Continuing with Paul Dixons diary that he put together from notes by Lloyd Watson ... 27 July 1963 By the time we recovered our lost sleep we were well out in the Mediterranean and preparing to disembark at not before the Captain invited us to his table and congratulated us publicly on our contribution to the voyage. He then rewarded us individually with a company pin and similarly badged hair brush! Our final two days - when not studying the beautiful Italian coast - was a rush of last minute laundry and packing, which now included 20 boxes of surplus gear (transistor radios, slide projectors, binoculars and souvenirs) to be forwarded to London. 29 July 1963 Naples at midnight was a fascinating sight. From the deck we watched the very intimate home-coming of the crew before turning in for our farewell sleep aboard. Only to be roused at 4.30am to Naples mystery and mountain under the crimson sun rising over Vesuvius. Customs soon over, we boarded another bus for a short city tour where WWII damage was tragically evident. Overhead washing flagged our way to the rail station for a 7.30am train to Rome. The journey was through a Cezanne-like painting.Valleys of gardens and orchards divided by ancient stone walls, with houses of brick or stone in pink or pale blue predominating. It was a living palette of hues. Men and women hard at work harvesting wheat...our eyes remained glued to the changing vistas. By mid-morning the gigantic Rail Station loomed and we were soon outside sitting on our baggage while a pair of leaders located the Cooks Tours office where, after some time lost in translation, they booked a sight-seeing tour and lunch. The menu, to our eyes, appeared to feature nothing but Spaghetti (Pasta) to those accustomed to Watties cans. Cost: 47,000 lira paid in notes of equally astronomical size. With appetites more or less satisfied we boarded a coach for a tour of the citys famous landmarks - Victor Emanuel II monument, statues and more - culminating in the Vatican. We marvelled at Michelangelos graceful dome, even taking the 700 steps to the very peak for one of Romes iconic views. From there it was on to the airport for our flight to Athens. Awaiting on the tarmac was a Comet 4B aircraft of Olympic Airways that looked very different from the aggressive, gaping monsters of today. The Comet was beautiful, sleek, streamlined and a pleasure to board. But there was a moment of apprehension - many of us had never flown previously and others only within New Zealand. Fortunately this was forgotten in all the excitement and were soon in the air. Caution With A Cause Only in Greece were we to learn that two days prior a similar Comet had crashed approaching Bombay in severe weather killing 63 including all 26 of the Philippines Jamboree contingent. Such was the impact of this at home Quezon City memorialised each member in stone and bronze and renamed local streets accordingly. One and a half hours later, after a splendid airborne meal (another novel experience) we touched down at Athens. The Jamboree Organisation had everything so well in-hand that by 11pm we where retracing Pheidippides classic run by coach. We arrived dog tired at our campsite to find no tents erected for us. In true team spirit we gratefully unrolled our beds on the open grass and promptly crashed.
Posted on: Sun, 12 Oct 2014 21:03:22 +0000
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