Wally's tales

I mentioned earlier, I was initially inducted into the Air Force in Ashburton, after doing a short period of guard duties and study I moved on to training proper. It seems now that all was only yesterday. I soon passed all my next set of ‘entry’ exams and then was accepted for assessment and training as Air Crew in the New Zealand Air Force. All successful candidates were initially posted to Rotorua, where the Air Force had taken over the whole town. Not a tourist in sight, all the town’s amenities had been pressed into War Time service. There seemed to be hundreds of young men passing through, all being streamed into the various ‘flight’ careers, such as Navigators, Pilots, Bomb Aimers, Wireless Operators, and Air Gunners.

This was a small but important part of the Empire Air Training Scheme. Several Hotels, if not all, were pressed onto service as ready made barracks. Carpets had been rolled up and put away for the duration of the war, Normal pampering I suppose, would be returned after the War. As well, all the fine dinning gear, linen and silver was also put away, and out of sight. It didn’t grace any tables during my stay. Meals were now being served buffet style, with the Airmen passing a line of cooks which was the order of the day for the Hotel until the War ended, and tourists returned. A vegetable I had never seen before was Kumara, it always seemed to be served up in some form or other.

Council Chambers were now given a new role as lecture rooms, the movie theatres were excellent for Air Craft Recognition, in fact there was nothing left in the town of a civilian nature that hadn’t been pressed into service. If you weren’t a serviceman, you were probably employed by the Air Force. The whole town was now a huge Air Force Station without an Air Field. Of course every young man wanted to be a Pilot, but those in charge had to be sure you measured up in so many ways. So more classes and exams, until those in charge made their finally selections. Medical exams seemed to be endless, many hopefuls were tossed aside because of eye sight deficiencies, and a myriad other reasons.

I was finally accepted as a trainee pilot and given the coveted white flash to wear in my cap. I was then posted to Taieri Air Port, and my training began. Strangely I had never been in an Air Craft before and I didn’t think many of the others had either. So none of us had any idea of what was in store for us in the future. My initial fight was one of familiarisation, when the disembodied voice came through the voice tube, (No electronics here, it was just a plain speaking tube straight to your ears). ‘Can you now point out to me the Air Port’? I really didn’t have a clue. I couldn’t have even pointed out Mosgiel township. I was in a Tiger Moth, the Air Force’s primary trainer, very basic, no brakes, no self starter, even the instruments were primitive, no artificial horizon, even the landing lights were in the form of flares. We did have a primitive needle and ball instrument, altimeter, Air speed indicator, rev counter, compass. Sitting in an open cockpit you were wrapped up in jacket, pants, boots, all made from sheep skin. Leather head gear, and Goggles. Your only protection from the elements was a small wind screen.

Nothing was familiar, even to the smell of the Air Craft, which smelt strongly of dope that they stretched the fabric covering wings and frame. After about eight hours tuition, my instructor jumped out of the plane and said, ‘See if you can fly this thing on your own’. I need not have worried, I felt he was still with me, carping away in my ear telling me to, watch this, watch that, don’t hold off in the turns, until I safely landed again. My career as a pilot was now truly under way.

My career was not with out incident. I still had to learn about, ‘Old Pilots, and Bold Pilots’ and the fact there were no, ‘Old Bold Pilots’. One rainy day I popped up through a hole in the clouds and played around in bright sunshine thinking, what a lucky guy I was. But when I decided to return to the dull wet land below. The hole had gone and I had no idea where I was. I also knew the Air Field was in a basin and surrounded by mountains on all sides. After taking into account all my options, I flew out to sea and let down there, and then flew back up the Taieri River. I never told about my stupid move. Another time I was preparing to take off when the Control Tower signalled a wind change with a smoke flare. My take off path now took me into the smoke, I flew into the smoke and immediately lost all forward vision until the smoke cleared. To my horror there immediately in front of me was the Control Tower. They would never have known who the errant pilot was, they would have all been too busy lying on the floor. Looking back now I should have felt sorry for our instructors, there were fifty other trainee pilots all loose, all getting into ‘situations’ of their own making.

The Green party are undergoing a change of leadership brought about by Janette Fitzsimons stepping down from the Co. Leader’s position. I wonder who will fill her shoes? She has been a very moderating influence on the direction that the party has taken. This Party is not all what it seems, whether you are aware of it or not, it’s political attitude is more to the extreme left side of the political spectrum. Over the years it has earned the name of the closest thing to a water melon, you will ever meet. That’s Green on the outside and Red on the inside. Someone once said, that it’s better to regard them as traffic lights red one minute, and green the next, except when Sue Kedgley eats a food additive, then its a funny orange.

They could if they wanted, become the most powerful force to be reckoned within our political scene. Everyone has some green leanings whatever their party affiliations and would vote green, but many are unaware and unsure exactly what is the make up of this party. But for the left affiliation they would give them a party vote, as it’s a popular thing, as I said to think Green. There is another thing that stops an automatic donation of a vote and that’s the fact that several of the politicians in the Party, have, or have had in the past, very Marxist views. That fact alone, has cost them dearly at the poles, ever since they evolved from the old Values Party.

