1973 School Magazine

We were bogged. Those awake rolled up their jeans and stepped warily out of the warm bus into the cold, squeelchy mud.

for the night. We had a finai party and gave Phil a didjeridoo for a present. After that everyone attempted to make a sound, a few strange noises came out. Only Clare Ferguson's noise was musical. We left this beautiful school next morning and travelled on with rnixed emotions. Just outsid'e Ipswich Phil told us we had travelled 5,000 miles. Back in Brisbane we regretted leaving Coach No. 12 (with all its many faults) and all the great kids we'd met from Ipswich and thanked Mrs. Williams and Mrs. Chowdhury and Phil who put up with a lot. It really was a Ereat time, and as for the "dry't" centre - We don't believe it! NEW ZEALAND TOI.IR. _'73 Well, at last August l9th arrived, and we were really on our way to New Zealand. After a luxurious flight across (for some it was their first air trip) which cost us two hours, we landed in Auckland. Even the dismal weather could not dampen our spirits as we began our 14-day tour. Had a look through Auckland Museum,andvisited Mt. Eden, an extinct volcano crater. Day 2-Guided tour through Crown Lynn pottery factory-from then on every plate of every eating- house was inspected for the Crown Lynn insigrLia. Travelled to Ngaruawahia - home of the Maori Queen. Lunch where swans and ducks had more to eat than we did.

After much pushing and pulling and when the last of thelazy ones had been dragged out, we got the bus out and on its way. Wet, cold and very muddy we clambered into the bus. Most drifted back to sleep. The next morning we were again stationary. The starter wouldn't work as well. A few adventurers set off and returned surprisingly with the highway patrol (S.A. Roads Dept.), waving madly from the back of a truck. By that time we had made a fire from an old tyre and were about to cook lunch. A considerable number of people disappeared over the hill for obscure reasons. There was a fast increasing pile of undistinguishable shoes at the door of the bus. It was unbelievable that there could be so much mud in one bus. Later on that afternoon we again put our shoulders to the wheel and heaved the bus out after 12 hours in that place. In their enthusiasm a group of "pushers" ran around helping other cars in similar positions. A few miles away we stopped at a road- house and hobbled out looking tenibly bedraggled, much to the surprise of a coach of well-dressed ladies going the other way. We found out later that we were the last coach to get through to Adelaide. Adelaide was a beautiful place full of parks and gardens, hot water, roads, shops....A few days later it was still raining and we stopped at a place called Parkes (of telescope fame). We again bought tea and Phil decided to go to the Police Station and see if there was somewhere dry we could spend the night. A few girls were sitting in the bus when the police paddy-wagon with a loud siren drew up and out jumped about twenty grls screaming madly. The police had arranged for us to use the Boy's Scout Hall and had given some of the girls a lift back. We just made it to the radio lelescope next day as the road was flooding. The bus broke down in Dubbo but we eventually reached Moree a town with a hot swim- ming bath where some girls went for a swim. We again tried the police and were offered a high school

) L), Jt