South Seas Adventure
In early 1965 I "migrated" to Australia with $200. This was with the
urging of my parent who thought I would stay in Australia, where my
parents were originally from. As it turned out, I came back to the
States and enlisted in the Navy. The more important incident was the
fellow I met in Fiji.
When the ship was being drawn to the dock, I spied a guy with the
emblem on his t-shirt; "Long Beach Surf Shop". Being from Long Beach,
I introduced myself. I subsequently learned he was a guy a bit older
than me (mid twenties) who was an Australian photographer who was in
Fiji filming and surfing.
Without me asking, he offered to take me all over Suva an see the
sights. We started out by me having a Chinese lunch for...25 cents!
Could not believe it. Then he bested me by going to an Indian
restaurant and spending a whopping 15 cents!
The highlight of the daylong trip was to take a bus trip as far into
the country we could go, walking for a time to a natural pool where we
all (he had another friend along) stripped down to go skinny dipping.
I personally stripped only to my bun huggers. I was still embarrassed!
The experience did not end there. On the way back to Suva, we were
hailed over to a group of fellows who were cutting lumber. We were
asked to sit in a circle. About this time I appeared to look a bit
concerned but my new friend sad, "Just follow my lead."
You may have heard of this stuff we drank. I believe its "kava"!
Anyway, I was to slap my legs three times and down the hatch. The
amount I had was small and all I got was a numbing of my mouth.
Apparently, these guys drank this narcotic until they got pretty
wasted!
Anyway, after this, it was back to the ship. I thanked him very much.
I don't think I will ever forget the experience.
--Randall
{ Previous Letter
| This Week's Index |
Next Letter }
{ Main Letters Page }
