completed. I dumped my baggage behind the Qantas check in desk and went and had a drink then stretched out on the seats in the main hall and tried to sleep. A pain in the stomach made that difficult. At 6:00 I went to the loo, leaving my oilskin jacket to mark the spot. By 6:10 it had been stolen! Geneva and Perth! Managed to get a little sleep now and again between 6am and 9am.

Eventually got a taxi to 17, Morrison St, Como, the home of Mrs Jeffreys, mother of my best friend, John Jeffreys, at King Williams College Junior House, until he left to emigrate to Australia in 1955, age 12. Civilisation at last - I'd arrived. This is really where this diary finishes, but I'll try and keep it on in abbreviated form.

I had a shower, read my mail, then John Jeffreys took me to 150 Mill Point Road. This was where a former girlfriend from Chester, Christine Hughes lived with her fiancée Rod. Amazingly they had agreed to put me up for a few days, which ended up being over a fortnight. Christine was out, but I was adopted by other inhabitants of the block of flats; Win(i Fred), Roz, (flatmates), Robyn, Noeline, Jan and Rick. Chris and Rod came home sometime later. We ate and then I slept.

My resolution to keep this diary going largely failed.

As you will no doubt have gathered I was not well. I don't remember much about my time in Perth. I do know that I didn't feel like drinking alcohol, which was a bad sign. One of the last jottings in the diary says that next day, Monday 5th January, I went to the doctor. Essentially he told me to go and lie down and take an aspirin, even though I told him I'd just arrived from India. I finally removed my beard next day.

A week or so later I didn't really feel any better, so I went to another doctor who instantly diagnosed hepatitis (A). But there wasn't any treatment except going and lying down and taking an aspirin.

My original plan was to go and work in the mines in the Pilbara in the north of Western Australia and earn fabulous amounts of money in a very short time. Physically I wasn't up to it. Later in January I took the standard gauge Indian Pacific train to Port Augusta in South Australia, then on to Melbourne via Adelaide on Irish gauge trains.