Recently it has been discovered that at least one of their  politicians has been under surveillance by the SIS. He is very upset about this but must have done something to warrant such close attention. Apart from their leader, none represent an electorate

There was talk during the election run up that perhaps that could join up with the National Party. People who said that hadn’t looked too hard at their members, or what they stood for, I can say without any worry about contra diction, they would never affiliate with any National Party in a month of Sundays.

As King Makers with the Labour Party they have forced through several stupid laws. These were the price the Labour Party has had to pay for their support. Not surprising this played a large part in the Labour Party losing the Last election.

When we were kids, and the Winter and Summer school holidays came around. Remember that this was during the depression, so holiday trips were out of the question. We were lucky enough to be farmed out with all our cousins, en mass, to our Grandparents who were living in a small batch out at Murdering Beach. Very comfortable living it was to, but very basic. How they put up with such an ill disciplined bunch of brats numbering some ten or so, I will never know, but they did, and they did it well. It was a lonely spot and the reason for this was it was necessary to walk the final three kilometres from where the road ended. Of course it was necessary as well, to carry all our food clothes and stores in as well. Perishables, such as Butter, Milk, and Eggs, all came from a farm, also sitting in the middle of nowhere. To get there, another long walk across paddocks, stiles, creeks, but we treated it as another outing. We regarded these farmers who would today be called subsistence farmers as our friends, and we used to assist them at harvest time as there was little, or no mechanical help available and it was a case of all hands to the pump.

There were other ways to get to the Beach, but they all meant a long walk. We sometimes Caught the train at the Port Chalmers Upper station, got off at he first stop, Mihiwaka. Then walked to Long Beach, carried on to the end of the beach. Up the Maori Track, around the cliffs, to drop down into Murdering Beach. A feature of the Maori Track was it was formed a huge slip eons ago, it was so steep it was only negotiated on hands and knees. All this helped to guarantee solitude. Or, you could do as the Lewis and Hills families did, that was to walk over the hill from Deborah Bay. On arrival they camped in some old derelict. buildings A taxi ride to the top of the Hill cost one pound, at a time when the weekly wage was five pounds, this wasn’t really an option to taken very often

The crib was well stocked but basic, but they had enough of everything to go around, until once a year they used to get the local farmer to sled in bulk supplies of kerosene and other heavy gear. Sleeping arrangements were tight as you would expect with so many kids. Bunks were top and Tailed. Couches and settees were also pressed into service. There was no electricity, a wood range was the only form of heating and cooking. To drive this, Wood was collected from the surrounding hills as there were many logs from the forests that had been burnt when the country was clear felled to open up the country to provide grazing. Yes, the large logs and wood were there for the taking and once a week excursions were made with a cross cut saw and axes and wedges. This wood came in all grades and varieties. Rimu, Black and White Pine, Totara, Broad Leaf, with many other logs with our limited knowledge we couldn’t identify. Another source of fuel was coal, this arrived to the rocky points after being dredged from around the wharfs in Port Chalmers where it had be dropped while bunkering ships a hundred and fifty or more years ago. After being dredged up with other spoil, it was taken out by the dredge to Blue Skin Bay and dumped. After another fifty years or so, it found it’s way to the point close to where our Batch was situated. It was a very hot coal and tended to burn the bum out of the grate, as did drift wood we collected on the beach, mainly too because of it’s high salt content. We relied on candles and kerosene lamps for lighting.

We supplemented our rations by fishing, rabbiting, and the collection of shell fish which was abundant on the rocks and on the beach at low tide. Anther perk was to rise very early on winter mornings and walk the beach looking for Frost Fish which had cast them selves ashore or were in the process of, especially on full moon frosty nights. I have recently seen them again in the local fish shops where they are sold cheaply as a ‘by catch’ from trawlers. They were a strange fish with a big head and very large eyes and no scales

Our aunts who were still living at home and used to take us out on foraging expeditions to the surrounding bush or over to Kaikai an adjoining beach. Nobody lived there but there were traces of earlier Maori habitation long ago. They had left huge middens and green stone chips which meant they must have worked greenstone there. We gathered potatoes growing wild and looked out for gooseberries. The bush was full of self sown gooseberries being spread by birds. For some reason they seemed to have an affinity to grow the biggest and the best, alongside stinging nettle. So in season we made jam, and had many gooseberry tarts and pies. When our meat supplies ran low there was always the rabbit. It was served up braised, stewed, curried, roasted, and for those hard to please, it was renamed chicken or underground mutton. We didn’t know then about seaweed and that there many varieties that were good to eat.

The family were very resourceful and I can remember them making soap on an outside open fire where some of the cooking was carried out. The soap was made from the fat collected from roasts. The toilet however was a disappointment it was the classic long drop at the bottom of the garden, and there was noway that the girls were going to make a visit to this in the dark alone. They demanded and got someone to stand on the track with a storm lantern

I’m sure all the kids who took part in this holiday experience will still have very fond memories.